Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
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 help ensure the recognition of overseas medical qualifications of Ukrainian refugees.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The General Medical Council (GMC) is the independent regulator of doctors, physician associates, and anaesthesia associates in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for setting standards that must be met by both domestic and international applicants wishing to be added to their registers to ensure registrants are safe to practise.
A page has been published on GOV.UK specifically for Ukrainian refugees which aims to provide an overview of the processes required by specific healthcare professional regulators, and is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-in-healthcare-in-the-uk-homes-for-ukraine.
The GMC provides help with fees associated with registration. Individuals can seek further information from the GMC’s website.
It is our ambition that all Ukrainian refugees who are healthcare professionals in their home country and meet the standards required in the UK are able to achieve registration efficiently and use their skills within our National Health Service.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
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 merits of extending the funding for local authorities to provide drug and alcohol support services.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Drug and alcohol treatment is funded through the Public Health Grant. In addition to the Public Health Grant, the Department allocated local authorities £267 million in 2024/25 to improve the quality and capacity of drug and alcohol treatment and recovery. An additional £105 million from the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Work and Pensions, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is improving treatment pathways and recovery, housing, and employment outcomes for people affected by drug and alcohol use. Future targeted funding for drug and alcohol treatment services beyond 2025 will be announced very shortly. The Department will write directly to each local authority to set out indicative allocations for 2025/26, which will be subject to departmental and HM Treasury approvals, so final allocations could vary. We understand the importance of funding certainty for informing local system’s operational decision making and future planning, and we are engaging with commissioners and providers on this.
My Rt. Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has also made it clear that the Government will conclude a multi-year Spending Review in the first half of 2025. In future, we anticipate that Spending Reviews will be set every two years to cover a three-year period, including a one-year overlap with the previous Spending Review, helping build in greater certainty and stability over public finances.
The Department is focused on supporting local areas to deliver high quality drug and alcohol treatment services, including in the Slough constituency and Berkshire. This includes additional investment in 2024/25 in the drug and alcohol treatment and recovery systems of £950,455 in Slough, and £1,860,131 in the wider Berkshire area, through a range of specific grants. The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities has also produced a Commissioning Quality Standard which provides guidance in commissioning effective alcohol and drug treatment and recovery services, and a range of wider guidance and data that will support the delivery of high-quality treatment and recovery services. Further information on the Commissioning Quality Standard is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/commissioning-quality-standard-alcohol-and-drug-services
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
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 help ensure equality of access to NHS services in the context of increases in digital patient-facing systems.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are striving for digital services to improve access, experience, and outcomes for the widest range of people, based on their preferences, as any digital healthcare benefits will be limited if people remain digitally excluded. Mitigating against the risk of digital exclusion is one of five key priorities that NHS England has asked the integrated care systems to address in their drive to reduce healthcare inequalities. Digital health tools should be part of a wider offering that includes face-to-face support, with appropriate help for people who struggle to access digital services.
Patients are able to access National Health Services, such as requesting general practice appointments and managing secondary care appointments, through local online tools and the NHS App, which can also be accessed through a web browser. The NHS App is designed to meet international accessibility standards, and the services are routinely tested with a range of people with accessibility issues. User reviews and research show the NHS App and website to be highly usable and simple to use. Local online tools must also meet minimum accessibility standards.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the report entitled First Do No Harm: the report of Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review, published in July 2020, what progress he has made on setting up an independent Redress Agency.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The previous Government did not previously accept the recommendation to establish a redress agency, as set out in the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review. However, the Government is carefully considering the valuable work done by the Patient Safety Commissioner and the resulting Hughes Report, published in February 2024, which recommended and set out options for redress for those harmed by valproate and pelvic mesh. We will be providing an update to the Patient Safety Commissioner’s report at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
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 support biomedical research into (a) long covid and (b) myalgic encephalomyelitis.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department funds research on health and social care through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including long COVID and myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). The NIHR and the Medical Research Council (MRC) are committed to funding high-quality research to understand the causes, consequences, and treatment of long COVID and ME/CFS, and are actively exploring next steps for research in these areas.
Over the last five years, the Government, through the NIHR and the MRC, has invested over £50 million into long COVID research through two specific research calls. The projects funded aim to improve our understanding of the diagnosis and underlying mechanisms of the disease, and the effectiveness of both pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies and interventions, as well as to evaluate clinical care.
The MRC has provided £4.15 million of ME/CFS research funding since 2013, including £3.19 million jointly awarded with the NIHR for the DecodeME project, which aims to find genetic risk factors of ME/CFS to better understand the disease and ultimately to find treatments. The NIHR has committed approximately £3.9 million of programme funding over the same period.
As findings emerge from current research, we encourage researchers to apply for funding to build on and develop the newly established infrastructure, partnerships, and research capabilities. Government research funders remain available to support long COVID and ME/CFS researchers in their applications for funding.