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 address the decline in the recruitment of learning disability nurses.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

We recognise the vital role that learning disability nurses play in supporting people with a learning disability and reducing health inequalities.

To support recruitment, the Department provides eligible healthcare students with a non-repayable grant of at least £5,000 per academic year via the NHS Learning Support Fund. Students undertaking priority specialisms, including learning disability nursing, can receive an additional incentive payment.

NHS England has also established a learning disability nurse expert group which aims to work with stakeholders to consider how we ensure sustainability of education programmes and attract people onto learning disability nursing and grow the workforce.

More widely, the Government is investing £65 million to deliver 2,000 additional nursing degree apprenticeships over the next three years. We will prioritise areas of greatest need and ensure that communities relying most on the National Health Service benefit from a stronger, more resilient workforce. The forthcoming 10 Year Workforce Plan will set out how we ensure the NHS has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how the Single Patient Record could improve the recording of miscarriage across NHS services; and what steps are being taken to reduce the risk of double counting the same miscarriage recorded by different services.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

It has historically been difficult to gather accurate and comprehensive data on miscarriages. While data is collected on those miscarriages that occur during hospital stays, the majority occur outside of healthcare settings, and it is the choice of the woman affected whether she discloses that information to healthcare professionals.

The Single Patient Record (SPR) aims to provide a more joined-up view of a patient’s health and care history, reducing the need for the same information to be recorded multiple times across different systems. Maternity is one of the priority care pathways for the roll out of the SPR, with early implementation starting in 2027.

The SPR will help to address the lack of miscarriage data by better enabling the National Health Service and supporting organisations to record miscarriages wherever they may be reported across different care settings. We will continue to consider this as implementation progresses.

It is not currently mandatory for trusts to record second trimester miscarriage through the Maternity Services Data Set (MSDS). The requirements for the next iteration of the MSDS include more detailed data collection around pregnancy outcomes, including on miscarriage.

Timescales for this next iteration will be confirmed in due course. We will also consider what changes may be required to the Digital Maternity Record Standard as part of wider maternity data architecture design work, which will also support the MSDS and the SPR.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how the Single Patient Record could improve the recording of miscarriage across NHS services and what steps he is taking to help reduce the risk of double counting the same miscarriage recorded by different services.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

It has historically been difficult to gather accurate and comprehensive data on miscarriages. While data is collected on those miscarriages that occur during hospital stays, the majority occur outside of healthcare settings, and it is the choice of the woman affected whether she discloses that information to healthcare professionals.

The Single Patient Record (SPR) aims to provide a more joined-up view of a patient’s health and care history, reducing the need for the same information to be recorded multiple times across different systems. Maternity is one of the priority care pathways for the roll out of the SPR, with early implementation starting in 2027.

The SPR will help to address the lack of miscarriage data by better enabling the National Health Service and supporting organisations to record miscarriages wherever they may be reported across different care settings. We will continue to consider this as implementation progresses.

It is not currently mandatory for trusts to record second trimester miscarriage through the Maternity Services Data Set (MSDS). The requirements for the next iteration of the MSDS include more detailed data collection around pregnancy outcomes, including on miscarriage.

Timescales for this next iteration will be confirmed in due course. We will also consider what changes may be required to the Digital Maternity Record Standard as part of wider maternity data architecture design work, which will also support the MSDS and the SPR.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether an update to the Digital Maternity Record Standard is planned to limit birth outcome to coded values and ensure that a value is included for second trimester miscarriage.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

It has historically been difficult to gather accurate and comprehensive data on miscarriages. While data is collected on those miscarriages that occur during hospital stays, the majority occur outside of healthcare settings, and it is the choice of the woman affected whether she discloses that information to healthcare professionals.

The Single Patient Record (SPR) aims to provide a more joined-up view of a patient’s health and care history, reducing the need for the same information to be recorded multiple times across different systems. Maternity is one of the priority care pathways for the roll out of the SPR, with early implementation starting in 2027.

The SPR will help to address the lack of miscarriage data by better enabling the National Health Service and supporting organisations to record miscarriages wherever they may be reported across different care settings. We will continue to consider this as implementation progresses.

It is not currently mandatory for trusts to record second trimester miscarriage through the Maternity Services Data Set (MSDS). The requirements for the next iteration of the MSDS include more detailed data collection around pregnancy outcomes, including on miscarriage.

Timescales for this next iteration will be confirmed in due course. We will also consider what changes may be required to the Digital Maternity Record Standard as part of wider maternity data architecture design work, which will also support the MSDS and the SPR.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to improve the recording of miscarriage experienced by women engaged with NHS services.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

It has historically been difficult to gather accurate and comprehensive data on miscarriages. While data is collected on those miscarriages that occur during hospital stays, the majority occur outside of healthcare settings, and it is the choice of the woman affected whether she discloses that information to healthcare professionals.

The Single Patient Record (SPR) aims to provide a more joined-up view of a patient’s health and care history, reducing the need for the same information to be recorded multiple times across different systems. Maternity is one of the priority care pathways for the roll out of the SPR, with early implementation starting in 2027.

The SPR will help to address the lack of miscarriage data by better enabling the National Health Service and supporting organisations to record miscarriages wherever they may be reported across different care settings. We will continue to consider this as implementation progresses.

It is not currently mandatory for trusts to record second trimester miscarriage through the Maternity Services Data Set (MSDS). The requirements for the next iteration of the MSDS include more detailed data collection around pregnancy outcomes, including on miscarriage.

Timescales for this next iteration will be confirmed in due course. We will also consider what changes may be required to the Digital Maternity Record Standard as part of wider maternity data architecture design work, which will also support the MSDS and the SPR.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans NHS England has to improve the collection of second trimester miscarriage data through the Maternity Services Dataset.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

It has historically been difficult to gather accurate and comprehensive data on miscarriages. While data is collected on those miscarriages that occur during hospital stays, the majority occur outside of healthcare settings, and it is the choice of the woman affected whether she discloses that information to healthcare professionals.

The Single Patient Record (SPR) aims to provide a more joined-up view of a patient’s health and care history, reducing the need for the same information to be recorded multiple times across different systems. Maternity is one of the priority care pathways for the roll out of the SPR, with early implementation starting in 2027.

The SPR will help to address the lack of miscarriage data by better enabling the National Health Service and supporting organisations to record miscarriages wherever they may be reported across different care settings. We will continue to consider this as implementation progresses.

It is not currently mandatory for trusts to record second trimester miscarriage through the Maternity Services Data Set (MSDS). The requirements for the next iteration of the MSDS include more detailed data collection around pregnancy outcomes, including on miscarriage.

Timescales for this next iteration will be confirmed in due course. We will also consider what changes may be required to the Digital Maternity Record Standard as part of wider maternity data architecture design work, which will also support the MSDS and the SPR.

Found: Thompson to be discharged from the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee and Tom Collins and Maya Ellis