Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
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 help improve (a) patient access to and (b) staff retention in NHS dentistry in Leigh and Atherton constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access National Health Service dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments from April 2025 and recruit new dentists to areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the sector, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.
The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of local populations has been delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For Leigh and Atherton constituency, the relevant body is NHS Greater Manchester ICB.
ICBs have started to recruit posts through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see up to 240 dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of re-evaluating the Units of Dental Activity formula.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
To rebuild dentistry in the long term and increase access to National Health Service dental care, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.
There are no perfect payment systems and careful consideration needs to be given to any potential changes to the complex dental system, so that we deliver a system better for patients and the profession.
We are continuing to meet with the British Dental Association and other representatives of the dental sector to discuss how we can best deliver our shared ambition to improve access for NHS dental patients.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on (a) diagnostics and (b) treatment pathways for people with long covid.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no diagnostic tests for long COVID currently approved for use in the United Kingdom, and clinicians must rule out other conditions which present with similar symptoms to diagnose long COVID. Researchers are also working to identify blood-based biomarkers as the basis for diagnostic tests and targets for treatments.
Over the last five years, the Government, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research and the Medical Research Council, has invested over £57 million in long COVID research, with almost £40 million of this through two specific research calls on long COVID.
This includes clinical trials to test and compare different treatments, and to improve our understanding of long COVID and how health professionals can accurately diagnose the condition. This research has improved the evidence base for clinicians in testing for and treating long COVID.
To support clinical leadership in this area, NHS England has worked in partnership with the British Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine to develop a new Clinical Post-COVID Society to facilitate the ongoing sharing of best practice and to support people affected by long COVID. Further information about the society is available at the following link:
https://www.clinicalpcs.org.uk
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has plans to help increase dementia diagnosis rates to pre-Covid-19 levels in Leigh and Atherton constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to recovering the dementia diagnosis rate (DDR) to the national ambition of 66.7%, which in England, at the end of February 2025, was 65.4%.
To support recovery of the DDR and implementation of the Dementia Care Pathway, we have developed a dashboard to provide appropriate data and enable targeted support where needed.
To reduce variation in diagnosis rates, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities’ Dementia Intelligence Network has developed a tool for local systems, which includes an assessment of population characteristics such as rurality and socio-economic deprivation. This enables systems to investigate local variation in diagnosis and take informed action to enhance their diagnosis rates. The tool has been released and is available via the NHS Futures Collaboration platform.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
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 with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to establish full clinical guidelines for the (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment of people with Tourette's syndrome.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has established a prioritisation board that takes decisions on which topics should be prioritised for the development of a clinical guideline, in line with the routing criteria set out in the NICE’s published prioritisation framework, and through engagement with experts and other interested parties. The prioritisation board is currently considering Tourette’s and tic disorders as a possible topic for guideline development, however no final prioritisation decisions have been made yet.
The NICE has produced guidance on suspected neurological conditions, which includes recommendations on treatment for tics and involuntary movements in adults and children. The guidance can be found at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng127/
The NICE is also developing an Early Value Assessment on digital therapy for chronic tic disorders and Tourette syndrome, and currently expects to publish final guidance in May 2025.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing electronic prescriptions for medicinal cannabis.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Cannabis-based products for medicinal use are Schedule 2 controlled drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001. Electronic prescribing of Schedule 2 and 3 Controlled Drugs in National Health Service primary care settings has been operational since 2019.
Electronic prescriptions for controlled drugs in Schedules 2 and 3 must be sent using an advanced electronic signature and sent via the NHS Electronic Prescribing Service as part of enhanced security measures. There are no current plans to make legislative changes to enable similar systems in private healthcare to prescribe Schedule 2 and 3 controlled drugs.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
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 supporting people with Long Covid in the context of the closure of Long Covid clinics.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Across the National Health Service in England there are services supporting people with post-COVID syndrome, also known as long COVID. These services offer physical, cognitive, and psychological assessment, and, where appropriate, refer patients onto existing services for treatment and rehabilitation. Further information can be found on NHS England’s website, at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/post-covid-syndrome-long-covid/
The commissioning of post-COVID services transitioned from the long COVID national programme to local integrated care boards (ICBs) at the end of March 2024. Funding for post-COVID services in 2024/25 was expected to be allocated based on the previous distribution for 2023/24, to minimise disruption to funding flows and maintain services.
