Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she has taken to work with (a) the NHS and (b) other stakeholders to increase earlier cancer diagnoses.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Improving early diagnosis of cancer remains a priority for NHS England and the Government. NHS England is working towards the NHS Long Term Plan’s ambition of diagnosing 75% of stageable cancers at stage one and two by 2028. The latest published data shows this was 54% between January to December 2021. Achieving this ambition will mean that, from 2028, 55,000 more people each year will survive their cancer for at least five years after diagnosis. Ministers and officials from the Department regularly meet with NHS England and other stakeholders, to discuss progress towards the ambition.
NHS England’s comprehensive Early Diagnosis strategy is based on six core strands of activity, from raising awareness of cancer symptoms and encouraging people to come forward, to implementing targeted interventions for particular cancer types that we know have previously experienced later stages of diagnosis.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the NHS has sufficient doses of measles vaccines.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
There are sufficient doses of the measles mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine for the National Health Service immunisation programme in England. The UK Health Security Agency is responsible for the MMR vaccine supply across the United Kingdom, and there is sufficient supply for all of the UK, including for ongoing catch-up efforts.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department is taking steps to prevent the selling of prescription drugs online without requiring a prescription.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is the regulator in the United Kingdom for human medicines and is responsible for enforcing the Human Medicines Regulations 2012, which are available at the following link:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2012/1916/contents/made
The MHRA has identified the illegal sale and supply of human medicines as a global challenge. This includes the sale of prescription drugs without a prescription from unregulated sources. Criminal gangs, often based overseas, advertise medicines through illicit websites resembling those of legitimate pharmacies, while others exploit online marketplaces or sell social media platforms.
The MHRA has a dedicated Criminal Enforcement Unit (CEU) that works with partners across the Government, policing to prevent and disrupt this illegal trade and to bring to justice those involved. The CEU monitors online channels for evidence of illegal activity and takes proportionate regulatory action. This includes using the full range of the Agency’s powers to investigate and prosecute offenders where necessary and appropriate. The unit also works to remove illegally trading websites and remove criminal profits from offenders. Through its #FakeMeds communications campaign the MHRA also provides quick and easy tools to help the public avoid buying illegally traded medicines when they shop online.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help support people diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
To support the provision of optimal support for people with multiple sclerosis (MS) and other neurological conditions, NHS England has established the Neuroscience Transformation Programme, a multi-year, clinically led programme aimed at improving specialised adult neuroscience services in England and developing a new model of integrated care for neurology services.
The Neuroscience Transformation Programme seeks to support emerging regional teams in addition to Integrated Care Systems in the National Health Service, through establishing a ‘what good looks like’ for specialised neuroscience services for a local population.
NHS England has also established the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) national programme, which is designed to improve the treatment and care of patients through in-depth, clinically led review of specialties to examine how things are currently being done and how they could be improved.
The GIRFT National Specialty Report on Neurology, published in September 2021, focuses on improving access to care and ensuring services are available close to patients’ homes where feasible. The report highlights differences in how services are delivered and highlights examples of local good practice to improve patient services nationally.
NHS systems should also continue to implement the guidance set out in the Progressive Neurological Conditions RightCare Toolkit, which was developed in collaboration with key stakeholders such as the MS Trust and the MS Society. The Toolkit supports improvements to pathways for progressive neurological patients, ensuring that commissioners focus on quicker and more accurate diagnoses and increasing the availability of neurorehabilitation, reablement, and psychosocial support.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information her Department holds on the number of people who have received organ transplants in Romford constituency in each year since 2020.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Blood and Transplant is responsible for organ donation in the United Kingdom. The following tables shows the number of people who have received organ transplants in Romford constituency each year since 2020:
Year | Organ Transplants |
2019/20 | 12 |
2020/21 | 5 or less |
2021/22 | 11 |
2022/23 | 10 |
Source: NHS Blood and Transplant
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
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 effectiveness of medicinal cannabis treatments provided by the NHS; and whether she has plans to increase the number of treatments available.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Licensed cannabis-based medicines are available and funded on the National Health Service, where the safety, quality and clinical and cost effectiveness has been assessed and approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
The Government continues to encourage manufacturers to develop new treatments and invest in research and clinical trials, and offers scientific and research advice from the MHRA and the National Institute for Health and Care Research.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have been vaccinated against flu this winter in Romford constituency.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
As of 10 January 2024, 27,425 flu vaccinations have been administered to the eligible population in the Romford constituency since the start of the 2023/24 flu campaign.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has taken recent steps to increase the range of services available in pharmacies in (a) Romford constituency and (b) the London Borough of Havering.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Pharmacies across England, including in Romford and the London Borough of Havering, can already choose to deliver a wider range of services in the National Health Service including for example providing advice on newly prescribed medicines for long term conditions, blood pressure checks, oral contraception consultations and minor illness referrals from general practitioners (GPs), NHS111 and urgent and emergency care. In early 2024, we will expand this service offer in community pharmacy and launch Pharmacy First which will enable community pharmacists to manage seven common conditions including the supply of prescription-only medicines without a prescription from a GP. The seven conditions are sinusitis, sore throat, earache, infected insect bite, impetigo, shingles and uncomplicated urinary tract infections in women.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she has taken with Cabinet colleagues to tackle increases in the use of nitazenes (a) nationally and (b) in the South East England.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care continues to monitor the use of nitazenes and other synthetic opioids and has taken action to tackle the threat they pose. In July 2023, a National Patient Safety Alert was issued to the National Health Service and others, warning of potent synthetic opioids implicated in heroin overdoses and deaths and actions that local areas should take. The Department of Health and Social Care is a core member of the cross-government Task Force to develop mitigations to the synthetic opioids threat. Membership of the task force also includes the Home Office, the Ministry of Justice, National Crime Agency, HM Prisons and Probation Service, Border Force and the police. As part of those mitigations, the Department of Health and Social Care is accelerating its work to expand access to naloxone and developing a drugs surveillance and early warning system.
