Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to improve access to breast screening for people with physical disabilities that prevent them from holding the required position for sufficient time to complete the screening.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is committed to improving the accessibility of the screening programmes it commissions under the Public Health Services (S7a) agreement, particularly for under-served groups in society. Contractually, providers of National Health Service screening services are required to make reasonable adjustments to ensure that their services are accessible for people with disabilities. For example, the NHS breast screening service offers longer appointments at accessible sites to support women with physical disabilities.
Services make reasonable adjustments within the constraints of mammography equipment, to ensure that people with disabilities are offered the opportunity to have screening. However, there may be situations where this is not possible. Providers will deal with these on a case by case basis, and offer an alternative approach as necessary. For example, for women who are unable to have a mammogram, they may be offered a referral to a symptomatic breast clinic for a physical check.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
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 prisoners had (a) an identified mental illness and (b) a diagnosed neurodivergence in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
NHS England is only able to produce data for the last 12 months, as we have improved our reporting mechanisms to include neurodivergent conditions. Prior to this improvement, information is not available.
As of 29 February 2024, there were 6,152 prisoners, or 7.3% of the prison population, with an identified mental health illness, according to the Quality and Outcomes Framework’s classifications. This only includes those with confirmation of a severe and enduring mental health illness such as schizophrenia, and does not include dementia, depression, and learning disabilities. 6,699 prisoners, or 8% of the prison population, had a confirmed diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. 2,684 prisoners, or 3.2% of the prison population, had a confirmed diagnosis of autism. It is not possible to produce a combined figure within the timescales, due to the fact that prisoners may have more than one diagnosis and therefore may be counted multiple times.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the financial support for (a) travel costs, (b) energy bills, (c) accommodation and (d) dietary requirements available for carers of children and young people with cancer.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not made a specific assessment of the financial support available for travel costs, energy bills, accommodation, or dietary requirements for carers of children and young people with cancer.
The Department does not provide guidance on the financial support available to carers of children and young people with cancer. NHS England and the integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning and ensuring the healthcare needs of local communities in England are met, including ensuring that healthcare providers inform all patients and carers, and specifically the carers of children and young people with cancer, of the financial support available to them.
The National Health Service in England runs schemes to provide financial assistance for travel to a hospital or other NHS premises for specialist NHS treatment or diagnostics tests, when referred by a doctor or other primary healthcare professional.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance her Department provides to carers of children and young people with cancer on the financial support available to them from the UK government.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not made a specific assessment of the financial support available for travel costs, energy bills, accommodation, or dietary requirements for carers of children and young people with cancer.
The Department does not provide guidance on the financial support available to carers of children and young people with cancer. NHS England and the integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning and ensuring the healthcare needs of local communities in England are met, including ensuring that healthcare providers inform all patients and carers, and specifically the carers of children and young people with cancer, of the financial support available to them.
The National Health Service in England runs schemes to provide financial assistance for travel to a hospital or other NHS premises for specialist NHS treatment or diagnostics tests, when referred by a doctor or other primary healthcare professional.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she is taking steps to help ensure that healthcare providers inform the carers of children and young people with cancer of the financial support available to them.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England and the integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning and ensuring the healthcare needs of local communities in England are met. This includes taking steps to ensure that healthcare providers inform all patients and carers, including the carers of children and young people with cancer, of the financial support available to them.
The National Health Service in England runs schemes to provide financial assistance for travel to a hospital or other NHS premises, for specialist NHS treatment or diagnostics tests, when referred by a doctor or other primary healthcare professional.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an estimate of the average distance people travel to access an NHS dentist in (a) North Shropshire constituency and (b) the UK.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We want to make sure that everyone needing a National Health Service dentist can access one. Our plan to recover and reform NHS dentistry will make dental services faster, simpler, and fairer for patients, and will fund approximately 2.5 million additional appointments, or more than 1.5 million additional courses of dental treatment. This is especially important for those who live in rural or coastal communities, where we know access can be particularly challenging.
