Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
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 improve ambulance response times for (a) strokes and (b) other category 2 calls.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Strokes can be potentially life-threatening and require a Category 2 response to ensure patients have access to timely care. The National Stroke Service Model and the National Service Model for an Integrated Community Stroke Service set out an evidence-based pathway for joined-up stroke care throughout the patient journey. The service models set out that high quality stroke care should include fast emergency response and better-informed ambulance service 999 calls, to reduce mortality and disability.
The Government is determined to improve response times. Our Urgent and Emergency Care Delivery Plan for 2025/26 commits to reducing ambulance response times for Category 2 incidents to 30 minutes on average this year. We are also tackling unacceptable ambulance handover delays by introducing a maximum 45-minute standard, ensuring ambulances are released more quickly and get back on the road to treat patients.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to implement the recommendations outlined in the Cumberlege Review with respect to the drug Primodos.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our sympathies remain with those who believe they were harmed by hormone pregnancy tests, such as Primodos.
Recommendation 4 of the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review, also known as the Cumberlege Review, specifically mentions hormone pregnancy tests, recommending that separate redress schemes be set up for each of the interventions examined by the Review, namely hormone pregnancy tests, sodium valproate and pelvic mesh. As a follow up to this recommendation, the Patient Safety Commissioner was asked to investigate and provide advice on options for redress for those affected by sodium valproate and pelvic mesh. The Government is carefully considering the Patient Safety Commissioner’s recommendations.
The Patient Safety Commissioner was not asked to look at Primodos as part of this work, because the available scientific evidence does not support a causal association between the use of hormone pregnancy tests such as Primodos and adverse outcomes in pregnancy. The Government is committed to reviewing any new scientific evidence which may come to light.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
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 26 March 2025 to Question 39290 on Coronavirus: Drugs, whether his Department has had recent discussions with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on the potential use of PEMGARDA to help protect clinically vulnerable people against covid-19 in emergency situations.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Ministers and Department officials have regular discussions with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) on a range of issues, including topics for new or updated guidance.
Pemivibart, also known under the brand name Pemgarda, for use in the prophylaxis of COVID-19, does not have a marketing authorisation in the United Kingdom issued by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). It is the responsibility of the company to apply to the MHRA for the relevant marketing authorisation. Should an application for it be received, the MHRA will consider the product for its benefits and risks in relation to quality, safety, and efficacy.
In England, NICE evaluates all newly licenced medicines to determine whether they represent a clinically and cost-effective use of National Health Service resources. If the manufacturer of Pemgarda seeks a licence from the MHRA, then NICE may consider it through its technology appraisal programme.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to (a) help tackle high rates of Group B Strep infection and (b) improve access to (i) screening, (ii) diagnosis and (iii) treatment for Group B Strep infections in (A) Black and (B) Asian (1) women and (2) babies.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Practitioners are expected to take a risk-based approach to the screening, diagnosis, and treatment of group B streptococcus (GBS). Under current National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance, pregnant women who are known to carry GBS, or who have risk factors such as a previous baby with GBS infection or fever during labour, should be offered antibiotics during labour to help prevent early-onset infection in their baby.
People from certain ethnic groups may be predisposed to health conditions which may affect their maternity outcomes, and a study led by the UK Health Security Agency did conclude that the rate of GBS was higher in those of black or Asian ethnicity.
To improve understanding, prevention, and treatment of GBS infection, the Department is supporting a trial, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research. It aims to determine whether routine testing for GBS for all women, either in late pregnancy or on admission for labour with point of care testing, reduces early-onset neonatal sepsis compared to the current approach of risk-based screening.
Findings from the trial will be submitted to the Department and reviewed by the UK National Screening Committee to inform future decisions on national screening policy.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
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 ensure that statutory duties for safeguarding (a) children with special educational needs and disabilities and (b) other children are met, in the context of the NHS England model framework for integrated care boards.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has asked the integrated care boards (ICBs) to act primarily as strategic commissioners of health services and to reduce the duplication of responsibilities within their structure. NHS England provided additional guidance to ICBs, National Health Service trusts, and NHS foundation trusts in a letter on 1 April 2025, where ICBs were tasked with developing plans setting out how they will manage their resources to deliver across their priorities. This letter is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/working-together-in-2025-26-to-lay-the-foundations-for-reform/
NHS England is actively engaged with ICB executive leads for special educational needs and disability (SEND) across the system, to ensure that ICBs continue to ensure that statutory duties and accountabilities for children with SEND are met. We will be working with a range of partners and stakeholders to review the proposals to ensure that statutory duties, as laid out in legislation, continue to be met for children with SEND.
