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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
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
Mental Health Services: Wellingborough
Wednesday 27th 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 his Department is taking to improve access to mental health services in Wellingborough constituency.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

Through the NHS Long Term Plan, we are expanding and transforming National Health Service mental health care in England, including in the Wellingborough constituency. Between 2018/19 and 2023/24, NHS spending on mental health has increased by £4.7 billion in cash terms, as compared to the target of £3.4 billion set out at the time of the NHS Long Term Plan. All integrated care boards are also on track to meet the Mental Health Investment Standard in 2023/24, including the Northamptonshire Integrated Care Board.

This has enabled 3.6 million people to access mental health support in 2022/23, a 10% increase from 2021/22. To support this expansion, our aim is to grow the mental health workforce by an additional 27,000 staff by spring 2024. In September 2023, there were over 146,000 full time equivalents in the mental health workforce. This is over 10,300, or 7.6%, more than September 2022.


Written Question
Maternal Mortality
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her Department's policies on preventing maternal deaths of MBRRACE-UK's report entitled Saving Lives, Improving Mothers’ Care, published in October 2023.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The Department is committed to reducing maternal mortality and improving outcomes for mothers and is working to fully understand why a recent increase in the maternal death rate has been reported, including considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Several initiatives have already been introduced across the National Health Service to improve maternity safety as part of NHS England’s Three Year Delivery Plan for maternity and neonatal services, which is backed by £186 million a year from April.

Initiatives include the establishment of 14 maternal medicine networks which provide pregnant women who have medical conditions with specialist advice and support, and the publishing of local Equity and Equality Action Plans, which are tailored to meet the needs of that area. The Department also expects all 42 integrated care systems to have a Maternal Mental Health Service operational by the end of March 2024, which provide psychological therapy for women experiencing mental health difficulties related to their maternity experience.

On top of this, as announced at Spring Budget, the Government and NHS England are investing almost £35 million from 2024/25 to 2026/27 to further improve maternity safety across England, with specialist training for staff, additional numbers of midwives and support to ensure maternity services listen to and act on women’s experiences to improve care.


Written Question
Edgware Birth Centre: Staff
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many staff are employed at the birthing suites at Edgware Birth Centre.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The following table shows the numbers of births delivered at birthing suites at Edgware Birth Centre, in each of the last five years:

Year

Births delivered

2018/19

68

2019/20

73

2020/21

18

2021/22

45

2022/23

34

Edgware Birth Centre is a standalone birth centre which is staffed by midwifery teams employed by the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust who work across a number of locations. Because of this it is difficult to determine the cost for the centre separately. The centre is the base for three teams that work across the maternity services provided by the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. The staff are deployed across a number of birth settings, including home births, Edgware Birth Centre, and Barnet Hospital. Staff working at the centre also deliver antenatal and postnatal clinics.


Written Question
Edgware Birth Centre
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the annual cost to the public purse is of the birthing suites at Edgware Birth Centre.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The following table shows the numbers of births delivered at birthing suites at Edgware Birth Centre, in each of the last five years:

Year

Births delivered

2018/19

68

2019/20

73

2020/21

18

2021/22

45

2022/23

34

Edgware Birth Centre is a standalone birth centre which is staffed by midwifery teams employed by the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust who work across a number of locations. Because of this it is difficult to determine the cost for the centre separately. The centre is the base for three teams that work across the maternity services provided by the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. The staff are deployed across a number of birth settings, including home births, Edgware Birth Centre, and Barnet Hospital. Staff working at the centre also deliver antenatal and postnatal clinics.


Written Question
Edgware Birth Centre
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many births were delivered at the birthing suites at Edgware Birth Centre in each of the last five years.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The following table shows the numbers of births delivered at birthing suites at Edgware Birth Centre, in each of the last five years:

Year

Births delivered

2018/19

68

2019/20

73

2020/21

18

2021/22

45

2022/23

34

Edgware Birth Centre is a standalone birth centre which is staffed by midwifery teams employed by the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust who work across a number of locations. Because of this it is difficult to determine the cost for the centre separately. The centre is the base for three teams that work across the maternity services provided by the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. The staff are deployed across a number of birth settings, including home births, Edgware Birth Centre, and Barnet Hospital. Staff working at the centre also deliver antenatal and postnatal clinics.


