Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
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 minimise conflicts of interest within the medical profession.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The General Medical Council (GMC) is the regulator of all medical doctors, anaesthesia associates (AAs), and physician associates (PAs) practising in the United Kingdom. It sets and enforces the standards all doctors, AAs, and PAs must adhere to. The GMC is independent of the Government, is directly accountable to Parliament, and is responsible for operational matters concerning the discharge of its statutory duties.
The GMC’s core guidance, Good medical practice, sets out what is expected of all registrants, including ‘Acting with honesty and integrity’ and ‘Sharing information with patients’ which requires that medical practitioners be ‘open and honest with patients about any interests’ that may affect, or could be seen to affect, the way they propose, provide, or prescribe treatments, or refer patients. This guidance is made under powers in the Medical Act 1983. The GMC can take action against professionals who fail to meet these requirements, and serious or persistent breaches that pose a risk to patient safety and/or public trust may put a registrants’ registration at risk. The GMC’s core guidance, Good medical practice, is available at the following link:
https://www.gmc-uk.org/-/media/documents/good-medical-practice-2024---english-102607294.pdf
Although the Department is not currently taking steps to minimise conflicts of interest, all medical professionals are expected to be open and transparent about any relevant interests, to enable patients to make informed decisions about their treatment and care.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
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 transparency around the awarding of contracts to private healthcare companies.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Transparency and value for money are key priorities in elective care, including where care is delivered by independent sector providers. Contracts between commissioners and providers have to comply with the NHS Payment Scheme, a set of prices and rules used to deliver the most efficient, cost-effective care to patients. These unit prices are consistent across independent providers and National Health Service providers.
Contracts are awarded to independent sector providers in line with the NHS England Provider Selection Regime (PSR). The PSR was introduced by regulations made under the Health and Care Act 2022, and it helps us ensure that these decisions are made in the best interest of patients and service users. Further information on the NHS England PSR is available at the following link:
Where a contract is awarded, commissioners are mandated to adhere to the NHS Standard Contract. Where a PSR direct contract is awarded, the award notification must be published as part of the tender process, ensuring the process is transparent. Further information on the NHS Standard Contract is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/nhs-standard-contract/
Where patient choice applies to a service, commissioners cannot restrict the number of providers that contracts are awarded to. Any contract awarded in relation to a service that is within the scope of patient choice must be done so under the Direct Award Process B of the PSR Regulations, and commissioners must comply with the transparency notice publication requirements set out in those regulations.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to improve paediatric continence services for disabled children.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to raising the healthiest generation of children ever. This involves ensuring that children receive the appropriate care and support whenever they need it.
NHS England published Excellence in Continence Care on 23 July 2018, bringing together evidence-based resources and research for guidance for commissioners, providers, and health and social care staff. This guidance covers both urinary and bowel, also known as faecal, incontinence, and is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/excellence-in-continence-care/
In 2023, NHS England published the guidance, National clinical constipation pathway for primary care for children, for clinicians for the prevention and management of constipation in children and young people. This work involved developing the national constipation pathway alongside ERIC, The Children’s Bowel and Bladder Charity, with the final guidance available at the following link:
To make children’s services better, we are changing the National Health Service through our 10-Year Health Plan to make it fit for the future. The plan will be published in June.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
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 changes which need to be made to the NHS Dental contracting framework.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
To rebuild dentistry in the long term and increase access to National Health Service dental care, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.
There are no perfect payment systems and careful consideration needs to be given to any potential changes to the complex dental system, so that we deliver a system better for patients and the profession.
We are continuing to meet with the British Dental Association and other representatives of the dental sector to discuss how we can best deliver our shared ambition to improve access for NHS dental patients.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on introducing early diagnosis services for osteoporosis.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
Funding was recently announced to boost bone density scanning capacity, to support improvements in bone health and early diagnostics for musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions, such as osteoporosis. This will provide an estimated 29,000 extra scans per year.
As announced in the Get Britain Working white paper, we are delivering the joint Department for Work and Pensions, Department of Health and Social Care, and NHS England’s Getting It Right First-Time (GIRFT) MSK Community Delivery Programme. With a £3.5 million funding boost, GIRFT teams will deploy their proven Further Faster model to work with integrated care board leaders to further reduce MSK community waiting times, including for those with osteoporosis, and improve data, metrics, and referral pathways to wider support services.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the cost to the public purse per (a) week and (b) month of waiting for the release of (i) design and (ii) planning funding for the rebuilding of St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
While the review into the New Hospital Programme is taking place, requests for funding are being considered on a case-by-case basis.
