Asked by: Keir Mather (Labour - Selby and Ainsty)
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 potential merits of adding medications related to (a) asthma and (b) chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the NHS prescription charge exemption list.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
While the Government’s policy remains, that there are no plans to review the list of medical conditions that entitle someone to apply for a medical exemption certificate, there are extensive arrangements currently in place in England to ensure that prescriptions are affordable for everyone, including for those with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Approximately 89% of prescription items are dispensed free of charge in the community in England, and there is a wide range of exemptions from prescription charges already in place for which those with heart disease may be eligible. Eligibility depends on the patient’s age, whether they are in qualifying full-time education, whether they are pregnant or have recently given birth, or whether they are in receipt of certain benefits or a war pension.
People on a low income can apply for help with their health costs through the NHS Low Income Scheme. The scheme provides income related help to people who are not automatically exempt from charges, but who may be entitled to full or partial help if they have a low income and savings below a defined limit.
To support those with greatest need who do not qualify for an exemption or the NHS Low Income Scheme, Prescription Prepayment Certificates (PPCs) are available. PPCs allow people to claim as many prescriptions as they need for a set cost, with three month and 12 month certificates available, which can be paid for in instalments.
Asked by: Keir Mather (Labour - Selby and Ainsty)
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 reduce A&E waiting times at York Hospital for residents of Selby and Ainsty constituency.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our two-year urgent and emergency care recovery plan, backed by £1 billion of dedicated funding, was published in January 2023, to drive sustained improvements in urgent and emergency care waiting times.
At York Hospital, an expanded and redesigned emergency department was opened in July 2023. This has improved the provision of services, including same day emergency care (SDEC). SDEC supports patients’ access to timely diagnosis and treatment, without the need for admission to hospital.
The latest published data shows that at York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the proportion of patients waiting 12-hours from decision-to-admit to admission has reduced by 6.9% in March 2024 compared to the previous year.
Asked by: Keir Mather (Labour - Selby and Ainsty)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing NICE guidance for (a) Tourette's syndrome and (b) other tic disorders.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Tourette syndrome was discussed in 2022 by a cross-agency topic prioritisation group, made up of senior executives from the Department, NHS England, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). The group did not consider it to be a national priority at that time and therefore decided not to prioritise development of a NICE guideline on Tourette syndrome.
NICE is currently finalising a new approach to topic prioritisation, which will come into effect in May 2024, operationalised through an integrated prioritisation board led by NICE’s Chief Medical Officer. NICE plans to consult on its new prioritisation process and a common framework for topic selection at the beginning of March. Details will be made available on the NICE website in due course. NICE is also developing medical technologies guidance on digitally-enabled therapy for tic disorders in children and young people. This is in the early stages of development. NICE expects to consult on the draft guidance between 5 September and 3 October 2024, with publication of final guidance in December 2024.
Asked by: Keir Mather (Labour - Selby and Ainsty)
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 increase the availability of the shingles vaccine.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The shingles vaccine is readily available to those eligible for the shingles programme via their general practices. Eligibility includes anyone aged between 70 and 80 years old, and those who turned 65 years old on or after 1 September 2023. The shingles vaccine is also available for those aged 50 years old and over, who are at significant risk of severe complications. The eligibility criteria and the expansion of the programme is based on advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation and there are no plans to review the age criteria for the shingles programme.
Asked by: Keir Mather (Labour - Selby and Ainsty)
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 improve the quality of training for service providers on (a) Tourette's syndrome and (b) other tic disorders.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department commissions research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including Tourette’s syndrome, although it is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. The NIHR has funded, or supported studies into, the causes of and treatments for Tourette’s syndrome, including a study on deep brain stimulation in people with the condition and a mixed-methods study to co-design a service model for children and young people with tic disorders.
Individual employers are responsible for ensuring that staff are trained, competent and have the necessary skills to safely and effectively treat patients in their care, including those with Tourette’s syndrome and other neurological disorders.
NHS England’s e-learning for Healthcare has produced modular online learning resources in relation to Tourette’s and other tic disorders, within its neurodevelopmental disorder and healthy schools programme domains, which are freely accessible to all, including service providers.
The Department has no specific plans to increase the number of specialist practitioners researching and treating Tourette’s Syndrome. The majority of services for people with Tourette’s syndrome are commissioned locally by integrated care boards, which are best placed to plan the provision of services subject to local prioritisation and need. In June 2023, NHS England published the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan (LTWP), which sets out the steps the National Health Service and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. The LTWP is a high-level plan to support the NHS workforce as a whole, and is designed to identify the right supply of staff across all clinical pathways and specialisms rather than workforce plans for specific services.
Asked by: Keir Mather (Labour - Selby and Ainsty)
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 increase funding for (a) research into the causes of and (b) treatments for Tourette’s syndrome.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department commissions research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including Tourette’s syndrome, although it is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. The NIHR has funded, or supported studies into, the causes of and treatments for Tourette’s syndrome, including a study on deep brain stimulation in people with the condition and a mixed-methods study to co-design a service model for children and young people with tic disorders.
