Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to increase investment in the children's mental health system to (a) reduce waiting times and (b) ensure that more (i) children and (ii) young people can access support.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is unacceptable that too many children and young people are not receiving the mental health care they need, and we know that waits for mental health services are far too long. That is why we will recruit 8,500 additional mental health workers across both adult and children and young people’s mental health services. We are discussing our future investment in children and young people’s mental health services.
The Department of Health and Social Care is working with the Department for Education to consider how to deliver our manifesto commitment of accessing a specialist mental health professional in every school. We need to ensure any support meets the needs of young people, teachers, parents, and carers. This includes considering the role of existing programmes of support with evidence of a positive impact, such as Mental Health Support Teams in schools and colleges.
Alongside this we are working toward rolling out Young Futures hubs in every community, offering open access mental health services for young people.
The Mental Health Bill currently before Parliament will deliver the Government’s commitment to modernise the Mental Health Act 1983, so that it is fit for the 21st century. The Bill will amend the Act, which applies to England and Wales, and give patients detained under the Act greater choice, autonomy, rights, and support.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will provide funding for the total cost of the 2022 non-consolidated pay award for (a) not-for-profit, (b) social enterprise and (c) other organisations delivering (i) community healthcare and (ii) other NHS-funded services.
Answered by Will Quince
Independent providers, including not-for-profit organisations and social enterprises, are free to develop and adapt their own terms and conditions of employment. This includes the pay scales that they use and any non-consolidated pay awards they choose to make. It is for them to determine what is affordable within the financial model they operate, and how to recoup any additional costs they face if they choose to utilise the terms and conditions of NHS staff on the Agenda for Change contract.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
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 reduce waiting times for NHS treatment.
Answered by Steve Barclay
In the Autumn Statement we committed an additional £3.3 billion per year until 2024-25 to respond to significant pressures facing the NHS. This is on top of the £8 billion already committed until 2025 to reduce waiting times. This funding will increase capacity to get patients diagnosed and treated quickly, by creating new Community Diagnostic Centres and Surgical Hubs and prioritising the patients waiting longest.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the level of podiatry vacancy rates in the NHS in Kingston upon Hull East constituency as of 12 October 2022; and if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of these vacancies on patient treatment for diabetic foot complications.
Answered by Robert Jenrick - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
No specific estimate has been made as this information is not collected in the format requested.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he expects eligible post-graduate nurses to receive the £10,000 golden hello payment announced in May 2018.
Answered by Robert Jenrick - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
In May 2018, we announced the intention to pay a ‘golden hello’ to nurses who started a postgraduate course in learning disability nursing, mental health nursing or district nursing in the 2018/19 academic year who subsequently qualified and were employed in these roles in the health and care sector.
The Government is considering the most effective way to administer and introduce any scheme to ensure it delivers on the original intent.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will confirm that the recently announced £50m for targeted motor neurone disease (MND) research will be awarded in full to the scientific programme set out in the submission by MND charities to the 2021 Spending Review.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
This funding can be accessed through applications to the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The NIHR and UKRI rely on researchers submitting high-quality applications to access funding. All applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the evidential basis was for his decision (a) to implement mass covid-19 testing of secondary school pupils in London and the South-East and (b) not to implement that testing in (i) Yorkshire and the Humber and (ii) other regions of England.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The decision to implement testing of secondary school pupils in London and the South East on 10 December was based on public health recommendations informed by a comparative analysis by region of the following factors: case rates in all age groups and, in particular, among over 60 year olds; how quickly case rates were rising or falling; the number of positive cases as a proportion of tests taken; current and projected pressure on the National Health Service; and other circumstances such as local outbreaks. At the time, the case rates in London and the South East were 271 and 217 respectively per 100,000 population, compared with 208 in the region with the next highest case rates.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his guidance is on the covid-19 vaccine for people with a terminal diagnosis.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
For the first phase of the vaccination programme, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation advised that the vaccine be given to care home residents and staff, as well as frontline health and social care workers, then to the rest of the population in order of age and clinical risk factors.
Included in this are individuals who are clinically extremely vulnerable and individuals with certain underlying health conditions, including immunosuppression, which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality. Some terminal illnesses, such as specific cancers, are considered to be clinically extremely vulnerable, will be prioritised for a vaccine in cohort four.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will clarify his Department's advice on people with a penicillin allergy receiving the covid-19 vaccine.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
People with a penicillin allergy should be able to receive the currently authorised Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines as the final vaccine products do not contain penicillin. The COVID-19 vaccines should not be given to those who have had a previous systemic allergic reaction, including immediate-onset anaphylaxis, to a previous dose of the same COVID-19 vaccine or to any component of the vaccine. If people have any specific concerns as to whether they can receive the vaccine, they should ask their general practitioner or consultant team.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of including prison officers on the priority list for covid-19 vaccination.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) are the independent experts who advise the Government on which vaccines the United Kingdom should use and provide advice on prioritisation at a population level. The JCVI has advised that phase one of the vaccine programme will have the prevention of mortality at the forefront of its objectives, as well as to support the National Health Service and social care system. For the first phase, the JCVI has advised that the vaccine be given to care home residents and staff, as well as frontline health and social care workers, then to the rest of the population in order of age and clinical risk factors. Included in this are those with underlying health conditions, which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality.
Prison officers who are eligible for a vaccine, based on the JCVI’s prioritisation, will be offered a vaccine in line with clinical advice. Phase two may include further reduction in hospitalisation and targeted vaccination of those at high risk of exposure and/or those delivering key public services.