The Government is investing £780 million nationally between 2022/23 and 2024/25 through drug strategy funding to improve drug treatment and recovery systems which will focus on increasing the numbers in treatment for opiate use.
In the South East specifically, an additional £43.7 million has been allocated via the Supplementary Substance Misuse Treatment and Recovery (SSMTR) Grant and £3.3 million for the Inpatient Detoxification Grant to improve drug and alcohol treatment and recovery systems, totalling £47m. The following tables show indicative funding allocations for these grants for each area in the South East:
Supplementary Substance Misuse Treatment and Recovery (SSMTR) Grant | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 | Total |
Bracknell Forest | £144,526 | £147,375 | £206,039 | £497,940 |
Brighton and Hove | £1,142,490 | £1,872,323 | £3,613,294 | £6,628,107 |
Buckinghamshire | £339,114 | £345,800 | £584,638 | £1,269,552 |
East Sussex | £391,085 | £1,741,085 | £2,028,218 | £4,160,388 |
Hampshire | £802,715 | £818,541 | £1,541,380 | £3,162,636 |
Isle of Wight | £275,155 | £280,580 | £417,554 | £973,290 |
Kent | £1,101,719 | £2,202,986 | £3,615,400 | £6,920,105 |
Medway | £389,709 | £418,172 | £686,277 | £1,494,159 |
Oxfordshire | £622,452 | £634,724 | £1,136,228 | £2,393,403 |
Portsmouth | £503,741 | £825,535 | £1,593,156 | £2,922,432 |
Reading | £413,221 | £469,761 | £770,942 | £1,653,924 |
Slough | £266,434 | £271,687 | £277,256 | £815,378 |
Southampton | £654,506 | £1,072,611 | £2,069,974 | £3,797,091 |
Surrey | £721,703 | £735,933 | £1,500,381 | £2,958,017 |
West Berkshire | £184,055 | £187,684 | £220,527 | £592,265 |
West Sussex | £665,692 | £678,817 | £1,306,719 | £2,651,228 |
Windsor and Maidenhead | £164,752 | £168,000 | £240,617 | £573,368 |
Wokingham | £83,007 | £84,644 | £144,184 | £311,835 |
Total | £8,866,076 | £12,956,258 | £21,952,784 | £43,775,118 |
Inpatient Detoxification Grant | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 | Total |
Bracknell Forest | £13,809 | £13,809 | £13,809 | £41,427 |
Brighton and Hove | £96,016 | £96,016 | £96,016 | £288,048 |
Buckinghamshire | £44,258 | £44,258 | £44,258 | £132,774 |
East Sussex | £72,422 | £72,422 | £72,422 | £217,266 |
Hampshire | £121,199 | £121,199 | £121,199 | £363,597 |
Isle of Wight | £22,750 | £22,750 | £22,750 | £68,250 |
Kent | £167,295 | £167,295 | £167,295 | £501,885 |
Medway | £37,006 | £37,006 | £37,006 | £111,018 |
Oxfordshire | £96,612 | £96,612 | £96,612 | £289,836 |
Portsmouth | £48,132 | £48,132 | £48,132 | £144,396 |
Reading | £41,625 | £41,625 | £41,625 | £124,875 |
Slough | £23,991 | £23,991 | £23,991 | £71,973 |
Southampton | £58,364 | £58,364 | £58,364 | £175,092 |
Surrey | £106,099 | £106,099 | £106,099 | £318,297 |
West Berkshire | £16,392 | £16,392 | £16,392 | £49,176 |
West Sussex | £96,214 | £96,214 | £96,214 | £288,642 |
Windsor and Maidenhead | £17,335 | £17,335 | £17,335 | £52,005 |
Wokingham | £9,686 | £9,686 | £9,686 | £29,058 |
Total | £1,089,205 | £1,089,205 | £1,089,205 | £3,287,837 |
Further details of funding allocations for individual local authority areas are available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/extra-funding-for-drug-and-alcohol-treatment-2024-to-2025
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing an upper age limit for NHS GPs.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The General Medical Council (GMC) is the independent regulator of all medical doctors practising in the United Kingdom which sets and enforces the standards all doctors must adhere to. In order to practise medicine in the UK, doctors are required to hold registration with a licence to practise.
To maintain their licence to practise, all doctors, regardless of their age, must demonstrate through the GMC's revalidation process that they remain up to date and fit to practise.'
There is currently no mandated retirement age for general practices and the Department has no plans to make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing an upper age limit for NHS GPs.