Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2025 to Question 25328 on the Queen Elizabeth Hospital King's Lynn, whether he has received a copy of the report; and, with reference to his Department policy paper entitled New Hospital Programme; plan for implementation, published on 20 January 2025, what his planned timetable is for the publication of the site-by-site report of the RAAC hospitals.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The safety of staff and patients at the seven predominantly reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) hospitals remains our utmost priority.
The completion date for the report has been extended to ensure a detailed understanding of the complex data and issues considered, including the RAAC condition, planned and current mitigations, and the remaining expected life of the hospital sites. By building a better understanding, we can support each scheme to move forward more effectively. We expect the report will be complete this year. A decision has not yet been taken regarding the publication of the report.
In the interim, the seven predominantly RAAC hospitals continue their programme of RAAC mitigation works and the plans for the replacement hospitals continue at pace.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate his Department has made of the cost savings to the NHS from the expansion of Fracture Liaison Services in England.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Potential cost savings to the National Health Service from the expansion of Fracture Liaison Services will be taken into consideration in future policy development.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many times the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has met the NHS Staff Council since 1 January.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and the Minister of State for Health meet regularly with individual Agenda for Change (AfC) trade union leaders and with representatives of NHS organisations to discuss matters affecting the NHS workforce.
It is not usual practice for Ministers to attend NHS Staff Council meetings, which are used to discuss policy issues affecting the AfC workforce and to maintain the NHS terms and conditions of service. Accordingly, there have been no meetings between the Secretary of State and the NHS Staff Council as a whole since 1 January.
Both ministers have written to the NHS Staff Council on issues relating to AfC pay, terms, and conditions since 1 January, and Department officials continue to attend meetings of the NHS Staff Council.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to develop a modern service framework for neurological conditions other than dementia; and whether he plans to consult (a) the MS Society and (b) people with neurological conditions on future policy decisions.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 10-Year Health Plan sets out the development of a new series of service frameworks to accelerate progress in conditions where there is potential for rapid improvements in the quality of care and productivity. The first wave of modern service frameworks will be published in 2026 and, following this, the 10-Year Health Plan allows for service frameworks to be developed for other conditions, including neurological conditions.
We will continue to work closely with neurological charities like the MS Society, as this work progresses.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his Department’s policy is on the use of cash for food vendor payments in NHS hospitals.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not have a policy on the use of cash for the payment of food vendors in National Health Service hospitals. These decisions are taken locally by NHS organisations.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
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 childcare policy supports the recruitment and retention of student nurses as part of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, updated on 22 April 2024.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department for Education provides the primary funding support package for English domiciled students in higher education through the student loans system. Eligible students can also apply for the Childcare Grant and Parents’ Learning Allowance.
The Department of Health and Social Care provides eligible healthcare students, including student nurses, with supplementary, non-repayable support via the NHS Learning Support Fund (LSF). This includes a £5,000 training grant for all students eligible for the LSF and a further £2,000 per academic year for those students with childcare responsibility. These funding arrangements are reviewed annually ahead of the start of each academic year.
We will publish a 10 Year Workforce Plan (10YWP) to create a workforce ready to deliver a transformed service. This 10YWP will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.
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, whether he plans to remove parental (a) income and (b) education levels as factors in cases of maternity clinical negligence.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The rising costs of clinical negligence claims against the National Health Service in England are of great concern to the Government. Costs have more than doubled in the last 10 years and are forecast to continue rising, putting further pressure on NHS finances.
As announced in the recently published 10-Year Health Plan for England, David Lock KC will be providing expert policy advice on the rising legal costs and how we can improve patients’ experience of clinical negligence claims, ahead of a review by the Department in the autumn. The results of David Lock’s work will inform future policy making in this area. No decisions on policy have been taken at this point.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
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 assess the potential impact of centralised specialist services on patient outcomes for different blood cancers.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Reducing the number of lives lost to cancer is a key aim of the National Cancer Plan, which will be published later this year. The plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, including blood cancer patients, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, ultimately driving up this country’s cancer survival rates. The National Cancer Plan will have patients at its heart, and the Department has been working closely with patient organisations and other cancer partners as part of our engagement to inform the development of the plan. This includes patient and family engagement events with partners such as Macmillan and Maggies, and engagement with blood cancer charities and the NHS Patient and Public Voice Forum.
