Asked by: Peter Lamb (Labour - Crawley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has for improving provision for people with eating disorders.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has recently updated guidance for children and young people’s eating disorder services, strengthening early identification and ensuring care is joined up across schools, primary care, and specialist services, with faster access to treatment where an eating disorder is suspected.
NHS England expects to publish the Mental Health Personalised Care Framework shortly. The mental health personalised care framework sets out the approach and related principles and actions for delivering personalised care for adults and older people with severe mental health problems.
In addition, a modern service framework for severe mental illness, including eating disorders, is being developed to improve the quality and consistency of care across the whole pathway.
As part of the NHS Long Term Plan, NHS England has established 15 Adult Eating Disorder Provider Collaboratives across England to oversee specialised adult eating disorder services. In addition to delivering inpatient care, these collaboratives are supporting the development of intensive community and day treatment models, helping more people receive care closer to home where clinically appropriate and reducing reliance on inpatient admission and geographical variation, while implementing improved processes supporting earlier discharge from hospital.
Asked by: Peter Lamb (Labour - Crawley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what research is being undertaken into the most effective ways of supporting those with eating disorders.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department funds research on health and social care through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including eating disorders.
Through the NIHR, the Department jointly funds the Eating Disorders Clinical Research Network, an initiative to build a coordinated, United Kingdom wide research infrastructure that strengthens evidence, improves care, and accelerates high‑quality studies across eating‑disorder services. Other projects recently funded by the NIHR include an investigation into how restrictive practices are used in the care of children and young people with eating disorders, with a focus on co‑produced solutions to reduce their use and improve patient experience.
Asked by: Peter Lamb (Labour - Crawley)
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 potential impact of delayed migraine diagnosis on patient outcomes.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department recognises that delays in diagnosis and treatment can affect individuals’ quality of life and may lead to greater symptom burden and wider impacts on education, employment, and wellbeing.
Clinical management of migraine is supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, which has published guidance on the diagnosis and management of headaches. This guidance helps clinicians to diagnose migraine more promptly and to provide appropriate acute and preventive treatments based on individual clinical need.
NHS England is supporting improvements in migraine care through national programmes such as the RightCare headache and migraine toolkit and the Getting It Right First Time neurology programme. These initiatives are focused on reducing unwarranted variation in care, improving diagnostic accuracy, particularly in primary care, and ensuring patients can access specialist services where appropriate.
Responsibility for commissioning migraine services rests with integrated care boards, which are best placed to plan and deliver services that meet the needs of their local populations. This includes access to primary care, specialist neurology services, and newer treatments where clinically indicated.
There are currently no plans to establish a national champion for migraine. The Department continues to engage with NHS England, clinical experts, and patient groups to understand the challenges faced by those living with migraine and to consider how services and support can be improved.
More broadly, the Government remains committed to improving outcomes for people with long-term conditions through ongoing system reform, workforce expansion, and a focus on earlier diagnosis and better community-based care.
Asked by: Peter Lamb (Labour - Crawley)
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 the time and accuracy of migraine diagnosis in primary care.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department recognises that delays in diagnosis and treatment can affect individuals’ quality of life and may lead to greater symptom burden and wider impacts on education, employment, and wellbeing.
Clinical management of migraine is supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, which has published guidance on the diagnosis and management of headaches. This guidance helps clinicians to diagnose migraine more promptly and to provide appropriate acute and preventive treatments based on individual clinical need.
NHS England is supporting improvements in migraine care through national programmes such as the RightCare headache and migraine toolkit and the Getting It Right First Time neurology programme. These initiatives are focused on reducing unwarranted variation in care, improving diagnostic accuracy, particularly in primary care, and ensuring patients can access specialist services where appropriate.
Responsibility for commissioning migraine services rests with integrated care boards, which are best placed to plan and deliver services that meet the needs of their local populations. This includes access to primary care, specialist neurology services, and newer treatments where clinically indicated.
There are currently no plans to establish a national champion for migraine. The Department continues to engage with NHS England, clinical experts, and patient groups to understand the challenges faced by those living with migraine and to consider how services and support can be improved.
More broadly, the Government remains committed to improving outcomes for people with long-term conditions through ongoing system reform, workforce expansion, and a focus on earlier diagnosis and better community-based care.
Asked by: Peter Lamb (Labour - Crawley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has considered creating a national champion for migraine.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department recognises that delays in diagnosis and treatment can affect individuals’ quality of life and may lead to greater symptom burden and wider impacts on education, employment, and wellbeing.
Clinical management of migraine is supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, which has published guidance on the diagnosis and management of headaches. This guidance helps clinicians to diagnose migraine more promptly and to provide appropriate acute and preventive treatments based on individual clinical need.