Written Question
Digital Technology: Wigan
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to tackle digital exclusion among older people in Wigan constituency.

Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is responsible for coordinating HMG digital inclusion policy as part of its commitment to ensuring that no one is left behind in the digital age. Digital inclusion is a cross-cutting issue that spans social engagement, education, employment, access to services and many more elements of everyday life.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology leads on telecoms and digital infrastructure, including Project Gigabit, the Government’s £5 billion mission to deliver lightning-fast, reliable broadband to the hardest to reach parts of the UK. In the Wigan constituency, over 98% of premises can access a superfast connection (>=30Mbps), while 92% can access a gigabit-capable connection, up from 0.8% in December 2019. Both of these current figures are higher than the national averages of 97% and 81% for superfast and gigabit-capable coverage, respectively.

More broadly across Government, the Cabinet Office is working to remove barriers and ensure online services are as inclusive as possible by making public sector websites accessible to as many people as possible. The Cabinet Office leads on the Service Standard, a set of principles government service teams and departments must adhere to when creating and running new public services – such as the NHS – and some Local Authorities, including Greater Manchester Combined Authority, have committed to using these as well.

Training is available for elderly people wishing to acquire essential digital skills. Department for Education has introduced a digital entitlement for adults with no or low digital skills to undertake specified digital qualifications, up to level 1, free of charge. Essential Digital Skills Qualifications, introduced alongside the digital entitlement, are based on new national standards which set out the digital skills people need to get on in life and work.

We also recognise that ongoing support is essential to overcome barriers of access. Our network of 2,900 public libraries across England provide a trusted network of accessible locations with staff, volunteers, free Wi-Fi, public PCs, and assisted digital access to a wide range of digital services.


Written Question
Nurses: Mental Health
Thursday 21st March 2024

Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the mental health and wellbeing of student nurses in England.

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

The health and wellbeing of all National Health Service staff is taken seriously, and there is a wide range of support in place to aid the health and wellbeing of NHS staff. This includes a Health and Wellbeing Guardian role to ensure board level scrutiny, and that there are tools and resources to support line managers in holding meaningful conversations with staff to discuss their emotional and psychological health and wellbeing. The support package also includes access to regional mental health and wellbeing hubs.

In 2023, NHS England published a strategy to grow occupational health and wellbeing, setting out a roadmap for the NHS and partner organisations to work together to develop and invest in occupational health and wellbeing services for staff over the next five years. To ensure there is a long term sustainable approach to supporting staff, the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan has tasked integrated care boards with developing and implementing plans to invest in occupational health and wellbeing services.


Written Question
Special Educational Needs: Staff
Wednesday 20th March 2024

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

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that there are sufficient qualified staff to deal with Education, Health and Care Plans.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

As part of the reforms to the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system, the department is currently testing measures to deliver a nationally consistent Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan system and improve the quality and speed with which support is put in place. The department is taking steps to increase the capacity of the workforce supporting children and young people with SEND, but it is the responsibility of individual employers, including local authorities, schools and healthcare settings, to plan their staffing levels in line with their local service priorities.

Educational psychologists have a critical role, providing statutory input into EHC plan assessments and advising the school workforce on how to support children and young people with SEND. The department is investing over £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists from 2024.

Since 2020, the department has increased the number of educational psychologist trainees that we fund to over 200, from 160 per year. As these larger cohorts complete their studies, they will join the workforce to support local authority educational psychology services, including contributing to EHC plan assessments.

Local authority caseworkers play a vital role in supporting families to navigate the system and ensuring they have good experiences, including through the EHC plan process. To build capacity, the department is providing legal training for local authority caseworkers this year and will consider new guidance to deliver a responsive and supportive casework service.

The department is committed to a joint Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care approach to SEND workforce planning. The departments aim to complete this by 2025. This will build on the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan published in June 2023 which sets out the steps the NHS and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years.

To support the supply of more speech and language therapists and occupational therapists to the NHS, since September 2020 all eligible undergraduate and postgraduate degree students have been able to apply for a non-repayable training grant of a minimum of £5,000 per academic year, with further financial support available for childcare, accommodation, and travel costs.