Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
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 estimate of the number of bone density scans conducted in community diagnostic centres in the last 12 months.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data on the number of bone density scans, also known as DEXA scans, conducted in community diagnostic centres, is publicly available in the NHS Diagnostics Waiting Times and Activity (DM01) dataset. This data has been published monthly since March 2023, and is available at the following link:
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
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 number of repeat prescriptions that have been ordered through the NHS app in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are currently over 34.3 million sign-ups on the NHS App, enabling users to access a range of National Health Services, such as booking and managing general practice (GP) and hospital appointments, ordering repeat prescriptions, and viewing their prospective GP health record. The following table shows the number of repeat prescriptions ordered via the NHS App in each of the last 12 months, as well as the mean and total of repeat prescriptions:
Date | Repeat prescription orders via NHS App |
April 2023 | 2,449,182 |
May 2023 | 2,709,129 |
June 2023 | 2,650,714 |
July 2023 | 2,825,324 |
August 2023 | 2,885,337 |
September 2023 | 2,819,310 |
October 2023 | 3,105,964 |
November 2023 | 3,197,218 |
December 2023 | 3,124,667 |
January 2024 | 3,559,170 |
February 2024 | 3,349,017 |
March 2024 | 3,669,727 |
Mean | 3,028,730 |
Total | 36,344,759 |
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many community diagnostic centres are providing bone density scans.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
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 estimate of the number of (a) MRI and (b) CT scans for suspected prostate cancer performed by the NHS in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
While some data on scanning of the prostate is available from the Diagnostic Imaging Dataset, it does not distinguish between scans for non-cancer indications, scans for suspected cancer, namely cancer diagnosis, and scans to inform staging and treatment planning for cancer which is already diagnosed.
Screening for the most common cancer in men, prostate cancer, is complex but we are backing groundbreaking trials to improve diagnostic processes and save thousands more lives. In 2021, 43,378 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer, a 9% decrease compared to 2019. The recently announced TRANSFORM trial, which will be led by Prostate Cancer UK and supported by £16 million of Government funding, aims to find the best way to screen for prostate cancer. The trial will cover the whole of the United Kingdom, although final decisions on specific locations are yet to be taken. The UK National Screening Committee will be reviewing the evidence that is published by this study, which will help to inform any future recommendation on creating a national screening programme for prostate cancer.
To support faster diagnosis, NHS England is streamlining cancer pathways and in October 2022 introduced the best practice timed pathway for prostate cancer. This guidance recommends those with suspected prostate cancer undertake multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging before biopsy, which ensures only those men most at risk of having cancer undergo an invasive biopsy.
Alongside cutting-edge research, we are helping more people get diagnosed earlier for cancer and other conditions by rolling out additional tests, checks and scans at 160 locations across England through our Community Diagnostics Centres programme.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
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 estimate of the number of scans for suspected prostate cancer performed by the NHS in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
While some data on scanning of the prostate is available from the Diagnostic Imaging Dataset, it does not distinguish between scans for non-cancer indications, scans for suspected cancer, namely cancer diagnosis, and scans to inform staging and treatment planning for cancer which is already diagnosed.
Screening for the most common cancer in men, prostate cancer, is complex but we are backing groundbreaking trials to improve diagnostic processes and save thousands more lives. In 2021, 43,378 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer, a 9% decrease compared to 2019. The recently announced TRANSFORM trial, which will be led by Prostate Cancer UK and supported by £16 million of Government funding, aims to find the best way to screen for prostate cancer. The trial will cover the whole of the United Kingdom, although final decisions on specific locations are yet to be taken. The UK National Screening Committee will be reviewing the evidence that is published by this study, which will help to inform any future recommendation on creating a national screening programme for prostate cancer.
To support faster diagnosis, NHS England is streamlining cancer pathways and in October 2022 introduced the best practice timed pathway for prostate cancer. This guidance recommends those with suspected prostate cancer undertake multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging before biopsy, which ensures only those men most at risk of having cancer undergo an invasive biopsy.
Alongside cutting-edge research, we are helping more people get diagnosed earlier for cancer and other conditions by rolling out additional tests, checks and scans at 160 locations across England through our Community Diagnostics Centres programme.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) estates and (b) facilities related incidents related to (i) non-critical and (ii) critical infrastructure risk occurred in (A) all hospitals and (B) hospitals containing reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in the last 12 months.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
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 number and proportion of prescriptions that were written by pharmacists in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason there was an increase in death rates among 20-44 year olds in 2023 from 2019.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford 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 2024 to Question 12829 on Patient Choice Schemes, how many patients were offered choice at the point of referral in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Constitution allows patients to be treated by any provider who holds a contract for the provision of National Health Services. This is a legal right, although there are certain circumstances in which a choice may not be possible. Further information is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-nhs-choice-framework
Last year, the Government set out how it will make it easier for patients to exercise their choice by improving the NHS App, increasing choice for patients already on waiting lists, and raising awareness of patients’ right to choose.
At the point of referral, for example at a general practice appointment, patients will be actively offered a list of providers which are clinically appropriate for their condition. This will be a minimum of five providers where possible. Patients will also be informed of their right to choose, and encouraged to raise this at the time of the referral.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford 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 Answer of 12 October 2021 to Question 51702 on NHS: Expenditure, how much NHS England, clinical commissioning groups and integrated care boards spent in aggregate on (a) mental health services, (b) acute health services, (c) social care services, (d) primary medical services, (e) specialised services, (f) NHS continuing healthcare and (g) all other recorded spending categories in each financial year since 2015-16; and how much those organisations plan to spend in aggregate in each of those areas in the (i) 2023-24 and (ii) 2024-25 financial years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested up to 2023/24 is in the attached table due to its size. NHS England continues to work with integrated care boards (ICB) to develop their financial plans for 2024/25. Until that process is complete, we will not have a final agreed set of financial plans for the year ahead.
The £38 billion increase in clinical commissioning group and ICB direct commissioning spend between the 2019/20 and 2023/24 budgets reflects the record settlement for health and social care funding confirmed at the 2021 Spending Review.