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 recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of GP surgeries in Lancashire no longer conducting (a) hospital and (b) specialist-requested blood tests on patients.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We understand the pressures that general practices (GPs) are facing, which is why we are investing an additional £889 million into GPs, to reinforce the front door of the National Health Service, in 2025/26. The independent review body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB) has recommended an uplift of 4% to the pay ranges for salaried GPs, and to GP contractor pay. As with last year, we are accepting the DDRB’s pay recommendation, and we will provide a 4% uplift to the pay elements of the GP Contract on a consolidated basis, on top of the provisional 2.8% uplift already provided, to bring it up to 4%. This is the biggest increase in over a decade, and we are pleased that the General Practitioners Committee England is supportive of the contract changes.
The Red Tape Challenge, launched by my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and NHS England’s Chief Executive Officer, will also aim to address challenges seen by services between primary and secondary care interface. This work and investment will support the move from the hospital to the community, one of the three fundamental shifts set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.
Local enhanced services, such as blood tests, are negotiated and agreed locally, and are commissioned by integrated care boards to fit the needs of the local population. GPs can choose whether or not they would like to participate in directly providing these services. These services can vary in scope and funding across the country.
Community diagnostic centres (CDCs) are supporting one of the Government’s top priorities for health, to shift care from the hospital to the community. CDCs offer local populations a wide range of diagnostic tests, including phlebotomy, closer to home and allow for greater choice on where and how they are undertaken, whilst also reducing pressure on the system. We will deliver additional CDC capacity in 2025/26 by expanding a number of existing CDCs and building up to five new ones, as well as increasing the number of CDCs offering services 12 hours per day, seven days a week.
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 has received representations from GP practices on workload for non-primary care blood tests.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We understand the pressures that general practices (GPs) are facing, which is why we are investing an additional £889 million into GPs, to reinforce the front door of the National Health Service, in 2025/26. The independent review body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB) has recommended an uplift of 4% to the pay ranges for salaried GPs, and to GP contractor pay. As with last year, we are accepting the DDRB’s pay recommendation, and we will provide a 4% uplift to the pay elements of the GP Contract on a consolidated basis, on top of the provisional 2.8% uplift already provided, to bring it up to 4%. This is the biggest increase in over a decade, and we are pleased that the General Practitioners Committee England is supportive of the contract changes.
The Red Tape Challenge, launched by my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and NHS England’s Chief Executive Officer, will also aim to address challenges seen by services between primary and secondary care interface. This work and investment will support the move from the hospital to the community, one of the three fundamental shifts set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.
Local enhanced services, such as blood tests, are negotiated and agreed locally, and are commissioned by integrated care boards to fit the needs of the local population. GPs can choose whether or not they would like to participate in directly providing these services. These services can vary in scope and funding across the country.
Community diagnostic centres (CDCs) are supporting one of the Government’s top priorities for health, to shift care from the hospital to the community. CDCs offer local populations a wide range of diagnostic tests, including phlebotomy, closer to home and allow for greater choice on where and how they are undertaken, whilst also reducing pressure on the system. We will deliver additional CDC capacity in 2025/26 by expanding a number of existing CDCs and building up to five new ones, as well as increasing the number of CDCs offering services 12 hours per day, seven days a week.
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 provides funding to GP practices to carry out blood tests requested by (a) hospitals and (b) specialists.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We understand the pressures that general practices (GPs) are facing, which is why we are investing an additional £889 million into GPs, to reinforce the front door of the National Health Service, in 2025/26. The independent review body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB) has recommended an uplift of 4% to the pay ranges for salaried GPs, and to GP contractor pay. As with last year, we are accepting the DDRB’s pay recommendation, and we will provide a 4% uplift to the pay elements of the GP Contract on a consolidated basis, on top of the provisional 2.8% uplift already provided, to bring it up to 4%. This is the biggest increase in over a decade, and we are pleased that the General Practitioners Committee England is supportive of the contract changes.
The Red Tape Challenge, launched by my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and NHS England’s Chief Executive Officer, will also aim to address challenges seen by services between primary and secondary care interface. This work and investment will support the move from the hospital to the community, one of the three fundamental shifts set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.
Local enhanced services, such as blood tests, are negotiated and agreed locally, and are commissioned by integrated care boards to fit the needs of the local population. GPs can choose whether or not they would like to participate in directly providing these services. These services can vary in scope and funding across the country.
