Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department plans to take to provide (a) earlier diagnosis, (b) greater treatment options, and (c) more support for people living with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 15 June 2026 in response to Question 6594.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what her planned timetable is for publishing the statutory guidance to be issued under the Down Syndrome Act 2022.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided to the Hon Member for Warrington South on 14 July 2026 in response to Question 16199.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to appoint a men's health ambassador.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
The Department published England’s first ever Men’s Health Strategy on 19 November 2025, to coincide with International Men’s Day.
The strategy includes tangible actions to improve access to healthcare, provide the right support to enable men to make healthier choices, develop healthy living and working conditions, foster strong social, community, and family networks, and address societal norms. It also considers how to prevent and tackle the biggest health problems affecting men of all ages, which include mental health and suicide prevention, respiratory illness, prostate cancer, and heart disease.
The strategy recognises the importance of meeting men where they are. This includes investment in community-based health and suicide prevention programmes and a new partnership with the Premier League to ensure men know where to go for mental health support.
We are now turning our focus to implementing the commitments set out in the strategy, including how partnerships and stakeholders can support and champion the strategy and its implementation.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to reduce diagnosis times for leukaemia in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
Early diagnosis is a key focus of the National Cancer Plan. The Government is committed to supporting the National Health Service to diagnose cancer, including leukaemia, as early and quickly as possible and to improve outcomes for patients.
To support earlier diagnosis of blood cancers, including leukaemia, NHS England has implemented non-specific symptom pathways for patients presenting with symptoms such as unexplained weight loss and fatigue that do not clearly align to a particular tumour type. Blood cancers, including leukaemia, are among the most common cancers diagnosed through these pathways.
Recognising that leukaemia is not captured by the current stage-based measure of early diagnosis, the National Cancer Plan commits to publishing regular data on the number of these cancers diagnosed in emergency settings, as a proxy for late or ineffective diagnosis. Adding this to the basket of early diagnosis metrics will help incentivise systems and providers to focus on earlier diagnosis of blood cancers.
The National Cancer Plan also includes measures to strengthen diagnostic services by investing in diagnostic capacity and expanding access to tests and scans. Community diagnostic centres are playing an important role in supporting earlier diagnosis, with 109 centres now open 12 hours a day, seven days a week, offering at least one diagnostic test during extended hours. The Government also plans to open four additional community diagnostic centres, helping more patients access diagnostic services closer to home and at times that fit around work and family commitments.
The plan will also support earlier diagnosis through the wider use of innovative technologies, including artificial intelligence, where supported by evidence, and by ensuring every patient who would benefit from a genomic test can receive one within a clinically relevant timeframe.
Recognising that blood cancers such as leukaemia do not behave like many other cancers and are not captured by stage-based early diagnosis metrics, the National Cancer Plan also commits to publishing regular data on the number of these cancers diagnosed in emergency settings. This will improve understanding of diagnostic performance, help identify where further intervention is needed, and support earlier diagnosis of leukaemia and other blood cancers.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to ensure that student midwifes graduating this year can find employment in the profession.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Decisions on recruitment and employment are a matter for individual National Health Service trusts, which manage their recruitment at a local level, ensuring they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care.
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we are working closely with NHS England, employers, and educators to improve transition into the workforce.
The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to improve access to clinical trials for brain cancer treatments.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
The Department is committed to ensuring that all patients, including those with brain cancers, have access to cutting-edge clinical trials and innovative, lifesaving treatments.
The Department is supporting the delivery of brain cancer clinical trials through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) that funds research and research infrastructure to support patients and the public to participate in high-quality research.
In January 2026, the NIHR announced a total investment of over £25 million in the NIHR Brain Tumour Research Consortium to accelerate research into new brain tumour treatments across the United Kingdom. The consortium will develop and enhance innovative clinical trials.
As set out in our National Cancer Plan, the Government will implement the Rare Cancers Act 2026 to make it easier for clinical trials on brain cancer to take place in England, by ensuring the patient population can be more easily contacted by researchers.
Additionally, NIHR provides an online service called Be Part of Research which promotes participation in health and care research, by allowing users to search for relevant studies and register their interest.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to appoint a men's health ambassador.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
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 secure alternative treatments for people at risk of adrenal crisis following the discontinuation of hydrocortisone sodium phosphate solution, which is commonly known as liquid hydrocortisone, in the UK.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed
The Department is aware of the discontinuation of hydrocortisone sodium phosphate 100 milligram/1 millilitre solution for injection, and we continue to work with industry to find a longer-term solution.
Hydrocortisone sodium succinate 100 milligram powder remains available for patients. We have issued comprehensive management guidance to healthcare professionals on how to manage patients while supply is disrupted. The guidance highlighted the differences between the two hydrocortisone injections. It also included resources for patients and healthcare professionals on how to administer the alternative hydrocortisone injection.
We also understand that The Addison’s Self Help Group have also published information on this discontinuation to keep patients informed, along with resources for patients on how to administer the alternative hydrocortisone.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to develop a new National Autism Strategy.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed
The Government will develop a new autism strategy. I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for Manchester Rusholme on 26 February 2026 to Question 114228.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
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 (a) prevalence of respiratory disease and (b) number of emergency hospital admissions for respiratory conditions in (i) the Wrekin constituency and (ii) Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin compared with national averages.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data is available for emergency Finished Admission Episodes (FAEs) where there was a primary diagnosis of 'respiratory conditions’. The following table shows the FAEs where there was a primary diagnosis of 'respiratory conditions’ for the Telford and The Wrekin constituencies, as well as for England, in English National Health Service hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector, for 2024/25 and provisionally for 2025/26:
Westminster Parliamentary Constituency of Residence | 2024/25 (August 2024 to March 2025) | 2025/26 (April 2025 to November 2025) |
The Wrekin | 1560 | 1290 |
Telford | 1825 | 1430 |
England | 608,449 | 423,588 |
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS England.
Available data on trends in respiratory conditions can be found on the Department’s fingertips dataset. Data is not available by parliamentary constituency. Data is available at regional, county, unitary authority, and integrated care board level. Information for Shropshire can be found at the following link: