Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of GP-to-patient ratios in (a) Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency and (b) North Yorkshire in each of the last five years.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Each general practice (GP) is required to provide services to meet the reasonable needs of their patients. There is no recommendation from NHS England for how many patients a GP should have assigned, or the ratio of GPs or other practice staff to patients.
The demands each patient places on their GP are different and can be affected by many different factors, including rurality and patient demographics. It is necessary to consider the workforce for each practice as a whole, not only the GPs but also including the range of health professionals available who are able to respond to the needs of their patients. The following table shows the full-time equivalent (FTE) doctor to patient ratios in the Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency, for the last five years:
Date | Median number of GP FTE doctors per 10,000 registered patients |
September 2020 | 6.9 |
September 2021 | 6.3 |
September 2022 | 6.8 |
September 2023 | 6.4 |
September 2024 | 6.7 |
While it is not possible to provide data specifically for the county of North Yorkshire, the following table shows the FTE GP doctor to patient ratios within the Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB), for the last five years:
Date | Median number of GP FTE doctors per 10,000 registered patients |
September 2020 | 5.8 |
September 2021 | 5.6 |
September 2022 | 5.7 |
September 2023 | 5.8 |
September 2024 | 6.2 |
Notes:
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
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 help improve outcomes for bowel cancer.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service is taking crucial steps to improve cancer outcomes for patients across England, including for bowel cancer. We will improve cancer survival rates and hit all NHS cancer waiting time targets, so no patient waits longer than they should.
The NHS will maximise the pace of roll-out of additional diagnostic capacity, delivering the final year of the three-year investment plan for establishing community diagnostic centres (CDCs) and ensuring timely implementation of new CDC locations and upgrades to existing CDCs, with capacity prioritised for cancer diagnostics.
The NHS Bowel Cancer Screening program currently invites people aged between 56 and 74 years old for screening every two years. However, this age cohort is increasing to people aged between 50 and 74 years old by 2025 with the use of Faecal Immunochemical Test kits which can be sent directly to people's homes.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
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 help increase the early diagnosis rate for bowel cancer.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is taking steps to improve the rate of early diagnosis for all cancers, including bowel and bowel-related cancers. We will support the National Health Service to transform diagnostic services by spending £1.5 billion on new surgical hubs and diagnostic scanners, to build capacity for over 30,000 more procedures and 1.25 million diagnostic tests.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
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 reduce waiting times for the (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment of bowel cancer.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Lord Darzi’s report has set out the scale of the challenges we face in fixing the National Health Service, and the need to improve cancer waiting time performance and cancer survival. In particular, he has highlighted the need to improve the number of patients starting their treatment within 62 days of referral, and increase the number of patients diagnosed at an earlier stage.
The NHS will maximise the pace of the roll-out of additional diagnostic capacity, delivering the final year of the three-year investment plan for establishing Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) and ensuring timely implementation of the new CDC locations, and upgrades to existing CDCs, with capacity prioritised for cancer diagnostics.
We are committed to transforming diagnostic services, and will support the NHS to increase capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment in new capacity, including magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners. Furthermore, in 2024/25, we will continue to extend the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme to additional cohorts, specifically to 50 to 52-year olds.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to reduce the number of people waiting more than 6 weeks for a colonoscopy in England.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Cutting waiting lists is a key priority for the Government. It is unacceptable that some patients are waiting over six weeks for a diagnostic test, including for a colonoscopy. To cut waiting lists for diagnostic tests, each integrated care board will have a recovery plan for diagnostic services, including endoscopy as needed.
NHS England is continuing to develop gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy networks across the country, which will address variations in care, including in the timely access to care. The Department is supporting NHS England in completing the rollout and expansion of the community diagnostic programme, including delivering additional endoscopy capacity closer to patients in the community. GI endoscopy training academies have also been established, with one per region, to enable the training and education of the required workforce.
The National Health Service is delivering on a number of specific steps to reduce waiting times for GI endoscopy services, including colonoscopy procedures. This includes the establishment of a national transformation project to enable and support the timely recovery of GI endoscopy services, and investment into an expected net increase of 80 additional dedicated endoscopy rooms to expand capacity, as well as a number of Community Diagnostic Centres offering endoscopy services.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many avoidable or preventable deaths of mental health patients at Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS trust there have been in each of the last three years.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Information on the number of deaths reported to Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust's incident reporting system are shown in the table. These are not categorised as preventable or avoidable.
Reporting year | Total |
2021/22 | 2,163 |
2022/23 | 2,329 |
2023/24 | 1,322 |
Source: Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust Quality Accounts
It is important to note that the majority of deaths of people in the Trust’s care from natural causes and therefore include end of life care and longstanding poor physical health. There is further detail and context within the Trust’s Quality Account for each year.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish mortality rates of mental health patients at Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust publishes the information requested (under ‘Learning from deaths’) as part of its annual Quality Account report about the quality of the services provided by the Trust. The most recent report is available at the following link:
www.tewv.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Quality-Account-23-24-Final.pdf
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to help (a) return breast cancer screening rates to pre-covid-19 levels and (b) meet breast cancer screening targets.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Following COVID-19, a national restoration plan was implemented by NHS England in 2020/21 with targeted support to all breast screening services to clear the backlog by the Summer of 2023. In 2021/22 and 2022/23, activity was higher than in the previous 10 years, with more women invited for breast screening compared to pre-pandemic years.
The NHS England national uptake improvement plan aims to address the fact that despite this action, some women are still not coming forward for breast screening. The plan includes active follow ups for women who have missed appointments or who have not engaged with screening, a review to establish reasons for non-attendance to identify and address any barriers, and a look at how different invitation methods may impact on uptake, considering factors such as age, screening history, and deprivation.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the national screening programme for lung cancer, if he will increase funding for smoking cessation provision in order that it can be offered as an opt-out integrated service within all lung screening appointments.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Lung Cancer Screening Programme Standard Protocol includes a mandatory referral to smoking cessation services for all current smokers invited to the programme.The Government is providing £70 million additional funding this year to support local authorities increase provision of local stop smoking services which will support improved referral pathways and integrated working.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many complaints relating to the mental healthcare service at Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS trust there have been in each of the last three years.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows information on concerns received by Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust between 2021/22 and 2023/24:
Reporting year | Local issue resolution | Concerns raised with Patient Advice and Liaison Service | Complaints | Total |
2023/24 | 206 | 1,773 | 498 | 2,447 |
2022/23 | n/a | 2,446 | 338 | 2,784 |
2021/22 | n/a | 2,281 | 293 | 2,574 |
Source: Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust Quality Accounts
Note: Concerns can range from an issue with a person’s care to environmental factors, such as parking on the Trust’s sites.
The Trust has advised that all complaints are managed in line with national guidance and it is committed to providing opportunities for its patients, their carers or their families to seek advice or information, raise concerns or make a complaint about the services that the Trust provides.