Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
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 support the health of people with arthritis while they are waiting for elective treatment.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
To support the health of people with arthritis while they are waiting for elective treatment, NHS England has worked with Versus Arthritis on their Joint Replacement Support Package, a six point package aimed at local health systems to provide to patients.
The Department has taken steps to assist those waiting for elective treatment and surgery, for instance through patient choice and the My Planned Care platform.
The Government also announced on 24 January 2023 a Major Conditions Strategy, for which an interim report will be published in the summer.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has discussed uprating social care benefits in line with inflation with MENCAP in the last twelve months.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There have been no specific discussions. The 2023 Local Authority Circular, published on 9 February, sets out that the rates of the Minimum Income Guarantee will be uprated in line with consumer price index inflation for the financial year 2023/2024.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of longer waiting times for elective surgery on health inequalities.
Answered by Will Quince
No specific assessment has been made. However, NHS England in its ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’, published in February 2022, set out the principles to minimise the impact of waiting long periods of time for treatment on patients, public, National Health Service staff and health inequalities. This includes a focus on equity of access, experience and outcomes for the most deprived.
The plan also committed to developing a Healthcare Inequalities Improvement Dashboard, which measures, monitors, and informs actionable insight to make improvements to narrow health inequalities. The dashboard is available at the following link:
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help ensure the adequate supply of medication to pharmacies in Huddersfield.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department has well-established processes to manage and mitigate the small number of supply problems that may arise at any one time due to manufacturing, regulatory or distribution issues. We work closely with manufacturers, all parts of the supply chain, and where needed others including the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and NHS England to ensure that deliveries are expedited and future supplies are brought forward to prevent shortages and ensure that any risks to patients are minimised when they do arise.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support he is providing to arthritis patients in Huddersfield constituency awaiting orthopaedic surgery.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust is contacting all patients on waiting lists to determine what support they need whilst waiting for treatment.
Ongoing clinical support services can be accessed via a patient’s general practitioner or First Contact Practitioner for reassessment and medication review for pain control, and through a specialist community musculoskeletal service. Further support is available to patients on the National Health Service website, which provides advice on living with arthritis and links to national and local charities. This information is available at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/arthritis/
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people with arthritis in Huddersfield constituency have been waiting for orthopaedic surgery for (a) 12, (b) 18 and (c) 24 months.
Answered by Will Quince
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the economic impacts of delays in orthopaedic surgery and the impact of those delays on people living with arthritis.
Answered by Will Quince
No assessment has been made.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps raise awareness of the potential health benefits of vitamin D in local communities.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Government advice on vitamin D is publicised via the NHS.uk website and the social marketing campaigns Start4Life, Better Health and Healthier Families. This includes messaging specifically aimed at people from ethnic minority groups with dark skin.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) has a guideline which focuses on increasing vitamin D supplement use to prevent deficiency among specific population groups. This includes recommendations for local authorities, NHS trusts, and voluntary and community organisations, as well as healthcare professionals.
The Government’s Healthy Start scheme provides an opportunity for health professionals and others working with pregnant women and families to offer advice on issues such as healthy eating, breastfeeding, and vitamins. As part of the scheme, pregnant women, new mothers, and children can receive a supplement which contains vitamin D.
Local areas may look to raise awareness amongst population groups in their communities, but Government does not collect information on these initiatives.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of increasing access to primary services at community pharmacies on public health.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) 2019-24 five-year deal outlines a joint vision for how community pharmacy will be more integrated into the NHS, deliver more clinical services and become the first port of call for minor illnesses, helping to reduce pressure on other parts of the NHS. Through the deal pharmacies have already introduced several new services, such as the New Medicines Service, enabling community pharmacies to provide extra support to patients newly prescribed certain medicines, and the Discharge Medicines Service, enabling hospitals to refer recently discharged patients to a community pharmacy for support with new medication. NHS111 and GPs can refer patients to a community pharmacist for a minor illness consultation and most pharmacies now also offer blood pressure checks.
On 22 September last year, we announced the agreement for the remainder of the five-year deal, which includes a further one-off investment in the sector of £100 million. This agreement continues the expansion of the services offered by community pharmacies, by enabling community pharmacists to manage and initiate contraception, provide extra support for patients newly prescribed antidepressants and, enabling urgent and emergency care settings to refer patients to a community pharmacist for a minor illness consultation or for an urgent medicine supply.
The number of trainee pharmacists is uncapped and driven by market forces. Since 2017, trainee numbers have averaged 2,500 a year. This has resulted in a year-on-year growth in the number of pharmacists on the professional register, which as of November 2022 (latest data), stands at 52,885 pharmacists in England across all settings. Health Education England is also working with Higher Education Institutions to implement reforms to pharmacists’ initial education and training, so they can play a greater role in providing clinical care to patients and the public, including prescribing medicines.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to support the training of more pharmacists.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) 2019-24 five-year deal outlines a joint vision for how community pharmacy will be more integrated into the NHS, deliver more clinical services and become the first port of call for minor illnesses, helping to reduce pressure on other parts of the NHS. Through the deal pharmacies have already introduced several new services, such as the New Medicines Service, enabling community pharmacies to provide extra support to patients newly prescribed certain medicines, and the Discharge Medicines Service, enabling hospitals to refer recently discharged patients to a community pharmacy for support with new medication. NHS111 and GPs can refer patients to a community pharmacist for a minor illness consultation and most pharmacies now also offer blood pressure checks.
On 22 September last year, we announced the agreement for the remainder of the five-year deal, which includes a further one-off investment in the sector of £100 million. This agreement continues the expansion of the services offered by community pharmacies, by enabling community pharmacists to manage and initiate contraception, provide extra support for patients newly prescribed antidepressants and, enabling urgent and emergency care settings to refer patients to a community pharmacist for a minor illness consultation or for an urgent medicine supply.
The number of trainee pharmacists is uncapped and driven by market forces. Since 2017, trainee numbers have averaged 2,500 a year. This has resulted in a year-on-year growth in the number of pharmacists on the professional register, which as of November 2022 (latest data), stands at 52,885 pharmacists in England across all settings. Health Education England is also working with Higher Education Institutions to implement reforms to pharmacists’ initial education and training, so they can play a greater role in providing clinical care to patients and the public, including prescribing medicines.