Asked by: Maria Caulfield (Conservative - Lewes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he plans to increase funding for the provision of practical support to women facing crisis pregnancies who want to keep their child.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Clinical commissioning groups are responsible for commissioning services locally to support women considering whether to continue their pregnancy. The Government’s Framework for Sexual Health Improvement in England (2013) sets out that women considering an abortion should be referred or signposted to services which provide impartial, accurate information and, if required, counselling on the options available. This includes National Health Service services and registered independent sector providers who can provide advice on the termination options available as well as information of alternatives to abortion.
The Framework is available on the gov.uk website at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-framework-for-sexual-health-improvement-in-england
Asked by: Maria Caulfield (Conservative - Lewes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps are being taken to (a) increase the uptake of screening, (b) encourage early diagnosis and (c) improve the lifestyles of people who have had treatment for primary cancer in the Irish community living in England to reduce the disproportionate incidence and mortality from cancers among that community.
Answered by David Mowat
The independent Cancer Taskforce reported significant variation across England in screening uptake, patient experience and survival outcomes in the 2015 Cancer Strategy.
Public Health England and NHS England are working with general practices with the lowest levels of screening uptake to understand barriers and mechanisms for improvement.
In December 2016 NHS England announced that a £200 million fund will be available to Cancer Alliances and the national cancer vanguard over the next two years to specifically support the areas the Cancer Taskforce’s strategy estimated would need additional investment, including supporting earlier diagnosis and the full roll out of the Recovery Package across all communities.
Asked by: Maria Caulfield (Conservative - Lewes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the (a) National Cancer Intelligence Network and (b) National Cancer Registration and Advisory Service are taking to address gaps in data on (i) screening, (ii) access to services, (iii) cancer staging and (iv) age-related inequalities among the Irish community resident in England.
Answered by David Mowat
The National Cancer Intelligence Network was merged with the National Cancer Registration Service in 2016 to form the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS). Public Health England’s (PHE’s) National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service collects data on all cancers diagnosed in people living in England. NCRAS is working continuously to to improve the quality and completeness of the data held. This includes NCRAS data liaison teams working with the National Health Service trusts to help them submit more high-quality data to the Cancer Register. This has led to more than 85% of cancers diagnosed in 2015 having a complete stage. NCRAS is also working closely with colleagues in PHE Screening to access more screening information in a timely manner.
In addition, NCRAS is using multiple data sources to increase the completeness of data on a person’s ethnic group; to the point where this is now known for 92% of cases. Although we have not carried out any assessment on White Irish people, it is recognised that minority ethnic groups have varied experience of access to cancer services. NCRAS is working with Cancer Research UK on the National Cancer Diagnosis Audit which will help identify variation on cancer diagnosis and related inequalties. The audit has recently finished collecting data on patients diagnosed in 2014, with initial results expected in the summer. Age is also an important factor in cancer inequalities, and by collecting date of birth NCRAS is able to incorporate age into any analyses.
Asked by: Maria Caulfield (Conservative - Lewes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department plans to allow registered birth certificates for children born from 20 weeks gestation.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953, as amended, provides for the registration of babies born without signs of life after 24 weeks’ gestation, which is the legal age of viability. Parents of babies who are stillborn after 24 weeks’ gestation receive a medical certificate certifying the stillbirth and, upon registration, can register the baby's name and receive a certificate of registration of stillbirth.
Parliament supported a change to the stillbirth definition from “after 28 weeks” to “after 24 weeks” in 1992, following a clear consensus from the medical profession at that time that the age at which a foetus should be considered able to survive should be changed from 28 to 24 weeks. Medical opinion does not currently support reducing this below 24 weeks of gestation. Therefore, there are no plans to amend the stillbirth definition.
We are aware that some parents find it very distressing that they may not register the birth of a baby born before 24 weeks. However, it is important to recognise there would also be parents distressed at the possibility of having to do so. When a baby is born without signs of life before 24 weeks’ gestation, hospitals may issue a local certificate to commemorate the baby's birth.
Asked by: Maria Caulfield (Conservative - Lewes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he was first told that NHS England proposed to close the congenital heart disease units operating in (a) Manchester, (b) Leicester and (c) at the Royal Brompton Hospital.
