Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to ask the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to recognise chronic urinary tract infections as a distinct illness in its guidelines.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Classifying a condition as a distinct illness is outside the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) remit. The NICE has no plans to develop guidance on chronic urinary tract infections (UTIs) at this time, and the topic has not been considered by their prioritisation board. The NICE has produced a clinical guideline on antimicrobial prescribing for recurrent UTIs, which provides recommendations on treatments and self-care for the prevention of recurrent UTIs.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
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 changes to the NHS Payment Scheme on the availability of ADHD assessment services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As required by law, NHS England has assessed the impact of the proposed NHS Payment Scheme. This is available at the following link:
This impact assessment includes consideration of the impact on patient choice, as well as an assessment of the impact on patients, in line with NHS England’s public sector equality duty.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) patients will continue to benefit from the Right to Choose their provider at the point of referral. None of the proposed changes to the NHS Payment Scheme included in the consultation would change this.
Local integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for planning service provision in their local area, including for ADHD assessments. In doing so, ICBs should take account of waiting lists, considering how local funding can be deployed to best meet the needs of their local population.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
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 tackle (a) trauma-related mental health issues among asylum seekers fleeing conflict and (b) generational trauma within those communities.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Recognising that asylum seekers may require additional mental health support including for trauma related mental health issues, the Department of Health and Social Care works together with NHS England and the Home Office to provide additional guidance and support where required.
The Mental Health Sub-Group of the National Asylum Seekers’ Health Oversight Group, which is co-chaired by the Home Office and NHS England, has published examples of national and local interventions aimed at maintaining and improving the emotional wellbeing and mental health of individuals seeking asylum. These are available at the following link:
Work is currently ongoing to review and improve the Solace training, designed to provide a foundational understanding of the mental health issues that people face in the context of seeking protection in the United Kingdom, so that it can be endorsed by NHS England and placed on the NHS Learning Hub. This will allow the training to be widely promoted to practitioners to understand better trauma and improve access, experience and outcomes of service.
In parallel, NHS England, the Department of Health and Social Care, the UK Health Security Agency and the Home Office have been working on practical ways to re-establish an improved initial health check within a few days from arrival to the UK. This early health check will include a baselining of physical and mental health needs and identify vulnerabilities. It reflects the recommendations of the British Red Cross’s report, Delivering with dignity, published in August 2024, and is cognisant of recommendation 16 in the recent report by the Commission on the Integration of Refugees.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he take steps to provide mental health support for victims of tool theft.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We want to ensure that mental health support is available for all who need it. 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 across mental health services in England to reduce delays and provide faster treatment.
Anyone in England experiencing a mental health crisis can now to speak to a trained NHS professional at any time of the day through a new mental health option on NHS 111. Trained NHS staff will assess patients over the phone and guide callers with next steps, such organising face-to-face community support or facilitating access to alternatives services, such as crisis cafés or safe havens, which provide a place for people to stay as an alternative to accident and emergency or a hospital admission.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the upcoming National Cancer Strategy will outline what steps the NHS will take to work with cancer support charities to support people with cancer (a) physically and (b) mentally (i) before, (ii) during and (iii) after treatment.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
My Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has announced that a National Cancer Plan for England will be published this year. The Prime Minister’s health mission sets the objective of building a National Health Service fit for the future, and an essential part of this is achieving our goal to reduce the number of lives lost to cancer.
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 ongoing care. It will seek to improve every aspect of cancer care including both physical and mental health, to improve the experience and outcomes for people with all cancer types, and at all stages, including metastatic cancers. Our goal is to reduce the number of lives lost to cancer over the next ten years.
We are committed to working closely with partners and patient groups to shape the long-term vision for cancer. The Department plans to engage cancer partners, charities and those within the cancer community, seeking the views of individuals, professionals and organisations to understand how we can do more to achieve this ambition.
To do this, on 4 February 2025, we launched a Call for Evidence, in which the views of people across the country will inform our plan to improve cancer care. Those who wish to share their views can do so on the new online platform, which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/shaping-the-national-cancer-plan
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the NHS 10-year plan will incorporate the Women’s Health Strategy for England, published on 20 July 2022.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to the Women's Health Strategy, which will be taken forward as part of the 10-Year Health Plan.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
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 Integrated Care Boards create more women's health hubs.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to encouraging integrated care boards (ICBs) to further expand the coverage of women’s health hubs and to support ICBs to use the learning from the women’s health hub pilots to improve local delivery of services to women.
Women’s health hubs have a key role in shifting care out of hospitals and reducing gynaecology waiting lists. As of December 2024, 39 out of 42 ICBs reported that they had a women’s health hub. Reporting from ICBs to NHS England shows that the pilot funding has been used to open or expand a total of 88 hubs. ICBs are responsible for commissioning services that meet the health care needs of their local population, including women's health hubs.
Data on waiting times for women’s health hubs is not collected centrally.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to reduce waiting times at women's health hubs.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to encouraging integrated care boards (ICBs) to further expand the coverage of women’s health hubs and to support ICBs to use the learning from the women’s health hub pilots to improve local delivery of services to women.
Women’s health hubs have a key role in shifting care out of hospitals and reducing gynaecology waiting lists. As of December 2024, 39 out of 42 ICBs reported that they had a women’s health hub. Reporting from ICBs to NHS England shows that the pilot funding has been used to open or expand a total of 88 hubs. ICBs are responsible for commissioning services that meet the health care needs of their local population, including women's health hubs.
Data on waiting times for women’s health hubs is not collected centrally.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to tackle health inequalities affecting women.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have committed to develop a 10-year plan to deliver a National Health Service fit for the future. We will carefully be considering policies, including those that impact women’s health, as we develop the plan.
We want to ensure that the 10-Year Health Plan reflects the diversity of the people who use the NHS every day, and it is important that everyone can have their say as we develop it. The Department has held ministerial roundtables on women’s health as well as maternity and neonatal care, attended by service users, senior clinicians, and a range of charity partners.
We are committed to the Women’s Health Strategy and are continuing work to deliver it. For example, the strategy had an ambition to improve workplace support for menopause, and through the Employment Rights Bill we are making this a reality, by requiring large employers to publish gender equality action plans, including how they are supporting employees through the menopause. Women’s health hubs provide integrated women’s health services in the community, and have a key role tackling health inequalities faced by women. As of December 2024, 39 out of 42 integrated care boards (ICBs) reported to NHS England that they had at least one operational women’s health hub. We continue to engage with and encourage ICBs to use the learning from the women’s health hubs pilots to improve local delivery of services to women.
We are also working with NHS England on how to take forward the Women’s Health Strategy, by aligning it to the Government’s Missions and 10-Year Health Plan.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
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 the waiting lists for gynealogical referals in London.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Patients have been let down for too long whilst they wait for the care they need. At the end of November 2024, the gynaecology waiting list in London stood at 99,018, with 57.1% of patient pathways waiting less than 18 weeks.
As set out in the Plan for Change, we have committed to return to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients, including those waiting for gynaecology services, wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment by March 2029.
There are a range of efforts underway, nationally and in London, to reduce the time patients are waiting for gynaecological care. The Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, sets out the productivity and reform efforts we will undertake to return to the 18-week standard, and will ensure that patients have the best possible experience while they wait. This includes commitments to support innovative models that offer patients care closer to home, in the community, and piloting gynaecology pathways in community diagnostic centres for patients with post-menopausal bleeding. We have also committed to increasing the relative funding available to support gynaecology procedures with the largest waiting lists and reviewing support options from the independent sector.