We are finalising the implications of the review for all schemes in the programme so we can be honest and upfront with everyone on when we expect the new hospitals to be delivered. My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, will update Parliament and other stakeholders with the full outcome of the review in the coming months.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the (a) business case status and (b) RIBA stages are for the delivery of work on St Mary's Hospital as part of the New Hospitals Programme.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The standard process for confirming the total funding amount for major infrastructure projects involves the review and approval of a Full Business Case. All trusts in the programme have previously received indicative funding allocations to support planning, however these are commercially sensitive.
Up to the end of 2023/24 the total amount received by the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in funding for their new hospital schemes is £13 million. The trust has two schemes in the New Hospital Programme for the Charing Cross Hospital and Hammersmith Hospital, as well as the scheme for St Mary’s Hospital. Up to the end of 2023/24, the funding allocated to the trust was not separated by the individual schemes.
The breakdown of how much the trust received for their new hospital scheme is published annually as part of the Department’s Annual Reports and Accounts, with Public Dividend Capital to individual Trusts included in the Financial Assistance Report under section 40 of the National Health Service Act 2006. The 2022/23 report is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dhsc-annual-report-and-accounts-2022-to-2023
The trust is currently developing their Strategic Outline Case for the St Mary’s Hospital scheme and are at Royal Institute of British Architects Stage 1.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the total cost to the public purse of work on St Mary's Hospital via the New Hospital programme.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The standard process for confirming the total funding amount for major infrastructure projects involves the review and approval of a Full Business Case. All trusts in the programme have previously received indicative funding allocations to support planning, however these are commercially sensitive.
Up to the end of 2023/24 the total amount received by the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in funding for their new hospital schemes is £13 million. The trust has two schemes in the New Hospital Programme for the Charing Cross Hospital and Hammersmith Hospital, as well as the scheme for St Mary’s Hospital. Up to the end of 2023/24, the funding allocated to the trust was not separated by the individual schemes.
The breakdown of how much the trust received for their new hospital scheme is published annually as part of the Department’s Annual Reports and Accounts, with Public Dividend Capital to individual Trusts included in the Financial Assistance Report under section 40 of the National Health Service Act 2006. The 2022/23 report is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dhsc-annual-report-and-accounts-2022-to-2023
The trust is currently developing their Strategic Outline Case for the St Mary’s Hospital scheme and are at Royal Institute of British Architects Stage 1.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding had been (a) allocated and (b) confirmed by Government for the redevelopment of St Mary's Hospital as of 2 July 2024.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The standard process for confirming the total funding amount for major infrastructure projects involves the review and approval of a Full Business Case. All trusts in the programme have previously received indicative funding allocations to support planning, however these are commercially sensitive.
Up to the end of 2023/24 the total amount received by the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in funding for their new hospital schemes is £13 million. The trust has two schemes in the New Hospital Programme for the Charing Cross Hospital and Hammersmith Hospital, as well as the scheme for St Mary’s Hospital. Up to the end of 2023/24, the funding allocated to the trust was not separated by the individual schemes.
The breakdown of how much the trust received for their new hospital scheme is published annually as part of the Department’s Annual Reports and Accounts, with Public Dividend Capital to individual Trusts included in the Financial Assistance Report under section 40 of the National Health Service Act 2006. The 2022/23 report is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dhsc-annual-report-and-accounts-2022-to-2023
The trust is currently developing their Strategic Outline Case for the St Mary’s Hospital scheme and are at Royal Institute of British Architects Stage 1.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the cost to the public purse was of work on St Mary's Hospital via the New Hospital programme in financial year 2023-24.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The standard process for confirming the total funding amount for major infrastructure projects involves the review and approval of a Full Business Case. All trusts in the programme have previously received indicative funding allocations to support planning, however these are commercially sensitive.
Up to the end of 2023/24 the total amount received by the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in funding for their new hospital schemes is £13 million. The trust has two schemes in the New Hospital Programme for the Charing Cross Hospital and Hammersmith Hospital, as well as the scheme for St Mary’s Hospital. Up to the end of 2023/24, the funding allocated to the trust was not separated by the individual schemes.
The breakdown of how much the trust received for their new hospital scheme is published annually as part of the Department’s Annual Reports and Accounts, with Public Dividend Capital to individual Trusts included in the Financial Assistance Report under section 40 of the National Health Service Act 2006. The 2022/23 report is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dhsc-annual-report-and-accounts-2022-to-2023
The trust is currently developing their Strategic Outline Case for the St Mary’s Hospital scheme and are at Royal Institute of British Architects Stage 1.