Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make GPs aware of the primary bone cancer awareness e-learning module devised by the Bone Cancer Research Trust and the Royal College of General Practitioners.
Answered by David Mowat
As the professional membership body for general practitioners in the United Kingdom and abroad working to promote excellence in primary care, the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) is best placed to promote their various e-learning modules.
The module is available on the RCGP’s website at:
http://www.rcgp.org.uk/learning/online-learning/ole/primary-bone-cancer.aspx
All healthcare professionals, trainees and students can register for a RCGP eLearning account which provides free access to selected RCGP courses and updates. The RCGP has multiple communication channels to promote their work including their website, learning eBulletin, and the RCGP Journal.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy to make routine bowel cancer screening available to people between the ages of 50 and 60.
Answered by David Mowat
The risk of bowel cancer increases with age, with over 80% of bowel cancers being diagnosed in people who are aged 60 or over. Based on this evidence and, in order to support our policy that screening programmes do more good than harm, the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme offers bowel cancer screening every two years to men and women aged 60 to 74. The NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme uses the faecal occult blood (FOB) test, a self-sampling kit.
In addition to FOB testing, the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme is currently rolling out Bowel Scope Screening (BSS) - a one off examination which will play a significant role in preventing bowel cancer. Both men and women will be invited for BSS around the time of their 55th birthday. If people are not screened at 55, they can request BSS up to the age of 59. BSS finds and removes any small bowel growths (polyps) that could eventually turn into cancer.
In November 2015 the UK National Screening Committee, which advises Ministers and the National Health Service in all four countries about all aspects of screening policy, recommended that the Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) should replace the currently used FOB test in the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme. The FIT self-sampling kit will be offered to men and women aged 60 to 74 every two years. It is expected to increase screening uptake by around 10% and result in around 200,000 more people a year being tested, potentially saving hundreds of lives. FIT will be implemented from April 2018.
We believe the biggest impact we can have on saving lives from bowel cancer in England is implementing FIT in 2018 and the current roll-out of BSS to all men and women aged 55. Anyone over the age of 74 can self-refer themselves into the screening programme every two years.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to increase the take-up of bowel cancer screening.
Answered by David Mowat
The UK National Screening Committee recommended moving to the Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) at its November 2015 meeting. Research and pilot evidence shows that this is more acceptable than the faecal occult blood testing (FOBt) and will raise uptake. Public Health England (PHE) in partnership with NHS England is leading on the implementation of FIT in England which is due to commence in 2018.
PHE sets standards for uptake and coverage for screening programmes and reports through the Public Health Outcomes Framework.
The National Health Service measures performance of a range of screening and immunisation programmes through the Section 7a agreement. One is Bowel cancer screening programme: FOBt Screening Uptake (all rounds). This is reported nationally and regionally.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent steps he has taken on improving mental health support for young offenders.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Children and Young People’s Mental Health Services Transformation Programme is improving mental health outcomes for children and young people. Within the Programme, the Health and Justice and Specialised Commissioning Children and Young People’s Mental Health Services Transformation Workstream is responding to challenges around the commissioning and provision of mental health services for those held in the children and young people’s secure estate (CYPSE), including testing and evaluating the Secure Stairs integrated framework of care across the CYPSE.
The Workstream is also targeting improved mental health service provision for children and young people coming into contact with other elements of the health and justice pathway, such as Liaison and Diversion services, Sexual Assault Referral Centres and crisis care related to police custody.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his policy is on co-location of GP surgeries within hospital accident and emergency units.
Answered by Philip Dunne
NHS England are leading a comprehensive review of the National Health Service urgent and emergency care system in England which proposes a fundamental shift in the way urgent and emergency care services are provided. A significant part of this is changing how and where primary care services are delivered and accessed by patients, from realising the potential of NHS111 services through to greater primary care streaming at the accident and emergency (A&E) front door. This includes rolling out initiatives such as the co-location of general practitioner (GP) surgeries within A&E units and other models for patients to access GP services within A&E. Additionally the A&E improvement plan 2016/17 has ‘primary care streaming’ as one of its ‘must do’ initiatives and whilst its implementation remains a local system decision, NHS strongly recommends that trusts consider better use of GPs on the patient pathway to improve patient access to primary care (which may include co-location of services) and which will also therefore aim to ease pressures on A&E services.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people between the ages of 50 and 60 years of age are diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer.
Answered by David Mowat
Data on the number of people diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancers can be found in the report “Cross-distribution of age at diagnosis and stage of cancer diagnosed in England during 2012 to 2014”, which is available at:
http://www.ncin.org.uk/local_cancer_intelligence/local_cancer_intelligence
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he intends to bring forward legislative proposals making it compulsory for restaurants and catering outlets to publicly display their food hygiene rating on their premises, websites and menus.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has responsibility for the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme. Currently it is voluntary for food businesses in England to display their hygiene ratings. Display has been mandatory in Wales since November 2013 and in Northern Ireland since October 2016.
The FSA is exploring how a statutory scheme, including display of ratings on-line, could be delivered in England, aligned with their wider regulatory reform approach. The Government will consider this evidence carefully once it is available.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department takes to monitor the performance of NHS ambulance trusts.
Answered by Philip Dunne
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Denton and Reddish (Andrew Gwynne) on 7 December 2016 to Question 55662.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to increase the use of clinical answering services for commissioning and decommissioning of treatment and support relating to mental health.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Decisions about the commissioning and decommissioning of local National Health Service services are a matter for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). We would expect CCGs to make all decisions regarding the commissioning and commissioning of services based on the needs of their local communities. We would also expect CCGs to carefully consider all factors relating to the delivery of high quality and efficient health services that meet quality standards and achieve the best outcomes for the communities. Local commissioning decisions should be supported, where appropriate, by robust consultation with the local community.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of levels of hospice care provision across the UK.
Answered by David Mowat
Levels of National Health Service funded hospice care provision are determined locally by clinical commissioning groups and they are responsible for ensuring that the services they commission meet the needs of their local population. Commissioners should identify any gaps in local provision and put in place service development plans to address this identified need.