Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to invest in health prevention in the coming years to help lesson demands on services through earlier intervention and education.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
One of the Government’s five missions is to ‘build an NHS fit for the future’, with a greater emphasis on prevention, to support people in living longer and healthier lives.
This will involve working across the Government to tackle the underlying determinants of preventable ill health and giving people the information and support they need to make healthy choices. It also means shifting the National Health Service away from a model geared towards late diagnosis and treatment, to a model focused on prevention, with more services delivered in local communities. We will intervene earlier in life to raise the healthiest generation of children in our history, giving every child a healthy start in life. Our future funding plans will be confirmed as part of the forthcoming Spending Review.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the success of integrated care boards.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England holds integrated care boards (ICBs) and National Health Service providers to account for the delivery of national priorities and statutory functions, and oversees them via the NHS oversight framework. NHS England has a legal duty to annually assess the performance of each integrated care board, in respect of each financial year, and publish a summary of its findings. Annual assessments for the financial year 2023/24 have been completed and NHS England will summarise the outcomes of all annual assessments and publish a report.
In addition, the Government published Professor Lord Darzi’s independent investigation of the NHS in England on 12 September 2024, which includes an assessment of the progress of and challenges facing ICBs. The Government has committed to the development of a new 10 Year Health Plan which will build on the findings of the report published by Professor Lord Darzi.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Lord Markham on 11 May (HL Deb col 1935), whether they intend to recruit more paramedics to support increased capacity for ambulances.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
Additional ambulance service capacity will largely be delivered through more crew hours on the road and through an increase in clinical capacity in control rooms. The number of National Health Service ambulance staff and support staff has increased by over 40% since 2010.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Lord Markham on 11 May (HL Deb, col 1935), whether nurse recruitment will be part of the long-term workforce plan for the NHS.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government has committed to publishing the Long Term Workforce Plan shortly. This will include projections for the number of doctors, nurses and other professionals that will be needed in 5, 10 and 15 years’ time, taking full account of improvements in retention and productivity. The plan will help ensure that we have the right numbers of staff, with the right skills to transform and deliver high quality services fit for the future.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the incidence of diphtheria in migrants arriving via irregular transit routes.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
There is an effective vaccine against diphtheria which in the United Kingdom is offered as part of the routine childhood programme. Vaccination offers high levels of protection against symptomatic disease, meaning that it is a very rare infection in the UK where vaccination coverage is high. The risk of diphtheria to the general UK public therefore remains very low.
There was an increase in the number of cases of diphtheria detected among people seeking asylum in the last quarter of 2022, with a total of 73 confirmed cases of diphtheria among this population in England in 2022 and one case confirmed so far in 2023. The majority of these cases were detected in people arriving via small boat Channel crossings. There have been no linked cases in workers in asylum seeker settings or linked cases in the general public.
The UK Health Security Agency, Home Office and NHS England are working with local partners to put measures in place to manage the risk of diphtheria in this population.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the incidence and impact of diphtheria in the UK.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
There is an effective vaccine against diphtheria which in the United Kingdom is offered as part of the routine childhood programme. Vaccination offers high levels of protection against symptomatic disease, meaning that it is a very rare infection in the UK where vaccination coverage is high. The risk of diphtheria to the general UK public therefore remains very low.
There was an increase in the number of cases of diphtheria detected among people seeking asylum in the last quarter of 2022, with a total of 73 confirmed cases of diphtheria among this population in England in 2022 and one case confirmed so far in 2023. The majority of these cases were detected in people arriving via small boat Channel crossings. There have been no linked cases in workers in asylum seeker settings or linked cases in the general public.
The UK Health Security Agency, Home Office and NHS England are working with local partners to put measures in place to manage the risk of diphtheria in this population.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the current state of research into Fibromyalgia.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Since 2021, the NIHR has funded two specific research studies into fibromyalgia, with a total value of over £400,000. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including fibromyalgia. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. In all disease areas, the amount of NIHR funding depends on the volume and quality of scientific activity.
The Government recognises that chronic pain conditions, such as fibromyalgia, can be incredibly disabling and have a significant impact on an individual’s quality of life. We know how important it is that people with fibromyalgia get the support they need from health and care services. To support healthcare professionals in the diagnosis and management of chronic pain conditions, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published evidence-based guidance in April 2021, a copy of which is attached.
NICE guidelines represent best practice and health professionals, including general practitioners, are expected to take them fully into account. It should be noted, however, that the guidelines are not mandatory and do not replace the judgement of clinicians in determining the most appropriate treatment for individual patients. The chronic pain guidance includes recommendations on providing advice and information relevant to the individual and both pharmacological and non-pharmacological management options.
To assist with increasing the visibility of fibromyalgia and the impacts of its symptoms, NICE promotes guidance via its website, newsletters and other media.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the state of the relationship between central government and local directors of public health.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government fully recognises and values the important role and expertise of local directors of public health (DsPH) as senior leaders, and the vital work they and their teams do to improve and protect the public’s health. DsPH appointments are made jointly by the employing local authority and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. The Department maintains regular contact both with the representative body, the Associate of Directors of Public Health, and directly with individual DsPH, in particular through the Department’s Places and Regions teams. The Chief Medical Officer also has regular calls with DsPH.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many staff retired from the NHS in (1) 2015, (2) 2018, (3) 2020, and (4) 2021.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The table below shows the headcount of staff who worked in Hospital and Community Health Service settings, and who have a ‘retired’ reason for leaving in the Electronic Staff Record for 2015, 2018, 2020, and 2021.
2015 | 2018 | 2020 | 2021 | |
All retirement related reasons for leaving | 27,153 | 26,201 | 28,707 | 31,405 |
Of which flexible retirement | 3,491 | 4,010 | 4,795 | 5,079 |
Source: NHS Digital
Staff who retire may later return to National Health Service (NHS) employment. More specifically, staff recorded as flexi-retirement would be expected to return to NHS employment working hours on a different contract.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many staff were employed in the NHS in (1) 2015, (2) 2018, (3) 2020, and (4) 2021.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The table below shows the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) and headcount (HC) of staff employed in the National Health Service (NHS) in Hospital and Community Health Service settings as of December in each year requested:
| 2015 | 2018 | 2020 | 2021 |
Total staff (FTE) | 1,019,677 | 1,082,978 | 1,170,771 | 1,212,478 |
Total staff (HC) | 1,156,662 | 1,226,362 | 1,319,010 | 1,362,335 |
Source: NHS Digital Monthly Workforce Statistics
Hospital and Community Health Services include staff working in hospital trusts and commissioning bodies, but excludes staff working in primary care, general practitioner surgeries, local authorities, and other bodies providing NHS funded care.