Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) hospitalisations and (b) deaths from people using nitazenes in Birmingham; and what steps he is taking to reduce these numbers.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The number of hospital admissions in Birmingham due to the use of nitazenes is not collected.
On 3 October 2024, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) published the research report, Deaths linked to potent synthetic opioids, providing information on deaths due to potent synthetic opioids that have been recorded by OHID and the National Crime Agency as of 19 September 2024 and which occurred between 1 June 2023 and 31 May 2024 after toxicology tests were completed. This report presents the data broken down into regions and shows that the number of deaths due to nitazenes in the West Midlands region were 21. We are continuing to work closely with other government departments to enhance surveillance and early warning in response to the threat of synthetic opioids. The report is available at the following link:
Any death from illicit drug use is a tragedy, and it is clear that more needs to be done to prevent this from happening. The department is working to expand access to naloxone, a life-saving medicine that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose, including synthetic opioids. The Government laid legislation covering the United Kingdom on 29 July 2024, which, subject to passage through Parliament, will enable more services and organisations to provide take-home supplies of naloxone without a prescription. These changes will make it easier for naloxone to be given to a family member or friend of a person who is known to be using opiates, and to professionals working with people who use these drugs, to save lives in the event of an overdose.
To improve surveillance, OHID has been working with partners in Government to create a new, enhanced Drugs Early Warning System. This collates information from a wider range of sources, including for example ambulance callout data, and will produce regular reports for local areas on current threats.
Information on the dangers of synthetic opioids and the dangers they pose is available from the helpline and website (talktofrank.com) provided by FRANK, the national drug information and advice service supported by government. Education on drug use is also a statutory component of relationships and sex education and health education in England. Lesson plans target primary and secondary students, teaching them how to manage influences and pressure, and keep themselves healthy and safe. These plans, and resources to support teachers, are in the process of being updated, including with information on synthetic drugs.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
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 adequacy of the performance of for-profit providers of sexual assault referral centres.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
All Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) services are commissioned through an open and transparent procurement process. The quality of the service provision is a key consideration in any contract award
All SARC services are subject to Care Quality Commission regulations, and within NHS England, each region has a commissioning and contracting team that oversees all SARC contracts to ensure the performance and quality of the service provision meets National Health Service standards. From October 2025, SARC services will also be required to be accredited under forensic services regulations, which will provide an additional level of assurance.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether him Department has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of using voluntary organisations to support victims of sexual assault.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Voluntary organisations are important providers of specialist services to adults and children who have experienced sexual assault or abuse. They are major providers of specialist advocacy, sexual trauma counselling, pre-trial therapy, and support services.
Sexual Assault Referral Centres are expected to develop and maintain referral pathways and working relationships with relevant voluntary sector services in each NHS England region. A core principle of the enhanced mental health pathway is to build delivery partnerships between the National Health Service and specialist sexual violence and abuse voluntary sector organisations, tailored to meet needs in relation to complex trauma.
The majority of services funded by the Ministry of Justice for victims and survivors of sexual violence are delivered by voluntary organisations.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 9 April 2024 to Question 19659 on NHS 111: Dental Health, if she will provide breakdown of calls by symptom group by region.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
It has not proved possible to reply to the hon Member in the time available before Dissolution.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many general dental practice contracts were handed back having been terminated by the contractor in each integrated care board in the (a) 2022-23 and (b) 2023-24 financial year.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
It has not proved possible to reply to the hon Member in the time available before Dissolution.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the total value was of general dental practice contracts that were handed back in the (a) 2022-23 and (b) 2023-24 financial year; and what proportion this was of the total commissioned activity in those financial years.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
It has not proved possible to reply to the hon Member in the time available before Dissolution.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many new general dental practice contracts were commissioned in each integrated care board in the (a) 2022-23 and (b) 2023-24 financial year.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
It has not proved possible to reply to the hon Member in the time available before Dissolution.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many cases of Cryptosporidiosis have been recorded (a) by each NHS trust, (b) by each integrated care board and (c) in total in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
While this information is not held in the requested format, the following table shows the laboratory reported figures for cryptosporidiosis, and the reports of cryptosporidiosis per 100,000 people, in England and Wales, each year from 2008 to 2017:
Year | Number of laboratory reports | per 100,000 population |
2008 | 4,162 | 7.6 |
2009 | 4,831 | 8.7 |
2010 | 3,901 | 7.0 |
2011 | 2,990 | 5.3 |
2012 | 5,765 | 10.2 |
2013 | 3,520 | 6.2 |
2014 | 4,023 | 7.0 |
2015 | 5,222 | 9.0 |
2016 | 5,925 | 10.1 |
2017 | 4,292 | 7.3 |
Source: data is taken from Public Health England’s report, Cryptosporidium data 2008 to 2017, available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cryptosporidium-national-laboratory-data/cryptosporidium-data-2008-to-2017
Note: figures for England 2018 to 2023 are due to be published in Summer 2024.
In addition, the following table shows the regional distribution of the laboratory reports of cryptosporidium in England and Wales, in 2017:
Country | Region | Number of laboratory reports | per 100,000 population |
England | East Midlands | 378 | 7.9 |
England | East of England | 539 | 8.7 |
England | London | 250 | 2.8 |
England | North East | 275 | 10.4 |
England | North West | 554 | 7.6 |
England | South East | 582 | 6.4 |
England | South West | 590 | 10.6 |
England | Yorkshire and The Humber | 450 | 8.3 |
England | West Midlands | 414 | 7.1 |
Wales | Wales | 260 | 8.3 |
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many courses of treatment were delivered by NHS general dental practitioners in each month between January 2019 to May 2024.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The Dentistry Recovery Plan will make dental services faster, simpler, and fairer for patients, and will fund approximately 2.5 million additional appointments, or more than 1.5 million additional courses of dental treatment. We will further support dentists by raising the minimum Units of Dental Activity (UDA) rate to £28 this year, making National Health Service work more attractive and sustainable. NHS dental activity, as measured by Courses of Treatments delivered, has increased by 23% between 2021/22 and 2022/23. The number of UDAs commissioned and delivered is published each month on the NHS Business Services Authority Open Data Portal, which currently holds data from April 2016 to January 2024. Further information is available at the following link:
https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/english-contractor-monthly-general-dental-activity
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which NHS dental practices were listed as accepting new NHS adult patients on 1 (a) March and (b) May 2024.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Our Dentistry Recovery Plan, backed by £200 million, will make dental services faster, simpler, and fairer for National Health Service dental patients. It will fund approximately 2.5 million additional appointments, or more than 1.5 million additional courses of dental treatment. A New Patient Premium is supporting dentists to take on new patients, and as of 8 April, nearly 500 more practices have said they are open to new patients, compared to the end of January 2024. The Find a Dentist website allows people to see which practices have said they are accepting new patients, and is available at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-dentist