Community diagnostic centres (CDCs) are supporting one of the Government’s top priorities for health, to shift care from the hospital to the community. CDCs offer local populations a wide range of diagnostic tests, including phlebotomy, closer to home and allow for greater choice on where and how they are undertaken, whilst also reducing pressure on the system. We will deliver additional CDC capacity in 2025/26 by expanding a number of existing CDCs and building up to five new ones, as well as increasing the number of CDCs offering services 12 hours per day, seven days a week.
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 assessment he has made of the potential impact of the severity modifier introduced by NICE in 2022 on access to new treatments for secondary breast cancer.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is responsible for the methods and processes that it uses in the development of its recommendations. The severity modifier was introduced in January 2022 as part of a number of changes intended to make NICE’s methods fairer, faster, and more consistent.
NICE carried out a review of the implementation of the severity modifier in September 2024 and found that it is operating as intended. Since the introduction of the severity modifier in December 2022, the proportion of positive cancer recommendations is higher, at 84.8%, than with the end-of-life modifier it replaced, at 75%, and the proportion of positive recommendations for advanced cancer treatments is also higher, at 81.1% compared to 69%.
Since January 2022, NICE has recommended all but one of the treatments for breast cancer that it has assessed. These treatments are now available to eligible National Health Service patients.
NICE has commissioned research to gather further evidence on societal preferences that will inform future method reviews.
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 assessment he has made of the effectiveness of his Department's policies on maintaining the defibrillator network.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not maintain the automated external defibrillator (AED) network.
The Circuit is the independently operated national AED database, developed by a partnership of the British Heart Foundation, the National Health Service, the Resuscitation Council UK, and the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives. The Circuit provides a national database of where defibrillators can be found so that ambulance services can quickly identify the nearest defibrillator. There are now over 100,000 defibrillators in the United Kingdom registered on The Circuit.
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 assessment he has made of the adequacy of the availability of Tofersen across NHS trusts in England; and what steps he is taking to ensure equitable geographic access.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for developing authoritative, evidence-based recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of resources. The NHS in England is legally required to fund medicines recommended by NICE, normally within three months of the publication of final guidance.
NICE has selected tofersen for treating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis caused by SOD1 gene mutations as a topic for guidance development through its Highly Specialised Technology (HST) programme. The HST programme appraises medicines for the treatment of very rare, and often very severe diseases and evaluates whether they can be considered a clinically and cost-effective use of NHS resources. NICE is working with the company to confirm timelines for this evaluation.
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 increase access to the drug tofersen for people with SOD1 MND.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for developing authoritative, evidence-based recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of resources. The NHS in England is legally required to fund medicines recommended by NICE, normally within three months of the publication of final guidance.
NICE has selected tofersen for treating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis caused by SOD1 gene mutations as a topic for guidance development through its Highly Specialised Technology (HST) programme. The HST programme appraises medicines for the treatment of very rare, and often very severe diseases and evaluates whether they can be considered a clinically and cost-effective use of NHS resources. NICE is working with the company to confirm timelines for this evaluation.
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 Government plans to provide financial support to voluntary blood bike charities undertaking urgent medical transport services for the NHS.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Currently, there are no plans at a national level to provide financial support to voluntary blood bike charities undertaking urgent medical transport services, and NHS Blood and Transplant does not use the service of blood bikes.
Decisions to commission support for local services are taken at an integrated care board and trust level. Hospitals can, on occasion, choose to arrange their own transport for blood using contractors, couriers, or charity volunteers, such as the blood bikes, which currently deliver 2% of the blood products used by hospitals across England.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2025 to Question 60968 on Insomnia: Lancashire, what data his Department holds on the number of people who accessed NHS Talking Therapies in relation to chronic insomnia in (a) Fylde constituency and (b) Lancashire in the last five years.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the number if patients referred to NHS Talking Therapies with insomnia in Fylde, and the number of patients referred with insomnia to NHS Talking Therapies in Lancashire, from 2021 to 2025:
Year | Patients referred with insomnia in Fylde | Patients referred with insomnia in Lancashire |
2021 | * | * |
2022 | * | * |
2023 | * | * |
2024 | * | 15 |
2025 | * | 5 |
Source: Talking Therapies Dataset, NHS England
Notes:
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, pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2025 to Question 60968 on Insomnia: Lancashire, whether his Department has had discussions with Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board on its insomnia services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No such discussions have taken place. Information on how to access NHS Talking Therapies services is available from general practitioners, National Health Service mental health providers, voluntary, community, and social enterprise organisations, and at the following link: