Asked by: Tim Roca (Labour - Macclesfield)
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 (a) adequacy of the UK Foundation Programme allocation process and (b) potential impact of changes to the UK Foundation Programme allocation process on levels of satisfaction among applicants in 2023.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The allocation process for the UK Foundation Programme this year was changed to a Preference Informed Allocation method. This new process saw applicants being given a computer-generated rank and the removal of the requirement to sit the Situational Judgement Test. The move to the new system aimed to address concerns about the previous system, including that was it was perceived as unfair and stressful for applicants, and that there was lack of standardisation within and across schools. This change was based on extensive stakeholder engagement by the four statutory education bodies in the United Kingdom.
When confirming the move to the new system last year, Health Education England, now part of NHS England, set out that once implemented it would be kept under constant review to make sure it is working well for applicants.
All 9,702 eligible applicants for the 2024 Foundation Programme were allocated to a Foundation School, with 75% of those applicants getting their first preference. This is an improvement on last year when 8,655 applicants were placed and 71% got their first preference.
Asked by: Tim Roca (Labour - Macclesfield)
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 practices that accept new NHS patients.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government will tackle the immediate crisis 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, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of National Health Service dentists.
NHS dentists are required to keep their NHS.UK website profiles up to date so that patients can find a dentist more easily. This includes information on whether they are accepting new patients. This information is available at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-dentist
The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For the Macclesfield constituency, this is the NHS Cheshire and Merseyside ICB.
Asked by: Tim Roca (Labour - Macclesfield)
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 provide support for people with (a) long Covid, (b) chronic fatigue syndrome and (c) ME.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Since 2020, the National Health Service in England has invested significantly in supporting people with long COVID. This includes setting up specialist post-COVID services nationwide for adults, and children and young people, as well as investing in ensuring general practice teams are equipped to support people affected by the condition.
As of 1 April 2024, there are more than 90 adult post-COVID services across England, along with an additional ten children and young people’s hubs. These services assess people with long COVID and direct them into care pathways which provide appropriate support and treatment. General practitioners will assess patients that have COVID-19 symptoms lasting longer than four weeks and refer them into a long COVID service where appropriate. Referral should be via a single point of access, which is managed by clinician-led triage.
Over the last five years, the Government, through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and the Medical Research Council (MRC), has invested over £57 million in long COVID research, with almost £40 million of this through two specific research calls on long COVID. The NIHR specifically has invested £42.7 million towards research funding for long COVID. The projects funded aim to improve our understanding of the diagnosis and underlying mechanisms of the disease and the effectiveness of both pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies and interventions, as well as to evaluate clinical care. Further information on the research into long COVID commissioned through the NIHR is available at the following link:
https://www.nihr.ac.uk/about-us/what-we-do/covid-19/long-COVID
It is a priority for the Department to publish the final myalgic encephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) delivery plan, and it is our intention to publish a consultation response summary later this autumn. We cannot comment on the exact content of the final delivery plan at this time, but it will be shaped by the consultation responses, along with continued close engagement with stakeholders, with three broad themes of attitudes and education, research and living with ME. We aim to publish in the winter of 2024/25.
The Department is also currently working with NHS England to develop an e-learning course on ME/CFS for healthcare professionals, with the aim of supporting staff to be able to provide better care and improve patient outcomes.
Additionally, the Government funds research into ME/CFS through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and the Medical Research Council (MRC), through UK Research and Innovation. In 2020, the NIHR and the MRC came together to fund the world’s largest genome-wide association study of ME/CFS. This £3.2 million study, termed DecodeME, will analyse samples from 25,000 people with ME/CFS to search for genetic differences that may indicate underlying causes or an increased risk of developing the condition. Further details of the study are available at the following link:
Asked by: Tim Roca (Labour - Macclesfield)
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 young people on waiting lists for gender affirming care are transitioned to adult waiting lists when they turn 18.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England published a new service specification in August 2024 for the referral pathway of Children and Young People’s Gender Services. The service specification sets out that young people are removed from the waiting list for Children and Young People’s Gender Services once they reach the age of 17 years and nine months.
NHS England has determined that it is not clinically appropriate to directly transfer a young person onto the waiting list of an adult service. This is because, as a commissioner of health services rather than a provider, it has no direct knowledge of the aims and intentions of the individual young person in regard to their gender identity and how these may have changed while they were on the national waiting list.
Those who are removed from the national waiting list are advised to seek advice from their general practitioner, who is best placed to support the young person in considering the appropriateness of a referral to an adult Gender Dysphoria Clinic. Should a referral be made to the adult service, the original referral date to the children's service will be honoured for this purpose. As NHS Children and Young People’s Gender Services expand, this approach will be regularly reviewed.
In August, NHS England published an implementation plan detailing how it intends to implement recommendations from Dr Cass’s report. This includes establishing a follow through service for people aged between 17 and 25 years old. NHS England has started to explore with potential partner organisations the feasibility of establishing this service. The planning assumption is that this follow-through service will become operational no sooner than April 2025. Further development of the design of this part of care will be informed by NHS England’s systemic review of adult gender services.
Asked by: Tim Roca (Labour - Macclesfield)
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 potential impact of the resident doctors pay settlement on waiting lists for elective care.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Resident doctor strikes have cost the taxpayer over £1.7 billion, with almost 1.5 million appointments being rescheduled, increasing waiting times for patients.
The previous Health Secretary hadn’t met with junior doctors since March 2023. My Right Honourable Friend the Secretary of State, called them on day 1, met them on week 1 and resolved the pay dispute in week 3.
Now resident doctors can get on with their work and we will deliver an extra 40,000 appointments per week to bring down waiting lists.
Asked by: Tim Roca (Labour - Macclesfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Recommendation 6 on page 35 of the Cass Review, published in April 2024, what plans he has for the extent of a further clinical trial on puberty blockers; and what his planned timetable is for this.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The expert Cass Review, which is one of the most comprehensive reviews of gender identity services for children and young people to date, states that the rationale for early puberty suppressing hormones to treat gender dysphoria is unclear and the effects on cognitive and psychosexual development are unknown. This is why NHS England and the National Institute of Health and Care Research, the research arm of the department, are working together to commission a study into the potential benefits and harms of puberty suppressing hormones as a treatment option for children and young people with gender incongruence. The study team is now in place and are finalising their application for funding which will be assessed by an independent scientific review study ahead of the commencement of wider approvals, including ethics, and set up.
Asked by: Tim Roca (Labour - Macclesfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of open dentistry practices in Macclesfield constituency accepting adult NHS patients (a) on the most recent date for which figures are available and (b) in 2010.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
While there is no data available for 2010, as of 10 July 2024, there were 20 open dentistry practices in the Macclesfield constituency, six of which stated they were accepting new adult National Health Service patients when availability allows. This data is sourced from the Find a Dentist website, and is matched to constituencies based on the postcode data shown on the website, with further information available at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-dentist
Asked by: Tim Roca (Labour - Macclesfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to review the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme in relation to general practice.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme is subject to annual review as part of the consultation on the general practice contract with professional and patient representatives. NHS England works closely with the Department to implement any changes identified as part of this process.