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Written Question
Long Covid
Tuesday 19th March 2024

Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information her Department holds on the number of people that have reported symptoms of long covid since March 2023.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The Government does not currently routinely record the total number of people with long COVID, or new cases identified. However, the most recent data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) shows that for the four week period ending 5 March 2023: 1.9 million people, or 2.9% of the population, in private households in the United Kingdom reported experiencing long COVID symptoms; 83,000 people first had, or suspected they had, COVID-19 less than 12 weeks previously; 1.73 million people had symptoms for 12 or more weeks, 1.3 million people for at least a year and 762,000 for at least two years; and 1.5 million people reported day-to-day activities adversely affected. Of these, 381,000 people reported that their ability to undertake day-to-day activities had been limited a lot.

On 25 April 2024, the ONS will be publishing additional analysis from the fortnightly Winter Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Study, including data on trends in ongoing symptoms of COVID-19. This article will expand on the existing analysis published in the Winter Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Study’s data tables, to look more in depth at trends in self-reported symptoms of COVID-19, including ongoing symptoms and associated risk factors.


Written Question
Abortion: Demonstrations
Wednesday 24th January 2024

Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Home Affairs on the potential impact of the draft non-statutory guidance on abortion clinic safe access zones on (a) patients and (b) medical professionals.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

Officials in the Department of Health and Social Care are in regular contact with officials at the Home Office about the draft non-statutory guidance on abortion clinic safe access zones. To ensure the balance of the guidance is right, the Home Office launched a public consultation on 11 December 2023, to which all those with an interest, including patients and medical professionals, are encouraged to respond.

No recent discussions have been held at ministerial level with the Secretary of State for the Home Office on the potential impact of the draft guidance on patients and medical professionals.


Written Question
Health Services: Migrants
Tuesday 19th December 2023

Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average time taken for eligible applicants to receive an immigration healthcare surcharge refund was in each of the past six months.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The reimbursement scheme covers those working in the health and care sector and those eligible under certain of the United Kingdom’s reciprocal healthcare arrangements. The following table shows the average mean time taken for eligible applicants to receive an Immigration Health Surcharge refund for the last six months, noting that December 2023 data is incomplete accounting for claims up to 13 December 2023:

Month

Average mean time (days)

June 2023

32

July 2023

34

August 2023

39

September 2023

50

October 2023

30

November 2023

19

December 2023

13


Written Question
NHS: Databases
Thursday 26th October 2023

Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)

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 ensure that the procurement process for NHS England’s federated data platform (a) is transparent, (b) ensures equality of treatment for all potential suppliers and (c) does not advantage incumbents.

Answered by Will Quince

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.


Written Question
Palliative Care
Monday 23rd October 2023

Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to increase funding for palliative care services.

Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for determining the level of National Health Service-funded palliative and end of life care, including hospice care, locally, and they are responsible for ensuring that the services they commission meet the needs of their local population.

While the NHS has always been required to commission appropriate palliative and end of life care services to meet the reasonable needs of the population, as part of the Health and Care Act 2022, the Government added palliative care services to the list of services an ICB must commission, to clarify this responsibility.


Written Question
Ovarian Cancer: Medical Treatments and Screening
Friday 20th October 2023

Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing funding for (a) screening and (b) treating ovarian cancer.

Answered by Will Quince

There is currently no screening programme for ovarian cancer. The UK National Screening Committee reviewed the evidence for ovarian cancer screening in 2017 and found that screening did not reduce the number of women who died from ovarian cancer, and therefore the Department has no plans to make an assessment on the merits to increase funding for this.

The Department invests in health research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). NIHR has funded six research projects into screening for ovarian cancer since 2018, with a combined total funding value of £3.8 million, including looking at the impact and effectiveness of different kinds of testing and screening and effectiveness of treatment options. The overall goal is to improve diagnosis and treatment to improve patient outcomes.

To improve waiting times for cancer diagnosis and treatment, including for ovarian cancer, the Government has committed to funding of £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25. This is supported by £5.9 billion capital funding for new beds, technology and equipment, from which 123 community diagnostic centres and 94 surgical hubs have already been rolled out to support elective activity, including for cancer.

NHS England also funded a series of community engagement events coordinated by a cluster of gynaecological cancer charities, led by Target Ovarian Cancer. These events were held to raise awareness of the importance of seeking help and encouraged people to see their general practitioner if they had symptoms such as stomach discomfort, bloating or pain, as the earlier the cancer is detected, the easier it is to treat.


