Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what psychological support is available for people infected and affected by contaminated blood and blood products in South Antrim.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Health Services in Northern Ireland are the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Government.
In Northern Ireland, specialist clinical psychological support has been available for all infected and affected individuals impacted by contaminated blood since January 2019. The service was initially provided within the existing Clinical Health Psychological Services. After receiving the non-recurrent funding from the Department of Health as part of the inquiry process, a dedicated regional psychological service, providing assessment, psychological therapies, liaison and sign posting as appropriate, for those individuals who were infected and affected, as well as their relatives, has been made available. This includes HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C infected or affected individuals. A patient and family information leaflet is available within clinics and to clinicians, to discuss referral to this service with patients and their families.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate her Department has made of the number of people who were (a) treated with contaminated blood products and (b) given contaminated blood transfusions by the NHS in South Antrim constituency.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department has not made an estimate of the number of people who were treated with contaminated blood products and given contaminated blood transfusions by the National Health Service in the South Antrim constituency, nor has it made an estimate of the numbers of these people who have since died.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the next NHS dental recovery plan will apply to Northern Ireland.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
State-funded healthcare within the United Kingdom but outside of England is a devolved matter, and the responsibility of the devolved administrations.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
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 reduce the time taken from an urgent GP referral to the commencement of treatment for cancer for patients in South Antrim constituency.
Answered by Will Quince
As health in Northern Ireland is a devolved matter, the Department does not hold this information centrally.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
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 effectiveness of the Faster Diagnosis Standard.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department has not made a formal assessment of the effectiveness of the Faster Diagnosis Standard (FDS) but works closely with NHS England who are responsible for managing performance of National Health Service providers. National performance of the FDS, which aims to ensure patients have cancer diagnosed or ruled out within 28 days of referral from a general practitioner or screening services, was at 73.5% performance in June 2023. FDS performance has averaged over 71% since collection started in April 2021, and we are confident the NHS will meet the ambition of 75% by March 2024.
NHS England plans to streamline cancer pathways to support diagnosis within 28 days by implementing non-symptom specific (NSS) pathways for patients who present with non-specific symptoms that can indicate several cancers, as well as implementing timed cancer pathways. By March 2024, the NSS programme will achieve full population coverage across England for non-specific symptom pathways as set out in the 2023/24 NHS Planning Guidance.
Diagnostic checks are a key part of many elective care pathways. NHS England’s ambition is that 95% of patients needing a diagnostic check receive it within six weeks by March 2025. £2.3 billion was awarded at the 2021 Spending Review to transform diagnostic services over the next three years. Most of this will help increase the number of Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) up to 160 by March 2025, expanding and protecting elective planned diagnostic services. There are 116 CDCs currently operational that have delivered over four million tests since July 2021.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
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 bringing forward legislative proposals to permit people with terminal illness to try medications approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence but not for their condition.
Answered by Will Quince
Prescribers are able to offer any treatment that they consider to be the most clinically appropriate care for the individual, subject to the NHS commissioner agreeing to funding. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations for the NHS on whether all new medicines and significant licence extensions for existing medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS based on an assessment of their costs and benefits.
The NHS in England is legally required to fund medicines recommended by NICE. In the absence of NICE guidance on the use of a medicine, NHS commissioners are expected to make funding decisions on individual treatments based on an assessment of the available evidence.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the delivery of inflation related uplifts to statutory contracts with the independent hospice sector.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made. The Government recognises the importance of palliative and end of life care for patients and those important to them. Palliative and end of life care, including hospice care, is commissioned locally by integrated care boards in response to the needs of their local population. Any assessment would therefore be made at a local level.
Most hospices are independent, charitable organisations that remain free to set salary rates along with other terms and conditions at a level that reflects the skills and experience of their staff.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential support required by hospices for staffing costs in the next 12 months.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made. The Government recognises the importance of palliative and end of life care for patients and those important to them. Palliative and end of life care, including hospice care, is commissioned locally by integrated care boards in response to the needs of their local population. Any assessment would therefore be made at a local level.
Most hospices are independent, charitable organisations that remain free to set salary rates along with other terms and conditions at a level that reflects the skills and experience of their staff.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
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 support (a) adult’s and (b) children’s hospices with the cost of living.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Palliative and end of life care, including hospice care, is commissioned locally by integrated care boards (ICBs) in response to the needs of their local population. Charities, including hospices, have already benefitted from the Energy Bill Relief Scheme which ended on 31 March 2023, and provided £7 billion of support. Eligible organisations, including hospices, will continue to get baseline discount support on gas and electricity bills under the Energy Bills Discount Scheme from 1 April 2023 until 31 March 2024.
At a national level, NHS England has released £1.5 billion additional funding to ICBs to provide support for inflation, with ICBs deciding how best to distribute this funding within their systems, including to palliative and end of life care providers such as hospices.
Additionally, NHS England has invested £25 million in the Children and Young People hospice grant in the financial year 2023/24 to provide care closer to home for those seriously ill as and when they need it.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the proposed illicit vapes enforcement squad will operate UK-wide.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The illicit vape enforcement team’s programme of work is for England only. However, they will work closely with enforcement agencies across the United Kingdom and share relevant data and intelligence related to illicit and underage vaping.