Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether families including a (a) baby and (b) young child in temporary accommodation are able to remain registered at their GP surgery if they still live (i) in the area and (ii) outside the area but within reasonable travelling distance.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Patients have the legal right to choose a general practice (GP) that best suits their needs. To ensure a sufficient distribution of GPs for all patients in England, GPs are required to agree to an area within which they will accept patients onto their list. However, GPs can register patients from outside their catchment areas, without a duty to provide home visits for such patients. A practice may grant continued permanent registration to a patient who has moved outside of its practice area, provided that patient has not registered with another practice as a permanent patient.
Practices have a contractual duty to provide emergency treatment and immediately necessary treatment free of charge for up to 14 days to anyone within their practice area who isn’t registered with another provider of essential services.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
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 merits of creating a tracking coding system to record people in temporary accommodation that access health services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There is no central requirement on what information is captured in local clinical or Patient Administration Systems about people’s housing status and whether they are in temporary accommodation.
The NHS Data Model and Dictionary, however, provides a reference point for approved Information Standards Notices to support health and care activities within the National Health Service in England. It is used for secondary use purposes and supports secondary use statistical reporting. The Model and Dictionary has codes for accommodation types that include temporary housing. This is used in the Improving Access to Psychology Therapies Data set and the Mental Health Services Data set. The Community Services Data Set also records the accommodation status code. It includes codes for: night shelter; emergency hostel or direct access hostel; and placed in temporary accommodation by a local authority.
There is no plan to assess the merits of tracking people in temporary accommodation accessing health services, using coded or other recorded information. However, the Department recognises the importance of reducing barriers to services for those experiencing homelessness and rough sleeping, and has supported the development of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guideline, Integrated health and social care for people experiencing homelessness. This provides recommendations on ways to improve access to, and engagement with, health and social care services for people experiencing homelessness, including those staying in temporary accommodation.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
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 what the (a) most common illnesses and (b) incidence of each of those illnesses experienced by babies and children in temporary accommodation were in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The Department does not hold specific data on the most common illnesses, or the incidence of illnesses experienced by babies and children specifically in temporary accommodation. However, general data on hospital admissions for all children, including babies, is published by NHS England in the Hospital Admitted Patient Care Activity reports. These reports provide detailed information on admissions and episodes by primary diagnosis.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy that health visitors should make routine visits to families with babies that are living in temporary accommodation.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The Government is committed to raising the healthiest generation of children. The child health workforce, which includes health visiting teams, is central to how we support all families to give their child the best start in life.
Health visiting teams provide vital advice and support for all eligible parents, carers, and children, through five mandated health and development reviews, up to the age of two to two and a half years old, and additional support for those who need it. Health visiting is a universal service offered to all families, regardless of their type of accommodation.
We will refresh the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan next summer to ensure that the National Health Service has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills, to deliver the care that babies, and their carers and families need, when they need it.
Health visitors are specialist community public health nurses. Health visitors carry out the Government’s mandated five health and development reviews through the healthy child programme, specifically: during pregnancy; when the baby is 10 to 14 days old; at six to eight weeks old; at one years old; and between two to two and a half years old. These are carried out by health visiting teams. Health visitors can support parents to develop confidence and self-efficacy in understanding and accessing health and care information, advice, and services.
Health visitors support families on various issues including breast feeding, infant feeding, nutrition, and healthy eating. Health visitors have a crucial role in sign posting to additional support and advice, including the Healthy Start scheme.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of having an awareness raising campaign for NHS clinicians on endometriosis.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to prioritising women’s health and improving the diagnosis, treatment, and ongoing care for gynaecological conditions, including endometriosis. A number of measures are in place to raise awareness of endometriosis among clinicians, and to support diagnosis and care for endometriosis.
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines support healthcare professionals to diagnose and treat conditions. In November 2024, the NICE published updated recommendations on the diagnosis and management of endometriosis. This will help women to receive a diagnosis more quickly.
Endometriosis is included in the core curriculum for general practitioners, and for obstetricians and gynaecologists. The General Medical Council is introducing the Medical Licensing Assessment for the majority of incoming doctors, including all medical students graduating from academic year 2024/25 and onwards. Within this assessment are a number of topics relating to women’s health, including endometriosis. This will encourage a better understanding of endometriosis among doctors as they start their careers in the United Kingdom.
We will continue to keep opportunities for further awareness raising about endometriosis under review.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of having an awareness raising campaign on endometriosis.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Endometriosis is a common gynaecological condition, estimated to affect one in 10 women of reproductive age. Endometriosis can significantly impact women and girls’ physical and mental health, and anyone with symptoms of endometriosis should contact their general practice. To raise awareness of endometriosis, the Department has worked with NHS England to improve information on the National Health Service website and YouTube channel. Information on endometriosis symptoms and treatments can be found on the NHS.UK website, and by viewing the video series on endometriosis on the NHS YouTube channel, with further information on both available, respectively, at the following two links:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/endometriosis/
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnhASgDToTkvwBSC71PbetUe7Wnp_uE2L
We will continue to keep opportunities for further awareness raising about endometriosis under review.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make assessment of the adequacy of diagnosis times for endometriosis.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to prioritising women’s health and improving the diagnosis, treatment, and ongoing care for gynaecological conditions, including endometriosis.
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines support healthcare professionals to diagnose and treat conditions. In November 2024, the NICE published updated recommendations on the diagnosis and management of endometriosis. This will help women to receive a diagnosis more quickly.
Tackling waiting lists is a key part of the Government’s Health Mission and we are urgently looking into waiting times for gynaecological issues, including for endometriosis. We are committed to achieving the NHS Constitutional standard that 92% of patients should wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment within our first term, and this includes those waiting for endometriosis diagnosis. To achieve this, we will deliver an additional 2 million operations, scans, and appointments during our first year in Government, which is the equivalent to 40,000 per week, as a first step. With over 115,000 women referred onto the waiting list each month since the start of the year, this urgent work will help the nearly 600,000 women on gynaecology waiting lists get the medical care they need.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of the changes to employers National Insurance contributions on the financial situation of hospices.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have taken necessary decisions to fix the foundations in the public finances at the Autumn Budget, which enabled the Spending Review settlement of a £22.6 billion increase in resource spending for the Department from 2023/24 outturn to 2025/26. The rise in employer National Insurance contributions (ENICs) will be implemented in April 2025, and the Department will set out further details on the allocation of funding for next year in due course.
The Government recognises the need to protect the smallest businesses and charities, like hospices, which is why we have more than doubled the Employment Allowance to £10,500, meaning more than half of businesses with ENIC liabilities either gain, or see no change next year. Businesses and charities will still be able to claim ENIC reliefs, including those for under 21 and under 25 year old apprentices, where eligible.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make assessment of the adequacy of diagnosis times for bowel cancer.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
Bowel cancer patients are waiting too long for diagnosis and treatment. However, we will improve survival rates and hit all National Health Service cancer waiting time targets, so no patient, including those with bowel cancer, waits longer than they should.
The NHS will maximise the pace of roll-out of additional diagnostic capacity, delivering the final year of the three-year investment plan for establishing community diagnostic centres. They will also increase the capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment in new capacity, including magnetic resonance imaging and CT scanners.
Furthermore, following the publication of the 10-Year Health Plan, we will publish a new national cancer plan, which will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, including bowel cancer patients.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
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 merits of making CPR training more available to members of the public.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
NHS England has partnered with St John Ambulance to co-ordinate skills development to significantly increase the use of Automated External Defibrillators by individuals in community settings. This includes a national network of Community Advocates to champion the importance of first aid, training 60,000 people that will help save up to 4,000 lives each year by 2028.