NHS England has published commissioning guidance for post-COVID services which sets out the commissioning and service requirements and the oversight of post-COVID services by the ICBs in England for adults, and children and young people (CYP). It outlines the elements that post-COVID services should comprise of and the principles of care for long COVID, and is available at the following link:
There is specific advice for general practitioners to manage long COVID. Patients should be managed according to current clinical guidance, such as that published and updated by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network, and the Royal College of General Practitioners, which is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/NG188
Primary care plays a key role in the long COVID clinical pathway, in considering and excluding potential other causes of symptoms and in determining the appropriate management of symptoms and the timing of onward referral to post-COVID services, if appropriate. A post-COVID-19 syndrome diagnostic pathway, the criteria for referral to post-COVID services, and separate adult and CYP pathways are outlined in the commissioning guidance to help provide consistency of delivery and to improve patient experience.
Not all people who report long COVID symptoms will require assessment in a post-COVID assessment service. For example, some of the most common symptoms may still not warrant a specialist assessment as people can benefit from self-management advice, including from the NHS website. Some people may be seen in other disease-specific pathways, depending on their individual circumstances.
NHS England has recently completed a long COVID and myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), stocktake, which aimed to provide a nationwide overview of service delivery in commissioning and contracting, assessing access, activity, and outcomes. The findings confirmed widely recognised challenges, specifically significant variation in care delivery across England, and a lack of comprehensive activity data.
Executive NHS England board members were updated on the current provision of long COVID and ME/CFS services, noting those challenges. Discussions considered service prioritisation and potential COVID Inquiry recommendations. It was agreed that long COVID and ME/CFS services are rightly commissioned by ICBs, which have responsibility for ensuring coverage for their population.
Furthermore, to support clinical leadership in this area, NHS England has worked in partnership with the British Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine to develop a new Clinical Post-COVID Society to facilitate the ongoing sharing of best practice, to support people affected by long COVID. Further information about the society is available at the following link:
https://www.clinicalpcs.org.uk
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
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 30 January 2025 to Question 26770 on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Health Services, whether the results from the NHS England stocktake will be published.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England’s long COVID and myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome, stocktake aimed to collate information about service commissioning, activity, and delivery, to provide a national overview of the services commissioned by integrated care boards as part of their core activity. The stocktake was completed for an internal NHS England committee and, therefore, there are no plans to publish the findings. However, those findings did confirm the widely recognised challenges of significant variation in care delivery across England, and a lack of comprehensive activity data.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
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 steps to ensure a patients right of choice is not impacted by the proposed 2025-26 NHS payment scheme.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
A patients’ right to choose is set out in legislation, and the proposed 2025/26 NHS Payment Scheme (NHSPS) makes no changes to this right. As required by the Health and Care Act 2022, NHS England has conducted an assessment of the impact of the proposed NHSPS. This is available at the following link:
This impact assessment includes consideration of the impact on patient choice, as well as an assessment of the impact on patients, in line with NHS England’s public sector equality duty.
The Government is committed to patients having the right to choose their provider when referred to consultant-led treatment, or to a mental health professional, for their first appointment as an outpatient. Further information on the choices available for patients can be found on the NHS Choice Framework, which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-nhs-choice-framework
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the proposed 2025-26 NHS Payment Scheme on a patients right to choose.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
A patients’ right to choose is set out in legislation, and the proposed 2025/26 NHS Payment Scheme (NHSPS) makes no changes to this right. As required by the Health and Care Act 2022, NHS England has conducted an assessment of the impact of the proposed NHSPS. This is available at the following link:
This impact assessment includes consideration of the impact on patient choice, as well as an assessment of the impact on patients, in line with NHS England’s public sector equality duty.
The Government is committed to patients having the right to choose their provider when referred to consultant-led treatment, or to a mental health professional, for their first appointment as an outpatient. Further information on the choices available for patients can be found on the NHS Choice Framework, which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-nhs-choice-framework