Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 increase the availability of mental health support for men under 50.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government accepts that too many men are not getting the support with their mental health that they deserve. As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future, we will recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers to reduce delays and provide faster treatment, which will also help ease pressure on the busy mental health services.
We are also committed to tackling suicide as one of the biggest killers of men. The 8,500 new staff will be specially trained to support people at risk from suicide.
The five-year Suicide Prevention Strategy for England, published in September 2023, identifies young people and middle-aged men as one of a number of groups for consideration for tailored or targeted action at a national level.
Many voluntary community and social enterprise organisations are also working hard to ensure that men have access to different types of services for a range of needs and preferences, in places where they are most likely to engage.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 ensure that 92% of NHS patients are treated within 18 weeks.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Tackling waiting lists is a key part of our Health Mission. The NHS Constitutional Standard for 92% of patients to wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment has not been met consistently since September 2015, and is a priority for the Government. As a first step, we will deliver an extra 2 million operations, scans, and appointments per year, which is equivalent to 40,000 a week, during our first year in Government.
A plan will be published in the coming weeks, which will set out more detail on how the National Health Service will deliver on the 18-week standard.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 merits of (a) reimbursement schemes and (b) financial assistance programmes for patients seeking private dental care because of NHS delays.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service contracts with independent dental providers to deliver NHS dental treatment. Dentists must make clear which treatments can be provided on the NHS and which can only be provided on a private basis, and the costs associated for each. If a patient decides to choose alternative private options, this should be included in their treatment plan.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to improve dementia care services in Ashfield and Mansfield constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Key priorities for Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) are to deliver the national target of a dementia diagnosis rate of 66.7%, reduce waiting to time for memory assessment services and to improve access to post-diagnostic support. A Dementia strategy for Nottingham and Nottinghamshire will be updated following the Government’s publication of the 10-Year Health Plan expected in spring 2025.
Ongoing dementia care services include a Dementia Wellbeing Service provided by Alzheimer’s Society, across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, including Mansfield and Ashfield. The service aims to support patients and carers through several interventions including cognitive stimulation therapy, carer training, 1:1 and group support.
The two Ashfield Primary Care Networks (PCN), North & South, piloted an Admiral Nurse within general practices. An Admiral Nurse is a specialist Dementia Nurse supporting patients and carers to live well with Dementia. Following a successful pilot, Ashfield North Primary Care Network have chosen to retain the role to support patients and carers within the network’s practices. Rosewood PCN in Mansfield has recruited a dementia specialist Occupation Therapist to support patients and carers living with dementia within their network of practice.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to increase the number of healthcare professionals in rural areas.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The recent annual reports from the Chief Medical Officer for England set out the clear healthcare challenges patients face when living in remote, rural, and coastal areas.
It is clear that the National Health Service has faced chronic workforce shortages across all communities for years, and fixing this will take time. We have commissioned the 10-Year Health Plan, and a central and core part of this will be our workforce, and how we ensure we train and provide the staff, technology, and infrastructure the NHS needs to care for patients across our communities.
Plans and policies will align with the strategic objectives set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, and will support its delivery.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure that men at risk of prostate cancer can access the PSA blood test.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Currently, men who have symptoms that could be associated with prostate cancer may be offered the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) test, which looks at levels of PSA in the blood, in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence cancer recognition and referral guidance.
However, due to the levels of inaccuracy, the PSA test is not recommended as a screening tool for healthy men with no symptoms. This is because high level of inaccuracy could lead to unnecessary tests and treatments that carry risks of life-changing harm, such as urinary and faecal incontinence, and sexual dysfunction, as well as a smaller but serious risk of sepsis. Additionally, some prostate cancers may not produce elevated PSA levels, leading to false-negative results that provide deceptive reassurance.
Instead, men should be encouraged to know the symptoms of prostate cancer and look out for changes in their body, and should seek advice from a general practitioner if these changes occur.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which locations in Ashfield are currently providing the Pfizer covid-19 vaccine for people who are unable to have the Modena vaccine for health reasons.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is guided by the advice of the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) for its immunisation and vaccination programmes. This includes eligibility for vaccination and the vaccines that may be used in the national programme.
Both the Moderna mRNA (Spikevax) COVID-19 vaccine and the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA (Comirnaty) COVID-19 vaccine are approved for use in the United Kingdom and, in line with JCVI advice, may be used in the autumn 2024 COVID-19 national vaccination programme. NHS England advises that all sites in Ashfield are currently providing the Moderna vaccine, and that from November 2024 the Pfizer vaccine is also expected to be supplied. The vaccine or vaccines being supplied at individual sites or nationally is, within JCVI guidance, an operational matter. Further information on the JCVI’s advice is available at the following link:
Guidance from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) states that there are very few individuals who cannot receive the COVID-19 vaccines approved in the UK. Anyone concerned about possible reactions to a vaccine should in the first instance speak to the clinician responsible for their care for advice.
Published UKHSA clinical guidance for health professionals and immunisation practitioners on COVID-19 vaccination includes guidance for the management of patients with a history of allergy, including circumstances where a person may be referred to an expert allergist and, after a review of the individual’s risks and benefits of vaccination, where it is indicated, they could then be vaccinated in hospital under clinical supervision. NHS England will continue to follow this clinical guidance.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to increase the number of NHS staff working on maternity units.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to growing workforce capacity as quickly as possible to meet local needs and achieve safe staffing levels. Bringing in the staff we need will take time, but this is an absolute priority for the Government. We have launched a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the National Health Service and make it fit for the future.
One of the themes in NHS England’s Three-Year Delivery Plan covers growing, retaining, and supporting our workforce. NHS England is boosting the midwifery workforce through undergraduate training, apprenticeships, postgraduate conversion, return to midwifery programmes, and international recruitment.
We also remain committed to the Long-Term Workforce Plan, which sets out the steps the NHS and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce 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.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much (a) funding and (b) other resources his Department is providing to GP practices to help meet the demand for appointments in the (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26 financial year.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We hugely value the critical role that general practitioners (GPs) play, and we are determined to address the issues they face by shifting the focus of the National Health Service beyond hospitals and into the community. GPs and primary care have been receiving a smaller proportion of NHS resources over time, and we’re committed to reversing that.
On 28 February 2024, NHS England published details of the changes to the GP contract for 2024/25, including an overall increase in funding of £259 million, taking overall contract investment to £11,864 million in 2024/25. The 2024/25 contract at that point included a 2% planning assumption for pay, which was used to uplift the GP contract from 1 April 2024. We turned to the independent pay review body, the Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration Board (DDRB), for a recommendation on pay for 2024/25.
We have accepted the DDRB’s recommendations in full and, following consultation with the British Medical Association, we uplifted the pay element of the GP contract by 6% on a consolidated basis, an increase of 4% on top of the 2% interim uplift in April, to provide practices with funding to uplift GP partners, salaried GPs, and other salaried staff pay by 6%. The global sum element of the contract has been increased by 7.4% to fund the 6% increase in pay.
Departmental expenditure limits for 2025/26 will be set alongside the Budget in October. The overall GP contract investment in 2025/26 will be determined afterwards.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will run a national campaign to raise awareness of sepsis.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Local National Health Service trusts may already choose to run local public awareness campaigns on sepsis.
Recent evidence suggests that there is high awareness of sepsis among the general public. The Department is focused on improving the clinical awareness and recognition of sepsis by healthcare professionals, so that unwell and deteriorating patients are identified promptly and started on life-saving treatment.
NHS England has launched several training programmes aimed at improving the diagnosis and early management of sepsis. These programmes are regularly reviewed and revised with support from subject matter experts as new national sepsis guidance is implemented.