Asked by: Andy Carter (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many additional NHS dental appointments have been made available for patients as a result of the Dental Recovery Plan in Warrington South constituency.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Our Dentistry Recovery Plan, backed by £200 million, will make dental services faster, simpler, and fairer for National Health Service dental patients. It will fund approximately 2.5 million additional appointments, or more than 1.5 million additional courses of dental treatment. A New Patient Premium is supporting dentists to take on new patients and since the end of January, nearly 500 more practices have said they are open to new patients.
We are committed to evaluating the impacts of the measures included in our plan, and we will publish monthly data on progress once available. Dentists have two months from the date of completion of a course of NHS treatment to submit an FP17 claim for payment.
Asked by: Andy Carter (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help increase uptake of the shingles vaccine by people aged over 65 in Warrington.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has recommended that those who are eligible for the shingles vaccine should change, to allow individuals to be protected at an earlier age, particularly those that have a weakened immune system. Based on the evidence, they recognised that there may be more clinical benefit from starting shingles vaccinations at a lower age, with modelling indicating that a greater number of cases of shingles would be prevented with vaccination at 60 years old for immunocompetent individuals, and 50 years old for immunosuppressed individuals. The committee advised that the programme should be implemented in stages, starting with those that are over 50 years old with a weakened immune system and those turning 65 and 70 years old, then eventually moving down to those turning 60 years old. This is a similar pattern to the roll out of the shingles vaccine from 2013. This is why the vaccine offer has been expanded to all those turning 65 and 70 years old and all those over 50 years old with a weakened immune system, from 1 September 2023. The programme began on 1 September 2023 and will run until 31 August 2028, offering the vaccine to people as they turn 65 and 70 years old, until the offer has been made to all those aged 65 to 70 years old. It will then expand to offering the vaccine to all those that are turning 60 and 65 years old, from 1 September 2028.
The shingles vaccine is available through general practice (GP) surgeries in primary care, and GPs are required to identify and put in place a call or recall arrangement to offer the shingles vaccination to eligible patients. All eligible patients are contacted by their GP surgery to invite them for vaccination. The GP will then follow up with letters or with calls and text messages, to encourage eligible people that have not come forward to take up the offer.
There is a wide range of public facing information to help increase uptake of the shingles vaccine, and to publicise the programme in GP surgeries and online, including display bunting, leaflets, and posters. GPs are also adding messages regarding shingles to their practice websites, prescription counterfoils, and social media banners. Public facing information regarding the shingles vaccination programme includes translations into over 20 different languages including braille, audio, large print, and British Sign Language. Information for healthcare professionals, including GP toolkits for improving uptake of shingles vaccination, has also been produced and published by local immunisation commissioning teams.
Asked by: Andy Carter (Conservative - Warrington South)
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 endoscopy waiting lists in (a) Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care System and (b) Warrington.
Answered by Will Quince
In July 2023, Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care System (ICS) delivered 1,997 more gastroscopy procedures in July 2023 than in July 2018. Alongside this increase of almost 2,000 procedures, 70% of patients who require a gastroscopy are now seen within six weeks.
Cheshire and Merseyside ICS has also secured funding to support the delivery of more than 1,000 additional endoscopy procedures across Cheshire and Merseyside by the end of December 2023. Cheshire and Merseyside’s Diagnostic Programme is also progressing a number of workforce initiatives including a collaborative staff bank for the endoscopy workforce and an endoscopy academy to provide training and upskilling for the endoscopy workforce.
Cutting National Health Service waiting lists, including for endoscopy services, is one of this Government’s top priorities. This is a shared ambition amongst ICSs, including the Cheshire and Merseyside ICS.
£2.3 billion was awarded at the 2021 Spending Review to transform diagnostic services over the next three years to increase diagnostic capacity, including for endoscopy services. This funding will also increase the number of community diagnostic centres up to 160 by March 2025, including a number delivering endoscopy services.
Asked by: Andy Carter (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support his Department has provided to increase the availability of NHS dental appointments in Warrington in the last 12 months.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Education)
In September 2022, we announced ‘Our plan for patients’, which outlines how we will meet oral health needs and increase access to dental care, including in Warrington. These will increase access to NHS dentistry whilst making the NHS dental contract more attractive to dental practices.
We have taken action to implement these changes, including through regulations that came into effect on 25th November 2022. The changes include a contractual requirement for NHS dentists to keep their NHS.UK profiles up to date, adherence to risk-based recall intervals, and enabling dentists to make better use of their team resources. The contractual changes of 28th December 2022 also provide for the commissioning of 110% of contracted Units of Dental Activities so that practices can deliver more NHS care, particularly in those areas where NHS dentistry is less prevalent.
NHS England is holding further discussions with the British Dental Association and other stakeholders for additional reforms of the NHS Dental System planned to take place in 2023
Asked by: Andy Carter (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of mental health spending on drugs trials takes place in the North West of England.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Since 2018, the NIHR has invested approximately £41 million through research programmes on pharmaceutical trials in mental health. Of this, £836,772 has been awarded to organisations in the North West of England. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including mental health. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. It is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions.
Asked by: Andy Carter (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to make Olaparib available on the NHS for people with prostate cancer.
Answered by Will Quince
In October 2022, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published guidance which does not recommend olaparib for the treatment of prostate cancer. ‘Olaparib for previously treated BRCA mutation-positive hormone-relapsed metastatic prostate cancer’ is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta831
NICE continues to survey new evidence which may affect its published guidance and would consult on proposed changes with a wide range of stakeholders if significant new evidence were to emerge.
Asked by: Andy Carter (Conservative - Warrington South)
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 take steps to make Avastin available on the NHS for people with stage 3 or 4 bowel cancer.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Bevacizumab (Avastin) is not routinely funded on the National Health Service in England. In 2012, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) considered the clinical and cost-effectiveness of bevacizumab for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer in adults. However, it was unable to recommend the drug as an effective use of resources. NICE monitors new evidence which may affect its guidance and would consult on proposed changes with stakeholders if any such evidence emerges.
Where a treatment is not routinely commissioned by the NHS, a patient’s clinician may submit an individual funding request if they consider it is in the patient’s best interests.