Asked by: Sojan Joseph (Labour - Ashford)
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 all integrated care boards meet the mental health investment standard.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Operational and Planning Guidance for 2024/25 makes clear that integrated care boards are expected to continue to meet the Mental Health Investment Standard by increasing their investment in mental health services in line with their overall increase in funding for the year.
Asked by: Sojan Joseph (Labour - Ashford)
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 support the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of mental health specialists in the Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
To fix the chronic workforce shortages in the mental health workforce we plan to recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers, across both child and adult mental health services, to reduce waiting times and provide faster treatment across all areas of England, including Kent and Medway.
We are working to consider options to deliver this expansion of the mental health workforce, including where they should be deployed to achieve maximum effect. NHS England is also working to improve retention through clearer career progression pathways.
Asked by: Sojan Joseph (Labour - Ashford)
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 social care capacity in Ashford constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Local authorities are best placed to understand and plan for the needs of their population, which is why, under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are tasked with the duty to shape their care market to meet the diverse needs of all local people. In performing that duty, a local authority must have regard to current and likely future demand for such services and consider how providers might meet that demand.
The Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund includes grant conditions which require each local authority to submit an adult social care capacity plan. These were submitted to the Department in June 2024. The member’s local authority, Kent, submitted their 2024/25 capacity plan, which is currently undergoing processing and quality assurance.
Asked by: Sojan Joseph (Labour - Ashford)
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 enable GP surgeries to provide additional services in Ashford constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Practices are able to provide additional services by opting in and will receive payment for these services separately to global sum payments. As commissioners of primary care, Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning additional services locally, which are not agreed nationally and can vary in scope and funding to fit local needs.
Asked by: Sojan Joseph (Labour - Ashford)
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 access to dental services in Ashford constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access National Health Service dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term and increase access to NHS dental care, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.
The responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. ICBs are responsible for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local populations and to determine the priorities for investment. For the Ashford constituency, this is the NHS Kent and Medway ICB.
Asked by: Sojan Joseph (Labour - Ashford)
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 GP waiting times in Ashford constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We know that patients are finding it harder than ever to see a general practitioner (GP) and we are committed to fixing the the crisis in GPs to secure the long-term sustainability of the National Health Service.
Ashford sits within the Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board (ICB), where the percentage of appointments delivered within two weeks of booking, 79.4%, is 3.2% lower than the national average, which is 82.6%.
Our plan to restore GPs and improve the waiting times to see a GP will require both investment and reform. We have already invested £82 million to recruit over 1,000 newly qualified GPs through the Additional Roles Reimbursement scheme, which will continue to increase the capacity in GPs, as well as take pressure off those currently working in the system. We have committed to train thousands more GPs and finally end the 8:00am scramble for GP appointments by introducing a modern booking system.
Asked by: Sojan Joseph (Labour - Ashford)
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 the potential merits of ensuring that people aged between 65 and 70 who turned 65 before 1 September 2023 can access the shingles vaccine as soon as possible.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 26 July 2024 to Question 1397.
Asked by: Sojan Joseph (Labour - Ashford)
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 improve the availability of (a) methylphenidate and (b) other ADHD medication.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has been working hard with industry 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 our intensive work, some issues have been resolved. Many strengths of lisdexamfetamine and all strengths of atomoxetine capsules and guanfacine prolonged-release tablets are now available. We are working to resolve medicine supply issues, where they remain, for some strengths of lisdexamfetamine and methylphenidate. These are anticipated to resolve by August and October 2024, respectively.
We have engaged with all suppliers of methylphenidate prolonged-release tablets to discuss the challenges faced and their actions to address them. We are asking 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.
The Department has worked with specialist clinicians to develop management advice for National Health Service 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, which is available at the following link:
https://www.sps.nhs.uk/articles/prescribing-available-medicines-to-treat-adhd/
Asked by: Sojan Joseph (Labour - Ashford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to abolish parking charges for NHS staff.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no plans to abolish parking charges for National Health Service staff.
All trusts that charge for hospital car parking provide free parking to ‘in-need groups’, which include NHS staff working overnight, frequent outpatient attenders, disabled people and parents of children staying overnight in hospital.