Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in view of the expected growth in the supply of physician associates (PAs) to 10,000 by 2036–37 under the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, how many PAs are expected to work in each setting.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Physician Associates (PAs) currently work in over 40 specialties across primary, secondary, and community care, each determined by local needs and decisions. The largest proportion of the PA workforce works with doctors and other colleagues in primary care, followed by emergency and acute medicine. Other specialties include geriatrics, stroke, community, dermatology, and ear, nose, and throat. We have not made a central assessment of where we expect PAs to work in 2036/37. PAs' work must be undertaken within local clinical governance rules, and under the supervision or oversight of a senior doctor.
Asked by: Baroness Merron (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government where the overall responsibility for patients with facial palsy sits within the NHS.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Care for people with facial palsy may be delivered by a number of specialties, depending on its cause. Facial palsy will often present in primary care, and if there are additional concerning features, the patient may be referred directly to the hospital as an emergency, where they may be looked after by medical or stroke teams. Rehabilitation professionals may be needed to support recovery.
Facial palsy without additional features is often managed in general practice. If time and treatment does not result in a satisfactory outcome, then the patient should be referred to a hospital, to be reviewed by a neurologist and other members of the team as needed, for example speech and language therapists, psychologists, or neurosurgeons.
Asked by: John Whittingdale (Conservative - Maldon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients received stroke rehabilitation inpatient care in St Peter's Hospital Maldon in each year since 2000.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Over the years, St Peter’s Hospital has provided valuable capacity for patients across Mid and South Essex to receive inpatient stroke rehabilitation in community beds. The volume of beds, and therefore patients treated on site, has changed over the years due to shifting demand and, in recent years, the impact of the pandemic.
In 2022/23, 118 patients received inpatient stroke rehabilitation care at St Peter’s Hospital. However, there are currently no inpatient stroke rehabilitation beds at St Peter’s hospital in Maldon, as the 16 stroke rehabilitation beds that were on site were moved to Brentwood Community Hospital in October 2023, to ensure the safe provision of care through this winter.
The current consultation being undertaken by Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board has set out options to increase community inpatient stroke rehabilitation capacity from 24 to 27, which would total 50 beds across the system. This increase is based on data that shows around 2,000 people in Mid and South Essex have a stroke each year, of which around 500 need a stay in a community hospital for specialist rehabilitation support.
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 steps her Department is taking to help improve treatment for individuals aged over 65 with low blood pressure in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield, and (c) London.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards in London are responsible for arranging healthcare services that meet the needs of their local populations, including for patients over the age of 65 years old in the Enfield North Constituency, the London Borough of Enfield, and London.
The NHS Health Check, offered every five years to eligible people aged 40 to 74 years old, aims to prevent heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and kidney disease, and some cases of dementia. People can also now have their blood pressure tested in many community pharmacies and over 7,500 pharmacies have delivered nearly two million blood pressure checks in just over two years, and we are working with NHS England to expand this service by investing up to £50 million over this and next year. In both services people will be referred to their general practice for further assessment and clinical treatment if required, including those with low blood pressure. Further information on the management of hypotension, low blood pressure, is available at the following website:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/low-blood-pressure-hypotension/
Asked by: Paulette Hamilton (Labour - Birmingham, Erdington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of publishing a dedicated cancer strategy.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 24 January 2023, the Government announced plans to publish the Major Conditions Strategy, which will focus on tackling the six major conditions groups: cancers, mental ill-health, cardiovascular disease including stroke and diabetes, dementia, chronic respiratory diseases, and musculoskeletal disorders, that account for around 60% of ill-health and early death in England. Addressing cancer together with other major conditions will allow the Department and NHS England to focus on similarities in approach, ensuring care is better centred around the patient.
Following the call for evidence for a 10-year cancer plan in 2022, the Department received over 5,000 submissions. These findings are being fed into the development of the Major Conditions Strategy.
Asked by: Mark Eastwood (Conservative - Dewsbury)
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 effectiveness of support available to people affected by strokes in West Yorkshire.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board have a dedicated team who are working to implement the National Stroke Service Model. This outlines best practice for stroke care for the National Health Service.
The West Yorkshire and Harrogate Integrated Stroke Delivery Network (ISDN) is currently collaborating with all community stroke teams in the area to transform and improve their services. This work has identified gaps in the current workforce provision and differences across the network that will need resolving so it can deliver the recommended national model by NHS England.
The West Yorkshire and Harrogate ISDN is working with all community stroke teams to develop a long-term strategy to:
- address the shortage of qualified staff;
- reconfigure existing services to continually improve;
- achieve efficiency savings; and
- promote and spread innovative practice throughout the network.
Asked by: Claudia Webbe (Independent - Leicester East)
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 reduce the number of cases of (a) preventable ill health and (b) premature death (i) in Leicester East constituency and (ii) nationally.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Local authorities and integrated care boards are responsible for improving the health of their local population and reducing health inequalities. In 2023/24, the total Public Health Grant to local authorities was £3.530 billion. Leicester – which includes the Leicester East constituency – received £29 million of the grant in 2023/24, which is almost £80 per head of population. Additional funding has been provided to improve cardiovascular outcomes in deprived communities, prevent drug and alcohol deaths, address need, and enhance recovery, and improve mental health for people in Leicester.
In January 2023 the Department announced its plan to publish the Major Conditions Strategy, focusing on six major groups of conditions (cancer, mental ill health, cardiovascular disease (including stroke and diabetes), dementia, chronic respiratory diseases, and musculoskeletal disorders) that account for approximately 60% of ill-health and premature death in England.
Smoking is the number one preventable cause of death, disability and ill health, which is why Government has set out plans to introduce a Tobacco and Vapes Bill in parliament and announced new funding to support current smokers, a new incentives programme to support pregnant women to quit, deliver anti-smoking campaigns and crackdown on illicit tobacco and underage sale of tobacco and vapes.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the top five causes of (1) disability, and (2) premature death, in England; and how the NHS plans to mitigate or reduce each cause.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study provides a comprehensive picture of mortality and disability across countries, time, age, and sex. It quantifies health loss from hundreds of diseases, injuries, and risk factors, so that health systems can be improved and disparities eliminated.
According to the data for England published by the GBD study in 2019, the top 5 causes of years lived with disability for England were low back pain, diabetes, depressive disorders, headache disorders and falls.
Data for 2022 for England indicates that the five leading causes of death aged under 75 were cancers, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, deaths from external causes, and digestive system diseases.
On the 24 January 2023, we announced our plan to publish the Major Conditions Strategy. This strategy will explore how we can tackle the key drivers of ill-health in England, reduce pressure on the NHS and reduce ill-health related labour market inactivity.
To deliver on these objectives, the strategy will focus on tackling the six major conditions groups – cancers, mental ill-health, cardiovascular disease (including stroke and diabetes), dementia, chronic respiratory diseases, and musculoskeletal disorders – that account for around 60% of ill-health and early death in England.
Focusing on these groups of conditions that contribute most to mortality and morbidity will allow us to focus our efforts on the key actions needed to achieve our Levelling-Up mission to gain five extra years of Healthy Life Expectancy by 2035.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
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 merits of implementing a dedicated cancer strategy to work in conjunction with the Major Conditions Strategy.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 24 January 2023, the Government announced plans to publish the Major Conditions Strategy, which will focus on tackling the six major conditions groups: cancers, mental ill-health, cardiovascular disease including stroke and diabetes, dementia, chronic respiratory diseases, and musculoskeletal disorders, which together account for approximately 60% of ill-health and early death in England. Addressing cancer together with other major conditions will allow the Department and NHS England to focus on similarities in approach, ensuring care is better centred around the patient.
Following the call for evidence for a 10-year cancer plan in 2022, the Department received over 5,000 submissions. These findings will be fed into the development of the Major Conditions Strategy.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
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 tackle disparities in diabetes care (a) access and (b) treatment for people living in low socioeconomic areas.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government continues to support local authorities to make provision for the NHS Health Check, England’s flagship cardiovascular disease prevention programme.
The programme aims to prevent heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and kidney disease, and some cases of dementia among adults aged between 40 and 74 years old. Each year, the programme engages over one million people.
A review of the programme in 2021 found that there were higher rates of NHS Health Check attendance among people over 55, women, black African and Asian ethnic groups. Across all ethnic groups, attendance is lowest amongst people in the most deprived decile.
The NHS Long Term Plan committed to providing a weight management services for people with a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes or hypertension and with a body mass index of 30 or higher, adjusted appropriately for ethnicity.
Diabetes is also one of six major groups of conditions that we aim to tackle through the Major Conditions Strategy. The Strategy will set out the supporting and enabling interventions the centre can make to ensure that integrated care systems and the organisations within them maximise the opportunities to tackle clusters of disadvantage in their local areas where they exist. This will include addressing unwarranted variation in outcomes and the care people receive in the context of the recovery from the pandemic.