Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Independent - Canterbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number of new prescriptions issued by NHS Children and Young People’s Gender Services for (a) oestrogen and (b) testosterone to young people aged 16-18 since 1 April 2024.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Since 1 April 2024 there have been no new initiations of exogenous hormones through the NHS Children and Young People's Gender Service.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Independent - Canterbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what services his Department and the NHS offer to people choosing to detransition.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government and NHS England are committed to implementing the recommendations of the Cass Review in full. This includes the recommendation for a pathway to be established for individuals who wish to detransition. The formative stages of this work will involve a process of evidence gathering in the spring of 2025, focused on individuals and clinicians with experience of detransition, and professional bodies. NHS England will engage stakeholders on a proposed service specification for the new pathway, including through public consultation.
In parallel, NHS England has begun the process of forming a clinical commissioning policy for hormone medications, that will describe the approach for the management of hormone medications for individuals who choose to detransition.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Independent - Canterbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will meet representatives of women and children's rights groups to discuss proposals announced by the Law Commission on 29 March 2023 in relation to surrogacy.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Law Commission consulted widely as part of the preparation for their report. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Patient Safety, Women’s Health and Mental Health will be writing to the Chairs of the Law Commissions of England, Wales, and Scotland shortly, to follow up their meeting on 5 November 2024. A Government response to the commissions’ report will be published as time allows. As such, the Department is not planning to meet women and children’s rights groups to discuss the matter at this time. We welcome future meetings on the topic at the appropriate time.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Independent - Canterbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on which (a) cognitive behavioural therapy, (b) family therapy, (c) exploratory therapy and (d) other non-medical treatments are offered to young people by NHS Children and Young People’s Gender Services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England commissions gender services for children and young people in line with its interim service specification for children and young people with gender incongruence.
Children and young people are cared for holistically by specialist multi-disciplinary teams based in specialist children's hospitals. The multi-disciplinary teams include expertise in child and adolescent mental health, including family therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy, and neurodevelopmental conditions.
Each child or young person will have a tailored individual care plan to meet their needs. Depending on individual need, the gender service for children and young people will provide psychosocial and clinical interventions, including support for the family.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Independent - Canterbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he expects the NHS review of adult gender dysphoria clinics to report its findings.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is currently undertaking a review of adult gender services, chaired by Dr David Levy. The review will examine the model of care and operating procedures of each service, and will carefully consider experiences, feedback, and outcomes from clinicians and patients, with the aim of producing an updated service specification. The review will report its findings at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Independent - Canterbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has issued recent guidance to integrated care boards on their role in assessing the mental and emotional health of young people entering care using a person qualified to assess mental health as part of the initial health assessment.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The statutory guidance, Promoting the health and wellbeing of looked after children, published in 2015, reflects the requirement that the relevant local authority must make arrangements for the initial health assessment to be carried out by a registered medical professional who is suitably qualified to assess a young person's physical, emotional, and mental health needs.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Independent - Canterbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what her planned timetable is for making a decision on redress for people affected by mesh implants following the publication of The Hughes Report on 7 February 2024.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The Government commissioned the Patient Safety Commissioner (PSC) to produce a report on redress for those affected by sodium valproate and pelvic mesh. We are grateful to the PSC and her team for completing this report, and our sympathies remain with those affected by sodium valproate and pelvic mesh. The Government is now carefully considering the PSC’s recommendations, and will respond substantively in due course.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Independent - Canterbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many adult social care residential care home places there were in (a) Kent and (b) Canterbury in each year since 2015.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) publish the CQC Care Directory annually, which lists the number of care home registrations in the adult social care sector. This includes the number of care home beds, with or without nursing. The following table shows the number of CQC registered care home beds for Kent, on 1 January of each year from 2015 onwards:
Year | Registered Care Home Beds |
2015 | 15,198 |
2016 | 15,131 |
2017 | 14,406 |
2018 | 14,590 |
2019 | 14,431 |
2020 | 14,610 |
2021 | 14,586 |
2022 | 14,598 |
2023 | 14,543 |
2024 | 14,638 |
The following table shows the number of care home beds for Canterbury, on 1 January of each year from 2015 onwards:
Year | Registered Care Home Beds |
2015 | 943 |
2016 | 980 |
2017 | 973 |
2018 | 981 |
2019 | 1,020 |
2020 | 1,025 |
2021 | 1,007 |
2022 | 984 |
2023 | 976 |
2024 | 1,087 |
Note: This data is also from the CQC Care Directory but cross-referenced with postcode data to identify care home beds in Canterbury with or without nursing.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Independent - Canterbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential relationship between the availability of NHS dentistry appointments and patient access to bone-strengthening medication to treat cancer.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
Whilst the Department has not made a formal assessment, some integrated care boards (ICBs) may be looking at this, using the flexible commissioning model opportunity to meet the needs of their populations. Cancer services remain a priority for ICBs.
The Government has implemented a package of reforms to improve access to National Health Service dental care, which has had an effect with more patients being seen and a 23% increase in NHS activity in the past year. We know we need to do more, and the Department’s Dentistry Recovery Plan will be published shortly, setting out a big package of change.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Independent - Canterbury)
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 help prevent the online sale of prescription drugs without a prescription.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is the regulator in the United Kingdom for human medicines and is responsible for enforcing the Human Medicines Regulations 2012. The MHRA has identified the illegal sale and supply of human medicines as a global challenge. This includes the sale of prescription drugs from unregulated sources. Criminal gangs, often based overseas, advertise medicines through illicit websites resembling those of legitimate pharmacies, while others exploit online marketplaces or sell social media platforms.
The MHRA has a dedicated Criminal Enforcement Unit (CEU) that works with partners across government and policing to prevent and disrupt this illegal trade and to bring to justice those involved. The CEU monitors online channels for evidence of illegal activity and takes proportionate regulatory action. This includes using the full range of the Agency’s powers to investigate and prosecute offenders where necessary and appropriate. The unit also works to remove illegally trading websites and remove criminal profits from offenders. Through its #Fakemeds communications campaign, the MHRA also provides quick and easy tools to help the public avoid buying illegally traded medicines when they shop online.