Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that the NHS provides adequate support to (a) digitally excluded and (b) vulnerable people in (i) North East Hampshire constituency and (ii) other rural areas.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are working to improve access to digital services, outcomes, and experience for the widest range of people, based on their preferences. Digital health tools should be part of a wider offering that includes face-to-face support with appropriate help for people who struggle to access digital services.
NHS England has successfully run a number of programmes to support patients, carers, and health service staff with their digital skills. These include: the Digital Health Champions programme, a proof of concept to support citizens who have no or low digital skills with understanding how to access health services online; the Widening Digital Participation programme, aimed to ensure more people have the digital skills, motivation and means to access health information and services online; and the NHS App ‘Spoken Word’ Pilot project, designed to test the efficacy of promoting National Health Service digital health products and services in languages other than English.
NHS England has published a framework for NHS action offering support to vulnerable people and those digitally excluded in rural areas and is developing further resources and practical actions including one-to-one support to improve digital literacy and access to NHS tools. All programmes are actively considering how they can contribute to improvements in healthcare inequalities and digital inclusion.
We know that some patients may struggle or prefer not to use digital options. That is why we have also committed to work with digital transformation teams in integrated care boards and with groups at risk of digital exclusion to ensure digital solutions are inclusive. We will also continue to provide high quality, non-digital options for those who want and need them.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the digitalisation of NHS services on people who are digitally excluded.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are working to improve access to digital services, outcomes, and experience for the widest range of people, based on their preferences. Digital health tools should be part of a wider offering that includes face-to-face support with appropriate help for people who struggle to access digital services.
NHS England has successfully run a number of programmes to support patients, carers, and health service staff with their digital skills. These include: the Digital Health Champions programme, a proof of concept to support citizens who have no or low digital skills with understanding how to access health services online; the Widening Digital Participation programme, aimed to ensure more people have the digital skills, motivation and means to access health information and services online; and the NHS App ‘Spoken Word’ Pilot project, designed to test the efficacy of promoting National Health Service digital health products and services in languages other than English.
NHS England has published a framework for NHS action offering support to vulnerable people and those digitally excluded in rural areas and is developing further resources and practical actions including one-to-one support to improve digital literacy and access to NHS tools. All programmes are actively considering how they can contribute to improvements in healthcare inequalities and digital inclusion.
We know that some patients may struggle or prefer not to use digital options. That is why we have also committed to work with digital transformation teams in integrated care boards and with groups at risk of digital exclusion to ensure digital solutions are inclusive. We will also continue to provide high quality, non-digital options for those who want and need them.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that parents receive (a) up to date and (b) relevant advice for feeding infants.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department undertakes a range of activities to ensure that parents receive up-to-date and relevant advice on infant feeding. We are investing £18.5 million in 2025/26 for infant feeding support across 75 local authorities in England through the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme. We have also extended the National Breastfeeding Helpline so that more families across the United Kingdom can access evidence-based information and support 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
The Best Start in Life and NHS websites both provide trusted information on breastfeeding, formula feeding and introducing solid food, and are regularly updated in line with guidance from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Recent updates include advice on the use of shop-bought baby food.
Voluntary industry guidelines for commercial baby food and drink aimed at babies and young children aged up to 36 months old have also been published. The guidelines encourage manufacturers to reduce levels of sugar and salt in, and improve the labelling and marketing of, these products. This will make it easier for parents and carers to make healthier and more informed choices.
To ensure information reaches families at the right time, targeted advertising campaigns are run primarily on social media to engage parents whose babies are approaching weaning age, providing them with timely and relevant advice. In addition, most families receive infant feeding information and support from midwives and health visitors, who deliver targeted interventions as appropriate and support families in accessing specialist services where needed.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
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 support newly qualified midwives in securing employment following the completion of their training placements.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 11 August 2025, the Government announced the Graduate Guarantee for nurses and midwives. The guarantee will ensure that there are enough positions for every newly qualified midwife in England. The package of measures will unlock thousands of jobs and will ensure thousands of new posts are easier to access by removing barriers for National Health Service trusts, creating opportunities for graduates and ensuring a seamless transition from training to employment.
Vacant maternity support worker posts will be temporarily converted to Band 5 midwifery roles, backed by £8 million to create new opportunities specifically for newly qualified midwives, to further ease the recruitment strain.
These new measures aim to tackle graduates’ concerns about job availability and ensure the NHS has the right staff to provide the best possible care to patients everywhere.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
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 shortages of medications used to treat Parkinson’s disease.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Medicine supply issues are global in their nature and, while we cannot always prevent them, we have a range of well-established processes and tools to manage them when they arise and to mitigate risks to patients. There is a team in the Department that deals with medicine supply problems by working closely with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the pharmaceutical industry, NHS England and others operating in the supply chain. We also work with partners to ensure alternative treatments are available to patients until their usual treatments are back in stock.
The Department has been notified of a discontinuation of apomorphine (APO-go PFS) 50mg/10ml pre-filled syringes from September 2025 used in the management of Parkinson’s Disease. Alternative formulations of apomorphine remain available for patients and management guidance has been issued to the National Health Service.
