Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to protect the workforce pipeline for small and vulnerable allied health professions from the risk of university programme closures or reductions.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care works closely with the Department for Education to support the availability of a diverse range of training routes into health and care careers. While the Government is committed to ensuring sustainable training pathways for small and vulnerable healthcare professions, higher education institutions are independent providers and are responsible for making their own decisions about course delivery and viability.
NHS England has a focussed programme for small and vulnerable professions, including Allied Health Professions. This programme helps maintain and strengthen training and education pathways for pre‑registration learners, including apprenticeship routes, to support a national strategic approach to placement capacity and to build awareness of healthcare careers.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what oversight they exercise over the commissioning of prosthetic and orthotic services to ensure that they are appropriately funded and that investment is linked to measurable patient outcomes.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Prosthetics is a specialised service, with commissioning transferring to integrated care boards on 1 April 2025, ensuring service providers must adhere to the national service specification and national clinical commissioning policies. Orthotic services are locally commissioned by integrated care boards or National Health Service trusts. It is the responsibility of local employers to ensure they have the right people with the right skills to meet local population needs. The Department remains committed to working with stakeholders, including the British Association of Prosthetics and Orthotics, to support service improvements and meet patient demand.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what preparations they have made to ensure there is a sufficient workforce of prosthetists and orthotists to meet the anticipated demand for prosthetic and orthotic rehabilitation in the event of a conflict situation.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care, the National Health Service, and the Ministry of Defence continue to ensure health services, including prosthetic and orthotic services, can respond effectively to meet the demands of conflict situations through regularly reviewing system-wide capacity.
The Department of Health and Social Care’s commitment to longer term workforce planning through the 10 Year Workforce Plan will also ensure that the NHS has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what strategic workforce planning is in place to ensure that prosthetic and orthotic services are resilient to both national security demands and systemic pressures on the healthcare workforce.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care, the National Health Service, and the Ministry of Defence continue to ensure health services, including prosthetic and orthotic services, can respond effectively to meet the demands of conflict situations through regularly reviewing system-wide capacity.
The Department of Health and Social Care’s commitment to longer term workforce planning through the 10 Year Workforce Plan will also ensure that the NHS has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risk that university programme closures or reductions could pose to the future supply of prosthetists and orthotists; and what contingency plans are in place to sustain education and training provision for these professions.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As a small and vulnerable profession, course closures or reductions pose a considerable risk to the future supply of prosthetists and orthotists.
The Department of Health and Social Care works closely with the Department for Education to support the availability of a diverse range of training routes into health and care careers. While the Government is committed to ensuring sustainable training pathways for the future supply of prosthetics and orthotists, higher education institutions are independent providers and are responsible for making their own decisions about course delivery and viability.
NHS England has a focussed programme for small and vulnerable professions, including prosthetics and orthotics, and has recently commissioned the British Association of Prosthetists and Orthotists to help maintain and strengthen training and education pathways for pre‑registration learners.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Scottish Orthotic Services Review, published by NHS Scotland in 2005, and the relevance of its findings to the current commissioning and delivery of orthotic services in England.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
No such assessment has been made. The commissioning and delivery of orthotic services are devolved matters. In England, responsibility rests with local integrated care boards and National Health Service trusts in line with the non-specialised commissioning status of orthotic services. In 2015, NHS England introduced national guidance to support more consistent and higher-quality orthotics provision.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they will (1) publish an implementation plan, and (2) announce pump-priming to support the implementation plan, for the roll-out of the fracture liaison services outlined in the 10 Year Health Plan for England.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Fracture Liaison Services are commissioned by integrated care boards, which are well-placed to make decisions according to local need.
Our 10-Year Health Plan committed to rolling out Fracture Liaison Services across every part of the country by 2030.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Minister of State for Health (Secondary Care) on 24 January (HC25099), what assessment they have made of the health risks resulting from the NHS using gender-neutral language that may obscure the impact of biological sex on the physical effects of drugs.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government expects the National Health Service to deliver health services in accordance with the Equality Act 2010, having appropriate regard to protected characteristics as defined in the Act where relevant.
Language is very important when communicating with patients and whilst no assessment has been made of the impact of specific language, the NHS always strives to ensure clear terms that everyone can understand should always be used. Sex and gender identity are not always the same thing, and it is important for patients that we record both accurately.
The Department is committed to delivering safe and holistic care for both adults and children when it comes to gender, and that also means accurately recording biological sex, not just for research and insight, but also for patient safety. Following the publication of the Sullivan Review, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Wes Streeting MP) instructed the health service to immediately suspend applications for NHS number changes for children under 18 years old, in order to safeguard them.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what commemorative (1) days, (2) weeks, and (3) months, are recognised by (a) the Department of Health and Social Care, and (b) NHS England, as significant for diversity and inclusion, excluding religious holidays.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold an official list of approved commemorative days, weeks, or months. We follow direction from Cabinet Office on important national days to be marked across the Civil Service. All other commemorative days, weeks, or months are considered on a case- by-case basis in discussion with our staff networks and senior sponsors. Efforts are made to align any commemorative events to departmental priorities, and to include a health and social care angle to broaden the reach of the activity and deepen departmental understanding of how we are making a difference in our communities. Examples of commemorative events the Department has marked to date include Holocaust Memorial Day, Mental Health Awareness Week, Veterans Day, Pride Month, Black History Month, Cancer Awareness Days, Carers Day, and Social Mobility Day.
The Department will continue to be led by Cabinet Office steers and by the recommendations of our staff networks and leadership, and will try and leverage commemoration days to deepen our organisational knowledge of health and care issues and the communities we serve.
NHS England acknowledges a range of significant commemorative days and events that align with their organisational priorities and help them fulfil their Public Sector Equality Duty under the Equality Act 2010. While they engage with a broad spectrum of important health awareness and equality-related events, there is no formalised schedule or overarching programme in place.
Some of the commemorative days and events NHS England has recognised to date include VE Day, Mental Health Awareness Week, Sexual Abuse and Sexual Violence Awareness Week, International Women’s Day, Bowel Cancer Awareness Day, Ovarian Cancer Awareness Day, Black History Month, International Nurses Day, and Holocaust Memorial Day.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 3 October (HL1032), what is the Government’s Health Mission, and how they envision equality, diversity and inclusion policies developed by NHS trusts aligning with the Government's Health Mission and priorities.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government’s Health Mission is to build a health and social care system fit for the future, working in partnership with health and care system partners. The goals of the mission are to: ensure the National Health Service is there when people need it; reduce the lives lost to the biggest killers; and create a fairer Britain where everyone lives well for longer.
The Department and NHS England support the NHS trusts to define their own appropriate policies to support equality, diversity, and inclusion.