Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
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 when the NHS will be able to meet the target of 92% of people waiting for elective mental health treatment waiting no longer than 18 weeks from referral to their first treatment.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The overall elective waiting list stands at 7.48 million patient pathways, with over six million people waiting. We are committed to putting patients first, making sure that patients are seen on time and ensuring that people have the best possible experience during their care.
As set out in the Government’s Plan for Change, we will ensure that 92% of patients return to waiting no longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment by March 2029, a standard which has not been met consistently since September 2015. This includes those patients waiting for mental health services where a referral is made to a medical consultant-led mental health service. The majority of National Health Service mental health care is outside the scope of the elective waiting list and the referral to treatment 18-week constitutional standard.
We know that too many people with mental health issues are not getting the support or care they need, which is why we will fix the broken system to ensure that mental health is given the same attention and focus as physical health, so that people can be confident in accessing high quality mental health support when they need it. We will recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers to reduce delays and provide faster treatment, which will also help ease pressure on hospitals.
The NHS Planning Guidance 2025/26 includes objectives to increase the number of children and young people accessing services to achieve the national ambition for 345,000 additional children and young people aged zero to 25 years old compared to 2019, and to reduce 12 hour accident and emergency waits. We will also ensure every young person has access to a mental health professional at school, and will set up Young Futures hubs in communities, offering open access mental health services for young people.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
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 impact of excluding measures of grading in brain tumour diagnosis on his targets for cancer diagnosis set out in the NHS Long Term Plan.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The target for earlier cancer diagnosis is to diagnose more cancers at stages 1 and 2, because when cancer is diagnosed earlier, there are more potential treatment options and the likelihood of successful treatment is higher. The grading of brain tumours is not directly comparable to the staging of cancers because brain tumours at grade 1 and grade 2 are not considered cancerous. Only brain tumours at grades 3 and 4 are classed as cancerous.
The National Cancer Plan will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and aftercare. It will seek to improve every aspect of cancer care to improve the experience and outcomes for people with cancer. Our goal is to reduce the number of lives lost to cancer over the next ten years.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people applied for undergraduate pre-registration midwifery courses in each year since 2015.
Answered by Will Quince
The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) publish data on the number of applicants to midwifery courses in England. The number of applicants between 2018-19 and 2021-22 are shown in the table below.
| 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 |
Applicants | 8,140 | 8,750 | 11,040 | 10,340 |
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Source: UCAS end of cycle 2022, published at the following link:
Published UCAS data only covers the period from 2018-19 onwards.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate his Department has made of the adequacy of the number of scans and health checks completed by the NHS.
Answered by Will Quince
Diagnostic checks, including scans, are a key part of many elective care pathways. The Department’s ambition is that 95% of patients needing a diagnostic check receive it within six weeks by March 2025. According to data published in November 2022, approximately 73% are receiving a check within six weeks. Community Diagnostic Centres have delivered more than 2.7 million additional checks as of December 2022.
Delivery of the NHS Health Check programme, which is commissioned by local Government, was largely suspended between April 2020 and February 2022 due to the pandemic and in line with national guidance from NHS England. Data shows most local authorities have made positive steps to recover the service, reaching 81% of pre-pandemic activity between July and September 2022.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department has taken to increase the speed of hospital discharges.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
On 9 January 2023, the Government committed a further £200 million to fund short-term National Health Service step-down care packages. Integrated care boards, working closely with local authorities, will use this to purchase places in care homes and other settings, such as hospices, as well as to help fund wrap-around primary and community health services to support patients’ recovery. NHS England expect that this will allow an additional 2,500 – 3,000 patients to be discharged from hospital into other care settings, freeing up much needed acute beds and clinical capacity.
The Government has also provided an extra £50 million in capital funding to expand ambulance hubs and hospital discharge lounges to help improve the flow of patients through hospitals and the speed of hospital discharges. This complements and builds on the £500 million adult social care discharge fund announced in September 2022, which can be used to fund a much wider range of measures to support discharge, including domiciliary care packages and measures to boost workforce capacity.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many students applied for (a) nursing and (b) midwifery undergraduate courses in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Will Quince
46,565 students applied for nursing courses and 10,340 students applied for midwifery courses at the end of the 2022 application cycle, according to data published by The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
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 help protect the most clinically vulnerable from covid-19.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The shielding programme ended on 15 September 2021. People previously considered clinically extremely vulnerable are advised to follow general guidance, while considering additional precautions to reduce the risk of infection. On 24 December 2021, updated public health advice was issued, which is available at the following link:
In addition, updated public health advice was issued for people whose immune system means they are at higher risk of serious outcomes from COVID-19. This is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-for-people-whose-immune-system-means-they-are-at-higher-risk/covid-19-guidance-for-people-whose-immune-system-means-they-are-at-higher-riskNHS England and NHS Improvement have written to general practices and hospital trusts in England to raise awareness of this new guidance.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
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 capacity of the UK’s covid-19 testing infrastructure in comparison to other countries.
Answered by Maggie Throup
No specific assessment has been made as robust data on international capacity is not held.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
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 covid-19 hospital admissions.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Measures including the mandatory use of face masks in most public indoor venues, the requirement to display the NHS COVID Pass in specific settings and advice to work from home where possible, will help to reduce the spread of the Omicron variant and pressure on the National Health Service. The booster vaccination campaign continues which will provide additional protection against hospitalisations, especially amongst older and more vulnerable populations. We are also increasing capacity in the NHS, deploying antiviral and monoclonal antibody treatments and providing free lateral flow device tests to 100,000 critical workers.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the progress of the covid-19 vaccination programme.
Answered by Maggie Throup
As of 12 January 2022, over 83% of those aged 12 years old and over in the United Kingdom have received two doses of the vaccine, with over 90% having received one dose. Over 36 million people in the UK have received a booster or third primary dose, with every eligible adult in England aged 18 years old and over offered a booster vaccination by the target of 31 December 2021.