Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Department has taken to monitor the potential impact of changes in NHS cancer waiting time targets in Warrington North constituency; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Will Quince
On 17 August 2023, NHS England announced that cancer waiting times standards would be rationalised from 1 October 2023. This followed the clinically led review of standards across the National Health Service which recommended consolidating cancer waiting times from nine standards into three. There will be a Faster Diagnosis Standard of a maximum 28-day wait for communication of a definitive cancer/not cancer diagnosis for patients referred urgently or those identified by NHS cancer screening. There will be a maximum 62-day wait to first treatment from urgent general practitioner referral, NHS cancer screening or consultant upgrade. There will be a maximum 31-day wait from decision to treat to any cancer treatment starting for all cancer patients.
These changes will allow a clearer focus on priorities and give clinicians greater flexibility to adopt new technologies such as remote image review and artificial intelligence, and avoid disincentivising modern working practices such as one-stop shops and straight-to-test.
As previously, NHS cancer waiting time targets will be published at provider and commissioner level, but not by constituency.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his Department's timescales are for the creation of the nine statutory joint radiotherapy committees; what steps his Department is taking to create those committees; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Will Quince
NHS England published a roadmap in May 2022 setting the direction of travel for greater integration of specialised services with integrated care board (ICB) commissioned services, in order to better join up patient pathways. A copy of the roadmap is available at the following link:
An analysis of the entire specialised services portfolio was undertaken to determine which services are both suitable and ready for greater ICB leadership. Following an assessment of ICB system readiness at the end of 2022, which was signed off by the NHS England Board in February 2023, nine statutory joint committees between NHS England and multi-ICB collaborations were established on 1 April 2023 taking on joint responsibility for commissioning decisions on 59 specialised services. A list of these services (which includes radiotherapy services) is available at the following link:
To ensure appropriate oversight and assurance of specialised services under the nine statutory joint committees in 2023/24, NHS England produced guidance for its regional teams and integrated care boards which was released in February 2023. The guidance sets out four key areas that NHS England's regional specialised commissioning teams, working with and through the joint committees, should be regularly overseeing and monitoring in relation to their specialised provision (including providers of radiotherapy services). These four areas are: timeliness of provision; quality of provision; use of resources/value for money; and equity and health inequalities.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on (a) delivering the Women's Health Strategy for England and (b) reducing regional disparities in access to IVF treatment.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
In the first year of the Women’s Health Strategy, we have achieved a significant amount, including better health information for women and girls, investing in the expansion of women’s health hubs, improving access to hormone replacement therapy, and increasing support for bereaved parents who experience a loss before 24 weeks.
We have published a tool to summarise fertility commissioning policies for integrated care boards in England, to provide patients with more information and introduce greater transparency about local provision. We are continuing to work with NHS England on commitments to improve access for female same-sex couples and to end the use of non-clinical eligibility criteria in access to in-vitro fertilisation.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on reducing barriers to access of fertility treatment.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
In the first year of the Women’s Health Strategy, we have achieved a significant amount, including better health information for women and girls, investing in the expansion of women’s health hubs, improving access to hormone replacement therapy, and increasing support for bereaved parents who experience a loss before 24 weeks.
We have published a tool to summarise fertility commissioning policies for integrated care boards in England, to provide patients with more information and introduce greater transparency about local provision. We are continuing to work with NHS England on commitments to improve access for female same-sex couples and to end the use of non-clinical eligibility criteria in access to in-vitro fertilisation.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many times officials in his Department have met representatives of the Care Quality Commission to discuss the rollout of the new regulatory platform in the last two months.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Officials in the Department hold regular governance and accountability meetings with the Care Quality Commission (CQC), during which the CQC provides progress reports on various aspects of its work, including the new regulatory platform. There were no such meetings scheduled in the last two months.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the progress of the rollout of the new regulatory platform at the Care Quality Commission.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No recent assessment has been made. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) plans to introduce the new regulatory platform this Autumn following engagement with CQC-registered providers, the public, system partners, CQC staff and other key stakeholders.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding his Department is providing for implementation of the Women's Health Strategy for England.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Government is investing an additional £3.3 billion in 2023/24 and 2024/25 to support the National Health Service in England and increase capacity.
In addition, this spring we announced an additional £25 million investment over the next two years to accelerate the development of women’s health hubs, so that women across England can get better access to care for essential services such as menstrual problems, contraception, and menopause.
Between April 2022 and July 2023, we invested £53 million into National Institute for Health and Care Research programmes to support women’s health, including on male violence against women and girls and on testosterone as a treatment for menopause symptoms.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what (a) steps his Department is taking to monitor the implementation of the new regulatory platform for the Care Quality Commission and (b) information relating to implementation his Department is collecting for analysis; what his planned timeframe is for completion of those reviews; and whether his Department plans to publish the findings of that work.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
There are no current plans to undertake a formal analysis or review of the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) new regulatory platform. The Department continues to monitor CQC’s progress on its new regulatory platform as part of regular governance and accountability meetings. As an independent body, the CQC may undertake its own analysis and review of its approach and systems for regulating health and social care providers in England.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, omitting staff working on maternity care, how many NHS England staff are working on implementation of the Women's Health Strategy for England as of September 2023; and what portion of those staff are full time.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
NHS England has different teams working on different elements of the Women’s Health Strategy, including staff within the maternity team. Many of the staff work on a range of issues including the Women’s Health Strategy. Senior clinical leadership and advice is being provided by the National Speciality Advisor for Gynaecology until a National Clinical Director for Women’s Health is appointed.
Strategic oversight of this work is provided by the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) for England and the Deputy CNO for Safety and Improvement.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS England staff are working on fertility aspects of the Women's Health Strategy for England as of September 2023; and what portion of those staff are full time.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
NHS England has advised that it has a number of different teams working on different elements of the Women’s Health Strategy, including staff within the maternity team. Senior clinical leadership and advice is being provided by the National Speciality Advisor for Gynaecology until a National Clinical Director for Women’s Health is appointed.
Strategic oversight of this work is provided by the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) for England and the Deputy CNO for Safety and Improvement.