Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
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 healthcare (a) access and (b) outcomes in rural communities.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has asked distinguished surgeon Professor Lord Darzi to investigate the problems that are affecting the National Health Service. The Government will then begin work on an ambitious programme of action, a 10-year plan to put the NHS back on its feet. That includes the NHS in our rural and coastal areas, as well as the NHS in urban areas.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to improve mental health provision for farmers.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
People across the country are not getting the mental health support they need, which is why the Government will fix the broken system to ensure we give mental health the same attention and focus as physical health. This should help people in rural areas, including farmers, to be confident in accessing high quality mental health support when they need it.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
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 increase dementia diagnosis rates.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The recovery of the dementia diagnosis rate to the national ambition of 66.7% is included in the National Health Service’s priorities and operational planning guidance for 2024/25. This provides clear direction for the integrated care boards (ICBs) to support delivery of timely diagnoses.
The latest dementia diagnosis rate reported by NHS England for the end of June 2024 was 65%. Timely diagnosis of dementia is vital to ensuring that a person with dementia in any local area can access the advice, information, care, and support that can help them to live well with the condition, and remain independent for as long as possible.
To support recovery of the dementia diagnosis rates and implementation of the Dementia Care Pathway, NHS England has funded an evidence-based improvement project for two trusts in each region, 14 sites in total, to pilot tools to improve the diagnosis of dementia and the provision of support in care homes.
Additionally, the Dementia Intelligence Network was commissioned to develop a resource for local health systems to support investigation of the underlying variation in dementia diagnosis rates. This work aims to provide context for variation and enable targeted investigation and provision of support at a local level to enhance diagnosis rates.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the NHS England Children's Hospice Grant will be continued beyond 2023-24.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
NHS England determines the best use of its financial settlement to deliver services. Funding arrangements for children’s hospices beyond 2023/24 have not yet been agreed. Palliative and end of life care is commissioned locally by integrated care boards in response to the needs of their local population.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of public pension rules on early retirement rates of health professionals from the NHS.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department announced in 'Our plan for patients' intentions to implement new retirement flexibilities to support our most experienced doctors and nurses to stay in the workforce longer and change pension scheme rules to make it easier and more attractive for retired staff to return to service. A consultation on detailed proposals has been published on the 5th of December. This is expected to propose a new partial retirement flexibility and allowing retired staff to build up more pension when returning to service. It will also propose the permanent removal of the 16-hour rule that limited the amount of work retired staff could do in the first month upon returning to service.
In addition, the Department has extended until 31 March 2025 the suspension of pension abatement for nurses and other staff who claimed their pension early using special class retirement rights. This means they can contribute additional hours without affecting their pension. We are also working with NHS England to encourage NHS Trusts to explore local solutions for senior clinicians affected by pension tax charges, including the option of employer pension contribution recycling.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
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 dementia care in rural areas.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the provision of dementia care services. NHS England expects ICBs to commission services based on local population needs.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to improve dementia care in the NHS in the next 10 years.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
In 2021/22, £17 million was made available to clinical commissioning groups to address dementia waiting lists and increase the number of diagnoses. Work to improve dementia diagnosis rates will continue in 2022/23.
We will also double funding for dementia research to £160 million a year by 2024/25. This will include research into its causes, prevention, treatment and care.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
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 ensure that the removal of specific pain medicines under NICE guidelines does not negatively impact people living with chronic pain.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guideline recommends that people with chronic primary pain should not initially receive commonly used drugs including paracetamol, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, benzodiazepines or opioids. NICE has determined there is little or no evidence that these treatment options have an impact on quality of life, pain or psychological distress and can cause harm, including possible addiction.
While NICE guidelines are not mandatory, we expect that patients presenting with symptoms consistent with chronic long term pain conditions should be managed according to clinical need and all current guidance. NICE continues to work with system partners to support the implementation of its updated guidelines. However, NICE has stated that medicines should not be withdrawn from patients when shown to be safe and effective for the individual and recommends that clinicians should discuss the risks and benefits of medication with the patient.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
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 increase NHS dental provision for (a) unregistered children and (b) vulnerable NHS patients in Rutland and Melton constituency.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Dental patients are not registered to a particular practice outside a course of treatment. A practice can accept a patient for a course of treatment and there are no geographical restrictions on which dental practice a patient may attend, including those in Rutland and Melton.
In 2021/22, an additional £50 million was provided for National Health Service dentistry in the final quarter to provide urgent care to patients. The appointments were targeted to patients in most need of urgent dental treatment, including vulnerable groups and children. Between April and June 2022, NHS England and NHS Improvement have asked practices to deliver at least 95% of contracted units of dental activity to improve access for patients safely, including children and vulnerable patients. Specialist community dental services which treat particularly vulnerable people also benefited from this additional funding. Children, people with learning disabilities, autism or severe mental health problems were prioritised in these services.
The Department and NHS England and Improvement are working with stakeholders, including the British Dental Association, to improve to the NHS dental system. This aims to increase patient access, reduce health inequalities and make the NHS a more attractive place to work for dentists. Negotiations are currently underway on initial measures.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer to Question 3755 on Caesarean Sections: Maternity Services, if he will strengthen post natal care for mothers who have had a caesarean section in the upcoming Women's Health Strategy.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Further information on the specific topics which will be addressed in the Women’s Health Strategy will be available in due course. We will publish the Strategy later this year.