Asked by: Katie White (Labour - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many independent inquiries into maternity care have been conducted by NHS England in the last 20 years; what the key recommendations of those reviews were; and how many of those recommendations have been implemented.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There have been four independent inquiries into maternity and neonatal services provided at the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, published in 2015, Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, published in 2020 and 2022, and East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, published in 2022. There is also an on-going inquiry into maternity care provided at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, expected to publish in June 2026.
These reviews have uncovered issues at both a local and national level related to failing to listen to women and families, staffing, failing to learn from errors, lack of leadership, compassionate care and teamworking.
These inquiries jointly have approximately 130 recommendations aimed at various areas of the system. The Morecambe Bay report had 44 recommendations in total; 18 recommendations were specifically for the trust, all of which have been implemented, and 26 recommendations were aimed at the wider National Health Service, the majority of which have been addressed and implemented.
The Ockenden review at Shrewsbury and Telford had three key asks for my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, 15 immediate and essential actions to improve maternity care and safety across England and 60 local recommendations for the trust. The inquiry into East Kent had eight recommendations across four key action areas for NHS England, the Government and wider system and one additional recommendation for the trust itself. Most of the remaining recommendations, along with those from other reports, were addressed in NHS England’s Three-year Delivery Plan for maternity and neonatal services, published in 2023, which sets national measures to make care safer, more personalised and more equitable.
Asked by: Katie White (Labour - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to regulate commercially available prostate specific antigen tests; and if he will produce clinical guidance to ensure the promotion of (a) clear and (b) evidence-based public health messaging on the (i) risk of prostate cancer and (ii) options for testing.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In January 2024, the UK National Screening Committee updated its information on paid-for private screening tests, and how they differ from National Health Service screening programmes.
The updated guidance sets out the potential benefits and harms of all screening, including summarising some additional possible issues for people to think about if considering commercially offered health screening tests. These issues include that commercial companies often only offer a test, rather than an end-to-end screening pathway. If an individual then receives an abnormal finding, it is up to them to seek any advice, further investigation, or treatment.
Furthermore, NHS England is taking steps to raise awareness of the symptoms of prostate cancer, where there are opportunities to do so. NHS England’s Getting It Right First Time programme published guidance in April 2024 to support the implementation of good practice in the management of prostate cancer, which includes ensuring that the diagnostic pathways for prostate cancer were implemented from a primary care setting to a secondary care presentation.
The Government recognises that a cancer-specific approach is needed to meet the challenges in cancer care, and to improve all cancer services and outcomes for people living with cancer, including those with prostate cancer. The Department is investing £16 million into the Prostate Cancer UK-led TRANSFORM screening trial, which seeks to find better ways of detecting prostate cancer. This trial will compare the most promising tests that look for prostate cancer in men that do not have symptoms, and aims to address disparities in detection rates across different groups.
As recently announced, we will publish a new National Cancer Plan, which will include further details on how we will improve cancer services across England, including for those living with prostate cancer.
Asked by: Katie White (Labour - Leeds North West)
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 (a) correlate data between people (i) with mental health conditions and (ii) reported as perpetrators of domestic abuse and (b) share that data with police authorities.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We know that the proportion of domestic homicide reviews where mental health concerns have been identified has risen in recent years. It is important that all parts of the system, including health, policing and justice services, work together to deal with this and protect domestic abuse victims. Following recent discussions with the Home Office and NHS England, we are considering what options might be available to help achieve this.
Tackling violence against women and girls is a top priority for the Government, we have a mission to halve this violence in a decade. We are working across Government to deliver a transformative approach to this, underpinned by a new strategy to be published later in 2025.
Asked by: Katie White (Labour - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve access to NHS dentistry in Leeds North West 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 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 the local population has been delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For Leeds North West constituency, this is NHS West Yorkshire 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.