Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to help reduce waiting times for cancer screening and testing in Sutton Coldfield constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government understands that more needs to be done to reduce waiting times for cancer patients. To achieve this, we have delivered an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week during our first year in Government, as the first step to ensuring early diagnosis and faster treatment.
We will support the National Health Service to transform diagnostic services by spending £1.65 billion on additional capacity, including new surgical hubs and diagnostic scanners, to support the delivery of over 30,000 more procedures and 1.25 million diagnostic tests as they come online.
In bowel cancer screening services across Birmingham and Solihull, the integrated care board (ICB) has successfully implemented the age-extension so all people aged 50 years old or over are now eligible for a screening test and the service is meeting targets.
Delays in breast cancer screening in this region have caught up from the backlogs seen during the pandemic and are now in line with national requirements. The symptomatic service for breast screening is also meeting the faster diagnosis standard.
NHS Birmingham and Solihull ICB is also running a cancer bus tour, stopping off at locations across Birmingham and Solihull, including two stops in the Sutton Coldfield constituency at Princess Alice Retail Park, across 18 dates throughout April, June and September 2025. Local citizens can talk to health professionals about the importance of cancer screening, learn how to check themselves for different cancers and find support to help them live the healthiest possible life.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
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 reduce waiting times for ambulances in the West Midlands.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the pressures on the National Health Service and the impact this is having on ambulance response times, including in the West Midlands.
We are determined to turn things around, our 10-Year Health Plan will be published in summer 2025, setting out major NHS reforms to move healthcare from hospital to the community, analogue to digital and sickness to prevention.
The NHS Urgent and emergency care plan 2025/26, published on 6 June 2025, requires health systems to focus on those areas likely to have the biggest impact on urgent and emergency care services this year. The plan includes actions that will reduce category 2 ambulance response times to 30 minutes and reduce ambulance handovers to 45 minutes, helping to get 550,000 more ambulances back on the road.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
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 reduce the backlog for cancer treatment in the West Midlands.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We will improve National Health Service cancer waiting time performance so that cancer patients are diagnosed and treated faster, including patients in the West Midlands.
We set out expectations for renewed focus on cancer targets in the Elective Reform plan, published on 6 January 2025. Our reforms to cancer care will see thousands of patients starting treatment within two months, and across the NHS we have already hit our target of delivering two million extra operations, scans, and appointments seven months early.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had discussions with the Birmingham and Solihull integrated care board on access to ear wax removal services in the context of their decision to commission self-referral community audiology services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not engaged with the Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board (ICB) directly on this point, but it is supportive of the ICB’s work to improve access to community-based services. All ICBs have a statutory responsibility to commission cost-effective healthcare to meet the needs of their local population. This includes the arrangement of audiology services.
In line with NHS England’s work to improve access to primary care following the COVID-19 pandemic, all ICBs were asked to expand self-referral pathways for certain carefully considered community-based services by September 2023.
However, the Birmingham and Solihull ICB recommend visiting a pharmacist for blocked ears caused by ear wax rather than using the self-referral hearing check service. Ear wax removal services are not a core service included in the national GP Contract, and general practitioners often recommend home treatment remedies to alleviate ear wax build-up as manual ear syringing is no longer advised by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence due to the risks associated with it, such as trauma to their ear drum or infection.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department has taken to help reduce the average waiting times for accessing NHS mental health services in the West Midlands.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future and that is there when people need it, the Government will recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers to reduce delays and provide faster treatment which will also help ease pressure on busy mental health services.
Despite the challenging fiscal environment, the Government has chosen to prioritise the funding to deliver expansions of NHS Talking Therapies and Individual Placement & Support schemes, demonstrating our commitment to addressing the root cause of mental health issues and providing support for people with severe mental illness to contribute to the economy by remaining in or returning to work.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make an assessment of the adequacy of funding levels for NHS dentists in the West Midlands.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government inherited public finances in their worst state since 1945. The National Health Service in England invests £3 billion into dentistry every year. NHS England is responsible for issuing guidance to integrated care boards (ICBs) on dental budgets, including ringfences. NHS England Planning Guidance for 2025/26 has now been published and sets out the funding available to ICBs.
The Government plans to tackle the challenges patients face when trying to access NHS dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most.
Responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to ICBs across England. For Sutton Coldfield constituency, this is NHS Birmingham and Solihull ICB.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
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 tackle the shortage of the drug CREON.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has been working with suppliers to address current supply issues with Creon, which is used by patients with conditions such as cystic fibrosis and certain cancers including pancreatic cancer. The supply issues with Creon are impacting countries throughout Europe and have been caused by limited availability of raw ingredients and manufacturing capacity constraints to produce volumes needed to meet demand. These issues have resulted in knock-on supply disruptions of alternative pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy medications. The Department is continuing to work with all suppliers of pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy to help resolve the supply issues in the short and longer term. This includes asking that they expedite deliveries, source stock from other markets, and increase production.
The supplier of Creon has advised that they expect to have regular supplies released each month going forward and are working to increase the quantities released. Serious Shortage Protocols are in place for Creon 10,000 and 25,000 capsules which pharmacists can use to restrict supply to one month at a time to ensure more patients have access to it whilst stock is limited.
We have worked closely with colleagues in NHS England to issue comprehensive guidance to healthcare professionals about these supply issues and encourage sharing of local solutions. The guidance provides advice on how to manage patients whilst there is disruption to supply and is being kept under review, with updates made as necessary.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 26 September to Question 49591 on Dementia: Health Services, how many civil servants worked on dementia care policy and delivery between 2009 and 2021; and when she plans to announce how many civil servants will work on the delivery of the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The information requested on the number of civil servants who worked on dementia care policy and delivery between 2009 and 2021 is not held centrally. We are currently unable to provide the information requested on resources for the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission as plans are under development. The specific number of civil servants working on the Mission will vary over time.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to Answer of 26 September to Question 49591, how many civil servants were allocated to work on the delivery of the National Dementia Mission between 2009 and 2021; and how many civil servants will be allocated to work on the delivery of the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Education)
There was no National Dementia Mission between 2009 and 2021. Resourcing plans for the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission are underway.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many civil servants will be allocated to work on the delivery of the National Dementia Mission.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Education)
At this stage, we are currently unable to confirm the specific number of civil servants who will be allocated to work on the delivery of the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission, announced on 14 August 2022.