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Written Question
Social Services: LGBT+ People
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions she has had with Skills for Care on levels of take up of their LGBT+ Learning Framework, published in February 2023.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department has had no recent discussions around levels of take up of the LGBTQ+ learning framework.


Written Question
Health Services: Women
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the number of women’s health hubs open on 29 February 2024.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The expansion of women’s health hubs is a priority ambition within the Women’s Health Strategy for England. In October 2022 the Birmingham, RAND and Cambridge Evaluation (BRACE) Centre’s early evaluation of women’s health hubs identified 13 women's health hubs in England. This evaluation is available at the following link:

https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/documents/college-social-sciences/social-policy/brace/whh-interim-summary-paper-final.pdf

We are investing £25 million into women’s health hubs to enable the establishment of at least one women’s health hub in every integrated care system. The funding is being distributed to every integrated care board (ICB), with each ICB receiving £595,000 in total over two years, 2023/24 and 2024/25. ICB plans received in September 2023 indicate that the funding is supporting at least 49 women’s health hubs, which includes the creation of 38 new hubs and the expansion of 11 existing hub models. This funding is intended to show proof of concept to enable ICBs to assess the benefit of hubs and roll out more widely.


Written Question
Health Services: Women
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many women’s health hubs were open on 29 February 2024.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The expansion of women’s health hubs is a priority ambition within the Women’s Health Strategy for England. In October 2022 the Birmingham, RAND and Cambridge Evaluation (BRACE) Centre’s early evaluation of women’s health hubs identified 13 women's health hubs in England. This evaluation is available at the following link:

https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/documents/college-social-sciences/social-policy/brace/whh-interim-summary-paper-final.pdf

We are investing £25 million into women’s health hubs to enable the establishment of at least one women’s health hub in every integrated care system. The funding is being distributed to every integrated care board (ICB), with each ICB receiving £595,000 in total over two years, 2023/24 and 2024/25. ICB plans received in September 2023 indicate that the funding is supporting at least 49 women’s health hubs, which includes the creation of 38 new hubs and the expansion of 11 existing hub models. This funding is intended to show proof of concept to enable ICBs to assess the benefit of hubs and roll out more widely.


Written Question
Health Services: Women
Thursday 21st March 2024

Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of women’s health hubs in reducing waiting times for women’s health (a) diagnoses and (b) treatment.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

We are investing £25 million into women’s health hubs to support better access to services, improve health outcomes, and reduce unnecessary secondary care referrals. The interim report from the University of Birmingham, RAND, and the Cambridge Evaluation (BRACE) Centre, named Early evaluation of women’s health hubs and published in October 2022, showed that hubs can ease pressures on secondary care services and gynaecology waiting lists by improving access to care in the community. The report is available at the following link:

https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/documents/college-social-sciences/social-policy/brace/whh-interim-summary-paper-final.pdf

Our cost-benefit analysis published in July 2023 used existing evidence to quantify the benefits generated by hubs, which includes improved access to services, improved health outcomes for women, and fewer secondary care referrals. This estimates there will be £5 of benefits for every £1 spent on a hub the size of a primary care network. Further assessments will be made based on reporting from integrated care boards, as their hubs are set up.


Written Question
Endometriosis: Diagnosis
Thursday 21st March 2024

Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the time taken for endometriosis diagnoses.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

Care for menstrual problems including endometriosis is a 2024 priority for implementing the Women’s Health Strategy. We are investing £25 million in establishing women’s health hubs, which will play a key role in improving access to care for menstrual problems such as suspected endometriosis.

Through the NHS Delivery Plan for tackling the COVID-19 related elective care backlog, we are increasing activity through dedicated and protected surgical hubs that conduct planned procedures only. Surgical hubs are focusing on providing high-volume low-complexity surgery such as laparoscopies for suspected endometriosis. As of March 2024, 48 surgical hubs conduct gynaecological procedures.

Community diagnostic centres (CDCs) are playing an important part in tackling the backlogs of people waiting for diagnostic tests, which includes checks, tests, and scans for patients on gynaecological pathways, including those with endometriosis. As of March 2024, there are 155 CDCs open already, and up to 160 set to open by March 2025.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is currently updating its guideline on diagnosing and managing endometriosis, which will provide healthcare professionals with evidence-based recommendations on diagnosing and treating endometriosis. NHS England is also updating the service specification for severe endometriosis, which sets the standards of care expected from National Health Service organisations.


Written Question
Mental Health Services: Safety
Friday 8th March 2024

Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of NHS trusts apply the national sexual safety collaborative.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

We are informed by NHS England that the application of the safety standards from the national Sexual Safety Collaborative, is decided upon and monitored locally.


Written Question
Mental Health Services: Safety
Friday 1st March 2024

Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of NHS mental health trusts have an inadequate safety rating.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) rates health and care providers using five key questions, which are: are services safe; effective; caring; responsive to people’s needs; and well led. CQC has 49 residential and community mental health trusts on its register and of these, one provider, or 2%, is rated as inadequate for CQC’s safety rating.

Through the NHS Long Term Plan, we are investing at least £2.3 billion of additional funding a year by March 2024, compared to 2018/19, to expand and transform mental health services in England so that two million more people can get the mental health support that they need.


Written Question
Mental Health Services: Hospital Wards
Friday 1st March 2024

Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of mixed wards for inpatient psychiatric care were in use for each year since 2010.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

Neither the Department nor NHS England hold the data requested.


Written Question
Eating Disorders
Wednesday 24th January 2024

Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which NHS trusts use a body mass index threshold for treatment for eating disorders in (a) adults and (b) children and adolescents.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The Department does not hold this data centrally. NHS England continues to emphasise to systems and services that body mass index should not be used as a single measure to determine access to treatment within eating disorder services. This is in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommendations and is included in national published guidance.


Written Question
Health Services: Women
Thursday 7th September 2023

Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made a recent comparative assessment of the UK rate of (a) breast and cervical cancer screenings, (b) access to Hormone replacement therapy, (c) maternal mortality, (d) women's life expectancy, (e) women's confidence in healthcare provision and (f) time to diagnose (i) endometriosis and (ii) polycystic ovary syndrome compared with similar countries.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

No specific assessments have been made.