Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
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 utilise the domestic life science sector to help end global levels of tuberculosis by 2030.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department fully supports United Kingdom commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals as set out in the Global Health Framework and the International Development White Paper. Through our Official Development Assistance (ODA)-funded Research and Development programmes, we are building on UK scientific expertise and investing in research through open competition, working with partners in low and middle income countries to tackle global health threats such as emerging pathogens and antimicrobial resistance, strengthen health systems resilience, and address the changing burden of disease.
Since 2017, through the ODA-funded Global Health Research programme, delivered through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, the Department has invested over £25 million in collaborative research projects between UK researchers and partners in low and middle income countries, which include elements relating to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
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 (a) support cancer services and (b) reduce waiting times for access to cancer treatment.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is taking steps to reduce cancer treatment waiting times across England, including the time between an urgent GP referral and the commencement of treatment for cancer for patients. The Government is working jointly with NHS England on implementing the delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlogs in elective care, and plans to spend more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25 to help drive up and protect elective activity, including cancer diagnosis and treatment activity.
In the 2023/24 Operational Planning Guidance, NHS England announced it is providing over £390 million in cancer service development funding to Cancer Alliances in each of the next two years to support delivery of the strategy and the operational priorities for cancer which includes increasing and prioritising diagnostic and treatment capacity for cancer.
Additionally, the Government recently published the Major Conditions Strategy Case for Change and Our Strategic Framework on 14 August 2023 which sets out our approach to making the choices over the next five years that will deliver the most value in facing the health challenges of today and of the decades ahead, including for cancer. This is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/major-conditions-strategy-case-for-change-and-our-strategic-framework
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance her Department has issued to NHS England on the number of showers that should be installed per hospital bed.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not provide guidance to NHS England in relation to the number of showers, or the number of clinical handwashing taps, that should be installed per hospital bed.
The guidance relating to the number of clinical handwashing taps that should be installed per hospital bed is provided by NHS England in Health Building Notification (HBN 00-09): Infection control in the built environment.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance her Department has issued to NHS England on the number of clinical handwashing taps that should be installed per hospital bed.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not provide guidance to NHS England in relation to the number of showers, or the number of clinical handwashing taps, that should be installed per hospital bed.
The guidance relating to the number of clinical handwashing taps that should be installed per hospital bed is provided by NHS England in Health Building Notification (HBN 00-09): Infection control in the built environment.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many hospital admissions were due to issues relating to obesity and diabetes in (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21, (c) 2021-22 and (d) 2022-23; and what steps he is taking to reduce the number of these admissions.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows hospital admission data due to diabetes mellitus and obesity and other hyperalimentation episodes:
| Admissions | |
Year | Diabetes Mellitus | Obesity and other hyperalimentation |
2019-20 | 59,828 | 11,025 |
2020-21 | 54,811 | 4,095 |
2021-22 | 61,663 | 7,935 |
2022-23 | 61,796 | 8,970 |
Source: Hospital Admitted Patient Care Activity, NHS Digital
The NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme supports those identified at high risk of type 2 diabetes to reduce their risk. Latest figures in February 2023 shows a 20% reduction in risk for those who are referred to the programme compared to those who are not.
The weight loss drug Semaglutide (Wegovy) was launched in the United Kingdom on 4 September 2023 and will be made available on the National Health Service in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommendations to ensure cost effective use. A two-year pilot backed by up to £40 million is being developed to explore ways to make these drugs accessible to patients living with obesity outside of hospital settings.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department issues on the training NHS staff should receive on (a) assistance dogs and (b) supporting blind and visually impaired people.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Under the Equality Act 2010, health and social care organisations must make reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled people are not disadvantaged, including disabled people with assistance dogs.
National Health Service organisations and publicly funded social care providers must comply with the Accessible Information Standard (AIS) to meet the communication needs of patients and carers with a disability, impairment, or sensory loss, including blind and visually impaired people. NHS England has completed a review of the AIS to help ensure that everyone’s communication needs are met in health and care provision. The review considered the effectiveness of the current AIS, how the standard is implemented and enforced in practice, and identified recommendations for improvement. The revised standard will be published in due course.