Early diagnosis is a key focus of the National Cancer Plan. It is a priority for the Government to support the National Health Service to diagnose cancer, including blood cancers, as early and quickly as possible, and to treat it faster, to improve outcomes. To tackle the late diagnoses of blood cancers, the NHS is implementing non-specific symptom pathways for patients who present with symptoms such as weight loss and fatigue, which do not clearly align to a tumour type. Blood cancers are one of the most common cancer types diagnosed through these pathways. We will get the NHS diagnosing blood cancers earlier and treating them faster, and we will support the NHS to increase capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment, including for magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners. Furthermore, the 10-Year Health Plan’s commitment to putting digital health at the heart of the future health service, and integrating that with a single patient record and neighbourhood health services, will mean that cancer patients will get the joined-up care they deserve.
The National Cancer Plan will also seek to ensure that high-quality care is available to patients across the country, including patients in rural areas. This will build on the current national cancer audits, which are seeking to promote best practice and aim to reduce inequalities in the access to, or the quality of, treatment. Further details on the steps that will be taken to achieve this will be set out in the plan. Service providers are responsible for making clinical decisions about prioritisation in response to capacity constraints, taking into consideration national guidance, and access and waiting time standards, so that patients are prioritised.
Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is a potential treatment for a range of malignant and non-malignant indications, including myeloma. HSCT is a specialised service and is the commissioning responsibility of integrated care boards.
NHS England is the accountable commissioner for HSCT and has published a national service specification that all commissioned HSCT services need to meet. The list of commissioned indications is covered by the NHS England Clinical Commissioning Policy available at the following link:
There are currently no plans to expand the number of specialised centres that deliver HSCT treatments.
Blood cancer in and of itself is not a disease that is specialised, however, some of the treatments used to manage blood cancers are within specialised services, such as HSCT. NHS England publishes national service specifications for specialised services and monitors the quality-of-service provision and patient outcomes via the NHS England quality dashboards, and in the case of HSCT, by also reviewing the service-level reports published by the British Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy. The findings of the reviews of these reports are discussed with NHS England regional teams who determine any appropriate action that needs to be taken with the providers within their region.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps with patient organisations to understand barriers to blood cancer care in local communities.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Reducing the number of lives lost to cancer is a key aim of the National Cancer Plan, which will be published later this year. The plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, including blood cancer patients, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, ultimately driving up this country’s cancer survival rates. The National Cancer Plan will have patients at its heart, and the Department has been working closely with patient organisations and other cancer partners as part of our engagement to inform the development of the plan. This includes patient and family engagement events with partners such as Macmillan and Maggies, and engagement with blood cancer charities and the NHS Patient and Public Voice Forum.
Early diagnosis is a key focus of the National Cancer Plan. It is a priority for the Government to support the National Health Service to diagnose cancer, including blood cancers, as early and quickly as possible, and to treat it faster, to improve outcomes. To tackle the late diagnoses of blood cancers, the NHS is implementing non-specific symptom pathways for patients who present with symptoms such as weight loss and fatigue, which do not clearly align to a tumour type. Blood cancers are one of the most common cancer types diagnosed through these pathways. We will get the NHS diagnosing blood cancers earlier and treating them faster, and we will support the NHS to increase capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment, including for magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners. Furthermore, the 10-Year Health Plan’s commitment to putting digital health at the heart of the future health service, and integrating that with a single patient record and neighbourhood health services, will mean that cancer patients will get the joined-up care they deserve.
