Asked by: David Williams (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent North)
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 reduce waiting times for child and adolescent mental health services in (a) Stoke-on-Trent North constituency and (b) Kidsgrove.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is unacceptable that too many children and young people are not receiving the mental health care they need, and we know that waits for mental health services are far too long. That is why we will recruit 8,500 additional mental health workers across both adult, and children and young people’s mental health services, including in the Stoke-on-Trent North constituency and Kidsgrove.
The Department of Health and Social Care is working with Department for Education to consider how to deliver our commitment of access to a specialist mental health professional in every school. Alongside this we are working towards rolling out Young Futures hubs in every community, offering open access mental health services for young people.
Asked by: David Williams (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how the Mental Health Bill will improve mental wellbeing in (a) Stoke-on-Trent North constituency, (b) Kidsgrove and (c) other areas with high rates of socioeconomic deprivation.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Mental Health Bill announced in the King’s Speech will deliver the Government’s commitment to modernise the Mental Health Act 1983, so that it is fit for the modern world. The bill will amend the act, which applies to England and Wales, and sets out the legal rights that apply to people with a mental disorder. This bill does not apply to general mental health services to help individuals with their mental wellbeing. Under this law, a person can be admitted, detained, and treated in hospital for a mental disorder without their consent, if they are a posing a risk to themselves or others.
More broadly, the NHS Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Integrated Care Board (ICB) is responsible for providing health and care services to meet the needs of the people of the Stoke on Trent constituency and Kidsgrove, taking into account local considerations. The NHS Mental Health Dashboard shows how National Health Service mental health services are performing, broken down to ICB level, and is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/mental-health-five-year-forward-view-dashboard/
Asked by: David Williams (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent North)
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 tackle infant mortality rates in (a) Stoke-on-Trent North constituency and (b) Kidsgrove.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is working closely with NHS England to reduce infant mortality, while training thousands more midwives to better support women throughout their pregnancy and beyond.
Infant mortality remains a complex multifactorial public health issue and is a priority for the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care Partnership (ICP), with local partners increasing efforts to address above-average infant mortality.
The Staffordshire and Stroke-on-Trent ICP Strategy includes an action plan, led by the Infant Mortality Steering Group, focusing on high-impact actions to address infant mortality, such as reducing smoking at time of delivery, which has now fallen from 9.81% to 5.06%. This strategy is available at the following link:
The ICP is implementing the Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle, an initiative to reduce stillbirths, neonatal brain injury, neonatal deaths, and preterm birth. They are also introducing a new maternity equity and equality action plan that includes an equity and equality midwife to address inequalities during pregnancy, which contribute to infant mortality risk and poor maternal outcomes. A new working group has also introduced neonatal cardiopulmonary resuscitation information for parents at postnatal discharge.