Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the replacement of the term females with the term individuals with child-bearing potential in Schedule 2 of the Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations 2017 on (a) clinical staff and patients’ understanding of those Regulations and (b) patient care in sex-specific healthcare settings.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
A review of the Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations (IR(ME)R) 2017 concluded in 2023. Following consultation with expert groups, including the UK Health Security Agency, United Kingdom medical regulators, and professional bodies, the review found that there was no evidence that use of the term ‘individuals with child-bearing potential’ in the regulations was leading to misinterpretation. The Government is clear that it expects all health services, including medical exposure procedures, to be delivered in line with the Equality Act 2010.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to promote earlier detection and diagnosis of heart valve disease in women and to ensure better outcomes.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Heart valve disease (HVD) affects over 1.5 million people over the age of 65 years old in the United Kingdom, and this number is expected to increase in line with general population growth and the increase in the number of older people. Continuous improvements have been made in the HVD pathway for service users, but there remains unwarranted variation and inequalities in gender.
A review of health inequalities for all specialised cardiac services, including aortic stenosis services, a type of HVD, is currently being undertaken. This will specifically consider the presentation of males versus females with aortic stenosis. In addition, work to improve HVD outcomes includes:
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
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 increase girls' access to mental health services.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Health policy is devolved to the Northern Ireland Executive. In England, through the NHS Long Term Plan, the Government is providing record levels of investment and increasing the mental health workforce, to expand and transform National Health Service mental health services in England. Almost £16 billion was invested in mental health in 2022/23, enabling 3.6 million people to be in contact with mental health services, a 10% increase on the previous year. Of these, nearly 560,000 were females under the age of 18 years old, a 12% increase on the previous year.
We are rolling out mental health support teams to schools and colleges in England. There are now around 400 mental health support teams in place, covering 3.4 million children, or approximately 35% of pupils. We estimate that this will increase to 44% by April 2024, and we are working to increase this coverage to 50% of pupils by March 2025.
In addition, we announced in October 2023 that £4.92 million would be available for 10 early support hubs in England. We are now providing an additional £3 million to expand the number of hubs to 24 across the country. This £8 million overall package will improve access for children and young people to vital mental health support, offering early interventions to improve wellbeing before their condition escalates further.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the average waiting time for cognitive behavioural therapy for women with menopausal symptoms in London.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Improving care and support for menopause is a priority in the Women’s Health Strategy. It is important that all women experiencing the menopause have access to information and options to enable them to choose the best care to suit them. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guidelines currently recommend that that cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) can be recommended for low mood or anxiety that arises as a result of the menopause.
CBT is offered as part of the NHS Talking Therapies services. The latest data for NHS Talking Therapies in the London region shows that 35,410 females, including trans women, accessed National Health Service funded treatment during the period from October to December 2023. Of these, 91% completing treatment waited less than six weeks for their first appointment, against a target of 75%, and 98% completing treatment waited less than 18 weeks, against a target of 95%. Data is not collected separately for CBT, which is one type of talking therapy. Data is also not collected separately for females with menopausal symptoms. This data is available at the following link:
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Consultation report for the interim service specification for specialist gender incongruence services for children and young people published by NHS England on 9 June 2023, if she will provide a definition of the term early-onset gender dysphoria.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Early-onset gender dysphoria is referred to in NHS England’s Consultation report for the interim service specification. It is referenced in relation to research that has been commissioned by the research board, chaired by Professor Sir Simon Wessely, into the impact of puberty suppressing hormones in children with ‘early-onset’ gender dysphoria.
The focus on ‘early-onset’ gender dysphoria responds directly to findings from the Cass Review that in recent years there has been a dramatic change in the case-mix of referrals to specialist gender services. from predominantly birth-registered males presenting with gender incongruence from an early age to predominantly birth-registered females presenting with later onset of reported gender incongruence in early teens. It will be for the clinical trial study team to propose the precise eligibility definitions to be used in the study as the proposal is developed over the next few months.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
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 increase the accuracy of autism diagnoses of females.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines on autism set out that clinicians should pay attention to the under-diagnosis of females when assessing for suspected autism, and we expect integrated care boards to have due regard to these guidelines when commissioning services.
To support integrated care systems to make the best use of their resources and set out how autism assessment pathways can best be delivered, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance for autism assessment services, on 5 April 2023. These documents are intended to help the National Health Service and local authorities improve autism assessment services and improve the experience for adults and children who are going through an autism assessment. They also set out what support should be available before an assessment and what support should follow a recent diagnosis of autism.
We will continue to work with colleagues across NHS England, professional bodies, and people with lived experience so that those historically under-identified groups, including, but not limited to females, are better identified for access to good quality autism assessments where the multidisciplinary team have the competency to recognise and adjust for a wide range of needs.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that female patients that object to being handled by a biologically male nurse who identifies as female are not discriminated against or recorded by the healthcare organisation as being “transphobic”.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
Patients can request care by a professional of a specific gender, and it will be up to the care provider or clinician to respond based on the patient’s needs and staff availability. The Government notes the importance of balancing the rights of different service users in specific contexts and ensuring that decisions taken by service providers are proportionate and patient centred.
The Women’s Health Strategy sets out how we will improve the way in which the health and care system listens to women’s voices and ensure women can access services that meet their health needs across their lives.
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, with reference to the Women’s Health Strategy for England published August 2022, whether it is his Department to set out plans for sexual and reproductive health including access and choice for contraception.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Education)
We are committed to improving sexual and reproductive health in England, including improving access and choice for contraception, and are currently considering the need for a further Government plan.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 8 February to Question 138030, when he plans to launch the women’s health area on the NHS website.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
We aim to launch the women’s health area on the National Health Service website before Summer Recess.
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, whether he plans for all Integrated Care Systems to have a women’s health hub.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
We have committed to supporting the expansion of women’s health hubs and are working with partners in the health system to co-produce resources that will support integrated care systems (ICSs) to develop these services. Our expectation is that every ICS will need at least one women’s health hub to provide the level of integrated care that we set out in the Women’s Health Strategy.