Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
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 tackle the reduced rate of potential cancer sufferers seeing a consultant within two weeks of an urgent GP referral.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department committed a further £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25, in addition to the £2 billion Elective Recovery Fund and £700 million Targeted Investment Fund in 2021/22 to increase capacity in elective services, including for cancer diagnosis and treatment.
The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’, published in February 2022, contains two targets for cancer care to improve performance for the two-week waiting time. The plan aims to return the number of people waiting more than 62 days to start treatment following an urgent referral due to suspected cancer to pre-pandemic levels by March 2023. In addition, 75% of patients who have been urgently referred by their general practitioner for suspected cancer will be diagnosed or have cancer ruled out within 28 days by March 2024.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the NHS is taking to process the backlog of retirement applications of NHS workers, so that former NHS staff can access their retirement benefits as soon as possible.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
The NHS Business Services Authority, which administers the NHS Pension Scheme, received an increase in retirement applications for April 2022 compared to the previous year. While the majority of applications were processed within the timeframes expected, some delays were experienced due to the need for complex manual calculations. The volume of applications has returned to the levels usually received, although as the majority of staff currently retiring have benefits in both the 1995/2008 and the 2015 schemes, more manual calculations are still required.
The NHS Business Services Authority has increased the number of staff available to undertake these calculations and issued guidance to scheme employers to ensure that members are informed of the progress of their application prior to the employer submitting their application. Where manual calculations are required, as the member has the option of receiving the smaller 2015 Scheme pension as a lump sum, the NHS Business Services Authority is limiting any financial impact by ensuring 1995/2008 Scheme benefits are paid immediately, while options for payment of 2015 Scheme benefits are discussed with the member. This ensures the payment of the majority of a member’s benefits is not delayed.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
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 introducing a chickenpox vaccine on the NHS.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) reviewed the varicella vaccine designed to provide protection against chickenpox in 2010. Based on the JCVI’s subsequent recommendations and due to the complex health risks associated with its widespread use, the varicella vaccine is not currently part of the routine vaccination programme. The JCVI regularly reviews new and existing programmes as evidence emerges.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to reduce the impact of chickenpox on (a) the NHS and (b) schools.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Chickenpox is not a notifiable infection in England. In the United Kingdom, varicella immunisation is only recommended to protect those people who are at most risk of serious illness. Individuals who are in regular or close contact with those at highest risk are immunised, including non-immune healthcare workers and close household contacts of immunocompromised individuals, such as the siblings of a child with leukaemia or a child whose parent is undergoing chemotherapy. Varicella immunisation can also be administered to healthcare workers, laboratory staff and those in contact with immunocompromised patients.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the availability of children and young people's specialist mental health professionals in A&E settings.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
Data from the National Health Service Mental Health Dashboard in Quarter 1 2021/22 shows that 67% of settings have full or partial coverage of the four key components of a comprehensive children and young people’s mental health crisis service. The components include offering a crisis assessment within the emergency department and in community settings.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the numbers of (a) children and (b) young people showing indication for depression that would identify them in need of support; and what assessment he has made of the change in that level from pre-pandemic levels.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
While no specific assessment has been made, access to children and young people’s mental health services is monitored through the National Health Service Mental Health Dashboard. This records data on the number of children and young people under 18 years old accessing support from NHS-funded community services. We also monitor population prevalence of different conditions through periodic surveys.
However, children and young and young people with symptoms of depression may report to primary or secondary care, or to some schools’ services, such as mental health support teams. There is no single dataset for children and young people with symptoms of depression presenting to these services, by condition.
‘Mental Health of Children and Young People in England 2021 - wave 2 follow up to the 2017 survey’, published by NHS Digital in September 2021, found that approximately 17.4% of children aged between 6 and 16 years old had a probable mental health disorder in 2021. However, it is not possible to compare rates of depression to those identified in the 2017 survey as the 2021 data does not record the specific condition.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government is on track to meet its target of delivering 26,000 additional primary care staff to support GPs by 2024.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
NHS England and NHS Improvement’s current estimates show we are on schedule to deliver 26,000 additional primary care staff by 2024. In December 2021, there were an additional 8,830 direct patient care staff in Primary Care Networks compared to December 2019. The data also shows an increase of 2,267 full time equivalent direct patient care staff.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many additional GPs have been recruited since January 2020.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
There were 1,672 more full time equivalent doctors in general practice in December 2021 compared to December 2019. We are working with NHS England and NHS Improvement, Health Education England and the profession to increase the general practice workforce in England. In 2021/22, 4,000 trainees accepted a general practitioner training place - an increase from 2,671 in 2014.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps is he taking to increase the number of in-person GP appointments.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
NHS England and NHS Improvement have been clear that general practitioner (GP) practices must provide face to face appointments, alongside remote consultations. Patients’ input into consultation type should be sought and practices should respect preferences for face to face care unless there are good clinical reasons to the contrary, such as the presence of COVID-19 symptoms.
In October 2021, with NHS England and NHS Improvement we set out measures to support general practice over the winter period and made £250 million available for a Winter Access Fund to improve the capacity of general practices, including for providing in-person GP appointments.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average wait time is for an in-person GP appointment in (a) Newcastle and (b) England.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Data on waiting times for in-person general practitioner appointments is not held centrally.