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 (a) alleviate shortages of Hormone replacement therapy products and associated medicines and (b) support patients to access treatments.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
There are over 70 hormone replacement therapy (HRT) products available in the UK and while most remain in good supply, a range of factors including an increase in demand has led to supply issues with a limited number of products.
We are working with suppliers and other stakeholders such as the NHS and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to maintain overall HRT supply to patients across the UK, including working to expedite resupply dates of the disrupted HRT products to resolve issues as soon as possible and to help fill supply gaps and prevent future shortages.
Access to in-demand products has improved since we issued Serious Shortage Protocols (SSPs) on HRT products to limit dispensing to three months’ supply to even out distribution and allow alternative products to be dispensed, as necessary. 19 SSP’s for HRT products have been issued since April 2022, and a much smaller number of SSP’s remain in place as the supply position of several products affected by short term supply issues have been resolved.
We regularly share communications about shortages and discontinuations with the NHS and have issued a number of communications about HRT supply issues to date. We continue to hold quarterly HRT roundtables with manufacturers, wholesalers, and community pharmacists to discuss the current and future supply of HRT. This is in addition to more regular meetings we hold with suppliers, on an individual basis, to identify and manage any issues.
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 publish details of his Department's 10-year plan for dementia.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are reviewing plans for dementia in England and further information will be available in due course.
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 proportion of patients detained under the Mental Health Act spend (a) up to 24, (b) 25-48, (c) 49-72 and (d) over 72 hours on hospital triage wards, including A&E, before being transferred to a specialist mental health ward.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The information requested is not collected centrally.
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 increase the number of (a) educational psychologists, (b) speech and language therapists and (c) occupational therapists working with school-age children in England.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Since 2020, the Department for Education (DfE) has increased the number of educational psychologist trainees that they fund from 160 per annum to over 200 per annum now.
They have invested £30 million to train three more cohorts of educational psychologist trainees for the 2020, 2021, and 2022 academic years, to reflect increased demand. The first cohort will enter the workforce in 2023 to provide crucial support to children and young people, schools, families, and local authorities.
On 29 March 2022, DfE announced a further investment of over £10 million to train over 200 more educational psychologists. These trainees will begin their courses in September 2023, and graduate in 2026.
To support the supply of more speech and language therapists and occupational therapists to the NHS, since September 2020 all eligible nursing, midwifery and allied health profession students have been able to apply for a non-repayable training grant of a minimum of £5,000 per academic year, with further financial support available for childcare, accommodation, and travel costs. It is the responsibility of individual employers, including schools and hospitals, to plan their staffing levels in line with their local service priorities.
The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision Green Paper sets out our proposal to commission analysis to ensure that the health needs of children and young people with SEND are supported through effective workforce planning. We propose to work with Health Education England, NHS England and the Department for Education to build on existing evidence and build a clearer picture of demand for support for children and young people with SEND from the therapy and diagnostic workforce.
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 fill vacancies in the NHS workforce.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
We are working to ensure the NHS has the workforce it needs for the future.
We are committed to delivering 50,000 more nurses by 2024, and are currently on target, with over 29,000 more nurses compared with September 2019. We have funded 1,500 additional undergraduate medical school places in England, and in 2022 we have seen record numbers of undergraduate medical students.
We have also commissioned NHSE to develop a long-term workforce plan.
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 her Department is taking to provide all children who have type one diabetes with (a) insulin pumps and (b) continuous glucose monitoring through the NHS in (i) Twickenham constituency and (ii) England.
Answered by Will Quince
Diabetes care is commissioned by local Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), which are responsible for developing commissioning policies. ICBs must have due regard to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guidance. However, local decision making applies on the implementation of this guidance.
NHS England supports and encourages local National Health Service partners to adopt NICE’s guidelines for the diagnosis and management of type 1 diabetes in children and young adults and the use of intermittently scanned glucose monitoring devices, real-time continuous glucose monitors.
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 criteria she used to determine which schools within each integrated care system area are prioritised to be allocated a mental health support team.
Answered by Caroline Johnson
Integrated care systems (ICSs) are expected to work in collaboration with health and local system partners to determine where mental health support teams (MHSTs) are located. ICSs will consider reducing health inequalities and promoting equality of access to services and specifically how mental health support teams will reach those children and young people with high level of need and most at risk of poor outcomes; how a MHST will add to the emotional and mental health support already in place within a setting; and whether a local health provider is ready to recruit and employ staff.
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, with reference to the document entitled Mental Health Support Teams for Children and Young People in Education: A Manual, published on the Healthy London Partnership website in October 2015, whether that is the most recent version of the manual provided by NHS England to Mental Health Support Teams.
Answered by Caroline Johnson
‘Mental Health Support Teams for Children and Young People in Education: A Manual’ was initially published on the Health London Partnership website in 2019. It is updated and issued to mental health support teams annually. The latest version will be available via the Healthy London Partnership website in due course.
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 recent (a) steps his Department has taken and (b) research his Department has commissioned to understand the (i) causes and (ii) potential solutions of the pressures being experienced by NHS Ambulance Trusts; and how much funding was allocated to that work.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health including ambulance services. While the NIHR do not usually ring-fence funds for expenditure on particular topics, research proposals in all areas compete for the funding available. Since April 2017, there have been 15 research projects on ambulance services with combined funding of £12,513,665.
NHS England has allocated an additional £150 million for ambulance service pressures in 2022/23, supporting improvements to response times through additional call handler recruitment, retention and other funding requirements. This is further to a £20 million investment to upgrade the ambulance fleet, which aims to increase ambulance capacity by reducing the age profile of the fleet, increasing productivity and the size of the fleet while decreasing emissions.
Additionally, St John Ambulance has been contracted to deliver auxiliary ambulance services, providing national surge capacity of at least 5,000 hours per month as needed to support the ambulance response during periods of increased pressure, allowing NHS ambulance crews to focus on responding to emergency calls. Ambulance trusts receive continuous central monitoring and support from the NHS England’s National Ambulance Coordination Centre.