Our plan includes a new Golden Hello scheme for dentists who want to move to those areas which persistently struggle to attract dentists into NHS work. A Golden Hello of £20,000 will be offered per dentist, for a total of up to 240 dentists.
There are other measures in our Dentistry Recovery Plan which will help to improve access across all areas of the country. The new patient premium is designed to support dentists to see patients who may not have seen an NHS dentist for some time, and is offered in recognition of the additional time that may be needed for practices to assess, stabilise, and manage patients’ oral health needs. We will also raise the minimum Units of Dental Activity rate from £23 to £28, supporting practices across the country to deliver more NHS care. We do not hold data on the average distance people travel to access an NHS dentist.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which integrated care boards have undertaken an oral health needs assessment.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
From 1 April 2023 responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry has been delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. ICBs are responsible for undertaking oral health needs assessments, to identify areas of oral health need, inform local commissioning intentions, and determine the local priorities for investment. Information on which ICBs have undertaken Joint Strategic Needs Assessments, including oral health needs assessments, is not held centrally.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will take steps to establishing mutual recognition schemes for dental qualifications with other countries; and if she will make an estimate of the potential impact of mutual recognition schemes on the average time taken to recruit dentists from overseas.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The General Dental Council (GDC) is the independent regulator of dentistry and dental care professionals practising in the United Kingdom. Only dentists and dental care professionals registered with the GDC can legally practise dentistry in the UK. Currently, to be entered into the dentists register, an individual must satisfy the GDC’s requirements and either: have received their qualifications from a recognised UK dental school; hold recognised qualifications in dentistry from the European Economic Area or Switzerland; hold recognised qualifications in dentistry obtained before 1 January 2001 from certain overseas universities; or pass either the Overseas Registration Exam run by the GDC, or the License in Dental Surgery run by the Royal College of Surgeons.
In March 2023, we introduced legislation that gives the GDC greater flexibility in expanding the registration routes for international applicants, and improving its international registration processes. This includes enabling the GDC to broaden the ways in which it can assess additional overseas qualifications to determine if they are sufficient for registration as a dentist.
On 16 February 2024, we launched a consultation on introducing further legislation that would give the GDC powers to provisionally register overseas-qualified dentists who have not yet met the GDC’s requirements for full registration. Under these proposals, holders of provisional registration would be able to practise dentistry in the UK for a limited time under the supervision of a fully registered dentist, whilst they are seeking to meet the GDC’s requirements for full registration.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time is for the Overseas Registration Exam.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The General Dental Council (GDC) is the independent regulator of dentists and dental care professionals practising in the United Kingdom, and enforces the standards to which they must adhere. This includes operating the Overseas Registration Exam (ORE) through which overseas-qualified dentists, whose qualifications are not recognised for the purpose of achieving full GDC registration, can demonstrate that they have sufficient skill and knowledge to join the register. The Department does not hold data on the average waiting time for overseas qualified dentists waiting to take the ORE, as this data is held by the GDC.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to increase the availability of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder medication in (a) Shropshire and (b) England.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Disruptions to the supply of medicines used for the management of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been primarily driven by issues which have resulted in capacity constraints at key manufacturing sites. Information on the adequacy of the availability of ADHD medication is not collected at local level.
The Department has been working with industry to help resolve those issues and expedite deliveries, to boost supplies of these important medicines as quickly as possible. As a result of our ongoing activity and intensive work, some issues have been resolved. Certain strengths of lisdexamphetamine, guanfacine, and all strengths of atomoxetine capsules are now available.
Unfortunately, some medicine supply issues remain for some strengths of lisdexamphetamine and methylphenidate. We are escalating these issues within the manufacturers to ensure action is taken to resolve them as quickly as possible. If any patient is concerned about their treatment, they should discuss this with their clinician at the earliest opportunity.