Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Department has assessed the potential benefits of enabling GPs to issue automatic repeat prescriptions for patients on stable, long-term medication.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Responsibility for prescribing, including the issue of repeat prescribing and the duration of prescriptions, rests with the prescriber who has clinical responsibility for that particular aspect of a patient’s care.
Electronic repeat dispensing is already implemented in the National Health Service and allows prescribers to authorise and issue a batch of repeat prescriptions for up to 12 months with just one digital signature. Since April 2019, the GP Contract has stated that electronic repeat dispensing should be used for all patients for whom it is clinically appropriate.
Prescriptions for longer periods of time may be more appropriate and more convenient for some patients with stable long-term conditions. However, for some patients, issuing shorter prescriptions may be appropriate to give the prescriber the opportunity to review the patient’s medicines, which is important for some treatment courses that require greater scrutiny or monitoring to be managed appropriately.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether (a) families and (b) attorneys holding Power of Attorney are notified immediately when a DNR notice is added to a vulnerable adult’s medical record.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department remains clear that it is unacceptable for Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) decisions to be applied in a blanket fashion to any group of people and should be fully discussed with the individual and their family where possible and appropriate. NHS England clinical leaders have issued a number of statements and letters to health and care providers which emphasise personalised approaches to care and treatment and which reiterate that there has never been an instruction or directive issued by the National Health Service to put in place a DNACPR solely on the basis of disability, learning disability, or special needs.
Agreement to a DNACPR is an individual decision and should involve the person concerned or, where the person lacks capacity, their families, carers, guardians, or other legally recognised advocates. Guidance from clinical bodies such as the British Medical Association, the Resuscitation Council UK, and Royal College of Nursing reflects this. These decisions should take into account the patient’s wishes, or those of people close to the patient, informed by a sensitive explanation of the risks and burdens associated with giving cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The treating doctor should try to reach agreement with the patient or those close to the patient. If, after discussion, the doctor remains of the view that cardiopulmonary resuscitation would not be clinically appropriate, there is not an obligation to attempt it. However, the rationale for not doing so should be clearly articulated. NHS England has published public-facing guidance on DNACPR decisions on the NHS.UK website. This includes advice on asking for a second opinion or review if patients, or their families, disagree with a DNACPR decision.
The Department has not received any complaints regarding DNACPR decisions being applied without consent in the last five years.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether guidance has been issued to NHS Trusts to ensure that DNR decisions are never made solely on the basis of disability, learning disability and special needs.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department remains clear that it is unacceptable for Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) decisions to be applied in a blanket fashion to any group of people and should be fully discussed with the individual and their family where possible and appropriate. NHS England clinical leaders have issued a number of statements and letters to health and care providers which emphasise personalised approaches to care and treatment and which reiterate that there has never been an instruction or directive issued by the National Health Service to put in place a DNACPR solely on the basis of disability, learning disability, or special needs.
Agreement to a DNACPR is an individual decision and should involve the person concerned or, where the person lacks capacity, their families, carers, guardians, or other legally recognised advocates. Guidance from clinical bodies such as the British Medical Association, the Resuscitation Council UK, and Royal College of Nursing reflects this. These decisions should take into account the patient’s wishes, or those of people close to the patient, informed by a sensitive explanation of the risks and burdens associated with giving cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The treating doctor should try to reach agreement with the patient or those close to the patient. If, after discussion, the doctor remains of the view that cardiopulmonary resuscitation would not be clinically appropriate, there is not an obligation to attempt it. However, the rationale for not doing so should be clearly articulated. NHS England has published public-facing guidance on DNACPR decisions on the NHS.UK website. This includes advice on asking for a second opinion or review if patients, or their families, disagree with a DNACPR decision.
The Department has not received any complaints regarding DNACPR decisions being applied without consent in the last five years.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what mechanisms exist for healthcare professionals to report poverty in people with terminal illnesses to the Department for Work and Pensions.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many complaints his Department has received in each of the last five years regarding DNR notices being applied without consent.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department remains clear that it is unacceptable for Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) decisions to be applied in a blanket fashion to any group of people and should be fully discussed with the individual and their family where possible and appropriate. NHS England clinical leaders have issued a number of statements and letters to health and care providers which emphasise personalised approaches to care and treatment and which reiterate that there has never been an instruction or directive issued by the National Health Service to put in place a DNACPR solely on the basis of disability, learning disability, or special needs.
