Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
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 provision of health services for women.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Women’s health is a priority for this government. We are considering how to take forward the Women’s Health Strategy and aligning our work on women’s health with the forthcoming 10-Year Health Plan.Work continues to improve health outcomes for women, including the £25 million women’s health hubs pilot, new NICE guidance on endometriosis and menopause and extending the Baby Loss Certificate service.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to improve attendance at cancer screening appointments.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are currently three fully rolled out National Health Service cancer screening programmes: bowel; breast; and cervical. Lung cancer screening is also a formal programme, but is yet to be fully rolled out.
Bowel cancer screening has already introduced the faecal immunochemical test, which is an easier test to use and is done at home. Evidence shows more people from low participation groups such as men, people from ethnic minority backgrounds, and people in deprived areas have engaged with screening since its introduction.
For breast screening, NHS England has developed a national uptake improvement plan in collaboration with key stakeholders such as cancer alliances. This plan includes a full review of the breast screening pathway, scoping digital innovations to improve uptake, evidence gathering on barriers to attend screening, investment to promote text message reminder alerts, media campaigns, and improved inclusive information.
Uptake of cervical screening has been declining for the last decade. As well as local initiatives to improve uptake, such as out of hours appointments, the UK National Screening Committee is looking at the use of human papillomavirus self-sampling for non-attenders following publication of the YouScreen study in July 2024. In addition, an in-service evaluation is being commissioned by the National Institute for Health and Care research to determine whether self-sampling could be offered to everyone eligible for cervical screening.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department issues to NHS facilities on advertising the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme in cancer screening appointment communications.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme does not cover travel costs for any National Health Service screening programme, including cancer screening. Further details of what is covered under this scheme and who is eligible, is available at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/help-with-health-costs/healthcare-travel-costs-scheme-htcs/
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
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 - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
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 and Thornaby East)
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 - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
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 and Thornaby East)
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 - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
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 and Thornaby East)
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 - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
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 and Thornaby East)
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 - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
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 and Thornaby East)
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 - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
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.