Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Major Conditions Strategy will include preventative measures to decrease the number of cancer cases.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Major Conditions Strategy will look at the treatment and prevention of cancer, covering the patient pathway. It will look at a wide range of interventions and enablers to improve outcomes for cancer patients.
The strategy will support health and care services to diagnose individuals earlier and help them to manage their conditions better. The strategy will include a focus on multi-morbidity and improve the National Health Service’s co-ordination of the treatment and care of people with multiple major conditions.
We will look at the health of people at all stages of life, from prevention through to living well with one or more major conditions. We will also include a focus on geographical and other differences in health that contribute to variations in health outcomes.
Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)
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 steps to accelerate the adoption of innovative oncology treatments, including precision medicines.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) evaluates all new cancer medicines and aims to publish guidance on new medicines close to the point of licensing wherever possible. The NHS in England is legally required to fund all medicines NICE recommends, and cancer drugs are funded through the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) immediately after NICE issues positive draft guidance. The CDF also supports early patient access to the most promising new cancer medicines where there is too much uncertainty for NICE to be able to recommend routine funding. Since 2016, the CDF has supported over 88,000 patients to benefit from cancer medicines that otherwise would not have been available.
Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)
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 (a) reduce shortages in the NHS workforce and (b) improve the capacity of NHS services.
Answered by Will Quince
We continue to grow the National Health Service workforce. As of December, there were over 4,900 (3.8%) more doctors and almost 11,100 (3.6%) more nurses than the same time last year. We are on track to deliver 50,000 more nurses across the NHS by 2024 and have over 38,000 more nurses in December 2022 compared with September 2019. The Government has funded 1,500 more medical school places each year for domestic students in England, a 25% increase, taking the total number to 7,500 each year.
We are also expanding routes into professional roles in the NHS, particularly apprenticeships. Apprenticeships allow people to earn as they learn, benefiting those for whom a full-time university course is not practical or preferred. There were around 20,900 new NHS apprenticeships starts in 2021/22, making NHS the largest employer of apprentices in the public sector by number of starts. There has also been funding confirmed as part of a pilot scheme for up to 200 Medical Doctor Degree Apprentices.
All eligible nursing, midwifery and allied health profession degree students have received a non-repayable training grant of a minimum of £5,000 per academic year. Additional funding is also available for studying certain courses for example, Mental Health Nursing and Learning Disabilities Nursing with further financial support available to students for childcare, dual accommodation costs and travel.
We have commissioned NHS England to develop a long term workforce plan for the NHS workforce for the next 15 years. This Plan is due to be published shortly.
To boost capacity, on 30 January we published the delivery plan for recovering urgent and emergency care services and committed to increase capacity, including with 5,000 new beds as part of the permanent bed base for next winter. This is backed by £1 billion of dedicated funding, building on the £500 million used over this winter to support local areas to increase their overall capacity and support their staff.
Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on rolling out a network of Genomic Laboratory Hubs.
Answered by Will Quince
Genomic testing in the National Health Service in England is provided through the NHS Genomic Medicine Service (GMS), delivered by a national genomic testing network of seven NHS Genomic Laboratory Hubs (GLHs), each responsible for coordinating services for a particular part of the country. The NHS GLHs aim to provide a cutting-edge and comprehensive genomic testing service using the latest technology. The NHS GLHs work together with standardisation and quality at the core, driving rapid adoption of technology and delivering testing as directed by the National Genomic Test Directory, which outlines the full range of genomic testing offered by the NHS. The Test Directory currently covers testing for over 3,200 rare diseases and over 200 cancers.
NHS England have regular discussions with each NHS GLH, as part of quarterly assurance meetings, to discuss opportunities to improve service delivery.
Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Written Statement of 24 January 2023 on Government Action on Major Conditions and Diseases, HCWS514, whether the Major Conditions Strategy will be a five or 10 year strategy.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Major Conditions Strategy will include both immediate and long term action to tackle major conditions.
The Strategy’s focus is on tackling conditions that contribute most to morbidity and mortality across the population in England: including cancers; cardiovascular disease, including stroke and diabetes; chronic respiratory diseases; dementia; mental ill health; and musculoskeletal conditions.
Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he will publish the Autism Strategy Implementation Plan for 2022-23.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Rt hon. Member for South Swindon on the 3 February 2023 to Question 135349.
Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether it remains his Department's policy to publish a 10 year cancer plan.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government announced on 24 January that it will publish a Major Conditions Strategy. Cancer will be a significant element of the new Strategy and we will ensure that all the learning from the over 5,000 submissions to the call for evidence will be considered. This will replace the suggested 10-year cancer plan.
Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)
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 use submissions to the 10 year cancer plan call for evidence to inform the Major Conditions Strategy.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government announced on 24 January that it will publish a Major Conditions Strategy. Cancer will be a significant element of the new Strategy and we will ensure that all the learning from the over 5,000 submissions to the call for evidence will be considered. This will replace the suggested 10-year cancer plan.
Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is assessing the specific fertility needs of transgender men to help make IVF access more inclusive.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Women’s Health Strategy contained a number of important changes and future ambitions to improve the variations in access to National Health Service (NHS) funded fertility services.
The Strategy sets out our commitment to remove financial burdens on female sex couples being able to access NHS funded treatment. The Department is currently working with NHS England to implement this through local Integrated Care Board, with the intention that this change is made from April 2023.
The Government supports transgender people receiving the healthcare and support they require. We expect fertility services to be commissioned in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines, ensuring equal access to fertility treatment and preservation across England. Partners who are transgender men, or non-binary people assigned female at birth, fall within the NICE definition of same-sex couples, as they require Intrauterine Insemination as a first line of treatment.
In addition, NICE is currently reviewing its fertility guidelines and will consider whether the current recommendations for access to NHS funded treatment and preservation are still appropriate. We expect that this review will be published in 2024.
Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the policy paper entitled Women’s Health Strategy for England, published 30 August 2022, CP 736, what recent progress he has made on relieving (a) financial and (b) other practical burdens to gain access to IVF for female same-sex couples.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Women’s Health Strategy contained a number of important changes and future ambitions to improve the variations in access to National Health Service (NHS) funded fertility services.
The Strategy sets out our commitment to remove financial burdens on female sex couples being able to access NHS funded treatment. The Department is currently working with NHS England to implement this through local Integrated Care Board, with the intention that this change is made from April 2023.
The Government supports transgender people receiving the healthcare and support they require. We expect fertility services to be commissioned in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines, ensuring equal access to fertility treatment and preservation across England. Partners who are transgender men, or non-binary people assigned female at birth, fall within the NICE definition of same-sex couples, as they require Intrauterine Insemination as a first line of treatment.
In addition, NICE is currently reviewing its fertility guidelines and will consider whether the current recommendations for access to NHS funded treatment and preservation are still appropriate. We expect that this review will be published in 2024.