Agreement to a DNACPR is an individual decision and should involve the person concerned or, where the person lacks capacity, their families, carers, guardians, or other legally recognised advocates. Guidance from clinical bodies such as the British Medical Association, the Resuscitation Council UK, and Royal College of Nursing reflects this. These decisions should take into account the patient’s wishes, or those of people close to the patient, informed by a sensitive explanation of the risks and burdens associated with giving cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The treating doctor should try to reach agreement with the patient or those close to the patient. If, after discussion, the doctor remains of the view that cardiopulmonary resuscitation would not be clinically appropriate, there is not an obligation to attempt it. However, the rationale for not doing so should be clearly articulated. NHS England has published public-facing guidance on DNACPR decisions on the NHS.UK website. This includes advice on asking for a second opinion or review if patients, or their families, disagree with a DNACPR decision.
The Department has not received any complaints regarding DNACPR decisions being applied without consent in the last five years.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of hospital admissions due to acute influenza across Lancashire; and how this compares to the same period last year.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data on hospital admissions due to flu at a county level is not published. Between 25 November and 7 December 2025, there was a daily average of 346 adult general and acute beds occupied by flu patients in acute trusts in the North West. This was higher than over the same period last year when there was a daily average of 142 adult general and acute beds occupied by flu patients.
NHS England began publication of Winter Situation Reports, which includes flu-specific bed occupancy at a regional level, from 24 November 2025 and from 25 November in 2024. These figures are published in the NHS England Winter Situation Reports, which are available at the following link:
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking with the NHS to end the practice of discharging mothers with newborn babies into B&Bs or other unsuitable accommodation.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is working closely with the National Health Service to end the practice of mothers with newborns being discharged to bed and breakfasts or other forms of unsuitable shared housing.
Our new Child Poverty Strategy was published 5 December 2025 and will end the unlawful placement of families in bed and breakfasts beyond the six-week limit. To support this, the Government is investing £8 million in Emergency Accommodation Reduction Pilots in 20 local authorities that have the highest use of bed and breakfasts for homeless families and is continuing the programme for the next three years.
We will work with local authorities, supported by robust NHS pathways, to make sure safe and appropriate alternatives are available and used. This includes identifying issues as early as possible to help ensure that the housing a new mother and their newborn will be discharged to meets their needs.
We are also working across the Government to support children in temporary accommodation. This includes introducing a clinical code for children in temporary accommodation, ensuring these families are proactively contacted by health services and ending the practice of discharging newborn babies into a bed and breakfast or other unsuitable shared accommodation.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
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 digital social care record system is designed and maintained to national security standards.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not designed a single digital social care record (DSCR) system. Rather, through the Digitising Social Care (DiSC) programme which ended in April 2025, the Government set standards for DSCRs and created a list of solutions that have been assured against those key standards and capabilities. This includes data, cybersecurity, and interoperability standards. There are now 21 assured solutions on the list. In partnership with NHS England, the Department has driven the adoption of DSCRs to 80% of Care Quality Commission registered care providers, benefiting 89% of people who draw on care.
Most, but not all, care providers are using assured DSCRs. Building on the work of the DiSC programme, we have set an ambition for all care providers to be fully digitised by the end of this Parliament. A fully digitised care provider is a registered care provider that uses an assured DSCR and meets national data security standards as set out through the Data Security and Protection Toolkit. These standards protect people’s sensitive information and make sure systems can connect safely and securely across health and social care.
In January 2025, the Department announced that it is investing in a new national data infrastructure for social care. This will lay the foundations for near real-time visibility of information from adult social care, such as DSCRs, and health care services. Data protection, privacy, and transparency, as well as the ethical use of data, will be central to the design of the infrastructure.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NHS England audits the use of DNR notices in cases involving vulnerable adults.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England does not audit the use of Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) decisions in cases involving vulnerable adults. However, the Learning from Lives and Deaths Review (LeDeR) includes questions on the quality and content of DNACPR records. The review supports local service improvement and has been running for several years.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to publish yearly progress reports on the implementation of the Single Patient Record.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department and NHS England will be monitoring the implementation of the single patient record and will provide regular updates on progress.