Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to tackle disparities in prostate cancer outcomes for Black men.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government understands that more needs to be done to improve outcomes for all people with prostate cancer, including for black men.
To address disparities and find ways to better detect prostate cancer earlier, we have invested £16 million in the United Kingdom-wide TRANSFORM trial, aimed at helping find the best ways of detecting prostate cancer in men, even if they are not displaying any symptoms. This research will aim to address some of the inequalities that exist in prostate cancer diagnosis by targeting black men in trial recruitment, ensuring that one in ten participants are black men. This is vital as previous trials have not included enough black men to adequately demonstrate the harms and benefits of screening for this group specifically, despite their significantly higher risk.
In addition, following publication of the 10-Year Health Plan, we will develop a new National Cancer Plan. The plan will seek to improve outcomes and address disparities, including for prostate cancer. A call for evidence, seeking contributions from individuals and organisations, including ideas on how to improve outcomes for prostate cancer, is available at the following link:
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to invest in new technologies and innovations to enhance the efficiency and resilience of the UK’s blood supply chain.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for blood services in England. The baseline price charged by NHSBT to hospitals for the blood they use is negotiated annually between NHSBT, NHS England, and the Department. This reflects the investments that NHSBT has made in blood supply in the previous year.
The Department provided seed-funding to support NHSBT’s work to increase collection capacity and resilience, including the new Brixton Donor Centre which opened in December 2024. A further donor centre will open in Brighton later this year, and NHSBT is developing business cases for additional mobile capacity across the West Midlands and North London. Plasma is collected as part of whole blood collection, as well as through dedicated plasma collection centres. Therefore, plasma collection will also be supported by this resilience work.
NHSBT, the Department, and NHS England are working together to ensure that hospitals are practicing effective stock management and resilience in order to respond to incidents through the Joint Blood Stocks Working Group. NHSBT plans to improve the efficiency of donor collection processes via the development of a Donor Session Platform, as this technology will improve the ability to “on board” donors and reduce deferrals.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding his Department has made available to improve the UK's whole blood processing and plasma collection capacities.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for blood services in England. The baseline price charged by NHSBT to hospitals for the blood they use is negotiated annually between NHSBT, NHS England, and the Department. This reflects the investments that NHSBT has made in blood supply in the previous year.
The Department provided seed-funding to support NHSBT’s work to increase collection capacity and resilience, including the new Brixton Donor Centre which opened in December 2024. A further donor centre will open in Brighton later this year, and NHSBT is developing business cases for additional mobile capacity across the West Midlands and North London. Plasma is collected as part of whole blood collection, as well as through dedicated plasma collection centres. Therefore, plasma collection will also be supported by this resilience work.
NHSBT, the Department, and NHS England are working together to ensure that hospitals are practicing effective stock management and resilience in order to respond to incidents through the Joint Blood Stocks Working Group. NHSBT plans to improve the efficiency of donor collection processes via the development of a Donor Session Platform, as this technology will improve the ability to “on board” donors and reduce deferrals.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has conducted a risk assessment on the potential impact of (a) future pandemics and (b) geopolitical disruption to the UK's blood stocks; and what contingency plans are in place for these scenarios.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are four blood services within the United Kingdom, namely the Welsh Blood Service, the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service, the Northern Ireland Blood Service, and NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT). In England, NHSBT moves blood around the country to balance blood stocks in all areas, and works closely with the other UK blood services.
The risks and impacts posed by pandemic disease is closely monitored by NHSBT through a risk assessment and a pandemic disease contingency plan. NHSBT is largely self-sufficient in the supply of whole blood to hospitals in England, and isn't reliant on supplies from other countries. Beyond its ability to move blood stocks to where they are needed across the country, NHSBT mitigates geopolitical risks to blood stocks through commercial arrangements with suppliers of vital consumables from overseas, for instance by sourcing blood bags from multiple supply regions and flexing stock holdings.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will promote the use of (a) sustainable and (b) reusable medical garments in the NHS.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service has committed to reaching net zero by 2045 for the emissions it influences through the goods and services it buys from its partners and suppliers. This includes a greater focus on procuring and using sustainable and reusable medical garments where this is safe and effective, such as reusable sterile gowns.
