Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether (a) access to radiotherapy cancer treatment and (b) overall cancer treatment waiting times are within the scope of the independent investigation of NHS performance led by Professor Lord Darzi.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has commissioned Professor Lord Darzi of Denham to conduct an immediate and independent investigation of the National Health Service. Professor Lord Darzi will be considering data and intelligence across a broad range of measures, assessing patient access to healthcare, the quality of healthcare being provided, and the overall performance of the health system. Full Terms of Reference for the review can be found on GOV.UK website.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure that the National Equipment Tracking and Inventory System highlights radiotherapy cancer treatment machines that are over 10 years old; and if he will ensure that sufficient capital funding is available to replace those machines.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department can confirm that the National Equipment Tracking and Inventory System highlights radiotherapy cancer treatment machines within the National Health Service, as well as their associated ages.
Since April 2022 the responsibility for investing in new radiotherapy machines sits with local systems. This is supported by the 2021 Spending Review, which set aside £12 billion in operational capital for the NHS for 2022 to 2025, and the latest Capital Planning Guidance.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 23 July 2024 to question 52 on Dental Health: Pupils, when the UK National Screening Committee will next review recommendations on school dental screening.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) was due to review screening for dental disease in children under nine years old in 2022/23. However, a number of reviews, including this one, were delayed due to staff depletion and delays to recruitment, following the UK NSC secretariat function moving into the Department, and the Committee’s remit expanding. Staffing levels have now been resolved, and the UK NSC is addressing the outstanding reviews in their planned three-year programme of work.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 23 July 2024 to question 52 on Dental Health: Pupils, for what reason the National Screening Committee have not reviewed school dental screening recommendations in the period 2022-23.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) was due to review screening for dental disease in children under nine years old in 2022/23. However, a number of reviews, including this one, were delayed due to staff depletion and delays to recruitment, following the UK NSC secretariat function moving into the Department, and the Committee’s remit expanding. Staffing levels have now been resolved, and the UK NSC is addressing the outstanding reviews in their planned three-year programme of work.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
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 publish a national cancer plan.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Long Term Plan, published in January 2019, sets out the National Health Service’s key ambitions on cancer. The plan sets out the NHS ambition to increase the number of cancers diagnosed at stages 1 and 2 to 75% by 2028, and to increase the number of people surviving cancer for five years by 55,000 as a result.
Professor Lord Darzi is currently undertaking an independent investigation into the state of the NHS, the findings of which will feed into the Government’s 10-year plan to build a health service that is fit for the future. The Government will set out any further priorities on cancer and health in due course.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to increase radiotherapy treatment capacity in the NHS.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Since April 2022 the responsibility for investing in new radiotherapy machines sits with local systems. This is supported by the 2021 Spending Review, which set aside £12 billion in operational capital for the National Health Service for 2022 to 2025, and the latest Capital Planning Guidance.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will bring forward proposals to reintroduce school dental screening.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no plans to reintroduce school dental screenings in England. The UK National Screening Committee does not recommend population screening for dental disease in children aged six to nine years old. Further information is available at the following link:
https://view-health-screening-recommendations.service.gov.uk/dental-disease/
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have been waiting more than 12 months for (a) knee and (b) hip replacement surgery in the North East as of 29 April 2024.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
Waiting list management information shows that there were 466 people waiting more than 12 months for hip replacement surgery, and 825 people waiting more than 12 months for knee replacement surgery, in acute trusts in the North East and Yorkshire as of 21 April 2024.
The National Health Service has been hit by the most disruptive industrial action in its history, and as of April 2024, approximately 1.4 million hospital appointments have been rescheduled since December 2022. The NHS is working incredibly hard to ensure that those who have been waiting the longest receive treatment as soon as possible, and staff are going above and beyond to make this happen.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will require integrated care boards to collect data on the availability of NHS dental care services in their locality.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
From 1 April 2023, responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. ICBs are responsible for undertaking oral health needs assessments, including any data collection, to identify areas of oral health need, inform local commissioning intentions, and determine the local priorities for investment. It is a contractual responsibility for all National Health Service dental practices to update their NHS.UK profiles at least once every 90 days. The Find a Dentist website gives details of the dental practices in an area, and whether they are accepting new patients, with further information available at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-dentist
ICB-level data on the number of Units of Dental Activity and courses of treatment delivered, as well as the numbers of adults and children seen, is available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-dental-statistics
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS dental appointments have been commissioned by North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board in Easington constituency in the last 12 months.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Activity in National Health Service dentistry is measured by the number of Units of Dental Activity (UDAs) commissioned and delivered, and by the number of courses of treatment delivered, rather than by the number of appointments. Data on the number of UDAs commissioned and delivered is published each month on the NHS Business Services Authority Open Data Portal, which currently holds data up to February 2024, and is available at the following link:
https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/english-contractor-monthly-general-dental-activity
Data on the number of courses of treatment delivered in 2022/23, and in previous years, is published by NHS Digital, and available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-dental-statistics