NHS England is actively engaging with safeguarding professionals across the system, including those in local government, ICBs, and provider organisations, to ensure that safeguarding responsibilities are not compromised.
This engagement is being supported by the NHS Safeguarding Accountability and Assurance Framework 2024 and the National Safeguarding Steering Group ICB Safeguarding Protocols, which outline the roles, accountabilities, responsibilities, and expectations for safeguarding across NHS-funded care. NHS England is also setting up a joint working group with the Local Government Association to carefully consider issues relating to safeguarding.
Ministers and the Department will work with the new transformation team at the top of NHS England to ensure ICBs continue to fulfil their functions effectively within the running costs cap and unlock the benefit of working at scale to deliver better care for their population.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of including strokes as a Category 1 ambulance call.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No such assessment has been made. NHS England’s guidance recommends ambulance services increase the clinical assessment of 999 calls, including increasing the proportion of Category 2 calls, which are those calls classified as an “emergency” and which include serious time-sensitive incidents such as strokes. Calls are clinically navigated, validated, and triaged in ambulance control centres to ensure the sickest patients are prioritised for ambulances.
NHS England's Emergency Call Prioritisation Advisory Group determines the appropriate ambulance response for various clinical situations and triage codes, and works in conjunction with the Clinical Coding Review Group, and the National Ambulance Service Medical Director's group, to ensure clinical guidance is up-to-date and effective.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the length of ambulance response times on outcomes for stroke patients.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No such assessment has been made. NHS England’s guidance recommends ambulance services increase the clinical assessment of 999 calls, to ensure the sickest patients are prioritised for ambulances.
The National Stroke Service Model and the National Service Model for an Integrated Community Stroke Service set out an evidence based pathway for joined-up stroke care throughout the patient journey. The service models set out that high quality stroke care should include fast emergency response and better-informed ambulance service 999 calls, to reduce mortality and disability.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of a national roll out of the category 2 segmentation pilots run by (a) London Ambulance Service and (b) West Midlands Ambulance Service to prioritise the most urgent calls.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No such assessment has been made. NHS England guidance recommends ambulance services increase the clinical assessment of 999 calls, to ensure the sickest patients are prioritised for ambulances and patients that do not need a face-to-face response are transferred to services more appropriate to their needs.
The NHS England 2025/26 priorities and operational planning guidance identified reducing avoidable ambulance dispatches and conveyances and reducing hospital handover delays as key improvement areas, with the expectation that ambulance services increase the proportion of Category 2 calls that are clinically navigated, validated and triaged in ambulance control centres.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will ensure that the National Cancer Plan includes vaccine treatments for brain tumours.
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, and will apply to all cancer types, including brain tumours. It will seek to improve every aspect of cancer care, to improve the experiences and outcomes for people with cancer. Our goal is to reduce the number of lives lost to cancer over the next 10 years.
The Department, NHS England, and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) are taking several steps to help improve outcomes for brain tumour patients. Research will be a key focus of the National Cancer Plan, which will continue to maximise the access to, and the impact of, clinical trials in diagnostics and treatments, building on the success of projects such as the NHS Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad.
The plan will also consider the ways that we can accelerate the uptake of innovative, life-saving treatments so all NHS patients can benefit. We will work closely with partners, including the National Institute for Health and Care Research, on this.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
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 support people impacted by long covid in Twickenham constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Commissioning, service provision and staffing of long COVID services is the responsibility of local integrated care boards.
General practitioners (GPs) continue to act as the primary point of contact to ensure patients receive the appropriate advice and care. Patients experiencing symptoms of long COVID are advised to seek support from their GP in the usual way.
A directory of public health, community, and voluntary sector resources has been developed and is available to local GPs and primary care partners. This directory enables healthcare professionals to signpost patients to a wide range of local support services that address the various impacts of long COVID. Further information on the support services available in the Twickenham constituency is available at the following link:
https://www.kingstonandrichmond.nhs.uk/patients-and-families/patient-leaflets/long-covid-information
At a national level, NHS England has also published commissioning guidance for post-COVID services, which sets out the principles of care for people with long COVID.
Between 2019/20 and 2023/24, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research and Medical Research Council, we have invested over £57 million on research into long COVID, with almost £40 million of this through two specific research calls on long COVID. The funded projects aim to improve our understanding of the diagnosis and underlying mechanisms of the disease and the effectiveness of both pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies and interventions, as well as to evaluate the effectiveness of clinical care.