Following publication, NHS England will continue work to support implementation with awareness raising, communication and engagement and updated e-learning modules on the AIS to ensure NHS staff are better aware of the standard and their roles and responsibilities in implementing it. Assistance dogs are not covered within the scope of the AIS.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of blind and visually impaired people were prevented from accessing NHS estates with guide dogs in the last 12 months.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The data requested is not held centrally. Under the Equality Act 2010, health and social care organisations must make reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled people are not disadvantaged, including disabled people with assistance dogs. The Act places a duty on service providers to make reasonable adjustments to improve access to premises, buildings and services. This could include allowing the use of assistance dogs so that disabled people have the same access to National Health Service estates.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many hospital admissions were due to alcohol consumption in each year since 2019-20; and what steps his Department is taking to help tackle this issue.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The following table shows recorded hospital admissions for alcohol-specific conditions (conditions solely caused by alcohol) and alcohol-related conditions (conditions partially caused by alcohol):
Year | Number of admissions, England, persons | |
Alcohol-specific conditions | Alcohol-related conditions (broad) | |
2022/23 | To be released February 2024 | |
2021/22 | 342,795 | 948,312 |
2020/21 | 347,761 | 814,595 |
2019/20 | 318,596 | 976,423 |
Source: OHID, Local Alcohol Profiles for England.
We have a strong programme underway to address alcohol-related harm, including investing £27 million of funding to establish alcohol care teams in the 25% of hospitals in England with the greatest need. This is expected to prevent a further 50,000 hospital admissions over five years.
We are also working to reduce excess alcohol consumption and associated harm among people who regularly drink above the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers’ low risk drinking guidelines (over 14 units per week) by facilitating substitution of standard strength alcohol with no and low-alcohol alternatives. On 28 September 2023, we launched a consultation on updating our labelling guidance for no and low-alcohol alternatives, to improve clarity of consumer information, and to support innovation in the sector. This will provide greater choice for consumers to help them moderate excess alcohol consumption. More information is available at the following link:
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had discussions with the Office of Health Improvement and Disparities on the potential merits of prioritising identification of people who (a) are traditionally reluctant to engage with the health system and (b) may not be easily identifiable as a result of (i) poor health literacy, (ii) digital exclusion, (iii) multiple deprivation and (iv) inequalities conferred by ethnicity.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) is an integral part of the Department. The consideration of inequalities is embedded across OHID and the Department’s work. Our approach will continue to focus on supporting people to live healthier lives, helping the NHS and social care to provide the best treatment and care for patients and tackling health disparities through national and system interventions such as the NHS England Core20PLUS5 programme.
We have published our initial report ‘Major Conditions Strategy: Case for change and our strategic framework’ which identifies the importance of tackling inequalities to improve health outcomes, and is available at the following link:
Core20PLUS5 is a national NHS England approach to inform action to reduce healthcare inequalities at both national and system level. The approach focuses on improving cardiovascular disease, cancer, respiratory, maternity, and mental health outcomes in the poorest 20 percent of the population, along with ethnic minorities and inclusion health groups. Further information is available at the following link:
The approach has now been adapted to apply to children and young people, with further information available at the following link:
NHS England has recently published a framework for National Health Service action on digital inclusion to help NHS staff enable and encourage greater access to and improved experiences of healthcare, and increased adoption of digital approaches where that is appropriate. The framework can be accessed at the following link:
Inclusion health groups are also known to experience poor health literacy and digital exclusion. On 9 October NHS England also published its inclusion health framework to support the NHS to meet the needs of people in these groups. The framework can be accessed at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/a-national-framework-for-nhs-action-on-inclusion-health/
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had discussions with relevant stakeholders on the potential merits of prioritising earlier detection of heart failure as part of the Major Conditions Strategy.
Answered by Will Quince
We have heard from a wide range of stakeholders, and their views are informing the development of the Major Conditions Strategy (MCS). This will include the responses we have received following the call for evidence.
We are engaging across the conditions in the MCS rather than individually; therefore, specific conversations prioritising earlier detection of heart failure have not taken place.
From April 2022, Primary Care Networks have been required to support earlier identification of heart failure and better management of cholesterol to prevent heart failure.