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 he is taking to help reduce maternal mortality.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
In March 2023, NHS England published its three-year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal services. The delivery plan will make maternity and neonatal care safer, more personalised, and more equitable for women, babies, and families.
NHS England has developed 14 Maternal Medicine Networks across England, to ensure that all women with chronic and acute medical problems have access to specialist management and care from physicians and obstetrics, tackling the biggest contributors to maternal mortality.
Mental health services around England are being expanded to include new mental health “hubs” for new, expectant, or bereaved mothers. The 33 new maternal mental health services will provide psychological therapy, maternity services, and reproductive health for women with mental health needs following trauma or loss related to their maternity experience. These will be available across England by March 2024.
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, if he will make it his policy to allow NHS staff (a) who were employed after 31 March 2023 and (b) who returned to work after 31 March 2023 following sabbatical or illness to be eligible for the pay rise included in the NHS Pay Deal.
Answered by Will Quince
The non-consolidated payments cover staff directly employed by National Health Service organisations, for example, staff on permanent and fixed term contracts, as set out in Annex 1 of the handbook on Agenda for Change terms as of 31 March 2023. Staff employed after 31 March 2023 will not be eligible for the 2022/23 non-consolidated award. All eligible staff should receive the 5% consolidated increase for 2023/24, regardless of their joining date.
Employers should ensure that staff on long-term sick leave, where appropriate, receive the non-consolidated payments. For those on career breaks, local employers should determine this on a case-by-case basis.
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, if he will make it his policy to exempt transplant patients from paying prescription charges.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
There are no plans to review or extend the National Health Service prescription charge medical exemptions to include people who have received an organ transplant. For those ineligible for an exemption on medical grounds, arrangements are in place to assist with the affordability of prescriptions, including exemptions for which people with a long-term medical condition may already qualify. Approximately 89% of NHS prescription items are dispensed in the community free of charge.
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 he is taking to ensure that all survivors of cardiac arrest can access appropriate, ongoing, personalised support.
Answered by Will Quince
Improving access to cardiac rehabilitation is a priority of the NHS Long Term Plan. In 2023/24 NHS England will provide funding to improve access to cardiac rehabilitation services, including the provision of different modes of delivery to enable individual post-cardiac arrest rehabilitation plans. In addition, all patients in England with heart disease will be better supported by multi-disciplinary teams as part of primary care networks. NHS England are working to support patients with heart failure in the community through the roll-out of the NHS Managing Heart Failure @home. This scheme aims to support people living with heart failure to self-manage in their own home through patient education and remote monitoring. Cardiac arrest survivors will require different pathways depending on the severity of the damage caused by the cardiac arrest. Patients discharged from secondary care will receive cardiac rehabilitation services which are available in every region. For more severe cases of cardiac arrest there are Level 1 & 2 specialist inpatient rehabilitation services. NHS England are committed to improving these services and are working with charities and other bodies to further develop these rehabilitation pathways for patients.
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 he is taking to ensure that survivors of cardiac arrest can access an individual post-cardiac arrest rehabilitation plan.
Answered by Will Quince
Improving access to cardiac rehabilitation is a priority of the NHS Long Term Plan. In 2023/24 NHS England will provide funding to improve access to cardiac rehabilitation services, including the provision of different modes of delivery to enable individual post-cardiac arrest rehabilitation plans. In addition, all patients in England with heart disease will be better supported by multi-disciplinary teams as part of primary care networks. NHS England are working to support patients with heart failure in the community through the roll-out of the NHS Managing Heart Failure @home. This scheme aims to support people living with heart failure to self-manage in their own home through patient education and remote monitoring. Cardiac arrest survivors will require different pathways depending on the severity of the damage caused by the cardiac arrest. Patients discharged from secondary care will receive cardiac rehabilitation services which are available in every region. For more severe cases of cardiac arrest there are Level 1 & 2 specialist inpatient rehabilitation services. NHS England are committed to improving these services and are working with charities and other bodies to further develop these rehabilitation pathways for patients.
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 he is taking to develop a care pathway for cardiac arrest survivors.
Answered by Will Quince
Improving access to cardiac rehabilitation is a priority of the NHS Long Term Plan. In 2023/24 NHS England will provide funding to improve access to cardiac rehabilitation services, including the provision of different modes of delivery to enable individual post-cardiac arrest rehabilitation plans. In addition, all patients in England with heart disease will be better supported by multi-disciplinary teams as part of primary care networks. NHS England are working to support patients with heart failure in the community through the roll-out of the NHS Managing Heart Failure @home. This scheme aims to support people living with heart failure to self-manage in their own home through patient education and remote monitoring. Cardiac arrest survivors will require different pathways depending on the severity of the damage caused by the cardiac arrest. Patients discharged from secondary care will receive cardiac rehabilitation services which are available in every region. For more severe cases of cardiac arrest there are Level 1 & 2 specialist inpatient rehabilitation services. NHS England are committed to improving these services and are working with charities and other bodies to further develop these rehabilitation pathways for patients.
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 support with travel costs is available for teenage cancer patients accessing specialist treatment.
Answered by Will Quince
The Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme (HTCS) provides financial assistance to eligible patients (patients in receipt of a qualifying benefit or through the NHS Low Income Scheme) who do not have a medical need for transport, but who require assistance with travel costs incurred in travelling to receive certain NHS services, where their journey meets certain criteria. For eligible patients, travel expenses should be calculated by reference to the cheapest means of transport that is reasonable for the patient.
In addition, the NHS Car Parking Guidance states that parking will be provided free to all outpatients who attend hospital for an appointment at least three times within a month and for an overall period of at least three months.
Help with travel costs through the HTCS is available for teenagers who get or are included in an award of someone getting one of the qualifying benefits or tax credits or are named on the notice of entitlement to the NHS Low Income Scheme (known as a HC2 or HC3 certificate).
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 patients were awaiting treatment from the NHS for an (a) illness and (b) injury that was causing them to be economically inactive as of June 2023.
Answered by Will Quince
The data is not held in the format requested.
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 new hospitals have commenced construction since the beginning of this Parliament.
Answered by Will Quince
There are five schemes currently under construction. Three schemes have completed construction with two already open to patients, and one due to open in the coming weeks. Since this Parliamentary session opened on 10 May 2022, one New Hospital Programme scheme has started construction. This is the scheme at Oriel Eye Hospital for Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. One further scheme for Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, the National Rehabilitation Centre is due to commence construction shortly.
21 sites in the programme have secured either full or outline planning permission, and we continue to work with trusts on opportunities to carry out works to prepare the sites in advance of main construction beginning.
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 assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Three-Vodafone merger on NHS 111 helpline contracts.
Answered by Will Quince
As an open economy, this Government welcomes and encourages investment where it supports the Prime Minister’s goal of boosting United Kingdom growth and jobs, meets our stringent legal and regulatory requirements, and does not compromise our national security. The Government has robust powers under the National Security & Investment Act, which it introduced, to block or impose remedies on transactions that pose a national security risk.
We cannot comment on specific acquisitions nor the applicability of the National Security and Investment regime. It is the responsibility of Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to assess the impact on consumers and competition in the market, with input from sectoral regulators.
The Investment Security Unit works closely with the CMA on cases that are being considered for both national security and competition reasons. A memorandum of understanding has been agreed between the Investment Security Unit and the CMA to assist joint working.