The National Cancer Plan will also seek to ensure that high-quality care is available to patients across the country, including patients in rural areas. This will build on the current national cancer audits, which are seeking to promote best practice and aim to reduce inequalities in the access to, or the quality of, treatment. Further details on the steps that will be taken to achieve this will be set out in the plan. Service providers are responsible for making clinical decisions about prioritisation in response to capacity constraints, taking into consideration national guidance, and access and waiting time standards, so that patients are prioritised.
Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is a potential treatment for a range of malignant and non-malignant indications, including myeloma. HSCT is a specialised service and is the commissioning responsibility of integrated care boards.
NHS England is the accountable commissioner for HSCT and has published a national service specification that all commissioned HSCT services need to meet. The list of commissioned indications is covered by the NHS England Clinical Commissioning Policy available at the following link:
There are currently no plans to expand the number of specialised centres that deliver HSCT treatments.
Blood cancer in and of itself is not a disease that is specialised, however, some of the treatments used to manage blood cancers are within specialised services, such as HSCT. NHS England publishes national service specifications for specialised services and monitors the quality-of-service provision and patient outcomes via the NHS England quality dashboards, and in the case of HSCT, by also reviewing the service-level reports published by the British Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy. The findings of the reviews of these reports are discussed with NHS England regional teams who determine any appropriate action that needs to be taken with the providers within their region.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to issue guidance to NHS trusts on prioritising blood cancer patients for treatment when demand exceeds capacity.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Reducing the number of lives lost to cancer is a key aim of the National Cancer Plan, which will be published later this year. The plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, including blood cancer patients, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, ultimately driving up this country’s cancer survival rates. The National Cancer Plan will have patients at its heart, and the Department has been working closely with patient organisations and other cancer partners as part of our engagement to inform the development of the plan. This includes patient and family engagement events with partners such as Macmillan and Maggies, and engagement with blood cancer charities and the NHS Patient and Public Voice Forum.
Early diagnosis is a key focus of the National Cancer Plan. It is a priority for the Government to support the National Health Service to diagnose cancer, including blood cancers, as early and quickly as possible, and to treat it faster, to improve outcomes. To tackle the late diagnoses of blood cancers, the NHS is implementing non-specific symptom pathways for patients who present with symptoms such as weight loss and fatigue, which do not clearly align to a tumour type. Blood cancers are one of the most common cancer types diagnosed through these pathways. We will get the NHS diagnosing blood cancers earlier and treating them faster, and we will support the NHS to increase capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment, including for magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners. Furthermore, the 10-Year Health Plan’s commitment to putting digital health at the heart of the future health service, and integrating that with a single patient record and neighbourhood health services, will mean that cancer patients will get the joined-up care they deserve.
The National Cancer Plan will also seek to ensure that high-quality care is available to patients across the country, including patients in rural areas. This will build on the current national cancer audits, which are seeking to promote best practice and aim to reduce inequalities in the access to, or the quality of, treatment. Further details on the steps that will be taken to achieve this will be set out in the plan. Service providers are responsible for making clinical decisions about prioritisation in response to capacity constraints, taking into consideration national guidance, and access and waiting time standards, so that patients are prioritised.
Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is a potential treatment for a range of malignant and non-malignant indications, including myeloma. HSCT is a specialised service and is the commissioning responsibility of integrated care boards.
NHS England is the accountable commissioner for HSCT and has published a national service specification that all commissioned HSCT services need to meet. The list of commissioned indications is covered by the NHS England Clinical Commissioning Policy available at the following link:
There are currently no plans to expand the number of specialised centres that deliver HSCT treatments.
Blood cancer in and of itself is not a disease that is specialised, however, some of the treatments used to manage blood cancers are within specialised services, such as HSCT. NHS England publishes national service specifications for specialised services and monitors the quality-of-service provision and patient outcomes via the NHS England quality dashboards, and in the case of HSCT, by also reviewing the service-level reports published by the British Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy. The findings of the reviews of these reports are discussed with NHS England regional teams who determine any appropriate action that needs to be taken with the providers within their region.