Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether ICBs that are clustered have developed individual 5-year plans as set out in the medium term planning framework or if these have been developed jointly across cluster arrangements.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Most integrated care boards (ICBs) who are clustering have provided combined plans. Where ICBs have provided individual plans, they have referenced their clustering arrangements to ensure that the strategies are aligned.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
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 (a) the prevalence of respiratory disease and (b) the number of emergency hospital admissions for respiratory conditions in Putney constituency compared with national averages during the last five years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data is available for emergency Finished Admission Episodes (FAEs) where there was a primary diagnosis of 'respiratory conditions’. The following table shows the number of FAEs where there was a primary diagnosis of 'respiratory conditions’ for Putney and England, for activity in English National Health Service hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector, for 2024/25 and provisionally for 2025/26:
Westminster Parliamentary Constituency of Residence | 2024/25 (August 2024 to March 2025) | 2025/26 (April 2025 to December 2025) |
Putney | 725 | 705 |
England | 612,855 | 511,558 |
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS England.
Available data on trends in respiratory conditions can be found on the Department’s Fingertips dataset. Data is not available by parliamentary constituency. Data is available at regional, county, unitary authority, and integrated care board level. Information for Wandsworth can be found at the following link:
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has considered integrating Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS), hypermobility spectrum disorders (HSD) and overlapping conditions such as PoTS, Mast Cell Activation, ME/CFS and Long Covid into NHS service specifications and clinical frameworks to improve outcomes for people with EDS, HSD and related conditions.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department recognises that people with Ehlers‑Danlos syndromes (EDS), hypermobility spectrum disorders (HSD), and related conditions such as postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, mast cell activation disorders, myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome, and Long Covid often experience complex, multisystem symptoms that require joined‑up care.
There is currently no single National Health Service service specification covering all these conditions collectively. However, care for people with EDS, HSD, and overlapping conditions is supported through a range of existing NHS service specifications, clinical guidelines, and frameworks. NHS England continues to keep service specifications and clinical frameworks under review to ensure they reflect emerging evidence and patient need.
The Department also recognises the concerns raised by patients and clinicians about craniocervical instability (CCI), particularly where it is suspected in people with EDS, HSD, and related conditions.
At present, the Department has not established a national multi‑disciplinary neurosurgical service for CCI. Neurosurgical services in England are commissioned by NHS England and are provided through established regional neuroscience centres, which already operate within multidisciplinary team arrangements to support complex spinal and neurological cases.
The evidence base for the diagnosis and surgical management of CCI remains limited and is an area of ongoing clinical debate. Decisions about service configuration, including whether to develop new national service models, must be informed by robust clinical evidence on effectiveness, safety, and patient outcomes, as well as by advice from NHS England and relevant clinical experts.
NHS England continues to keep specialised neurosurgical service arrangements under review, and patients with complex or rare presentations can be considered for assessment and management through existing specialist pathways. The Department will continue to work with NHS England and others to ensure that services for people with rare and complex conditions are safe, evidence‑based, and focused on improving patient outcomes.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has considered establishing a national multi‑disciplinary team for neurosurgery for craniocervical instability (CCI) to improve outcomes for people with EDS, HSD and related conditions.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department recognises that people with Ehlers‑Danlos syndromes (EDS), hypermobility spectrum disorders (HSD), and related conditions such as postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, mast cell activation disorders, myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome, and Long Covid often experience complex, multisystem symptoms that require joined‑up care.
There is currently no single National Health Service service specification covering all these conditions collectively. However, care for people with EDS, HSD, and overlapping conditions is supported through a range of existing NHS service specifications, clinical guidelines, and frameworks. NHS England continues to keep service specifications and clinical frameworks under review to ensure they reflect emerging evidence and patient need.
The Department also recognises the concerns raised by patients and clinicians about craniocervical instability (CCI), particularly where it is suspected in people with EDS, HSD, and related conditions.
At present, the Department has not established a national multi‑disciplinary neurosurgical service for CCI. Neurosurgical services in England are commissioned by NHS England and are provided through established regional neuroscience centres, which already operate within multidisciplinary team arrangements to support complex spinal and neurological cases.
The evidence base for the diagnosis and surgical management of CCI remains limited and is an area of ongoing clinical debate. Decisions about service configuration, including whether to develop new national service models, must be informed by robust clinical evidence on effectiveness, safety, and patient outcomes, as well as by advice from NHS England and relevant clinical experts.
NHS England continues to keep specialised neurosurgical service arrangements under review, and patients with complex or rare presentations can be considered for assessment and management through existing specialist pathways. The Department will continue to work with NHS England and others to ensure that services for people with rare and complex conditions are safe, evidence‑based, and focused on improving patient outcomes.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to appoint the independent co‑chair of the National Cancer Plan implementation board, and what criteria will be used to ensure that the role is independent of government.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Cancer Plan, published on 4 February 2026, sets out several commitments and ambitions, to be delivered within the next 10 years. The role of the reformed National Cancer Board will be to support and monitor the delivery of the commitments and ambitions and to provide regular updates to ministers. The board will be co-chaired by the Director General for Planned Care in the Department, as well as an independent representative.
