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Written Question
Sickle Cell Diseases: Research
Thursday 28th March 2024

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she has taken to support (a) research into and (b) treatment of sickle cell disease in (i) England and (ii) Romford constituency.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

We’re working hard to support research, and provide the best possible care to those living with sickle cell disease (SCD) across the country. The Department funds health and care research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Over the past five financial years, the NIHR has invested more than £8 million in funding and support for SCD research.

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is the largest provider of apheresis services, a blood transfusion used to treat SCD. NHSBT will be delivering projects over the next 12 months that will increase both nursing capacity and the physical space in which apheresis occurs. We are also working to increase Ro subtype blood donation numbers, the blood type used to treat SCD, identify opportunities to improve clinical pathways, and deliver world-leading treatments, such as the new blood matching genetic test announced by NHS England earlier this year, which will reduce the risk of side effects and offer more personalised care.

NHS England’s Chief Executive Officer has committed to improving the treatment and outcomes of patients with SCD, and has commissioned a Sickle Cell Pathway Quality Improvement work package. A quality improvement review of existing processes has led to a range of improvements including awareness, education, and training of both patients and professionals.

The National Healthcare Inequalities Improvement Programme (HiQiP) has recently introduced a number of initiatives as part of the wider aim of tackling inequalities for people living with SCD. This includes: piloting of urgent and emergency department bypass units in London and Manchester, which will ensure people with SCD with an uncomplicated vaso-occlusive crisis are assessed and given pain relief in a timely manner; the provision of a credit card sized Sickle Cell Alert Card to all people with SCD, to alert medical and clinical staff that the carrier is a registered SCD patient and that they should be managed as a medical emergency; a London wide commissioning for the design and upload of a patient care record onto an interoperable digital platform which, when fully operational, will give clinicians and medical personnel in different regions access to a patient’s personalised care and analgesia record, removing ambiguity on effective treatment; and several products to support the above, including a communications campaign to raise awareness of existing NHS England arrangements to support people with SCD to save money on the costs of regular prescriptions, as well as the Can you tell it's Sickle Cell campaign and an e-learning module, both from NHS England. Further information on the Can you tell it's Sickle Cell campaign and the e-learning module is available respectively, at the following links:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/2022/06/nhs-launches-lifesaving-sickle-cell-campaign/

https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/health-inequalities/


Written Question
Heart Diseases: Research
Thursday 28th March 2024

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she has taken to support (a) research into and (b) treatment of heart disease in (i) England and (ii) Romford constituency.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department supports research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including those relating to heart disease. Over the past five financial years, the NIHR has spent over £64 million on heart-disease related research projects. In addition, the NIHR infrastructure provides clinical expertise, specialist facilities, workforce, and support services to support research across a range of clinical areas, including heart disease.

The Be Part of Research campaign makes it easier for people to find out about, and take part in, health and care research. Currently, there are seven high quality studies related to heart and circulation, which are being supported by the NIHR and are within five miles of Romford.

The NHS Long Term Plan sets out that by 2028 the proportion of patients accessing cardiac rehabilitation will be amongst the best in Europe, with up to 85% of those eligible accessing care. This will prevent up to 23,000 premature deaths and 50,000 acute admissions over 10 years. The NHS Health Check programme is a core component of England's cardiovascular diseases prevention pathway. Over 15 million people are eligible for an NHS Health Check every five years, and it delivers 1.3 million checks a year, preventing an estimated 500 heart attacks and strokes.


Written Question
Surgery: Wellingborough
Thursday 28th March 2024

Asked by: Gen Kitchen (Labour - Wellingborough)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to reduce waiting time for elective surgeries for people in Wellingborough constituency.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Cutting waiting lists is one of the Prime Minister’s top priorities. To reduce the National Health Service’s waitlist, the Department plans to spend more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25. This funding will expand capacity by creating a new network of community diagnostic centres, and maximising all available independent sector capacity. In addition, we are managing demand through specialised advice in primary care, and giving patients more control over where they receive their care.

To reduce waiting times for elective surgeries specifically, we are transforming the way the NHS provides elective surgeries, by increasing activity through dedicated and protected surgical hubs. £1.5 billion of funding has been awarded for the development of new surgical hubs and the expansion of surgical hub sites, as well as increased bed capacity and equipment, to help elective services recover. The hubs will focus on providing high volume low complexity surgery, as recommended by the Royal College of Surgeons of England. There are currently 100 elective surgical hubs that are operational across England, as of March 2024. These surgical hubs help to separate elective care facilities from urgent and emergency care.


Written Question
Domestic Abuse: Data Protection
Thursday 28th March 2024

Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)

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 ensure that providers of NHS services are protecting the whereabouts of domestic abuse victims from perpetrators.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

There are security and legislative protections in place to protect patient data, and ensure data is used across the health and social care system in a safe, secure, and legal way. This includes data protection rules which prevent National Health Service employees from disclosing addresses of victims of domestic abuse.

