Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what opportunities they have identified in the NHS 10 Year Plan for the expansion of the NHS Genomic Medicine Service in relation to diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 10-Year Health Plan sets out how we will shift from sickness to prevention. As part of this, we will harness the combination of genomics, predictive analytics, and artificial intelligence to usher in a new era for secondary prevention. The National Health Service, in partnership with Our Future Health, will trial the use of Integrated Risk Scores, which combine genomic, lifestyle, and health data, within the newly announced neighbourhood health services. Initially focused on cardiovascular disease and diabetes, the programme will expand to includes breast, bowel, and prostate cancer, with other diseases such as glaucoma, osteoporosis, and dementia under consideration. This marks a major step toward routine genetic testing in preventive care, enabling earlier and more personalised interventions.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they are having with integrated care boards to ensure community-based glaucoma services are commissioned in all areas of England.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for assessing the health needs of their local population, and for commissioning primary and secondary eye care services to meet them. Arrangements to meet local needs will differ across ICB geographies and could include commissioning community-based glaucoma services.
The Getting It Right First Time programme is currently developing best practice guidance for glaucoma services to support the adoption of high standards across the pathway, from detection onwards.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure community-based glaucoma services are available in every region in England.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for assessing the health needs of their local population, and for commissioning primary and secondary eye care services to meet them. Arrangements to meet local needs will differ across ICB geographies and could include commissioning community-based glaucoma services.
The Getting It Right First Time programme is currently developing best practice guidance for glaucoma services to support the adoption of high standards across the pathway, from detection onwards.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they are having with integrated care boards about commissioning community audiology services in all areas in England.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Community audiology services are commissioned by integrated care boards (ICBs). The priorities and operational planning guidance states that systems are expected to put in place self-referral routes to community audiology services.
To raise awareness of self-referral to audiology services, NHS England is adding information on the relevant condition specific pages on the NHS.UK website. ICBs are responsible for ensuring that patients have the information they need to make decisions about their care, including if they have the option to self-refer to locally commissioned services.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that self-referral to community audiology services is widely available across England.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Community audiology services are commissioned by integrated care boards (ICBs). The priorities and operational planning guidance states that systems are expected to put in place self-referral routes to community audiology services.
To raise awareness of self-referral to audiology services, NHS England is adding information on the relevant condition specific pages on the NHS.UK website. ICBs are responsible for ensuring that patients have the information they need to make decisions about their care, including if they have the option to self-refer to locally commissioned services.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that patients are aware that they are able to self-refer to community audiology services.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Community audiology services are commissioned by integrated care boards (ICBs). The priorities and operational planning guidance states that systems are expected to put in place self-referral routes to community audiology services.
To raise awareness of self-referral to audiology services, NHS England is adding information on the relevant condition specific pages on the NHS.UK website. ICBs are responsible for ensuring that patients have the information they need to make decisions about their care, including if they have the option to self-refer to locally commissioned services.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to publish the minutes of the 19 September meeting of the Federated Data Platform Check and Challenge Group.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In accordance with the NHS Federated Data Platform Check and Challenge Group’s terms of reference, NHS England aims to publish minutes within two months, to allow time for the group to check and agree the notes at their following meeting. I would therefore expect the minutes from this meeting to be available on the NHS England website by the end of November 2025.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve access to community minor and urgent eye conditions services in England.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for assessing the health needs of their local population and commissioning primary and secondary eye care services to meet them. Arrangements to meet local needs will differ across ICB geographies and could include commissioning minor and urgent eye condition services in the community.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that pathologists and genomics scientists work together to speed up the delivery of genomics results for lung cancer tissue samples.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Genomic testing in the National Health Service in England is provided through the NHS Genomic Medicine Service (NHS GMS) and is delivered by a national genomic testing network of seven NHS Genomic Laboratory Hubs (GLHs).
NHS England undertakes several activities to improve the delivery of cancer genomic testing, including through quarterly assurance meetings with the NHS GLHs and NHS GMS Alliances to address reporting delays and resolve backlogs, working with clinical experts to establish clinically relevant cancer genomic testing turnaround times and optimising cancer pathways to meet these times.
To support more extensive cancer genomic testing, NHS England is working to ensure collaboration between pathology and genomics networks to address issues including capacity, networking, and the optimisation of cancer tissue pathways, including for lung cancer tissue samples.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure equitable screening participation based on (1) socioeconomic status, (2) ethnicity, and (3) smoking status, in the targeted lung cancer screening programme.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We know that some cancers disproportionately impact those living in deprived areas, notably lung cancer. The Lung Cancer Screening Programme is designed to identify cancer at an earlier stage and is aimed at high-risk individuals or people with a history of smoking between the ages of 55 to 74 years old.
The National Health Service is currently rolling out the National Lung Cancer Screening Programme to people with a history of smoking. The public health functions agreement between NHS England and the Department sets out that the Lung Cancer Screening Programme has a target to invite 50% of the eligible population by the end of March 2026.
Additionally, reducing inequalities is a key priority for the National Cancer Plan, which will look at the targeted improvements needed across different cancer types to reduce disparities in cancer survival. This includes looking at protected characteristics, such as ethnicity, as well as inequalities related to socioeconomic status, and geographic location.