Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
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 (a) survival rates from out-of hospital cardiac arrests and (b) the availability of defibrillators in Basingstoke.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
To improve patients' survival rates following out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, the Government has committed to improving access to automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in public spaces and reducing inequalities in access to these life saving devices. Following the depletion of the existing AED Fund, launched in September 2023, the Government approved a further £500,000 in August 2024 to fulfil existing applications to the fund.
As part of the application process, the Department has selected Smarter Society as its independent partner to manage grant applications against requirements specified by the Department, to ensure that resources are allocated where there is the greatest need, for instance in remote communities with extended ambulance response times, places with high footfall and high population densities, hotspots for cardiac arrest including sporting venues and venues with vulnerable people, and deprived areas.
When an AED is installed, these defibrillators are required to be registered on The Circuit, the national defibrillator ambulance service database. Upon registration, contact details are provided for the nominated AED guardian/s who are local to the defibrillator’s location and conduct checks when required. Four AEDs have been distributed through the fund to the Basingstoke postcode area.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
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 encourage community organisations in Basingstoke to register automated external defibrillators with the national defibrillator network.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
To improve patients' survival rates following out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, the Government has committed to improving access to automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in public spaces and reducing inequalities in access to these life saving devices. Following the depletion of the existing AED Fund, launched in September 2023, the Government approved a further £500,000 in August 2024 to fulfil existing applications to the fund.
As part of the application process, the Department has selected Smarter Society as its independent partner to manage grant applications against requirements specified by the Department, to ensure that resources are allocated where there is the greatest need, for instance in remote communities with extended ambulance response times, places with high footfall and high population densities, hotspots for cardiac arrest including sporting venues and venues with vulnerable people, and deprived areas.
When an AED is installed, these defibrillators are required to be registered on The Circuit, the national defibrillator ambulance service database. Upon registration, contact details are provided for the nominated AED guardian/s who are local to the defibrillator’s location and conduct checks when required. Four AEDs have been distributed through the fund to the Basingstoke postcode area.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
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 use volunteers to help deliver NHS (a) resilience and (b) career pathways, in the context of the forthcoming 10 Year Plan.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service has always benefited from the generous support of volunteers and voluntary sector organisations. Volunteers have, and will continue to have, an important and complementary role in the NHS and care system, supporting patients, families, and staff.
A central part of the 10-Year Health Plan will be our workforce and those who support our workforce, so we can ensure that the NHS has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the care patients need, when they need it.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number of clinical commissioning groups that have implemented more restrictive policies on the prescription of gluten-free products for people with coeliac disease; and whether his Department is monitoring the potential impact of those policy changes on affected groups.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department and NHS England do not hold this information and are not monitoring the potential impact of those policy changes on the affected groups.
Decisions about the commissioning and funding of local health services, including the prescription of gluten-free products for people with coeliac disease, are the responsibility of local integrated care boards (ICBs). NHS England’s guidance should be taken into account when ICBs formulate local policies, and prescribers are expected to reflect local policies in their prescribing practices. The guidance does not remove the clinical discretion of prescribers in accordance with their professional duties.
The national prescribing position in England remains that gluten free bread and mixes can be provided to coeliac patients on a National Health Service prescription, and a wide range of these items continue to be listed in part XV of the Drug Tariff. This means that prescribers can issue NHS prescriptions, based on a shared decision between prescriber and patient, while also being mindful of local and national guidance.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the rate of hospital readmissions within 30 days of discharge was for (a) Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital, (b) Hampshire and (c) England in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following tables show published experimental statistics by NHS England on the percentage of emergency admissions to any hospital in England within 30 days of the most recent discharge from hospital at a trust and national level:
Year | Level description | Indicator value | Banding (comparison to national average – see below for definitions) |
2014/15 | HAMPSHIRE HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST | 11.5 | B1 |
2015/16 | HAMPSHIRE HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST | 11.1 | B1 |
2016/17 | HAMPSHIRE HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST | 12.4 | B1 |
2017/18 | HAMPSHIRE HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST | 13.6 | W |
2018/19 | HAMPSHIRE HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST | 14.4 | W |
2019/20 | HAMPSHIRE HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST | 14.7 | A5 |
2020/21 | HAMPSHIRE HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST | 16.3 | A1 |
2021/22 | HAMPSHIRE HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST | 16.1 | A1 |
2022/23 | HAMPSHIRE HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST | 15.8 | A1 |
2023/24 | HAMPSHIRE HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST | 16.6 | A1 |
Year | Level description | Indicator value |
2014/15 | England | 12.7 |
2015/16 | England | 13.0 |
2016/17 | England | 13.2 |
2017/18 | England | 13.6 |
2018/19 | England | 14.2 |
2019/20 | England | 14.3 |
2020/21 | England | 15.4 |
2021/22 | England | 14.3 |
2022/23 | England | 14.2 |
2023/24 | England | 14.8 |
Source: NHS England
Notes:
Further statistics around discharge are available at the following link:
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many delayed discharges there were (a) at Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital, (b) in Hampshire and (c) in England in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The data collection used for monitoring delayed discharges was changed in 2020. In addition, the Department and NHS England do not hold data on the number of delayed discharges at hospital level, and trust level data was published from 2022 onwards. As such, we have provided data on the number of delayed discharges at trust and national level from 2021 to present.
