Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will require NHS England to publish Referral To Treatment waiting times for (a) glaucoma, (b) macular degeneration and (c) other irreversible sight loss conditions separately from minor and reversible eye condition waiting times.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no current plans to require NHS England to publish Referral to Treatment waiting times for glaucoma, macular degeneration, and other irreversible sight loss conditions separately from minor and reversible eye condition waiting times.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an estimate of the cost to outpatient paediatric ophthalmology of (a) cancelled appointments and (b) appointments missed because the patient did not attend in 2023-24.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Patients awaiting outpatient care make up over 85% of the elective waiting list, which includes children. Minimising missed appointments will help us to make sure we maximise the use of clinical time and ensure that all patients can be seen sooner. This is part of delivering on our commitment that 92% of patients, including children awaiting hospital-based eyecare, return to waiting no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment.
The following table shows the recorded outcomes of outpatient paediatric ophthalmology appointments in 2023/24, for children aged zero to 18 years old:
Outcome | Appointments |
Cancelled by hospital | 69,335 |
Cancelled by patient | 61,699 |
Did not attend | 61,904 |
Not known/other | 221 |
Attended | 377,520 |
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS England.
No estimate has been made of the cost of missed appointments to outpatient paediatric ophthalmology because the Department does not hold information centrally on the extent to which outpatient clinics are overbooked based on the expectation that some appointments will be cancelled or marked as did not attend, and that clinicians may undertake other clinical work during these missed clinic appointments.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many outpatient paediatric ophthalmology appointments for children under 19 years were (a) cancelled and (b) missed because the patient did not attend in 2023-24.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Patients awaiting outpatient care make up over 85% of the elective waiting list, which includes children. Minimising missed appointments will help us to make sure we maximise the use of clinical time and ensure that all patients can be seen sooner. This is part of delivering on our commitment that 92% of patients, including children awaiting hospital-based eyecare, return to waiting no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment.
The following table shows the recorded outcomes of outpatient paediatric ophthalmology appointments in 2023/24, for children aged zero to 18 years old:
Outcome | Appointments |
Cancelled by hospital | 69,335 |
Cancelled by patient | 61,699 |
Did not attend | 61,904 |
Not known/other | 221 |
Attended | 377,520 |
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS England.
No estimate has been made of the cost of missed appointments to outpatient paediatric ophthalmology because the Department does not hold information centrally on the extent to which outpatient clinics are overbooked based on the expectation that some appointments will be cancelled or marked as did not attend, and that clinicians may undertake other clinical work during these missed clinic appointments.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
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 improve the (a) assessment of and (b) access to specialist treatments for rare diseases.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to improving the lives of those living with rare diseases. The UK Rare Diseases Framework sets out four priorities collaboratively developed with the rare disease community, including improving access to specialist care, treatments, and drugs. We remain committed to delivering under the framework, and will publish an England action plan in 2025. Delivery partners have committed to reviewing the effectiveness of treatment access pathways like the Early Access to Medicines Scheme (EAMs), the Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway (ILAP), and the Innovative Medicines Fund for rare disease therapies.
