Asked by: Abena Oppong-Asare (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department is taking to facilitate research into dementia.
Answered by Will Quince
The Government is strongly committed to supporting research into dementia. Through partnerships with patients, researchers, funders, and charities we continue to play a significant role in global efforts against the disease.
In 2019, we committed to double funding for dementia research. We will double funding for dementia research to £160 million per year by 2024/25. The Department funds research via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and has invested in a range of activities to facilitate research into dementia.
On 14 August 2022, the former Prime Minister publicly launched the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission, along with £95 million government funding, to speed up the development of new treatments. As part of the Dementia Mission, the Department is investing in the NIHR Dementia Translational Research Collaboration which seeks to expand the United Kingdom’s early phase clinical trial capabilities in dementia.
The NIHR has invested in the Three Schools Dementia Programme, a collaborative programme worth £4.5 million between the Schools for Social Care, Public Health and Primary Care Research enabling research and capacity building in the field of dementia.
The NIHR and Alzheimer’s Society invested £7.5 million funding to support a cohort of post-doctoral health and care researchers across the 15 NIHR Applied Research Collaborations in England. Additionally, the NIHR has confirmed funding, alongside charity partners, for the continuation of Dementia Researcher, a resource that supports all early career researchers working in dementia.
Asked by: Abena Oppong-Asare (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)
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 adequacy of the availability of fully accessible toilets in NHS hospitals; and what steps he is taking to help ensure adequate provision for staff, patients and local communities.
Answered by Will Quince
No assessment has been made of the adequacy of the availability of fully accessible toilets in National Health Service hospitals. NHS organisations are responsible for providing appropriate toilet facilities for the users of their sites. This must be consistent with relevant guidance and legislation including the Building Regulations Part M, volume 2 and Health Building Note (HBN) 00-02: Sanitary spaces.
NHS England has included questions in their Patient Led Assessment of the Care Environment data collection which includes assessment of the provision of Changing Places toilets, which allow access to toilets large enough to allow space for a wheelchair and carer, including staff, to assist when the door is closed.
Asked by: Abena Oppong-Asare (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to increase (a) early diagnosis and (b) survival rates of pancreatic cancer.
Answered by Will Quince
In January 2019, NHS England published the NHS Long Term Plan which set the ambition to diagnose 75% of cancers at stage one and two by 2023, when it is easier to treat and increases survival outcomes.
To achieve this ambition, the Department is working with NHS England to increase early diagnosis and survival rates for those with cancer, including pancreatic cancer, 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, as set out in the Elective Recovery Plan published in February 2022. In addition, the Government has awarded £2.3 billion to transform diagnostic services over the next three years, most of which will help increase the number of Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) up to 160 by March 2025, prioritising CDCs for cancer services.
The National Health Service has implemented ‘non-specific symptom pathways’ for patients who have symptoms that do not align to a particular type of tumour, including for non-specific symptoms of pancreatic cancer. There are 103 pathways currently in place with the aim to have national coverage by March 2024.
To encourage people to see their general practitioner if they notice symptoms that could be cancer, NHS England runs the ‘Help Us, Help You’ campaigns, which address the barriers that deter patients from accessing the NHS. In addition, the NHS has allocated £10 million to innovations to support earlier and more efficient diagnosis, including the PinPoint blood test and a new genetic test that can be used as a ‘liquid biopsy’ for those with suspected pancreatic cancer.
Asked by: Abena Oppong-Asare (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on doubling dementia research funding by 2024-5.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We will double funding for dementia research to £160 million per year by 2024/25. This will span all areas of research, from causes and prevention to treatment and care, delivering evidence to help prevent, diagnose and treat dementia, enabling the best possible care and quality of life for people with dementia.
In 2021/22, the total Government spend on dementia research was £80.3 million. Recent progress to meet the commitment includes the launch of the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission, which aims to speed up the development of new treatments, supported by £95 million of Government funding; £131 million committed to the next five years of the UK Dementia Research Institute; and £11 million investment into digital innovations to detect and diagnose dementia.
Asked by: Abena Oppong-Asare (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)
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 17 May 2023 to Question 185714 on Defibrillators: Information, what the criteria are for determining a selected partner for the Automated External Defibrillator Fund.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department will invite bids from those suppliers who are on the Governments Crown Commercial Service list of approved suppliers. The managing partner for the Automated External Defibrillator Fund will be selected during the tender and evaluation exercise based on their response to the draft specification which was published by the Department on 26 May 2023, which is available at the following link:
https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/2c6e4cd1-3302-448d-8ebe-2795fb996843
Asked by: Abena Oppong-Asare (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on (a) trends in the level of and (b) the nature of incidents of vandalism of public defibrillators in each London borough in (i) the last six months, (ii) the last 12 months, (iii) the last 18 months and (iv) since 2010.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not held centrally and no assessment has been made. The Government has agreed to provide funding of £1 million to design a grant scheme for the expansion of automated external defibrillators that expands the number and accessibility of publicly supported access to defibrillators. As part of the criteria for the process of determining a selected partner for the Automated External Defibrillator Fund, the Department will ensure public defibrillators can be readily understood by members of the public. Successful grant bidders will be encouraged to train or facilitate the training of the local community in cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Asked by: Abena Oppong-Asare (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many public defibrillators have been deployed in Greater London in (a) the last six months b) the last 12 months, (c) the last 18 months and (d) since 2010.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not held centrally and no assessment has been made. The Government has agreed to provide funding of £1 million to design a grant scheme for the expansion of automated external defibrillators that expands the number and accessibility of publicly supported access to defibrillators. As part of the criteria for the process of determining a selected partner for the Automated External Defibrillator Fund, the Department will ensure public defibrillators can be readily understood by members of the public. Successful grant bidders will be encouraged to train or facilitate the training of the local community in cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Asked by: Abena Oppong-Asare (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many public defibrillators are operational in each London Boroughs.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not held centrally and no assessment has been made. The Government has agreed to provide funding of £1 million to design a grant scheme for the expansion of automated external defibrillators that expands the number and accessibility of publicly supported access to defibrillators. As part of the criteria for the process of determining a selected partner for the Automated External Defibrillator Fund, the Department will ensure public defibrillators can be readily understood by members of the public. Successful grant bidders will be encouraged to train or facilitate the training of the local community in cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Asked by: Abena Oppong-Asare (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the extent to which instructions for usage on public defibrillators can be readily understood by members of the public; and if he will take steps to make those instructions easier to understand.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not held centrally and no assessment has been made. The Government has agreed to provide funding of £1 million to design a grant scheme for the expansion of automated external defibrillators that expands the number and accessibility of publicly supported access to defibrillators. As part of the criteria for the process of determining a selected partner for the Automated External Defibrillator Fund, the Department will ensure public defibrillators can be readily understood by members of the public. Successful grant bidders will be encouraged to train or facilitate the training of the local community in cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Asked by: Abena Oppong-Asare (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)
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 safeguard private care home residents from being subject to hidden costs for their care.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government agrees that transparency is important in enabling people to make informed decisions about the support that is right for them and that they should be able to compare providers more easily. We are exploring ways to allow better, more transparent feedback about services and offer other comparative information, including on price. This includes considering a new requirement for providers regulated by the Care Quality Commission to be more transparent about their fees and any additional costs. Any new requirement would be a legislative change and would need the appropriate legislative vehicle to be identified.