NHS England is working with NHS organisations to share best practice and evidence-based approaches, understand operational challenges, for example requirements for laundry infrastructure, and support the inclusion of lots to procure reusable medical textile services within relevant procurement frameworks. NHS England supported the Royal Surgical Colleges to develop and promote the Green Theatre Checklist to encourage sustainable theatre approaches, including medical garments. The checklist is available at the following link:
NHS England is also supporting innovation through the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) Healthcare programme, which has funded a project to support reuse of surgical textiles, more information about which can be found at the following link:
https://sbrihealthcare.co.uk/impact-case-studies/case-studies/revolution-zero
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of trends in the level of the availability of Elvanse medication.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision, including for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) assessment and support, to meet the health and care needs of their local population, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines. NICE guidelines for ADHD diagnosis and management aim to improve the diagnosis of ADHD and the quality of care and support people receive. The Department is looking into options for improving data collection and reporting on ADHD assessment waiting times, to help improve access to ADHD assessments in a timely way and in line with the NICE guidelines.
Disruptions to the supply of medicines used for the management of ADHD, including Lisdexamfetamine (Elvanse), have been primarily driven by issues which have resulted in capacity constraints at key manufacturing sites. The Department has been working closely with the respective manufacturers and some issues have now been resolved. However, we know that there continue to be disruptions to the supply of some other medicines, which should resolve by April 2024.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to NHS England's publication entitled 2023/24 priorities and operational planning guidance, what estimate her Department has made of the proportion of (a) NHS audiology departments and (b) private sector AQP audiology services that have successfully implemented a self-referral patient pathway.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
NHS England conducted a national Integrated Care Board (ICB) service level self-assessment in September 2023 which reported 88 age related hearing loss audiology services offering Self-Referral routes into existing audiology pathways in England.
To raise awareness of self-referral into audiology services, NHS England is adding information on the relevant condition specific pages on the NHS.UK website. ICBs are responsible for ensuring patients have the information they need to make decisions about their care including if they have the option to self-refer to locally commissioned services.
NHS England has supported ICBs to introduce self-referral routes via a range of national measures including web based collaborative sharing and learning spaces where examples, case studies and answers to frequently asked questions are shared and ICBs can discuss implementation with other areas. NHS England is also delivering a series of national Communities of Practice webinars.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to NHS England's publication entitled 2023/24 priorities and operational planning guidance, whether her Department has provided further (a) guidance and (b) other support to relevant Integrated Care Boards to help support the delivery of a self-referral patient pathway for audiology services.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
NHS England conducted a national Integrated Care Board (ICB) service level self-assessment in September 2023 which reported 88 age related hearing loss audiology services offering Self-Referral routes into existing audiology pathways in England.
To raise awareness of self-referral into audiology services, NHS England is adding information on the relevant condition specific pages on the NHS.UK website. ICBs are responsible for ensuring patients have the information they need to make decisions about their care including if they have the option to self-refer to locally commissioned services.
NHS England has supported ICBs to introduce self-referral routes via a range of national measures including web based collaborative sharing and learning spaces where examples, case studies and answers to frequently asked questions are shared and ICBs can discuss implementation with other areas. NHS England is also delivering a series of national Communities of Practice webinars.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to NHS England's publication entitled 2023/24 priorities and operational planning guidance, what information has been provided to NHS patients to enable them to (a) self-refer into audiology services and (b) identify whether their local service has a self-referral patient pathway.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
NHS England conducted a national Integrated Care Board (ICB) service level self-assessment in September 2023 which reported 88 age related hearing loss audiology services offering Self-Referral routes into existing audiology pathways in England.
To raise awareness of self-referral into audiology services, NHS England is adding information on the relevant condition specific pages on the NHS.UK website. ICBs are responsible for ensuring patients have the information they need to make decisions about their care including if they have the option to self-refer to locally commissioned services.
NHS England has supported ICBs to introduce self-referral routes via a range of national measures including web based collaborative sharing and learning spaces where examples, case studies and answers to frequently asked questions are shared and ICBs can discuss implementation with other areas. NHS England is also delivering a series of national Communities of Practice webinars.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve indoor air quality in (a) low-income homes and (b) urban areas.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence originally worked with Public Health England in publishing guidance setting out actions that can be taken by different parties to improve air quality in the home. The guidance is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng149
Guidance on understanding and addressing the health risks of damp and mould has been jointly published by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and the UK Health Security Agency. This guidance is aimed at all social and private rented housing landlords in England, tenants, owner occupiers and professionals, and we expect it to be of relevance to low-income homes. The guidance is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/damp-and-mould-understanding-and-addressing-the-health-risks-for-rented-housing-providers/understanding-and-addressing-the-health-risks-of-damp-and-mould-in-the-home--2
The Air Quality Strategy published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in April 2023 includes a section on indoor air quality for local authorities to consider in determining local action. In addition, the Environmental Improvement Plan 2023 sets out the measures that government will take to improve air quality more generally, including actions focused on urban areas.