Asked by: Steff Aquarone (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of when he will meet his target of providing an extra 62,000 neurology appointments in England in each year.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Patients have been let down for too long whilst they wait for the care they need. Currently, the waiting list stands at 7.48 million patient pathways, with over 6 million people waiting, including 235,000 on neurology waiting lists.
We will ensure that 92% of patients return to waiting no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment by March 2029, increasing performance to 65% by March 2026, as set out in the Elective Reform Plan. We will deliver an additional 2 million operations, scans, and appointments across all specialties, including neurology appointments, during our first year in Government, as a First Step in our commitment to ensuring that patients can expect to be treated within 18 weeks.
Alongside the breadth of reforms and productivity efforts in the plan, we will increase activity, deliver improvements in patient experience, and reduce waiting times for neurology patients across the country.
Asked by: Steff Aquarone (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish a cross-Government strategy on the health and wellbeing of coastal communities.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are taking action across Government to address the environmental and socio-economic determinants of health, and are aiming to halve the gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest regions. We know that targeted action to tackle health inequalities will facilitate economic opportunities, and support a National Health Service fit for the future.
Addressing healthcare inequity is a core focus of the 10-Year Health Plan, to ensure the NHS is there for anyone who needs it, whenever they need it. We have established 11 working groups to take forward policy development that will feed into the plan. This includes working groups focused on how care should be designed and delivered to improve healthcare equity, alongside ensuring that access to healthcare services is effective and responsive.
Asked by: Steff Aquarone (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many prescriptions for pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy were dispensed by Norfolk and Waveney (a) integrated care board and (b) clinical commissioning group in each year between 2019 and 2024.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Prescription Cost Analysis (PCA) provided by the NHS Business Services Authority gives the total number of prescription items of each medicine dispensed in the community in England. The following data relates to prescriptions for products that fall within the definition as set out in Paragraph 010904, related to pancreatin, in the British National Formulary.
The following table shows the total number of National Health Service prescription items that were dispensed in the Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board, regardless of where prescribed, from January 2019 to November 2024
Year | Number of prescription items |
2019 | 14,291 |
2020 | 13,587 |
2021 | 13,933 |
2022 | 13,933 |
2023 | 14,460 |
2024 | 14,698 |
Note: data for 2024 is from January to November.
The Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) relates to the prescribing organisation, so the following statistics are consistent with the English Prescribing datasets rather than the dispensing organisation shown in PCA.
The following table shows the total number of NHS prescription items that were prescribed by cost centres linked to the Sub Integrated Care Board Location (SICBL), or prior to 2020 the CCG area of Norfolk and Waveney, from January 2019 to November 2024:
Year | Number of prescription items |
2019 | 14,290 |
2020 | 13,727 |
2021 | 14,238 |
2022 | 14,387 |
2023 | 14,904 |
2024 | 14,935 |
Note: data for 2024 is from January to November.
Historical data has been re-presented using the latest NHS organisation structure. These two tables are not directly comparable as the data available for integrated care boards relates to dispensing, whereas the data available at the SICBL or CCG level relates to items prescribed.
Asked by: Steff Aquarone (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
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 improve (a) data for and (b) research into coastal communities.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Heath and Care Research (NIHR) has funded a range of research specifically focusing on coastal populations, including investing in local authority and higher education partnerships, as well as studies that focussed on health care in these areas. Further information about this research is available at the following link:
https://nihr.opendatasoft.com/pages/homepage/
The NIHR has a Research Inclusion Strategy which, amongst other objectives, aims to widen research access and participation for greater diversity and inclusion, including for populations in coastal communities. Further information on the strategy is available at the following link:
https://www.nihr.ac.uk/about-us/who-we-are/research-inclusion/strategy-2022-27
The NIHR’s research funding guidance requires researchers to show how they will make sure their research is inclusive and addresses inequalities in health and care, with further information available at the following link:
https://www.nihr.ac.uk/about-us/who-we-are/research-inclusion/funding-application-guidance
Asked by: Steff Aquarone (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 8 January 2025 to Question 21526 on Methylphenidate: Norfolk, how many prescriptions for methylphenidate were dispensed by Norfolk and Waveney (a) integrated care board and (b) clinical commissioning group in each year between 2019 and 2024.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Prescription Cost Analysis (PCA) from the NHS Business Services Authority provides the total number of prescription items of each medicine dispensed in the community in England. The following table shows the total number of National Health Service prescription items for the chemical substance methylphenidate that were dispensed in the Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board (ICB) area from January 2019 to October 2024, latest data available, regardless of where prescribed:
Total prescription items dispensed in Norfolk and Waveney ICB | |
2019 | 33,733 |
2020 | 30,723 |
2021 | 31,320 |
2022 | 31,267 |
2023 | 32,138 |
2024 | 28,249 |
Note: data for 2024 is from January to October.
