Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
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 number of breast cancer diagnoses at mammogram or other early stages.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Lord Darzi’s report has set out the scale of the challenges we face in fixing the National Health Service and the need to improve cancer waiting time performance and cancer survival, including for breast cancer. In particular, he has highlighted the need to improve the number of patients starting their treatment within 62 days of referral and to increase the number of patients diagnosed at an earlier stage.
The Government is committed to meeting all three NHS cancer waiting time standards across England within the next five years. Meeting these will ensure no patient waits longer than they should for diagnosis or treatment.
The NHS Breast Screening Programme offers all women in England from 50 years old up to their 71st birthday the opportunity to be screened every three years for breast cancer, to help detect abnormalities and intervene early to reduce the number of lives lost to invasive breast cancer.
NHS England has also developed a national plan in collaboration with key stakeholders such as cancer alliances to improve uptake within the breast screening programme. The plan sets out the priorities, interventions and monitoring of impact and outcomes to be achieved to improve uptake through: Expanding access, data and analytics, reducing inequalities, contracting, communication and IT developments.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
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 potential merits of increasing the (a) acceptable and (b) achievable levels of S07b incident screenings for mammograms.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of the NHS Breast Screening Programme, S07b is the ‘screening standard’ whereby ‘incident screens’, that is any subsequent breast screen after first screen, are referred for further assessment.
NHS England has advised that there is expected to be an initial light touch review of the breast screening standards by the end of March 2025, with a full review of all standards in screening year 2025/6. During the full review in 2025/26, the programme performance in ‘percentage referrals to assessment’ will be reviewed to determine whether the acceptable and achievable limits should be changed.
However, increasing the thresholds for this standard, will mean that the number of women referred for follow up tests, namely biopsy, mammograms, and ultrasound, will increase, many of whom will have no cancer. Screening programmes must continue to maximise benefit while minimising harm.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to respond to the correspondence of 7 August 2024 from the hon. Member for Tooting on children's cancer services in the South East.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We replied to the hon. Member’s letter on 16 September 2024. We apologise for the delay in replying, as this was due to Conference.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
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 supply of methylphenidate hydrochloride in pharmacies.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has been working hard with industry and NHS England to help resolve supply issues with some attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medicines, which are affecting the United Kingdom and other countries around the world. As a result of intensive work, some issues have been resolved. All strengths of lisdexamfetamine, atomoxetine capsules, and guanfacine prolonged-release tablets are now available.
We are continuing to work to resolve medicine supply issues, where they remain, for some strengths of methylphenidate. We are engaging with all suppliers of methylphenidate prolonged-release tablets to assess the challenges faced, and their actions to address them. We are also directing suppliers to secure additional stocks, expedite deliveries where possible, and review plans to further build capacity to support continued growth in demand for the short and long-term. It is anticipated the methylphenidate supply issues will be resolved by October 2024.
In parallel, the Department has worked with specialist clinicians, including those within the National Health Service, to develop management advice for the NHS clinicians to consider prescribing available alternative brands of methylphenidate prolonged release tablets. We would expect ADHD service providers and specialists to follow our guidance to offer rapid response to primary care teams seeking urgent advice or opinion for the management of patients, including those known to be at a higher risk of adverse impact because of these shortages.
To aid ADHD service providers and prescribers further, we have widely disseminated our communications and continually update a list of currently available and unavailable ADHD products on the Specialist Pharmacy Service website, helping ensure that those involved in the prescribing and dispensing of ADHD medications can make informed decisions with patients. Further information is available at the following link:
https://www.sps.nhs.uk/articles/prescribing-available-medicines-to-treat-adhd/
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
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 UK Health Security Agency's response to the recent fire at the recycling centre on Weir Road.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK Heath Security Agency (UKHSA) provided expertise in local health protection and environmental hazards to support the response to this incident.
UKHSA engaged with other stakeholders, including the London Fire Brigade and the Environment Agency, as well as the Directors of Public Health for both the London Borough of Wandsworth and the London Borough of Merton. UKHSA assessed the impacts on air quality to inform health advice for residents, and remained involved with the incident until the fire was extinguished.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of adding asthma to the list of long-term medical conditions that are exempt from prescription charges.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no current plans to review the list of medical conditions that entitle someone to apply for a medical exemption certificate. Approximately 89% of prescription items are dispensed free of charge in the community in England, and there are a wide range of exemptions from prescription charges already in place for which those with asthma may be eligible. Eligibility depends on the patient’s age, whether they are in qualifying full-time education, whether they are pregnant or have recently given birth, or whether they are in receipt of certain benefits or a war pension.
People on low incomes can apply for help with their health costs through the NHS Low Income Scheme. Prescription prepayment certificates (PPCs) are also available. PPCs allow people to claim as many prescriptions as they need for a set cost, with three month and 12-month certificates available, and PPCs can be paid for in instalments.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have died while in the care of community mental health teams in the last 12 months; and if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of this data.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The following table shows the number of people who died between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024, who had an active referral to community mental health teams at the time of death, as well as the numbers of those who had a care contact or an attended care contact at the time of death:
Number of deaths recorded in 2023/24 whilst having a referral to community mental health teams | 10,127 |
Number of deaths recorded in 2023/24 whilst having a referral to community mental health teams with a care contact recorded as part of the referral | 9,944 |
Number of deaths recorded in 2023/24 whilst having a referral to community mental health teams with an attended care contact recorded as part of the referral | 9,586 |
Source: data comes from the Office for National Statistics’ deaths data and the Mental Health Services Dataset.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of patients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder have died within four weeks of being discharged from a mental health hospital in each year since 2010.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
This information is not held in the format requested, as the recording of diagnoses within the Mental Health Services Data Set is not mandatory.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of patients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder have died while an inpatient at a mental health hospital in each year since 2010.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
This information is not held in the format requested, as the recording of diagnoses within the Mental Health Services Data Set is not mandatory.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when she plans to respond to the correspondence of 18 March 2024 from the hon. Members for Tooting, Putney, Wimbledon, Mitcham and Morden, Richmond Park and Twickenham on children's cancer services in the South East.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
We have received the hon. Members’ correspondence of 18 March, and will respond in due course.