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Written Question
Dementia: Health Services
Tuesday 19th July 2022

Asked by: Felicity Buchan (Conservative - Kensington)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he will take to implement his forthcoming dementia strategy.

Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education

We are reviewing plans for dementia in England and further information will be available in due course.


Written Question
St George's Hospital Tooting
Wednesday 25th May 2022

Asked by: Felicity Buchan (Conservative - Kensington)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will ask St George's Hospital Trust and NHSI to review urgently the findings of the Lewis Review into Cardiac Surgery at St George's Hospital, in the context of the Senior Coroner Professor Wilcox of Westminster Coroner's Court having called into question the conclusions of that Report in the 38 cases which have been heard before the Court and for which the GMC has decided that there is no need for a formal investigation into the medical professionals involved.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

There are no current plans for the Department to ask the Trust or NHS England and NHS Improvement to review the findings of the NHS Improvement Independent External Mortality Review relating to cardiac surgery at St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, published in March 2020.

Although the report was not formally sent to the medical profession’s regulator, the General Medical Council, for consideration, individual surgeons were referred. Oversight of the unit was maintained by NHS England.


Written Question
St George's Hospital Tooting: Surgery
Thursday 28th April 2022

Asked by: Felicity Buchan (Conservative - Kensington)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will ask St George's Hospital Trust and NHSI to review urgently the findings of the Lewis Review into Cardiac Surgery at St George's Hospital, in the context of the Senior Coroner Professor Wilcox of Westminster Coroner's Court having called into question the conclusions of that Report in the 38 cases which have been been heard before the Court and for which the GMC has decided that there is no need for a formal investigation into the medical professionals involved.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.


Written Question
Dementia: Diagnosis
Thursday 28th April 2022

Asked by: Felicity Buchan (Conservative - Kensington)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to improve dementia diagnosis rates in the 2022-23 financial year.

Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.


Written Question
Dementia: Diagnosis
Thursday 28th April 2022

Asked by: Felicity Buchan (Conservative - Kensington)

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 trends in national dementia diagnosis rates in England from March 2021 to March 2022.

Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.


Written Question
Spinal Muscular Atrophy: Screening
Thursday 28th October 2021

Asked by: Felicity Buchan (Conservative - Kensington)

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 evidence to support newborn screening for spinal muscular atrophy.

Answered by Maggie Throup

In 2018, the United Kingdom National Screening Committee (UK NSC) looked at the evidence for screening for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in newborns and recommended that a population screening programme should not be introduced. The new treatment of nusinersen is still in the early stages and long-term effects to improve symptoms in children with SMA are unknown. The UK NSC is due to review its recommendation in 2021/22 and is actively engaged in discussions with stakeholders.


Written Question
Young People: Mental Health Services
Thursday 29th April 2021

Asked by: Felicity Buchan (Conservative - Kensington)

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 a public messaging to communicate that young people may access mental health support from their local authority in addition to within schools; and what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on a holistic strategy to support young people’s mental health.

Answered by Nadine Dorries

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before prorogation.


Written Question
Cancer: Health Services
Wednesday 24th February 2021

Asked by: Felicity Buchan (Conservative - Kensington)

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 success of the Cancer Recovery Plan for services in London; and what further steps he plans to take to mitigate the disparity in cancer related health outcomes for different communities in London beyond March 2021.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Cancer Services Recovery Plan, published in December 2020, aims to restore urgent referrals at least to pre-pandemic levels, to reduce the number of people waiting over 62 days from urgent referral and ensure sufficient capacity to meet demand.

The latest data from December shows that in London:

- 30,236 people were referred on the urgent two week wait pathway in December 2020, 4% more than in December 2019;

- 2,690 people started a first treatment for cancer in December, 7% more than in December 2019, and 96.9% of those people did so within 31 days; and

- Of those, 1,502 people started treatment via the urgent pathway, 12% more than in December 2019.

Through the NHS Long Term Plan, the NHS Cancer Programme is committed to improve access to treatments for all cancer patients and reduce health inequalities. Cancer Alliances are working with local sustainability and transformation partnerships and integrated care systems to reduce variation on patient outcomes and experience.


Written Question
Health Services: Coronavirus
Friday 23rd October 2020

Asked by: Felicity Buchan (Conservative - Kensington)

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 effect of the tiered system of covid-19 alert levels on the work of (a) Alcoholics Anonymous, (b) Narcotics Anonymous and (c) other support groups in areas of different levels of risk.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government’s COVID-19 guidance makes it clear that support groups for mutual aid, including people recovering from addictions, are able to meet in groups up to 15 people. The guidance can be viewed at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-outbreak-faqs-what-you-can-and-cant-do

Public Health England published guidance outlining COVID-19 advice for commissioners and service providers involved in assisting people who are dependent on drugs or alcohol or both. It can be viewed at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-for-commissioners-and-providers-of-services-for-people-who-use-drugs-or-alcohol.

The guidance includes advice about meetings of mutual aid and other support groups.