Each organisation’s terms and conditions of employment include strict guidelines on how staff handle and protect patients’ information. Staff must also be regularly trained in information governance responsibilities. Professional bodies such as the General Medical Council also set out standards which their members must meet.

General practices have two options if they are worried that having access to their record might cause harm to a patient or another individual. They can either redact specific items on the record, or disable patient access entirely.


Written Question
Dental Services: Rural Areas
Thursday 28th March 2024

Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether dentists working in dental treatment vans will be offered one-off payments of up to £20,000.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We will offer Golden Hellos of £20,000 to up to 240 dentists who join existing National Health Service practices, in areas where recruitment is particularly challenging. Golden Hello payments will be phased over three years, and require a commitment to stay in that area delivering NHS work for at least three years.

We will also be deploying dental vans offering appointments to patients in need, including targeted rural and coastal communities who have the most limited access to dentistry, starting later this year. We are working with NHS England and the integrated care boards on the precise nature of the contracting and payment model for dental vans.


Written Question
Obesity: Health Services
Thursday 28th March 2024

Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress NHS England has made on integrating Wegovy to existing weight management structures within primary care settings.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guidance on semaglutide, the active ingredient in wegovy, for managing overweight and obesity was published in March 2023, and updated in September 2023. It recommends semaglutide as a treatment option for patients that meet specified eligibility criteria, and recommends that the treatment is provided within specialist weight management services. These services are typically provided in secondary rather than primary care settings. The Government is committed to the safe introduction of new weight loss drugs into the National Health Service, and is exploring ways to increase access to more people, who meet the relevant eligibility criteria.


Written Question
Bereavement Counselling: Departmental Coordination
Thursday 28th March 2024

Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress the cross-government bereavement working group has made on ensuring support is available to bereaved people.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The cross-Government bereavement group was established in preparation for publication of the UK Commission on Bereavement’s (UKCB), Bereavement is Everyone’s Business report, from October 2022. The group includes representatives from over 10 Government departments.

The cross-Government bereavement group enables Government departments to share the best practice about bereavement support in the sectors for which they are responsible. The UKCB Steering Group has presented to the cross-Government working group on several occasions, and last attended a meeting of the group in September 2023.


Written Question
Polio
Thursday 28th March 2024

Asked by: Anum Qaisar (Scottish National Party - Airdrie and Shotts)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information her Department holds on the number of patients who (a) have had polio and (b) have post-polio syndrome in the latest period for which data is available.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department does not hold data on the number of patients who have had polio or post-polio syndrome. However, the Department does hold data on the number of admissions to hospital, where polio or post-polio syndrome was recorded as a diagnosis, from 2018 to 2023:

- in 2018/19, there were 176 admissions to National Health Service hospitals in England where polio was recorded as the diagnosis, and 797 admissions where post-polio syndrome was recorded as the diagnosis;

- in 2019/20, there were 187 admissions to NHS hospitals in England where polio was recorded as the diagnosis, and 813 admissions where post-polio syndrome was recorded as the diagnosis;

- in 2020/21, there were 107 admissions to NHS hospitals in England where polio was recorded as the diagnosis, and 522 admissions where post-polio syndrome was recorded as the diagnosis;

- in 2021/22, there were 115 admissions to NHS hospitals in England where polio was recorded as the diagnosis, and 630 admissions where post-polio syndrome was recorded as the diagnosis; and

- in 2022/23, there were 104 admissions to NHS hospitals in England where polio was recorded as the diagnosis, and 632 admissions where post-polio syndrome was recorded as the diagnosis.

It is important to note that the number of admissions does not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the period. It is estimated that there are approximately 120,000 people living in the United Kingdom who survived polio when they were younger. Some of these have, or will develop, post-polio syndrome.


Written Question
Hospitals: Dorset
Thursday 28th March 2024

Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the extra allocations of money made from the discharge fund to the (a) NHS and (b) local authorities in Dorset in the 2023-24 financial year on the (i) timeliness and (ii) effectiveness of the discharge of patients from NHS hospitals.

Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is investing an additional £600 million for 2023/24 and £1 billion for 2024/25, through the Discharge Fund, to support the National Health Service and local authorities in ensuring timely and effective discharge from hospital. As part of their allocations for 2023/24, NHS Dorset Integrated Care Board received £5.7 million, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council received £1.9 million, and Dorset Council received £1.7 million. There will be an independent evaluation of the Discharge Fund for 2023/24 and 2024/25.

Nationally, this funding has supported more people to be discharged more quickly with more appropriate support. The number of people discharged from hospital with packages of health and social care support increased by 10% between the end of February 2023 and the end of February 2024. Thanks to this improved patient flow hospitals have been able to admit and treat more patients during this period.


Written Question
Parkinson's Disease: Warm Home Prescription
Thursday 28th March 2024

Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of issuing warm home prescriptions to patients with Parkinson's disease.

Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

We have made no specific assessment. The Government recognises that warm home prescription schemes can be effective in helping to protect vulnerable people and households from the health impacts of living in a cold home. These schemes are good examples of local collaboration between the National Health Service, local government, and other partners.