In addition, the following table shows the total number of NHS prescription items for the chemical substance methylphenidate that were prescribed by cost centres linked to the Sub ICB Location (SICBL), or prior to 2020, the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) area of Norfolk and Waveney, from January 2019 to October 2024:
Total prescription items prescribed in Norfolk and Waveney SICBL | |
2019 | 31,751 |
2020 | 29,665 |
2021 | 30,334 |
2022 | 30,431 |
2023 | 31,233 |
2024 | 27,086 |
Notes:
The CCG relates to the prescribing organisation, so the statistics are consistent with the English prescribing datasets rather than the dispensing organisation shown in PCA.
Asked by: Steff Aquarone (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 29 November 2024 to Question 16285 on Methylphenidate: Shortages, what estimate he has made of the number of prescriptions for methylphenidate (a) successfully and (b) unsuccessfully fulfilled in Norfolk in 2024.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Prescription Cost Analysis, produced by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA), provides the total number of prescription items of each medicine dispensed in the community in England.
There were 28,249 National Health Service prescription items for the chemical substance methylphenidate dispensed by contractors in the Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board, regardless of where prescribed, from January 2024 to October 2024. The NHSBSA does not hold data on unsuccessfully fulfilled prescriptions.
Asked by: Steff Aquarone (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 24 October 2024 to Question 9576 on Methylphenidate: Shortages, what recent progress her Department has made on improving the supply of methylphenidate in (a) Norfolk and (b) the UK.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are continuing to work to resolve supply issues, where they remain, for methylphenidate prolonged-release tablets. We are engaging with all suppliers 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 the continued growth in demand for the short and long-term. We currently expect supply to improve in the United Kingdom throughout the rest of 2024. However, we anticipate supply to be limited for some strengths, and we continue to work with all suppliers to ensure the remaining issues are resolved as soon as possible.
The Department has also worked with specialists to develop advice for National Health Service clinicians on prescribing available alternative brands of methylphenidate prolonged-release tablets, whilst supplies are limited. If this is not possible, advice has also been provided for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) specialists to offer other clinically appropriate and available options, both pharmacological and non-pharmacological, in line with the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence guidance, in order to avoid potentially disruptive breaks in treatment. To improve supply chain resiliency, we are also working with prospective new suppliers of methylphenidate prolonged-release tablets to expand the UK supplier base.
We are supporting an ADHD taskforce that NHS England is establishing to examine ADHD service provision. The taskforce will bring together expertise from across a broad range of sectors, including the NHS, education, and justice, to help provide a joined-up approach in response to concerns around rising demand. In collaboration with NHS England’s national ADHD data improvement plan, we plan to combine modelling for future growth forecasts, which will be shared with industry to improve demand forecasting for ADHD medicines. The Department continually updates a list of currently available and unavailable ADHD products on the Specialist Pharmacy Service website. This helps ensure those involved in the prescribing and dispensing of ADHD medications can make informed decisions with patients. This list is available at the following link:
www.sps.nhs.uk/articles/prescribing-available-medicines-to-treat-adhd
Asked by: Steff Aquarone (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether (a) pancreatic cancer and (b) other cancers with lower survival rates will have a focused section in the new cancer strategy.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government’s Health Mission sets the aim of building a National Health Service fit for the future and reducing the lives lost to the biggest killers, including cancer.
As part of that work, and in response to Lord Darzi’s report, we have launched an extensive programme of engagement to develop a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the NHS, including further detail pancreatic cancer and other cancers with lower survival rates. The plan will set out a bold agenda to deliver on the three big shifts from hospitals to the community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention.
In addition, following publication of the 10-Year Health Plan, we will develop a new national cancer plan, which will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients including those with pancreatic cancer and other cancers with lower survival rates.
We are now in discussions about what form that plan should take, and what its relationship to the 10-Year Health Plan and the Government’s wider Health Mission should be, and will provide updates on this in due course.
Asked by: Steff Aquarone (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will support the implementation of the Optimal Care Pathway for pancreatic cancer.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to transforming the National Health Service so that we diagnose cancer earlier, treat it faster, and improve survival rates.
On 12 September 2024 the National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre published their State of the Nation Report on Pancreatic Cancer, and the NHS cancer programme is currently considering how to take forward the initial recommendations of that audit. NHS England is also funding a new audit into pancreatic cancer to increase the consistency of access to treatments, and to stimulate improvements in cancer treatment and outcomes for patients.
For people with higher risk due to family history, NHS England is providing options for enhanced pancreatic cancer surveillance. They are also creating pathways to support faster referral routes for people with non-specific symptoms and increasing direct access for general practitioners to diagnostic tests.
Asked by: Steff Aquarone (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to review recent closures of GP surgeries.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The closure of a general practice (GP) surgery is an issue that is considered and decided upon by local commissioners, following an application from a GP provider. Practices close for a variety of reasons, including mergers or retirement, and so do not necessarily indicate a reduction in the quality of care. When a practice does close, patients are informed of the closure and advised to register at another local practice of their choice, within their area.
Commissioners are accountable for ensuring that patients have access to a GP. In the event of a closure, commissioners will assess the need for a replacement provider before transferring patients to alternative practices when a GP surgery closes.