It is important to choose the most suitable appointment process for selecting an independent representative to co-chair the board. To ensure that the co-chair of the board is independent of the Government, officials from NHS England and the Department are carefully following the required appointments procedures. An appointment will be made following all required ministerial approvals. The position of co-chair is presently being advertised on the GOV.UK website, with further information available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-health-and-social-care/about/recruitment
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the National Cancer Plan for England, when his Department plans to publish an implementation plan and timeline for its delivery.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Cancer Plan, published on the 4 February, sets out several commitments and ambitions, to be delivered within the next 10 years. The plan sets out in tables at the end of each chapter what actions we will take and when we will implement them. There is no plan to publish an additional implementation plan, for this reason.
A reformed National Cancer Board will support and monitor the delivery of the commitments and ambitions and will be the forum for updating on progress, exposing issues, and for injecting scrutiny. The board will provide regular updates to ministers and support development of an annual progress report.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what measures NHS England has in place to ensure patients with suspected EDS‑related craniocervical instability receive appropriate physical assessment before being diagnosed with a psychological or anxiety‑based condition.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
National clinical guidance, including guidance jointly issued by the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Royal College of Psychiatrists, explicitly instructs clinicians not to apply psychological explanations prematurely, and to conduct a full physical assessment before concluding that symptoms are medically unexplained or psychogenic. This principle applies in cases of suspected Ehlers Danlos syndrome (EDS) and craniocervical instability, because premature psychological labelling can delay the identification and subsequent treatment of structural instability.
Integrated care boards are responsible for ensuring that local pathways support timely access to relevant specialists, including neurology, rheumatology, and spinal services. Specialist centres are also expected to use multidisciplinary approaches, drawing on neurology, neurosurgery, pain, and physiotherapy expertise, to ensure accurate diagnosis and to avoid misattribution of symptoms. We continue to work with NHS England to improve consistency of assessment for people with complex, multi‑system conditions, including EDS, and to ensure that patients are referred to appropriate physical health services where clinically indicated.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
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 conduct a review of JCVI eligibility criteria and to reinstate free Covid‑19 vaccinations for all clinically vulnerable people, in line with the existing approach to NHS flu vaccinations.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
The Government is committed to protecting those most vulnerable to COVID-19 through vaccination, as guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The primary aim of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme remains the prevention of serious illness, resulting in hospitalisations and deaths, arising from COVID-19.
The JCVI has advised that population immunity to COVID-19 has been increasing due to a combination of naturally acquired immunity following recovery from infection and vaccine-derived immunity. COVID-19 is now a relatively mild disease for most people, though it can still be unpleasant, with rates of hospitalisation and death from COVID-19 having reduced significantly since COVID-19 first emerged.
The focus of the JCVI advised programme has moved towards targeted vaccination of the two groups who continue to be at higher risk of serious disease, including mortality. These are the oldest adults and individuals who are immunosuppressed.
The Government has accepted the JCVI advice for autumn 2025 and in line with the advice, a COVID-19 vaccination is being offered to the following groups:
- adults aged 75 years old and over;
- residents in care homes for older adults; and
- individuals aged six months and over who are immunosuppressed, as defined in the ‘immunosuppression’ sections of tables 3 or 4 in the COVID-19 chapter of the UK Health Security Agency Green Book.
Although seasonal flu and COVID-19 can both cause severe disease, they differ in their epidemiology and pathology. As such, the population groups at higher risk of severe disease will not necessarily be the same for each pathogen and the JCVI has considered each programme individually.
The JCVI keeps all vaccination programmes under review.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
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 ensure equitable interim access to omaveloxolone for patients with Friedreich’s Ataxia.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend on 3 December to Question 95051.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
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 expand the roll out surveillance programmes to (a) identify people at highest risk of pancreatic cancer and (b) support earlier diagnosis.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
Earlier diagnosis of cancers, including pancreatic cancer, is a priority for the Government. NHS England is working on case-finding approaches for less survivable cancers, where the evidence suggests this is appropriate. This includes a public-facing Family History Checker, which enables people, and their families, affected by pancreatic cancer to self-assess if they may inherit risk. Individuals identified as being at risk are referred directly to the European Registry of Hereditary Pancreatic Diseases research trial, which aims to understand inherited conditions of the pancreas. Referrals to the trial can be made by any healthcare professional across all health sectors or by individuals via self-referral, contributing to a centralised approach to case-finding.
The National Disease Registration Service has developed the National Inherited Cancer Predisposition Register (NICPR), which launched on 30 June. The NICPR looks at a wide range of cancers for which there is an increased inherited risk, including for less survivable cancers. It aims to identify high-risk individuals who are eligible for targeted screening and surveillance and will act as an electronic referral route into national screening programmes, where these exist.