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 take steps to develop a men’s health strategy.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Lincoln on 20 January to question 125326.
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 provide suicide prevention support for men.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
From 2019/20, we are investing £57million in suicide prevention through the NHS Long Term Plan. This will see investment in every area by 2023/24 to support local suicide prevention plans and establish suicide bereavement support services. We have ensured that this funding is testing different approaches to reaching men in local communities.
We also announced on 9 May 2022 that 113 suicide prevention voluntary, community and social enterprises received a share of £5.4 million funding in 2021/22 to prevent suicide in high-risk groups, including men. In addition, every local authority area has a suicide prevention plan in place, and the guidance we issued to local authorities highlights the importance of working across all local services, including the voluntary sector, to target high risk groups such as men.
The Government launched a public call for evidence on what can be done across Government in the longer term to support mental health, wellbeing and suicide prevention. The call for evidence closed on 7 July 2022 and we are currently analysing over 5,000 responses received.
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 his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing corrective surgery for pectus excavatum through the NHS.
Answered by Will Quince
There are a range of surgical and non-surgical treatments available through the National Health Service in England to manage the condition. Individuals with a pectus deformity may be referred to a thoracic surgical clinic for advice. Treatment options by assessment of the type of pectus deformity, degree of deformity, simple versus mixed deformity, and determination of whether the deformity is isolated or part of a syndrome.
In most cases, while surgery can correct the chest wall deformity, surgical intervention does not take place. This is because the majority of people experience only mild physical or psychological symptoms associated with having a pectus deformity. In these cases, non-surgical options include posture, exercise programmes, bracing and psychological support.
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 assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of (a) nurse and (b) rail strikes on patients requiring life-saving treatment.
Answered by Will Quince
NHS England is working with providers, professional bodies, trade unions and other bodies to agree the safe level of staffing during any industrial action. The National Health Service will ensure emergency care is prioritised and these services will be available. The Royal College of Nursing has announced that critical care units, such as intensive care and high dependency, are exempt from strikes.
The Department for Transport is in regular contact with other departments, including the Department of Health and Social Care and industry, to mitigate impact of rail strike action on essential services.
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 NHS Digital has spent on advertisements that raise awareness of serious medical conditions in each of the last three years.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
There has been no specific expenditure.
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 impact on response times for ambulances in Ashfield and Eastwood of ambulances being sent to patients who did not require emergency care.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
We have no plans to make a specific assessment.
National Health Service ambulance trusts employ sophisticated triage systems to minimise the unnecessary deployment of ambulance resources. The NHS is also increasing the capacity of NHS 111, including a £50 million investment in 2022/23 to ensure people receive the appropriate care and avoid unnecessary demand on accident and emergency (A&E) and ambulance services.
NHS England advises that delays in handing over ambulance patients to A&E, rather than ambulances being sent to patients that do not require emergency care, remains the largest operational challenge for ambulance services, including those in Ashfield and Eastwood. NHS England has written to all trusts and systems to to ensure ambulances are not held for longer than 30 minutes before transferring patients into the emergency department, including immediately moving patients who have completed their emergency medical care from the A&E to create capacity for new patients.
NHS England is also providing targeted support to some of the hospitals facing the greatest delays in the handover of ambulance patients into the care of hospitals to identify short and longer-term interventions to improve delays and allow ambulances to respond to emergency calls.
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 assessment her Department has made of the medical effect of prescribing (a) citalopram and (b) other antidepressants to people with alcoholism.
Answered by Caroline Johnson
No specific assessment has been made. General practitioners or other responsible clinicians work with patients to decide the clinically appropriate course of treatment for individuals.
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 recent steps his Department has taken to help patients access GP appointments.
Answered by James Morris
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull North (Diana Johnson MP) on 15 June to Question 13657.
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 people have adequate access to be able to (a) register and (b) gain an appointment with an NHS dentist.
Answered by James Morris
Dental patients are not registered to a particular practice. A dental practice can accept a patient for a course of treatment and there are no geographical restrictions on which practice a patient may attend. NHS England’s customer service centre can also advise patients on the availability of dental services, while patients requiring urgent care should contact NHS 111. Commissioners and practices have also been reminded of the importance of maintaining updated information on availability via NHS.UK.
NHS England and NHS Improvement have asked practices to deliver 100% of contracted units of dental activity and 100% of units of orthodontic activity to safely improve access for patients. An additional £50 million for NHS dentistry was provided for the final quarter of 2021/22 to provide urgent care to patients.
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 NHS staff receive mental health support when required.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
In 2022/23, we are investing £45 million to support the continuation of 40 mental health hubs to provide outreach and assessment services for frontline staff to receive rapid access to evidence based mental health services. The Professional Nurse Advocacy programme is delivering staff training and restorative supervision in England and we are expanding the NHS Practitioner Health service which provides a national support service for staff with more complex needs, such as trauma or addictions. The national health and wellbeing offer also includes a role for Wellbeing Guardians at board level to focus on the wellbeing of staff.