Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the criteria used to determine the conditions included in the Major Conditions Strategy.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Cancers, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease, dementia, mental ill health and musculoskeletal conditions are the six conditions that contribute the most to mortality and morbidity.
Focusing on the conditions that contribute most to mortality and morbidity will allow us to focus our efforts on the key actions needed to achieve our manifesto commitment of gaining five extra years of Healthy Life Expectancy by 2035. The insights we generate through the strategy will have applications beyond those conditions which are expressly included in the scope.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he made of the potential merits of including multiple sclerosis within the Major Conditions Strategy.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Cancers, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease, dementia, mental ill health and musculoskeletal conditions are the six conditions that contribute the most to mortality and morbidity.
Focusing on the conditions that contribute most to mortality and morbidity will allow us to focus our efforts on the key actions needed to achieve our manifesto commitment of gaining five extra years of Healthy Life Expectancy by 2035. The insights we generate through the strategy will have applications beyond those conditions which are expressly included in the scope.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
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 increase the number of dental professionals trained in the UK.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Health Education England (HEE) undertook a three-year review of education and training through its Advancing Dental Care Review. This is now being implemented through HEEs four-year Dental Education Reform Programme to improve recruitment and retention of dental care professionals in the United Kingdom.
The Government has committed to publishing a workforce plan next year, which will include independently verified forecasts for the number of healthcare professionals required in future years, taking account of improvements in retention and productivity. This will include dental care professionals.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to reduce waiting times for neurology appointments.
Answered by Will Quince
The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’ sets out how the National Health Service will recover and expand elective services over the next three years, including neurology services. We have allocated more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25, in addition to the £2 billion Elective Recovery Fund and £700 million Targeted Investment Fund already made available in 2021/2022 to increase elective activity. In addition, the autumn statement provided a further £3.3 billion in 2023/24 and in 2024/25 to support the NHS and ensure that waiting times of more than a year are eliminated by 2025.
NHS England has established a dedicated ‘Action on Outpatients’ programme to support providers and systems to accelerate new and existing initiatives to improve services and outpatient waiting times, including for neurology patients.
The Getting It Right First Time programme published a national report for neurology in September 2021. The report made recommendations on improving access to care for patients with neurological disorders, improving outpatient referrals and triaging system to reduce clinical waiting times and address variation across the NHS. NHS England is encouraging systems and providers to implement these recommendations and tailor best practice pathways according to population needs and local priorities. NHS England’s neuroscience transformation programme has worked with stakeholders to identify good practice and to improve access to services for people with a range of neurological conditions.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to help support people waiting for appointments for long-term medical conditions, including neurology, to help prevent them sustaining secondary injuries.
Answered by Will Quince
In February 2022, NHS England launched the My Planned Care platform to provide advice and support to patients to manage their health while awaiting appointments. This platform includes advice on movement, medication and mental health.
The National Health Service is increasing elective capacity and improving patient pathways to reduce avoidable delays in care. This includes establishing community diagnostic centres and expanding surgical hubs to improve diagnosis and waiting times for treatment for patients with long-term conditions, including those with neurological conditions. NHS England is developing further guidance to support local health systems to provide personalised and targeted support for patients and their carers to manage symptoms, prevent deterioration and recover effectively from treatment.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
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 improve patient access to (a) technology and (b) staff at dental practices.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
In September, we announced ‘Our plan for patients’, which outlines how we will meet oral health needs and increase access to dental care in England. On 25 November 2022, the Department introduced legislation to amend the National Health Service dental contract to more fairly remunerate dentists for complex treatments and improve access for patients. NHS dentists are also required to update practice profiles at NHS.UK more frequently to ensure patients have accurate information on accessing care. We are working with the sector and NHS England on further improvements to increase patient access and reduce health inequalities.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to improve dental health in the UK.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
In England, local authorities are responsible for assessing the oral health needs, developing oral health strategies and commissioning oral health improvement programmes for children and adults. The Department provides resources to local authorities to support the assessment and improvement of oral health in children and vulnerable older people.
We recently announced that we will consult on the expansion of water fluoridation in the North East to a further 1.6 million people to reduce the incidence of tooth decay. We are also implementing measures to reduce sugar consumption in England, such as the sugar levy. In July 2022, we announced improvements to the National Health Service dental system to improve access and target care for patients with higher oral health needs. The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities has published ‘Delivering Better Oral Health - an evidence-based toolkit for prevention’ for dental teams to support preventive advice and treatment for patients.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to improve access to NHS dentistry services in (a) Barnsley East constituency and (b) the UK.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
In September, we announced ‘Our plan for patients’, which outlines how we will meet oral health needs and increase access to dental care in England, including in Barnsley East.
On 25 November 2022, the Department introduced legislation to amend the National Health Service dental contract to more fairly remunerate dentists for complex treatments and improve access for patients. NHS dentists are also required to update practice profiles at NHS.UK more frequently to ensure patients have accurate information on accessing care. We are working with the sector and NHS England on further improvements to increase patient access and reduce health inequalities.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
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 tackle shortages of midwifes.
Answered by Will Quince
We have committed to expanding midwifery training places by 3,650 against the 2018/19 baseline between 2019/20 and 2022/23, with an increase of 650 in 2019/20 and 1,000 per year in subsequent years. NHS England is also supporting trusts to establish and expand midwifery international recruitment.
In 2022, an additional £127 million has been invested in the National Health Service maternity workforce and improving neonatal care. This is in addition to the £95 million invested in 2021 to fund a further 1,200 midwives and 100 consultant obstetricians.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what action her Department is taking to reduce health inequalities among (a) regions, (b) gender and (c) race and ethnicity.
Answered by Caroline Johnson
‘Our plan for patients’, published on 22 September, sets out the immediate priorities to support individuals to live healthier lives, including improving access to health and care services in all areas and preventing ill-health. Further information on measures to address health disparities will be available in due course.