Individual employers are responsible for ensuring that staff are trained, competent and have the necessary skills to safely and effectively treat patients in their care, including those with Tourette’s syndrome and other neurological disorders.
NHS England’s e-learning for Healthcare has produced modular online learning resources in relation to Tourette’s and other tic disorders, within its neurodevelopmental disorder and healthy schools programme domains, which are freely accessible to all, including service providers.
The Department has no specific plans to increase the number of specialist practitioners researching and treating Tourette’s Syndrome. The majority of services for people with Tourette’s syndrome are commissioned locally by integrated care boards, which are best placed to plan the provision of services subject to local prioritisation and need. In June 2023, NHS England published the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan (LTWP), which sets out the steps the National Health Service and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. The LTWP is a high-level plan to support the NHS workforce as a whole, and is designed to identify the right supply of staff across all clinical pathways and specialisms rather than workforce plans for specific services.
Asked by: Keir Mather (Labour - Selby and Ainsty)
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 increase the number of specialist practitioners (a) researching and (b) treating Tourette's syndrome in (i) North Yorkshire and (ii) the north of England.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department commissions research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including Tourette’s syndrome, although it is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. The NIHR has funded, or supported studies into, the causes of and treatments for Tourette’s syndrome, including a study on deep brain stimulation in people with the condition and a mixed-methods study to co-design a service model for children and young people with tic disorders.
Individual employers are responsible for ensuring that staff are trained, competent and have the necessary skills to safely and effectively treat patients in their care, including those with Tourette’s syndrome and other neurological disorders.
NHS England’s e-learning for Healthcare has produced modular online learning resources in relation to Tourette’s and other tic disorders, within its neurodevelopmental disorder and healthy schools programme domains, which are freely accessible to all, including service providers.
The Department has no specific plans to increase the number of specialist practitioners researching and treating Tourette’s Syndrome. The majority of services for people with Tourette’s syndrome are commissioned locally by integrated care boards, which are best placed to plan the provision of services subject to local prioritisation and need. In June 2023, NHS England published the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan (LTWP), which sets out the steps the National Health Service and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. The LTWP is a high-level plan to support the NHS workforce as a whole, and is designed to identify the right supply of staff across all clinical pathways and specialisms rather than workforce plans for specific services.
Asked by: Keir Mather (Labour - Selby and Ainsty)
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 treatment plans for long covid.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Government has invested more than £50 million in 22 research projects for post-COVID-19 conditions to improve understanding of the diagnosis and the effectiveness of both pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies and interventions, as well as to evaluate clinical care. We are also monitoring research being undertaken internationally. The National Institute for Health and Care Research welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including post-COVID-19 conditions.
Asked by: Keir Mather (Labour - Selby and Ainsty)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps she has taken to reduce the waiting times for child and adolescent mental health services in Selby and Ainsty constituency.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
It is the responsibility of the Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board to make available appropriate provision to meet the mental health and other care needs of the local population in Selby and Ainsty.
Nationally, we are supporting the expansion and transformation of mental health services for children and young people through the NHS Long Term Plan, as part of the accompanying investment of at least an extra £2.3 billion a year by March 2024, with the aim for an additional 345,000 children and young people to be able to get the mental health support they need. We also provided an additional £79 million for 2021/22 to allow around 22,500 more children and young people to access community mental health services and around 2,000 more to access eating disorder services.
We continue to roll out mental health support teams in schools and colleges across the country offering early support to children experiencing anxiety, depression, and other common mental health issues.
In addition, the National Health Service is working towards implementing five new waiting time standards for people requiring mental healthcare in both accident and emergency and in the community, to ensure timely access to the most appropriate, high-quality support. Four of these include children and young people.
Asked by: Keir Mather (Labour - Selby and Ainsty)
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 increase the retention of (a) GPs and (b) other primary healthcare staff in North Yorkshire.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are working with NHS England to increase the general practitioner (GP) workforce in England, including North Yorkshire. This includes measures to boost recruitment, address the reasons why doctors leave the profession, and encourage them to return to practice. NHS England has made available several recruitment and retention schemes to boost the general practice workforce. This includes the GP Retention Scheme, the GP Retention Fund, the National GP Induction and Refresher, the Locum Support Scheme, and the Supporting Mentors Scheme.
Through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, Primary Care Networks and practices have recruited over 34,000 additional staff including nursing associates, pharmacists, physiotherapists, and social prescribing link workers, hitting the Government's target to recruit 26,000 a year ahead of the March 2024 target.
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, published earlier this year by NHS England, sets out the steps the National Health Service and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce, including GPs and other primary healthcare staff, that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. It will put the workforce on a sustainable footing for the long term.