Written Question
Cannabis: Medical Treatments
Thursday 19th October 2023

Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)

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 increase access to cannabis-based medicinal products on the NHS.

Answered by Will Quince

Licensed cannabis-based medicines are routinely available on the National Health Service. However, clinical guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence demonstrate a clear need for more evidence to support routine prescribing and funding decisions for unlicensed cannabis-based medicines.

Funding of unlicensed products is subject to local NHS decisions on a case-by-case basis. These decisions follow clearly developed procedures that ensure equitable distribution of funding, prioritising those medicines that have proved their safety, quality and clinical and cost effectiveness.

We continue to call on manufacturers to conduct research to prove if their products are safe and effective and we are working with regulatory, research and NHS partners to establish clinical trials to test the safety and efficacy of these products.


Written Question
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Autism: Health Services
Thursday 19th October 2023

Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)

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 reduce the waiting time for (a) autism and (b) ADHD assessments.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

We expect integrated care boards (ICBs) to have due regard to relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines on autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) when commissioning services, including assessment services.

On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance for autism assessment services. This guidance will help the National Health Service improve autism assessment services and improve the experience for people referred to an autism assessment service. Additionally, in 2023/24, £4.2 million is available to improve services for autistic children and young people, including autism assessment services.

NHS England publishes data on how many people are waiting for an autism assessment and for how long, which provides useful information nationally and locally to support local areas to improve their performance and to reduce diagnosis waiting times.

NICE guidelines for ADHD diagnosis and management aim to improve the diagnosis of ADHD and the quality of care and support people receive. They do not recommend a maximum waiting time standard from referral for an assessment of ADHD. Data on the number of people on a waiting list for an assessment for ADHD and waiting for a diagnosis is not held centrally but may be held locally by individual NHS trusts. The Department is looking into options for improving data collection and reporting on waiting times for ADHD assessments and diagnoses, to help improve access to ADHD assessments in a timely way and in line with the NICE guidelines. In addition, we are supporting ICBs to expand mental health services through the NHS Long Term Plan, which commits to increasing investment into mental health services by at least £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24 so that an additional two million people can get the support they need.


Written Question
Heart Diseases: Health Services
Monday 16th October 2023

Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)

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 help tackle the backlog of cardiovascular care in the NHS.

Answered by Will Quince

The NHS Long Term Plan has committed to a number of key ambitions to improve care and outcomes for individuals with cardiovascular disease including enhanced diagnostic support in the community, better personalised planning and increasing access to cardiac rehabilitation. These ambitions will support the delivery of the aim to help prevent 150,000 heart attacks, strokes, and dementia cases by 2029.

To support elective recovery, the Government plans to spend more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25 to help drive up and protect elective activity, including cardiovascular disease. Steps taken include rolling out up to 160 Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) which will provide echocardiography services by March 2025. In addition, the National Health Service will increase capacity, seeking alternative capacity in other trusts or the independent sector and increasing activity through dedicated and protected surgical hubs.


Written Question
Kidney Diseases: Diagnosis
Monday 16th October 2023

Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)

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 reduce waiting times for kidney disease diagnosis.

Answered by Will Quince

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance, Chronic kidney disease: Assessment and management [NG203], updated in November 2021, sets out best practice for clinicians in the diagnosis and management of chronic kidney disease. The guidance covers monitoring for those patients at risk, pharmacological management and referral where appropriate. The guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng203

In addition to evidence-based guidance to support clinicians to diagnose problems of the kidney, we are also working to detect people at risk of kidney disease through the NHS Health Check Programme. The Programme, which is available to people aged between 40 and 74 years old who are not already on a chronic disease register, assesses people’s health and risk of developing certain health problems. Using this information, patients are supported to make behavioural changes and access treatment which helps to prevent and detect kidney disease earlier.

We are investing in new delivery models for the NHS Health Check, including nearly £17 million for the development and roll-out of an innovative new national digital NHS Health Check that will give people choice about where and when to have a check.

The NHS England Renal Services Transformation Programme has recently launched a toolkit which identifies principles and actions that the health care system can take to improve the identification of kidney disease. The principles will encourage integrated care systems to focus on early identification and management of kidney disease but outlines actions developed in collaboration with clinical and operational colleagues that could help them achieve better patient outcomes and experience.

NHS England is also reviewing renal service specifications. Historically, these specifications have focused on advanced disease. However, future versions will support early diagnosis and intervention.