Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many children in the Borough of Halton are waiting for (a) autism and (b) ADHD assessments; and what the average waiting times are for such assessments.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Data on the number of children on a waiting list for an assessment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is not held centrally, but may be held locally by individual National Health Service trusts or commissioners. The Cheshire and Merseyside integrated care board (ICB) has provided data on the number of children awaiting an ADHD assessment, and state that at the end of January 2024, there were 230 children awaiting an assessment in Halton. The longest wait time for an ADHD assessment in Halton is 53 weeks, with an average wait time for assessment and outcome or diagnosis of 46 weeks.
The Department is exploring options for improving national data collection and reporting on waiting times for ADHD assessments, to help improve access to ADHD assessments in a timely way, and in line with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guideline on ADHD. The National Institute for Health and Care Research has commissioned a research project to provide initial insights into local ADHD assessment waiting time data collection.
With respect to autism, NHS England publishes data on how many people are waiting for an autism diagnosis and for how long, which provides useful information nationally and locally to support local areas in improving their performance and reducing assessment and diagnosis waiting times. Data is not available publicly for the Borough of Halton, but is available publicly for the Cheshire and Merseyside ICB, and therefore the ICB has provided data on numbers of children waiting for autism assessments in Halton. As of the end of January 2024, they state there were 848 children awaiting autism assessment in Halton. The longest wait time for an autism assessment panel and outcome or diagnosis in Halton is 107 weeks.
The NHS Cheshire and Merseyside ICB advises that it is working with providers to increase capacity, and has put waiting list initiatives in place to help reduce waiting times for autism assessments. The ICB also commissions pre and post diagnosis support for children and young people on autism and ADHD waiting lists, and is planning on commissioning a coordinator role to support families whilst they are waiting for neurodevelopmental assessments.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients in Halton constituency have been waiting for elective care more that (a) 12 and (b) 18 months.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information is not held in the format requested. Data is collected on patients waiting over 52 weeks, 65 weeks and 78 weeks, with more information available at the following link:
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has made an assessment of the implications for its policies of the proposals set out in Cancer Research UK's report entitled Longer, better lives: A manifesto for cancer research and care; and what plans she has to fund cancer research in the next 10 years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government welcomes Cancer Research UK’s report, which rightly highlights progress made in cancer diagnosis and care.
Cancer is a Government priority, demonstrated by the commitment to the ambition of diagnosing 75% of cancers at stages 1 and 2 by 2028. NHS England has implemented interventions to help achieve this ambition, such as Non-specific Symptom Pathways, and will continue to seek new ways to diagnose cancer earlier and save more lives, for example through the NHS-Galleri blood test trial.
Furthermore, the Department has invested over £100 million into cancer research in 2021/22 through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). In January 2023, Cancer Research UK, NIHR and the devolved administrations jointly provided funding of £47.5 million to the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre network over the next five years. The Department is working closely with research partners in all sectors, and the Government's continued commitment to cancer research will help to build on that progress, leading to continued improvements for all cancer patients.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Alzheimer’s Research UK’s report entitled Tipping Point: The Future of Dementia, what steps he is taking to increase the number of lumbar punctures conducted to help identify people who may be eligible for new dementia treatments.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is monitoring the pipeline of prospective disease modifying treatments for early Alzheimer’s disease. NHS England is currently anticipating decisions on whether the first of these medicines will be licensed for use in the United Kingdom next year.
A dedicated programme team has been established within NHS England for early Alzheimer’s treatments. The team is working closely with the medicines manufacturers, patient groups and other key stakeholders to prepare in advance for the roll out of any new medicines in the National Health Service as and when they secure the necessary regulatory approvals. This includes securing additional diagnostic capacity including magnetic resonance imaging, lumbar puncture and positron emission tomography/computed topography.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)
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 monitor the impact of changes to NHS cancer waiting time targets; 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 ten standards into three.
From October 2023, 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.
Alongside the updated standards, the NHS has also committed to publishing a more detailed breakdown of the cancer statistics each month, increasing the number of cancer types for which separate data are published. Statistics on performance against the old standards will continue to be collected.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has had recent discussions with (a) NHS Trusts and (b) Integrated Care Boards in Halton constituency on commissioning duties for radiotherapy treatment services.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not had any direct discussions with NHS trusts or integrated care boards (ICBs) on the delegation of commissioning duties for radiotherapy treatment services from NHS England to ICBs across the Halton constituency.
NHS England’s National Moderation Panel will determine how many ICBs will take on responsibility for specialised commissioning in October 2023. Following this moderation process, recommendations will be taken to the NHS England Board for final decisions in December 2023, before new arrangements go live from April 2024.
This process will consider the delegation of radiotherapy commissioning for ICBs across England including across the Halton constituency.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress his Department has made on increasing rates of early diagnosis for breast cancer.
Answered by Will Quince
Improving early diagnosis of cancer, including breast cancer, remains a priority. We are working towards the NHS Long Term Plan ambition of diagnosing 75% of stageable cancers at stage 1 and 2 by 2028. The latest published data shows this was 52% from January to December 2020. Achieving this will mean that, from 2028, 55,000 more people each year will survive their cancer for at least five years after diagnosis.
The Government has also expanded the Breast Screening programme, with an additional £10 million funding for 28 new breast screening units and nearly 60 life-saving upgrades to services in the areas where they are most needed.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to take further steps to increase levels of uptake in the breast cancer screening programme.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department has invested £10 million into the NHS Breast Screening Programme for 28 new breast screening units targeted at areas where they are needed most. This will provide extra capacity for services to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, boost uptake of screening in areas where attendance is low, and tackle health disparities.
Further steps to remove barriers to attending breast screening include promoting the use of text message alerts to remind women of upcoming appointments. National Health Service breast screening providers are also being encouraged to work with their partners to bring together work to make sure as many people as possible can access breast screening services.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to make breast cancer screening more (a) accessible and (b) convenient.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department has invested £10 million into the NHS Breast Screening Programme for 28 new breast screening units targeted at areas where they are needed most. This will provide extra capacity for services to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, boost uptake of screening in areas where attendance is low, and tackle health disparities.
Further steps to remove barriers to attending breast screening include promoting the use of text message alerts to remind women of upcoming appointments. National Health Service breast screening providers are also being encouraged to work with their partners to bring together work to make sure as many people as possible can access breast screening services.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)
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 cancer patients of St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust who received an urgent referral received their first treatment within 62 days of that referral in (a) March and (b) April 2023.
Answered by Will Quince
The following tables set out the number and proportion of patients who received treatment within 62 days of an urgent general practitioner referral at St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in March 2023 and April 2023.
St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust | ||
Month | Number of Patients treated within 62 days | 62-day standard performance |
March 2023 | 89.5 | 79% |
April 2023 | 83.5 | 82% |
Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | ||
Month | Number of Patients treated within 62 days | 62-day standard performance |
March 2023 | 24.5 | 50.5% |
April 2023 | 20.5 | 48.2% |
Note: Partial numbers are patients that have received treatment across two different National Health Service trusts.
Cancer waiting time standard statistics are published on the NHS England website, and are available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/cancer-waiting-times/