On 11 August, we published a policy paper titled Managing a robust and resilient supply of medicines. This marks the beginning of a new phase of work planned and aims to provide greater transparency of the further actions that the Department and NHS England are taking to protect patients from medicines shortages and strengthen medicines supply chain resilience. The paper is available at the following link:
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with NICE on the recommended frequency of infant head measurements.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Department officials have spoken to colleagues at the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) about its guidance on infant measurements following a meeting between my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and Harry’s Hydrocephalus Awareness Trust in 2024. NICE is responsible for deciding whether its clinical guidelines should be updated in light of new evidence.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
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 ensure people who obtain weight loss injections through (a) private providers and (b) online services are able to safely dispose of used needles.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is important for needles to be disposed of safely, as inappropriate disposal methods create a risk of accidental needle-stick injuries to pharmacy or general practice staff, waste management operatives, and other members of the public, potentially leading to infection with blood-borne diseases. All needles should be disposed in sharps bins, which can be obtained on prescription or purchased. Local authorities are obliged to collect clinical waste, including needles bins, from householders upon request, but under section 45(3)(b) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, they may make a reasonable charge for this service. Patients can find out how to request a clinical waste collection from their local authority on the GOV.UK website.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
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 help tackle medicine shortages in (a) North East Hampshire constituency and (b) other rural areas for (i) Parkinson's, (ii) epilepsy and (iii) other chronic conditions.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is working with industry to help resolve intermittent supply issues with some epilepsy and Parkinson’s Disease medications. As a result of ongoing activity and intensive work, including directing suppliers to expedite deliveries, most issues have been resolved.
We are currently aware of an ongoing supply issue with all strengths of topiramate tablets, used to manage epilepsy, from one manufacturer. This supply issue is expected to resolve by the end of August 2025. Alternative suppliers have sufficient supply to support patients. We have issued management guidance to the National Health Service.
We are also aware of a shortage of phenobarbital 15 milligram tablets and phenobarbital 15 milligram/5 millilitre elixir from two different manufacturers; these are also used to manage epilepsy. Resupply dates are yet to be confirmed for phenobarbital 15 milligram tablets, and the elixir issue is expected to resolve by late June 2025. Management guidance has been issued to the NHS for both formulations. In both cases, alternative suppliers are in stock with sufficient supply to support patients.
The Department is aware of supply constraints with amantadine 100 milligram capsules used in the management of Parkinson’s Disease, however stocks remain available from alternative suppliers to cover demand. The Department have also been notified of a discontinuation of Apomorphine (APO-go PFS) 50 milligram/10 millilitre pre-filled syringes from April 2025. Alternative formulations of apomorphine remain available for patients and management guidance has been issued to the NHS.
The Department monitors and manages medicine supply at a national level so that stocks remain available to meet regional and local demand. Information on stock levels within North East Hampshire and other rural areas is not held centrally.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that (a) scans, (b) medical records and (c) treatment plans are transferred effectively between medical centres in (i) Hampshire and (ii) Surrey.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Ensuring that information on diagnoses and treatment can be shared between services is vital to the provision of safe and effective health care. Improving this will enable enhanced quality of care and safety for patients, and better informed clinical and care decision-making empowered by access to precise and comprehensive information.
The Connecting Care Records programme joins up information based on the individual, rather than through a single organisation. Through targeted investment, local Connecting Care Record systems have been established in all integrated commissioning board areas. 97% of trusts and 92% of primary care networks are now connected. Across the Frimley Health and Care Integrated Care System there is extensive sharing to support care between acute providers and general practitioners through the patient record systems. Local transformation activities are underway that will support local ambulance providers in being able to access shared records in the coming weeks, and which will support more comprehensive sharing of care plans over the coming months.
As you may also be aware, NHS England has been supporting National Health Service trusts and foundation trusts in acquiring and developing the effectiveness of their electronic patient records, and support is available to bring trusts to an optimum level of digital maturity, which will further reduce barriers to the sharing of information needed to treat patients. Further information is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/data-and-clinical-record-sharing/
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has announced the development of a single patient record to provide a comprehensive patient record and to end the need for patients repeating their medical history when interacting with the NHS.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support patients with motor neurone disease.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
At the national level, there are a number of initiatives supporting service improvement and better care for patients with motor neurone disease (MND), including the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology and the RightCare Progressive Neurological Conditions Toolkit. NHS England has also established a Neurology Transformation Programme, a multi-year, clinically led programme, which has developed a new model of integrated care to support integrated care boards to deliver the right service, at the right time, for all neurology patients, including those with MND.
We have set up a United Kingdom-wide Neuro Forum, facilitating formal, biannual meetings across the Department, NHS England, the devolved administrations and health services, and Neurological Alliances of all four nations. The new forum brings key stakeholders together, to share learnings across the system and discuss challenges, best practice examples, and potential solutions for improving the care of people with neurological conditions, including MND.
NHS England commissions the specialised elements of MND care that patients may receive from 27 specialised neurology centres across England. Within specialised centres, neurological multidisciplinary teams ensure patients can access a range of health professionals and specialised treatment and support, according to their needs.
Government responsibility for delivering MND research is shared between the Department of Health and Social Care, with research delivered via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology, with research delivered via UK Research and Innovation. Government funders are continuing to invest into MND research. For example, investing £12.5 million to support the best discovery science in MND at the UK Dementia Research Institute, £6 million of Government funding for the MND Translational Accelerator, which is seeking to speed up the development of treatments for MND, and an £8 million investment into EXPERTS-ALS, which screens for drugs that have the potential to be successful in clinical trials for people with MND.