Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
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 improve service provision for people with sarcoma in Cornwall.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has published a national service specification, covering both bone and soft tissue sarcomas. The specification requires close working between sarcoma services and other National Health Service partners, co-ordinated by Sarcoma Advisory Groups, to improve care pathways.
Work is underway across both bone and soft tissue sarcoma provision to ensure that cancer care providers meet national service standards and improve care to patients across the country, including in Cornwall.
The Government welcomes the recent publication of Sarcoma UK’s sarcoma state of the nation report as it highlights the importance of early diagnosis, care co-ordination across complex pathways, research into new treatments, and survivorship. Our forthcoming National Cancer Plan will set out how we will improve outcomes for all cancers, including sarcoma.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
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 help support pharmacies to increase their productivity.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has recently implemented several reforms to help pharmacy contractors to improve dispensing efficiencies and productivity. Since January 2025, pharmacies have been allowed to dispense medicines in the original manufacturers package if the quantity in the package is 10% higher or lower than the quantity ordered on prescription. This removes the need to open and split the package in a pharmacy and increases the number of orders that can be processed through automated dispensing facilities. From 1 October 2025, pharmacies can make arrangements with a pharmacy owned by a different legal entity to undertake routine assembly of medicines on their behalf. This is known as hub and spoke arrangements and enables smaller pharmacies to utilise automated dispensing hubs to free up time for the pharmacist in the spoke pharmacy to focus on patient facing tasks.
On 17 July, draft regulations were laid with the aim to modernise the rules concerning who must supervise the dispensing of medicines in pharmacies. The Government is working to make the National Patient Prescription Tracking Service available in each pharmacy to help patients track their prescriptions online through the NHS App. This will reduce the burden on busy general practitioners and pharmacy teams and will avoid patients queuing at a pharmacy only to find that their prescription is not ready. The Government has also launched a public consultation on giving pharmacists increased flexibilities to supply an alternative product against a prescription, if the prescribed item is not available.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
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 numbers of walk-in consultation services at pharmacies.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Community pharmacies already provide a range of walk-in consultation services, including blood pressure checks, contraception consultations, and Pharmacy First. They also provide health advice and sell over the counter medicines for minor illnesses.
The Government is committed to expanding the role of pharmacies and better utilising the skills of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. For example, on 29 October the Pharmacy Contraception Service was expanded so that pharmacies can supply emergency contraception free of charge, to ensure women have access to a consistent offer across England.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
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 improve outcomes for patients with peripheral arterial disease in Camborne and Redruth constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
To improve outcomes for patients with coronary heart disease, including those in the Camborne and Redruth constituency, the Government will publish a cardiovascular disease modern service framework. This will identify and set standards for the best evidenced interventions, drive innovation in cardiovascular disease prevention and management, and reduce unwarranted variation in healthcare.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
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 improve outcomes for patients with coronary heart disease in Camborne and Redruth constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
To improve outcomes for patients with coronary heart disease, including those in the Camborne and Redruth constituency, the Government will publish a cardiovascular disease modern service framework. This will identify and set standards for the best evidenced interventions, drive innovation in cardiovascular disease prevention and management, and reduce unwarranted variation in healthcare.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
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 improve outcomes for patients with (a) strokes and (b) transient ischaemic attacks in Camborne and Redruth constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service operates an Integrated Community Stroke Service at Camborne Redruth Community Hospital. This service provides specialist therapy, advice, and support for people, their families, and carers following stroke and transient ischaemic attack or mini stroke.
To improve outcomes for patients with stroke and transient ischaemic attacks, the Government will publish a cardiovascular disease modern service framework. This will identify and set standards for the best evidenced interventions, drive innovation in stroke prevention and management, and reduce unwarranted variation in healthcare.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
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 improve outcomes for patients with atrial fibrillation in Camborne and Redruth constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service in Cornwall has a comprehensive cardiovascular training programme in place for primary care staff. This is a key initiative to increase awareness of prevention, cause and management of stroke, atrial fibrillation, acute coronary syndromes and heart failure.
The NHS locally report over nine in ten patients with atrial fibrillation in Camborne and Redruth are treated with anti-coagulants, with treatment rates having increased across Cornwall over the last three years with biggest increases in areas with highest deprivation.
The NHS in Cornwall is also working to prevent, identify and treat linked conditions such as diabetes, alcohol dependency and high blood pressure and to support lifestyle changes that can improve atrial fibrillation symptoms, coronary heart disease, strokes and transient ischemic attacks as well as other cardiovascular conditions such as peripheral arterial disease.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to increase the number of defibrillators at (a) care homes, (b) sheltered housing and (c) warden controlled properties.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The provision of defibrillators is a matter for local communities, working in partnership with local organisations and charities.
Decisions as to whether automated external defibrillators should be fitted is a matter for the owners of those properties, with regard to any legal requirements on the operation of those premises.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
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 regulate advertising by direct cremation companies to ensure transparency about the handling and care of the deceased.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 prohibits unfair commercial practices. These include misleading actions and omissions, that are likely to impact the average consumer’s transactional decisions. Traders who engage in commercial practices that are misleading omissions, or misleading actions, may be committing a criminal offence.
In July 2025, the final report of the independent inquiry into the issues raised by the David Fuller case recommended the introduction of a statutory regulatory regime for those caring for the deceased. The Department will publish an interim update on progress in winter 2025 and a final response by summer 2026. This will include updates on the recommendations for the funeral sector which set out that direct cremation businesses should also be considered in this context, and mandatory standards to protect the security and dignity of the deceased should be applied to these businesses and to any emerging new models of delivery of care for the deceased.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what will be in the terms of the Carr Hill review.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The review will consider how health needs are reflected in the distribution of funding through the GP contract, drawing on a range of evidence and advice from experts.
Arrangements for the Carr-Hill review are being finalised. Further details will be confirmed in due course.