Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the newly announced Major Conditions Strategy will contain any new targets relating to cancer.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Major Conditions Strategy will look at all cancer types, covering the patient pathway from prevention, through treatment, to follow-up care. The strategy will look at a wide range of interventions and enablers to improve outcomes and experience for cancer patients.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he will take to prioritise (a) pancreatic cancer and (b) the other less survivable cancers in the Major Conditions Strategy, due to be published later this year.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Major Conditions Strategy will look at all cancer types, covering the patient pathway from prevention, through treatment, to follow-up care. The strategy will look at a wide range of interventions and enablers to improve outcomes and experience for cancer patients.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which NHS Trusts have a formal written policy on (a) digital rectal examination, (b) digital rectal stimulation and (c) the digital removal of faeces for patients with neurogenic bowel dysfunction.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Digital rectal examination, digital rectal stimulation and the digital removal of faeces are all locally commissioned services. As such information on formal written policies owned by individual trusts is not held centrally.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
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 Secretary of State for the Home Department on the potential merits of allowing disabled people who directly employ their own care workers to sponsor care workers from abroad.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Secretary of State has not had specific discussions with the Home Secretary regarding this issue.
Personal assistants are not eligible for the Health and Care Visa, because Home Office rules require an employing organisation, not a private individual or household, to act as the visa sponsor for any care workers recruited from abroad.
The two departments have an ongoing dialogue about ways to improve the accessibility of the immigration system for the care sector.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
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 people living with a spinal cord injury in England.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
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 ensure that sufficient NHS staff are trained to provide (a) transanal irrigation, (b) digital rectal stimulation and (c) the digital removal of faeces for inpatients in NHS hospitals with neurogenic bowel dysfunction.
Answered by Will Quince
Training for transanal irrigation, digital rectal stimulation and the digital removal of faeces for inpatients in National Health Service hospitals with neurogenic bowel dysfunction is the responsibility of individual NHS employers.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy of 27 April 2021, Official Report, column 86WH, on the Government's policy on the inappropriate use by some employers of fire and rehire as a negotiation tactic, what steps their Department has taken to (a) investigate and (b) discourage the use of fire and rehire negotiation tactics by their Department's executive non-departmental public bodies; and what steps they have taken to communicate the Government's policy on those practices to those bodies.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
There is no scope within the human resources policies of the Department’s executive non-departmental public bodies to allow ‘fire and rehire’ as a negotiating tactic. The legally permitted reasons for dismissal and the relevant process must be followed, in line with ACAS guidelines.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answers of 26 February 2021 to Questions 155053, 155054 and 160680, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the prevalence of long covid; and whether there is a credible risk that (a) fatal injury and (b) an injury that results in a permanent or irreversible disabling condition or requires immediate treatment in hospital as a result of exposure to covid-19 could occur.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
No such discussions with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions have taken place to date. However, research into the long-term health symptoms and impacts of COVID-19 is ongoing and we continue to collaborate across Government to monitor emerging evidence including statistics on the prevalence of ‘long’ COVID-19.
The Department has not made an assessment of ‘credible risk’ as defined by the Health and Safety Executive’s Enforcement Management Model.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
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 February 2021 to Questions 155053 and 155054, what assessment he has made of whether long covid is likely in people without a particular susceptibility.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
COVID-19 is a new disease and therefore it is not yet clear what the physical, psychological and rehabilitation needs will be for those experiencing long-term effects of the virus.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to respond to Questions 149246 and 155054 tabled by the hon. Member for Middlesbrough.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
I refer the hon. Member to the answers to Question 149246 on 2 March and Question 155054 on 26 February.