Answered by Philip Dunne
No decision has been made to close the congenital heart disease units at Central Manchester, Leicester and at the Royal Brompton Hospital. NHS England will make a decision on its proposals for changes to adult and children’s congenital heart services in England following a consultation announced today. It has worked, and will continue to work, with providers and other stakeholders to assess the impact of these proposals. NHS England intends to publish an impact assessment and other relevant information in due course. Ministers have been briefed regularly on the decision-making process and associated timings throughout the process.
Asked by: Maria Caulfield (Conservative - Lewes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the specific role is of nursing associates; and what effect that role has on the role of qualified nurses.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The new Nursing Associate role will create a bridge between senior healthcare support workers with a Care Certificate and registered nurses.
Nurse Associates will work with healthcare support workers to deliver hands on care, freeing up registered nurses, so they can spend more time using their specialist training to focus on clinical duties and to take more of a lead in decisions on patient care.
Asked by: Maria Caulfield (Conservative - Lewes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether (a) a referral or (b) an appointment for an autism diagnostic assessment is captured in published mental health data (i) locally and (ii) nationally.
Answered by David Mowat
To support local areas in addressing long waits, NHS England, supported by the Department and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, initiated a series of visits to clinical commissioning groups and local authorities. These visits aimed to develop a better idea of the challenges in securing timely autism diagnosis across all ages, looking at the variability in diagnosis times and sharing good practice to help areas to improve their service. NHS England submitted a report on the visits to the 16 June meeting of the Cross Government Autism Programme Board, which includes representatives of autism third sector organisations and people who have autism. NHS England will have further discussions with relevant organisations over the summer about actions in their report, including on the Clinical Commissioning Group Improvement and Assessment Framework, before reporting back to the Autism Programme Board.
In parallel, as recommended by the independent Mental Health Taskforce, the Department is undertaking a five year plan for the development of mental health data to be published by the end of the year. The plan will set out future requirements and timings for developing data to inform pathways of care, which will include requirements for autism in the Health and Social Care Information Centre Mental Health Services Data Set. Data on referrals or appointments for an autism diagnostic assessment are not currently captured in published mental health data.
Asked by: Maria Caulfield (Conservative - Lewes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he plans to encourage uptake of sight tests amongst children and adults with learning disabilities in the Learning Disability Action Plan.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The Department is coproducing the learning disability action plan with self-advocates, family carers and other experts and stakeholders. It will support people with learning disabilities of any age and level of need being able to live good and fulfilling lives with the opportunities that other people have. This includes people being able to access health and care services in the right place at the right time. The programme of sight tests in special schools underway in London commissioned by NHS England from See Ability will provide evidence on access to sight tests by people with learning disabilities.
Asked by: Maria Caulfield (Conservative - Lewes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress NHS England has made on improving cancer survival rates.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Cancer survival rates are at a record high and continue to improve. However, we know that we have to strive to be better. The Independent Cancer Taskforce’s report, Achieving World-Class Cancer Outcomes (July 2015), recommends improvements across the cancer pathway, and set a clear ambition for further improvement of survival rates.
NHS England is currently working with partners across the health system to determine how best to take forward the Taskforce’s recommendations and has appointed Cally Palmer CBE as National Cancer Director to lead on implementation, as well as new cancer vanguards to redesign care and patient experience. A new cross-system Cancer Transformation Board has been established to oversee the implementation of the strategy, and this met for the first time on Monday 25 January. There will also be a Cancer Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Harpal Kumar, to oversee and scrutinise the work of the Transformation Board.
Asked by: Maria Caulfield (Conservative - Lewes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department plans to take to monitor and evaluate the effect of the men who have sex with men human papilloma virus vaccination programme.
Answered by Jane Ellison
In November 2015, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advised that a targeted human papilloma virus vaccination programme for men who have sex with men attending genito-urinary medicine and HIV clinics should be undertaken, subject to procurement of the vaccine and delivery of the programme at a cost-effective price. The Department and Public Health England are considering the JCVI’s advice, including how such a programme could be monitored and evaluated.