NHS England commissions over 80 highly specialised services provided to small numbers of patients, which includes services for rare diseases. The services are delivered and co-ordinated nationally through a limited number of expert centres, to develop appropriate clinical quality, expertise, and experience.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency supports development and access to treatments for rare diseases through regulating the medicines supplied in the United Kingdom. These include the Orphan Medicinal Products Regulation, and Marketing Authorisations under Exceptional Circumstances for treatments where there is limited data, such as rare diseases. Additionally, initiatives like Project Orbis, the ILAP, the EAMS, and the Regulatory Advice Service for Regenerative Medicines accelerate access to treatments.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations for the National Health Service on whether all licensed new medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS, based on an assessment of their costs and benefits. The NHS in England is legally required to fund medicines recommended by the NICE, normally within three months of the publication of final guidance. The NICE operates a separate Highly Specialised Technologies (HST) programme for very rare diseases, with significantly higher cost-effectiveness thresholds than those evaluated under the NICE’s standard technology appraisal processes. Decisions on whether new medicines should be evaluated through the HST programme are taken by the NICE against published routing criteria.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has had discussions with the Mayor of London on the potential merits of connecting Clapham Junction station to the Northern line.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Government remains committed to supporting London and the transport network on which it depends. We recently provided £485m in funding to support Transport for London’s (TfL) capital programme for 2025/26 and will continue to work with TfL to understand its capital funding needs, which will be considered at Phase 2 of the Spending Review. However, transport in London is devolved to the Mayor of London and TfL and it is for the Mayor to assess the merits of capital projects and make decisions on investment.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
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 patients living with rare inherited retinal diseases receive (a) timely and (b) equitable access to new treatments.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to improving the lives of those living with rare diseases, such as rare inherited retinal diseases. The UK Rare Diseases Framework sets out four priorities collaboratively developed with the rare disease community, including improving access to specialist care, treatments, and drugs. We remain committed to delivering under the framework, and will publish an England action plan in 2025.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations for the National Health Service on whether all licensed new medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS based on an assessment of their costs and benefits, and NHS England ensures that funding is available for any licensed new medicines recommended by the NICE. The NICE aims to issue guidance on new medicines, including for rare diseases, as close to the time of licensing as possible. The NICE operates a separate Highly Specialised Technologies (HST) programme for very rare diseases, with significantly higher cost-effectiveness thresholds than those evaluated under the NICE’s standard technology appraisal processes. Decisions on whether new medicines should be evaluated through the HST programme are taken by the NICE against published routing criteria.
The NICE is currently appraising one treatment for treating visual impairment caused by a rare inherited retinal disease, and final guidance is expected to be published in April 2025.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she plans to take to tackle disproportionate use of full strip searches during stop and searches of (a) Black, (b) Asian and (c) other ethnic minority people.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Strip search is one of the most intrusive powers available to the police and its use must be fair, respectful and without unlawful discrimination. No one should be subject to the use of any police power based on their race or ethnicity. That is why the Government’s manifesto committed to introducing new legal safeguards around strip-searching children and young people.
This Government welcomes the recent reduction in the disproportionate use of stop and search powers, but there is more work to do. We are also increasing transparency in the use of these powers. Figures published in September, covering the 12 months to March 2024 includes, for the first time, data on whether the stop and search included a strip search.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to consult organisations led by disabled people on an accessibility road map for rail travel.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Ensuring accessibility for all passengers is at the heart of the Government’s passenger-focussed approach. We know that the experience for disabled people when traveling on rail too often falls short of what is expected and what passengers deserve. We are committed to improving the experience for disabled passengers and have committed to publishing an accessibility roadmap to explain the actions we are taking to improve accessibility ahead of GBR.
We are working to define the approach to development of the roadmap, but I confirm we will engage with disabled people and key organisations, in line with our commitment in the House of Lords as part of the debate on the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act, in order to ensure that it addresses the issues and needs of passengers who require assistance.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to consult organisations led by disabled people on the reforms set out in the Get Britain Working White Paper.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is committed to working in partnership with disabled people and the organisations that represent them.
Following on from the publication of the Get Britain Working White Paper, we will establish a disability panel to ensure that disabled people’s views and voices are at the heart of the design and delivery of our employment reforms. We will carry out in-depth consultations to seek input and expertise from a wide range of stakeholders including disabled people, community groups and employers.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 2 September 2024 to Question 2469 on Health Services: Disability, when he expects NHS England's review of the Accessible Information Standard to be published.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We understand how vital it is to ensure that the communication needs of patients and carers with a disability, impairment or sensory loss are met by health services. A revised AIS is being reviewed with a view to publication once it has been through NHS England’s internal assurance and governance processes. NHS England are also working on ensuring accessible versions are available at the point of publication.
While we do not yet have a confirmed publication date, the current AIS remains in force and therefore, there should not be a gap in provision for people using services. NHS England is also continuing to work to support implementation of the AIS with awareness raising, communication and engagement, and a review of the current e-learning modules on the AIS.