NHS England is supporting improvements in migraine care through national programmes such as the RightCare headache and migraine toolkit and the Getting It Right First Time neurology programme. These initiatives are focused on reducing unwarranted variation in care, improving diagnostic accuracy, particularly in primary care, and ensuring patients can access specialist services where appropriate.
Responsibility for commissioning migraine services rests with integrated care boards, which are best placed to plan and deliver services that meet the needs of their local populations. This includes access to primary care, specialist neurology services, and newer treatments where clinically indicated.
There are currently no plans to establish a national champion for migraine. The Department continues to engage with NHS England, clinical experts, and patient groups to understand the challenges faced by those living with migraine and to consider how services and support can be improved.
More broadly, the Government remains committed to improving outcomes for people with long-term conditions through ongoing system reform, workforce expansion, and a focus on earlier diagnosis and better community-based care.
Asked by: Peter Lamb (Labour - Crawley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust on the potential impact of the reduction in Crawley Hospital Urgent Treatment Centre's opening hours on patients.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Trust’s evaluation found that revised opening hours at Crawley Hospital Urgent Treatment Centre reduced the average time patients spend in the UTC by 17 minutes, with no significant impact on nearby emergency departments. Decisions on local service configuration are the responsibility of NHS commissioners. The Government has committed £250 million in the UEC Plan 25/26 to expand co-located urgent treatment centres alongside same day emergency care.
Asked by: Peter Lamb (Labour - Crawley)
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 adequacy of the age profile of CT and MRI scanners in use across NHS trusts; what steps he has taken to develop guidelines on optimal scanner replacement cycles; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of modernising the imaging fleet with newer technologies on (a) scanner capacity, (b) diagnostic throughput and (c) patient outcomes.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to ensuring that imaging services are supported to be as resilient and effective as possible, including reviewing the standards of computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners.
In recognising the risks that outdated scanners present to service delivery, resilience, quality of care, and equity of access, NHS England has published guidance referencing the optimal cycle for CT and MRI scanner replacement as 10 years. The Diagnostic Imaging Network Capital Equipment Planning Guide (2021) was developed alongside the Royal College of Radiologists, Society of Radiographers, and Institute of Physics and Engineering, and outlines the expectation for timely and planned equipment replacement.
NHS England monitors the number, age, and distribution of imaging assets across England via its annual, retrospective National Imaging Data Collection. The latest publication from March 2024 focuses on the assets reported within the collection, and is available at the following link:
Whilst National Health Service providers maintain their own capital budgets for replacing imaging equipment that has reached its expected end of life, over the last five years approximately £260 million of national capital investment has been deployed to support replacement of failing and antiquated CT and MRI systems. This supported a reduction in the proportion of CT and MRI scanners over 10 years old in recent years to 17%, as of March 2024. NHS England has also developed national recommendations for equipment specification which are regularly reviewed. The standardisation of scanner specifications for imaging departments and the inclusion of new technologies ensures appropriate standards for purchase. An example of this is the addition of MRI acceleration software to national specifications ensuring that replacement MRI scanners can deliver a 30% reduction in some scan times, increasing throughput, environmental efficiency, and service resilience simultaneously.
Asked by: Peter Lamb (Labour - Crawley)
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 the long-term future of Crawley Urgent Treatment Centre.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Urgent Treatment Centres have played a vital role in supporting patients while A&Es were under high demand this winter. We’ve taken action – announcing an extra £26 billion at the budget, rolling out the new RSV vaccine, and ending the resident doctor strikes. The NHS Sussex Integrated Care Board (ICB) is responsible for decisions on commissioning services for the local community.Asked by: Peter Lamb (Labour - Crawley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to make ormeloxifene available.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are currently no plans to make ormeloxifene available. It is critical that medicines used in the United Kingdom are safe and effective and as such, medicines cannot be marketed in the UK without a marketing authorisation. These are granted by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which assesses all medicines with regard to their quality, safety, and effectiveness. Ormeloxifene has not been licensed by the MHRA. It is the responsibility of the company to apply to the MHRA for a marketing authorisation. Should an application for it be received, the MHRA will consider this accordingly.
In England, most new licensed medicines are appraised by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to determine whether they represent a clinically and cost-effective use of National Health Service resources. If the manufacturer of ormeloxifene seeks a licence from the MHRA, then it may be considered for evaluation by the NICE.
Asked by: Peter Lamb (Labour - Crawley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his timetable is for mental health professionals to be present in schools; and what qualifications they will have.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We know that waits for mental health services are far too long, including for children and young people. That is why we will recruit 8,500 additional mental health workers across child and adult mental health services, and introduce a specialist mental health professional in every school.
We will set out our timeline for introducing access to specialist mental health professionals in due course. It is a minimum for a specialist mental health professional to have at least a level three vocational qualification, or equivalent level of relevant study.