Asked by: Sarah Wollaston (Liberal Democrat - Totnes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the level of vacancy is in histopathology departments.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
NHS Improvement publishes vacancy data for three staff groups; doctors, nurses and ‘other staff’. These vacancy statistics are published for England and at the regional level of North, Midlands and East, London and South.
They do not specifically produce vacancy data for histopathology departments or any vacancy data for each National Health Service hospital or trust.
NHS Digital published the latest NHS Improvement vacancy data which can be found in the following link:
Asked by: Sarah Wollaston (Liberal Democrat - Totnes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients have received whole genome sequencing through the NHS; and how many of those patients had a type of blood cancer.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
As part of the NHS Long Term Plan, the National Health Service has committed to sequencing 500,000 whole genomes by 2023/24.
During 2019, the NHS will begin to offer whole genome sequencing (WGS) as part of clinical care for:
- Seriously ill children likely to have a rare genetic disorder;
- People with one of 21 rare conditions where current evidence supports early adoption of WGS as a diagnostic test; and
- People with specific types of cancer for which there is likely to be the greatest patient benefit from using WGS – children with cancer, sarcoma and Acute Myeloid Leukaemia.
As the price of whole genome sequencing falls and the evidence improves, we envisage that it will be extended to more conditions and therefore more patients.
Asked by: Sarah Wollaston (Liberal Democrat - Totnes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients he estimates will benefit from whole genome sequencing in (a) 2019 and (b) each of the next five years.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
As part of the NHS Long Term Plan, the National Health Service has committed to sequencing 500,000 whole genomes by 2023/24.
During 2019, the NHS will begin to offer whole genome sequencing (WGS) as part of clinical care for:
- Seriously ill children likely to have a rare genetic disorder;
- People with one of 21 rare conditions where current evidence supports early adoption of WGS as a diagnostic test; and
- People with specific types of cancer for which there is likely to be the greatest patient benefit from using WGS – children with cancer, sarcoma and Acute Myeloid Leukaemia.
As the price of whole genome sequencing falls and the evidence improves, we envisage that it will be extended to more conditions and therefore more patients.
Asked by: Sarah Wollaston (Liberal Democrat - Totnes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the NHS Genomic Medicine Service will begin performing whole genome sequencing.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
As part of the NHS Long Term Plan, the National Health Service has committed to sequencing 500,000 whole genomes by 2023/24.
During 2019, the NHS will begin to offer whole genome sequencing (WGS) as part of clinical care for:
- Seriously ill children likely to have a rare genetic disorder;
- People with one of 21 rare conditions where current evidence supports early adoption of WGS as a diagnostic test; and
- People with specific types of cancer for which there is likely to be the greatest patient benefit from using WGS – children with cancer, sarcoma and Acute Myeloid Leukaemia.
As the price of whole genome sequencing falls and the evidence improves, we envisage that it will be extended to more conditions and therefore more patients.
Asked by: Sarah Wollaston (Liberal Democrat - Totnes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his Department's policy is on social prescribing.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
‘Prevention is better than cure’, published by the Department in November 2018, highlighted the important role social prescribing can play in reducing people’s isolation and improving levels of activity.
As set out in the NHS Long Term Plan, NHS England has committed to deliver at least £4.5 billion of new investment in primary medical and community health services over the next five years. Part of this investment will support the recruitment of over 1,000 trained social prescribing link workers - in place by the end of 2020/21 rising further by 2023/24, with the aim that over 900,000 people are able to be referred to social prescribing schemes by then.
The Prevention document and the Long Term Plan can be found at the following links:
www.longtermplan.nhs.uk/publication/nhs-long-term-plan/
Asked by: Sarah Wollaston (Liberal Democrat - Totnes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Prevention is better than cure vision published by his Department in November 2018, whether the forthcoming prevention Green Paper will include oral health.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
We are considering a number of policy options for the prevention green paper and will be mindful of oral health opportunities.