The following table shows the average daily number of acute adult patients remaining in hospital at the end of the day despite being medically fit, that is, patients with no criteria to reside and not discharged, in each financial year since 2021/22:
Year | Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | England | Comments |
2021/22 | n/a | 9,891 | Published data not available at trust level before April 2022. 2021/22 figures affected by Covid-19 pandemic (low bed occupancy rates) |
2022/23 | 174 | 13,227 |
|
2023/24 | 160 | 12,693 |
|
2024/25 | 153 | 12,381 | Average for the year so far up to 30 November 2024 |
Source: NHS England
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board received in each of the last ten years; and what (a) that funding and (b) the national average in England was per capita.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Integrated Care Boards (Establishment) Order 2022 legally established 42 integrated care boards (ICBs), with effect from 1 July 2022. Further information is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/integrated-care-boards-in-england/
NHS England is responsible for funding allocations to ICBs. This process is independent of the Government, and NHS England takes advice on the underlying formula from the independent Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation. These ICB boundaries do not map exactly onto those of the previous clinical commissioning groups, therefore, accurate data cannot be provided for before the 2022/23. The following table shows the allocations for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB, for 2022/23, 2023/24, and 2024/25:
| 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
Core allocation | £2,902,596,000 | £3,229,637,000 | £3,433,320,000 |
Primary care | £296,630,000 | £307,704,000 | £345,060,000 |
Other primary care |
| £164,382,000 |
|
ICB running costs | £34,941,000 | £35,838,000 | £30,367,000 |
Specialised services |
|
| £431,776,000 |
Pharmaceutical, ophthalmic, and dental services |
|
| £171,726,000 |
Total allocation | £3,234,167,000 | £4,060,121,000 | £4,412,249,000 |
Source: data is from NHS England, and is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/allocations/.
In addition, the following table shows the national average ICB allocation in England per capita, for core services:
Year | Average recurrent allocation per head in England | Average recurrent allocation per head in the Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB |
2022/23 | £1,543 | £1,519 |
2023/24 | £1,636 | £1,616 |
2024/25 | £1,732 | £1,709 |
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
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 food poverty on (a) malnutrition, (b) obesity and (c) other health conditions in (i) Basingstoke, (ii) Hampshire and (iii) England in the past 10 years.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The relationship between food poverty, or food insecurity, nutritional intake, and physical and mental health in the United Kingdom is currently unclear. However, international evidence suggests that in the long-term, food insecurity may be associated with poorer diets and poorer mental and physical health, including a higher risk of overweight and obesity. the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs' UK Food Security Report 2024, which pulls together data from a range of sources, including the Department of Work and Pensions’ Family Resources Survey, found that 90% of UK households were food secure in the financial year ending 2023. Further information on the international evidence relating to food insecurity, poorer diets, and mental and physical health, and the UK Food Security Report 2024 is available, respectively, at the following two links:
Data is not available specifically for Basingstoke and Hampshire. However, the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs’ report notes that geographical differences remain across the UK, with food security highest in the East, South East, and South West of England, where 92% of households were food secure in all three regions. 10-year trend data is not available as the Family Resources Survey first measured household food security in 2019/20, when the percentage of households classified as food secure was 93%, compared with 90% in 2022/23.
Direct data on the relationship between food insecurity and obesity in the UK is not available. Household level food insecurity is associated with broader deprivation, which is in turn associated with an increased likelihood of overweight and obesity. Further information is available at the following link:
Most cases of malnutrition will be secondary to another health condition which may impact on nutritional needs or impact on a person’s ability to eat and drink, rather than it solely being caused by poor or inadequate dietary intake.
The term malnutrition is sometimes incorrectly used to refer to a poor diet, although this may put someone at increased risk of malnutrition, this would not necessarily meet the criteria for malnutrition. Malnutrition is a clinical condition that is assessed using specific tools.
The Child Poverty Taskforce, made up of ministers from across Government, will be publishing its strategy to reduce child poverty in Spring 2025.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
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 merits of introducing a national prostate-specific antigen screening programme for prostate cancer in the UK.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
Screening for prostate cancer is currently not recommended by the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC). This is because of the inaccuracy of the current best test, called the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA). A PSA-based screening programme could harm some men as many would be diagnosed with a cancer that would not have caused them problems during their life. This would lead to additional tests and treatments which can also have harmful side effects, for example sexual dysfunction and incontinence.
The UK NSC regularly reviews its recommendations. The evidence review for prostate cancer screening is underway and will conclude at the end of 2025.
The Prostate Cancer Risk Management Programme (PCRMP) provides general practitioners (GPs) with information and guidance to counsel men who have no symptoms but wish to have a PSA test. It highlights the potential benefits and harms of PSA testing so that men, including those at higher risk, can make an informed decision about whether to have the test. Based on the current evidence, the PCRMP guidance is for GPs not to proactively offer a PSA to men without symptoms, due to high level of inaccuracy of the PSA test.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
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 men with risk factors for prostate cancer are encouraged to receive regular prostate-specific antigen tests.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
Screening for prostate cancer is currently not recommended by the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC). This is because of the inaccuracy of the current best test, called the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA). A PSA-based screening programme could harm some men as many would be diagnosed with a cancer that would not have caused them problems during their life. This would lead to additional tests and treatments which can also have harmful side effects, for example sexual dysfunction and incontinence.
The UK NSC regularly reviews its recommendations. The evidence review for prostate cancer screening is underway and will conclude at the end of 2025.
The Prostate Cancer Risk Management Programme (PCRMP) provides general practitioners (GPs) with information and guidance to counsel men who have no symptoms but wish to have a PSA test. It highlights the potential benefits and harms of PSA testing so that men, including those at higher risk, can make an informed decision about whether to have the test. Based on the current evidence, the PCRMP guidance is for GPs not to proactively offer a PSA to men without symptoms, due to high level of inaccuracy of the PSA test.