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) Birmingham Erdington constituency and (b) other areas covered by the Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board to address the barriers to respiratory diagnostics identified in the report entitled Right Test Right Time, published by Asthma and Lung UK in August 2023.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

In addition to the development of community diagnostic provision, on Monday 4 November the Birmingham Solihull Integrated Care Board (ICB) launched a system-wide campaign to encourage people to ‘breathe easy’ by getting their vaccines. Focusing primarily on flu, COVID-19, and the respiratory syncytial virus, the Breathe Easy campaign was designed to engage with people who are over 65 years old and living in the postcodes where it is known that vaccine uptake is low, as well as those who are aged six months to 64 years old and who have an increased risk of getting seriously ill from COVID-19 because of a health condition or treatment. The ICB is also urging pregnant women who are between 28 and 32 weeks of their pregnancy to ensure they are doing all they can to protect themselves and their unborn baby.

Radio, bus stop, bus interior, community radio, billboard, online, and supermarket adverts are all currently live, and will run until Christmas 2024. This campaign forms part of the integrated care system’s winter communications plan, which has been developed to bring partners together across the system to help create a movement asking people to take personal responsibility, drive action, increase trust in community health services, and educate, to prevent ill-health and ultimately protect the health of yourself, others, and the local National Health Service.

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 rates of respiratory-related hospital admissions in Birmingham.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

System partners are working collaboratively to improve pathways between health care professionals, and to remove barriers in referrals to community-based services and hospital acute setting clinics. This will support admission avoidance, and ensure that patients are receiving the right care in the right place, more quickly.

An example of this is the work between the West Midlands Ambulance Service University NHS Foundation Trust (WMAS) and urgent community response, who are supporting the WMAS with direct referrals into their service, and providing a call before you convey the telephone line for ambulance clinicians on the scene with patients. Increasing the workforce skill mix in the urgent community response to support with decision making will avoid admissions. Support to care homes to ensure they can safely monitor and escalate, where patients become unwell, to appropriate health care professionals has been supported by urgent community response teams and virtual ward teams. We are also improving respiratory virtual ward utilisation in collaboration with both the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust and the Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

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 increase the capacity of secondary care to support primary care with essential respiratory diagnostics.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Following a significant drop in the volume of spirometry during the pandemic, NHS England has already worked with a range of partners, including Asthma and Lung UK, the British Thoracic Society, the Association of Respiratory Technology and Physiology, and clinical leads to develop a package for systems containing the information and support required to help increase the number of people receiving early and accurate diagnosis for respiratory disease.

NHS England’s priorities and operational planning guidance for 2024/25 also highlights the importance of timely access to diagnostics, including spirometry, asking systems to utilise new diagnostic capacity in the community to commission these tests. Additional funding has been made available to systems in 2021/22, 2022/23, and 2023/24 for the training and accreditation of staff in the provision and interpretation of quality assured spirometry, a key component of an early and accurate diagnosis. In 2023/24 and 2024/25, the national team is financially supporting systems to take innovative approaches to expanding access to their diagnostic services, focusing particularly on addressing health inequalities.

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 ensure spirometry testing is (a) funded and (b) available in areas covered by the Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Spirometry testing is provided at the Washwood Heath Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC), along with other respiratory diagnostic tests such as fractional exhaled nitric oxide and lung function tests. The same tests will also be available at the North Solihull and South Birmingham CDCs when they go live next year. Mobilisation meetings are underway with the provider to establish that these services are ready to go live.

All tests and funding seen in the CDC have a tariff attached to them, which incentivises systems to develop diagnostic pathways, including for respiratory health, that take place in the community. These tests are local, accessible, and offer timely appointments. There are now three CDCs approved in Birmingham and Solihull, which shows a system shift to a community-based delivery model for all diagnostics, and spirometry testing is key to diagnosis a number of conditions affecting a large number of the local population.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to (a) include spirometry and FeNO testing in the GP contract and (b) to provide dedicated funding through a Directed Enhanced Service.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Currently there are no plans to include spirometry and FeNO testing in the GP contract. In many areas, spirometry and FeNO testing services are delivered through Local Enhanced Services (LESs), which are funded separately to global sum payments.

Integrated care boards, as commissioners of primary care, are responsible for commissioning LESs which practices can opt into, which vary in scope and funding to fit the needs of local areas. In areas where spirometry and FeNO testing are not commissioned through a LES, it is the commissioner’s responsibility to ensure these services are available to patients.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to ensure that Community Diagnostic Centres are accessible to everyone in (a) Birmingham Erdington constiituency and (b) England.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) programme now delivers activity on 168 sites across the country, and data published in August 2024 showed CDCs have delivered over 10.4 million diagnostic tests since July 2021.

The National Health Service has endeavoured to ensure that each integrated care system (ICS) has at least two CDCs, and there is now a standard or large model CDC approved in every NHS integrated care system area. Locations of CDCs were determined based on a set of specific criteria, including need for diagnostic provision, accessibility for patients by private and public transport and factors which would support health inequalities.

Whilst there is no CDC located in the Birmingham Erdington constituency, Birmingham and Solihull ICB hosts three CDCs in the local area, including Washwood Heath CDC in Saltley, North Solihull CDC in Chelmsley Wood and South Birmingham CDC in Maypole. CDCs provide additional, digitally connected, diagnostic capacity in England, which supports existing diagnostic capacity, including at acute sites such as at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital.

NHS England is also supporting systems to make a wider range of direct access tests available to general practices (GP) nationally and in Birmingham, through the GP Direct Access Scheme. This includes via direct referrals to CDCs, than need for a pre appointment and to increase speed of access. Phases 1 and 2 of the GP Direct Access Scheme are focussed on expanding use of direct access tests for cancer and respiratory conditions, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The Government has committed £1.5 billion of capital funding for new surgical hubs and diagnostic scanners. This will build capacity for over 30,000 additional procedures and over 1.25 million diagnostic tests, as well as new beds which will create more treatment space in emergency departments, reduce waiting times, and help shift more care into the community. More details will follow in due course.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to help promote (a) cultural exchange and (b) community engagement initiatives between the UK and Moroccan diaspora communities.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The FCDO convenes events open to both British nationals residing in Morocco and Moroccan nationals. These include regular business networking events in Casablanca, events celebrating current, former, and future Chevening Scholars, and annual initiatives such as 'Ambassador for a Day' focusing on education and youth empowerment.

The British Council promotes cultural activity and exchange between the UK and Morocco on behalf of the UK government. Its activities span a variety of creative and cultural sectors, including filmmaking, literature, and music production, and its International Collaboration Grant currently supports artists in both the UK and Morocco.

Found: Campbell -Savours Sir Christopher Chope Sarah Coombes Kirith Entwistle Marie Goldman Paulette Hamilton

Submit Evidence (by 4 Feb 2025)

The Committee is undertaking an inquiry into community mental health services. The inquiry will examine what good looks like from the perspective of service users and their families/carers. The Committee would like the inquiry to shine a light on case studies of innovative practice and high-quality care across the country, and to undertake meaningful and impactful engagement with people accessing these services.