Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 estimate of the number of people that have been (a) diagnosed with and (b) treated for bladder cancer in the last 12 months.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Whilst the Department will not make a specific estimate, the following link shows the number of diagnoses of bladder cancer in England for 2019 and 2020, the most recent years for which NHS Digital holds publicly available data:
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how her Department plans to support North Middlesex University Hospital on the areas of the improvement listed in their Care Quality Commission report, published on 28 March 2024.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Following the publication of the inspection report on 28 March 2024, the Care Quality Commission continues to closely monitor the trust, and hold regular engagement meetings with senior managers. The trust is in segment 3 of the NHS Oversight Framework, which means they are receiving mandated regional support from NHS England. This process involves a diagnostic stocktake to identify the key drivers of the concerns that need to be resolved, understanding their support needs, and agreeing improvement actions. The trust’s leadership team and board are examining their processes and practices to improve them, and to deliver further improvements for staff, patients, and the local community.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions her Department has had with North Middlesex University Hospital on their Care Quality Commission report, published on 28 March 2024.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Following the publication of the inspection report on 28 March 2024, the Care Quality Commission continues to closely monitor the trust, and hold regular engagement meetings with senior managers. The trust is in segment 3 of the NHS Oversight Framework, which means they are receiving mandated regional support from NHS England. This process involves a diagnostic stocktake to identify the key drivers of the concerns that need to be resolved, understanding their support needs, and agreeing improvement actions. The trust’s leadership team and board are examining their processes and practices to improve them, and to deliver further improvements for staff, patients, and the local community.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans her Department has to improve the Care Quality Commission rating of North Middlesex University Hospital.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Following the publication of the inspection report on 28 March 2024, the Care Quality Commission continues to closely monitor the trust, and hold regular engagement meetings with senior managers. The trust is in segment 3 of the NHS Oversight Framework, which means they are receiving mandated regional support from NHS England. This process involves a diagnostic stocktake to identify the key drivers of the concerns that need to be resolved, understanding their support needs, and agreeing improvement actions. The trust’s leadership team and board are examining their processes and practices to improve them, and to deliver further improvements for staff, patients, and the local community.
Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon)
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 hospitals follow NICE guidelines on (a) suicide and (b) self-harm risk assessment (i) tools and (ii) scales.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Improving risk management and safety planning for suicide and self-harm prevention is a priority in the Government’s suicide prevention strategy. The strategy highlights the importance of compliance with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guidelines on risk assessment. NHS England is taking forward work in this area.
We would expect health professionals to have regard to guidelines from the NICE, which state that risk assessment tools should not be used to predict future suicide or repetition of self-harm.
Asked by: Will Quince (Conservative - Colchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether officials in her Department have had discussions with NHS England on the potential merits of (a) renewing the national maternity safety ambition beyond 2025 and (b) extending that ambition to include reducing inequalities.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department has regular and ongoing discussions with NHS England on how to improve maternity and neonatal outcomes for mothers and babies, as well as how to tackle disparities in access, experience, and outcomes, including and beyond 2025.
Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon)
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 with NHS England to help raise awareness by (a) patients and (b) GPs of the increased risk of breast cancer in people with neurofibromatosis type 1.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department works with NHS England to raise awareness of cancers, including for people with increased risk of cancer. In January 2024, NHS England relaunched the Help Us Help You cancer awareness campaign, designed to increase earlier diagnosis by encouraging people to come forward with suspected signs of cancers.
For individuals with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), who are at increased risk of breast cancer, the National Health Service in England recommends breast screening from the age of 40 years old. It is important that awareness of this is widespread among patients and general practices (GPs). Treatment for NF1 involves regular monitoring, and if a patient develops complex problems, their GP can usually refer them to one of two specialist NHS centres, so that a treatment plan can be drawn up. These centres are at Guy’s and St Thomas’ in London, and at Manchester University Hospital.
We expect clinicians to keep themselves appraised of developments within conditions, and to refer to the National Institute for Clinical Excellence guidance as part of their clinical decision-making process.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
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 help improve (a) research into treatments for and (b) (i) emotional and (ii) financial support for people living with pancreatic cancer.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Research is crucial in tackling cancer, which is why the Department invests £1.3 billion per year in health research, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). NIHR research expenditure for all cancers was £121.8 million in 2022/23, and the NIHR spends more on cancer than any other disease group.
The NIHR funded nine research projects on pancreatic cancer since 2018/19, with a committed funding value of £4.3 million. The NIHR continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including pancreatic cancer. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition.
The NIHR also supports delivery of research into pancreatic cancer in the health and care system, funded by research funding partners in the charity and public sectors. Since 2018/19 the NIHR supported 73 clinical research studies through the Clinical Research Network.
Additionally, NIHR Biomedical Research Centres (BRC) and NIHR Clinical Research Facilities spent a further £6.5 million between 2018/19 and 2022/23, supporting an annual portfolio of approximately 85 early clinical studies into pancreatic cancer. NIHR BRCs are collaborations between world-leading universities and National Health Service organisations, that bring together academics and clinicians to translate discoveries from basic or discovery science into clinical research.
For emotional and financial support, patient feedback is monitored through the National Cancer Patient Experience Survey, with the latest results showing an overall experience of 8.88 out of 10. In areas such as support for health and wellbeing, and information on financial help, results were positive but showed room for improvement. NHS England continues to support trusts to take action to improve cancer patient support.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many complaints NHS England have received relating to the adequacy of bowel care provided to people with neurogenic bowel disorders in the last 12 months; and what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that patients receive (a) timely and (b) appropriate care.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has not received any direct complaints relating to the adequacy of bowel care provided to people with neurogenic bowel disorders resulting from a spinal cord injury in the last 12 months. Complaints about clinical care should be directed to the hospital providing the care, which would be able to conduct the necessarily investigations.
To help ensure that patients with neurogenic bowel receive timely and appropriate care, NHS England has developed a range of guidance, including its Excellence in Continence Care guidance. NHS England has also published a service specification for spinal cord injury services, which makes specific reference to bowel care. It outlines that patients with spinal injury should be provided with advice and care by specialist nursing staff in specialist fields, including in the field of bladder and bowel management. In addition, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines on faecal incontinence set out the care that patients with neurogenic bowel should receive, including a neurological bowel management programme.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
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 hospital admission rates at the Royal Preston Hospital for young people due to violent crime.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The number of hospital admissions for young people due to violent crime is published at a national level only, and is available at the following link: