Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions she (a) has had and (b) plans to have with (i) charities and (ii) other organisations working to secure UK access to new drugs for (A) incurable, (B) relapsing and (C) remitting cancers such as myeloma.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Department ministers and officials regularly meet with a range of organisations, with an interest in securing patient access to new cancer medicines. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the body that develops authoritative, evidence-based guidance for the National Health Service on whether new licensed medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS, based on an assessment of their costs and benefits, including medicines for myeloma. The NICE aims to publish guidance on all new medicines close to the point of licensing wherever possible, and has recommended many cancer medicines for NHS use that are now available to NHS patients, including through the Cancer Drugs Fund.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she (a) has had discussions and (b) plans to have discussions with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on (i) its use of the new severity modifier and (ii) how it (A) measures and (B) reports the impact of the modifier on approval of treatments for (1) cancers, (2) relapsing and remitting conditions and (3) conditions that are more prevalent in older people.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department regularly meets with colleagues in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to discuss a range of issues, including in relation to the NICE’s methods for the evaluation of medicines. In 2022, the NICE introduced a number of changes to make its methods and processes fairer, faster, and more consistent. This includes the introduction of a broader severity modifier, in place of the end-of-life modifier. Since the changes were introduced, 79% of the NICE’s appraisals of cancer medicines carried out under the updated methods have recommended the use of the treatment for some or all of the eligible patient population, either for routine use or use through the Cancer Drugs Fund. The approval rate for all cancer appraisals carried out since 2009, when the end-of-life modifier was introduced, is 78%.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NHS England has completed its review of service provision of June 2022 to determine whether forensic and medical interventions for non-fatal strangulation which occur in domestic abuse should form part of the core offer for sexual assault referral centres or should be cared for elsewhere.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The National Sexual Assault Referral Centre’s (SARC) Service Specification, as reviewed and updated in June 2023, now reflects the offence of non-fatal strangulation (NFS). The specification states: Appropriate medical and forensic interventional support is provided to all service users presenting with sexual assault and/or sexual abuse where the presenting need also indicates non-fatal strangulation. It is widely acknowledged that many victims of sexual assault will have also experienced domestic abuse.
For cases of non-fatal strangulation not associated with sexual assault, victims’ immediate healthcare needs can be treated in other acute healthcare settings such as emergency departments. The Institute for Addressing Strangulation recently published guidelines for clinical management of non-fatal strangulation in acute and emergency care services.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 8 June 2022 to Question 11698 on Domestic Abuse: Sexual Assault Referral Centres, whether NHS England has completed its review of service provision to determine whether forensic and medical interventions for non-fatal strangulation should form part of the core offer for sexual assault referral centres.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The National Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) Service Specification as reviewed and updated in June 2023 now reflects the offence of non-fatal strangulation. The specification states ‘Appropriate medical and forensic interventional support is provided to all service users presenting with sexual assault and/or sexual abuse where the presenting need also indicates non-fatal strangulation.’ It also references the Institute for Addressing Strangulation guidelines. From April 2024, all SARCs will collect data on incidences of non-fatal strangulation where it is part of a sexual assault/rape and thus has necessitated attendance at a SARC.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to provide financial support for the cost of travelling to hospital by cancer patients who do not qualify for the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Patients who do not qualify for the HTCS and are on low incomes may be able to claim the costs from the Department for Work and Pensions through the Universal Credit or Personal Independence Payment schemes.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people are on the organ donation waiting list in the West Midlands as of 28 November 2022; what the average waiting time was for an organ donation in the West Midlands in the latest period for which data is available; how many organ transplants took place in the West Midlands in the latest period for which data is available; and how many people were taken off the waiting list for an organ donation due to a clinical decision in the West Midlands in (a) 2019, (b) 2020 and (c) 2021.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The following table shows the number of patients on the transplant waiting list in the West Midlands as of 28 November 2022. Suspended patients refers to those who have been temporarily removed from the list.
Active | Suspended | Total | |
Total | 687 | 431 | 1,118 |
Source: NHS Blood and Transplant
NHS Blood and Transplant does not hold the data on the average waiting time for organ donation in the West Midlands or the number of people removed from the waiting list in the West Midlands due to a clinical decision.
The following table shows the number of transplants which took place in the West Midlands in 2021/22 and 2022/23 as of 28 November.
2021/22 | 2022/23 to date | |
Total | 377 | 260 |
Source: NHS Blood and Transplant
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
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 improve the (a) identification and (b) referral process for dementia diagnosis.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is working with general practitioner IT system providers to reproduce the Dementia Quality Toolkit (DQT) using SNOMED coding. The DQT includes system searches which can be used by general practitioners to identify people whose records suggest that they might have dementia, but do not have a recorded diagnosis. Publication of the toolkit is anticipated by April 2023.
In 2021/22, the Government made £17 million available to clinical commissioning groups to address dementia waiting lists and increase the number of diagnoses. This included identifying areas of good practice in dementia diagnosis and provision of pre and post diagnostic support, which will be shared with dementia clinical networks and stakeholders. In 2022/23, NHS England has initiated a project to fund two trusts in each region to pilot the Diagnosing Advanced Dementia Mandate tool to improve diagnosis of dementia in care homes.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
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 people from ethnic minority communities are receiving timely dementia diagnoses.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has commissioned the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities’ Dementia Intelligence Network to investigate the underlying variation in dementia diagnosis rates in targeted areas in England. This investigation includes the assessment of population characteristics such as rurality, ethnicity and age to provide context for variation and enable targeted investigation and provision of support locally.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
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 access to mental health services in Birmingham Yardley constituency.
Answered by Caroline Johnson
In September we announced ‘Our Plan for Patients’, which outlines how we will increase access to National Health Service mental health and eating disorder services, including in Birmingham Yardley. Making it easier to access general practice through our ABCD priorities will expand this route as a gateway to mental health care.
Through the NHS Long Term Plan, we are investing an additional £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24 to expand these services for adults, children and young people in England, including in Walsall South.
We will invest approximately £1 billion in community mental health care for adults with severe mental illness, including eating disorders, by 2023/24 and an additional £53 million per year in children and young people's community eating disorder services to increase capacity in the 70 community eating disorder teams.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
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 support young people with eating disorders in Birmingham Yardley constituency.
Answered by Caroline Johnson
In September we announced ‘Our Plan for Patients’, which outlines how we will increase access to National Health Service mental health and eating disorder services, including in Birmingham Yardley. Making it easier to access general practice through our ABCD priorities will expand this route as a gateway to mental health care.
Through the NHS Long Term Plan, we are investing an additional £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24 to expand these services for adults, children and young people in England, including in Walsall South.
We will invest approximately £1 billion in community mental health care for adults with severe mental illness, including eating disorders, by 2023/24 and an additional £53 million per year in children and young people's community eating disorder services to increase capacity in the 70 community eating disorder teams.