Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing chiropractors to people with musculoskeletal conditions to help increase the number of people in work.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England does not currently support or nationally commission chiropractic care in the National Health Service. Integrated care boards are able to make independent decisions on which health professionals they employ and may commission a limited amount of chiropractic services.
There are no current plans in the Department or NHS England to review the categorisation of chiropractic care as a complementary and alternative medicine. The Government has no plans to conduct further research into the potential merits of integrating chiropractic care into the national musculoskeletal health strategy.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will (a) reevaluate the categorisation of chiropractic care as a complementary and alternative medicine and (b) conduct further research into the potential merits of integrating chiropractic into the national musculoskeletal health strategy.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England does not currently support or nationally commission chiropractic care in the National Health Service. Integrated care boards are able to make independent decisions on which health professionals they employ and may commission a limited amount of chiropractic services.
There are no current plans in the Department or NHS England to review the categorisation of chiropractic care as a complementary and alternative medicine. The Government has no plans to conduct further research into the potential merits of integrating chiropractic care into the national musculoskeletal health strategy.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
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 changes to death certification process support in (a) Newcastle-under-Lyme constituency, (b) Staffordshire and (c) England.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is monitoring the impact of the death certification reforms, which came into legal effect on 9 September 2024, but has not made a specific assessment of the impact of the reforms in the Newcastle-under-Lyme constituency or Staffordshire.
The median time taken to register a death since the introduction of the reforms in England and Wales has typically been eight days. This figure is for all deaths, as it includes those certified by a doctor and those investigated by a coroner. The median time taken to register a death varies depending on the type of certification. Deaths certified by a doctor, that comprise approximately 80% of deaths registered each week, have typically had a median time to registration of seven days. It is important to note that the medical examiner system was active on a non-statutory basis before the introduction of the statutory system on 9 September, and this makes direct before and after comparisons challenging to draw conclusions from.
The core purposes of the death certification reforms are to introduce scrutiny of the cause of death to detect and deter malpractice, to improve reporting, and crucially to put the bereaved at the centre of the process by offering a conversation with the medical examiner about the cause of death. The expectation on doctors and medical examiners is clear, that they should complete certification as quickly and efficiently as possible, and the Government is working with all stakeholders to make sure this is the case.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
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 improve early diagnosis of osteoporosis.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
Funding was recently announced to boost bone density scanning capacity, to support improvements in bone health and early diagnostics for musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions, such as osteoporosis. This will provide an estimated 29,000 extra scans per year.
As announced in the Get Britain Working white paper, we are delivering the joint Department for Work and Pensions, Department of Health and Social Care, and NHS England’s Getting It Right First-Time (GIRFT) MSK Community Delivery Programme. With a £3.5 million funding boost, GIRFT teams will deploy their proven Further Faster model to work with integrated care board leaders to further reduce MSK community waiting times, including for those with osteoporosis, and improve data, metrics, and referral pathways to wider support services.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the adequacy of the Disabled Facilities Grant.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
My rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has meetings with Cabinet colleagues on a range of health and social care issues.
We are giving older and disabled people more independence in their own homes through an immediate in-year uplift to the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) of £86 million in 2024/25. This increase will provide around 7,800 additional home adaptations. This is on top of the £625 million paid to local authorities in May 2024. The Government also announced an £86 million additional investment in the DFG for 2025/26 at the Budget, bringing total funding for 2025/26 to £711 million also.
To ensure the DFG is as effective as possible, we will continue to keep different aspects of the grant under consideration. As part of this, we are reviewing the suitability of the current upper limit and will set out further detail in due course.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
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 allow up-to date medical information to be shared between the NHS and care staff in (a) Newcastle-under-Lyme constituency and (b) Staffordshire.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
At a national level, in partnership with NHS England, the Department is building the foundations for improved information sharing between care and health staff. Digital social care records, that contain a person’s care information, are now in use by more than 72% of Care Quality Commission-registered care providers, from a starting point of 41% in December 2021. We recently set out our ambition that all care providers will be fully digitised by the end of this Parliament.
Within the coming months, all assured Digital Social Care Records will also enable medical information to be shared with social care providers through GP Connect, which provides a restricted view of a person’s general practice (GP) record to social care staff for direct care purposes, where there is consent for the data to be shared. Access to this information improves the quality and safety of care and saves time, currently spent on the phone waiting to speak to GP surgeries.
In Newcastle-under-Lyme and Staffordshire, the One Health and Care shared care record enables medical information sharing for direct care purposes across health and social care. This initiative has been in place since 2020. There is not currently a consistent way for information held by social care providers to be shared, and from April 2025, we will begin work to establish a national shared platform that enables this essential information sharing and ensures health and care staff can access real-time social care, GP, and hospital data, providing access to essential medical information in a timely way. This could include when someone last took their medication, or whether there’s been a change to their care regimen. By linking up systems, NHS and care staff will have access to the latest information, speeding up and improving care both in health and in care settings.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
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 the support given to people who have experienced a (a) severe adverse reaction and (b) bereavement after receiving a vaccine on levels of vaccine hesitancy.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The United Kingdom has one of the most extensive immunisation programmes in the world, with uptake rates amongst the highest globally.
No specific assessment has been made of the impact of the support given to people who have experienced a severe adverse reaction or bereavement after receiving a vaccine on levels of vaccine hesitancy. However, to assess public confidence in vaccinations programmes more generally, the UK Health Security Agency undertakes research to understand how knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes towards immunisation, vaccine safety, and disease severity influence vaccine uptake. And to ensure that those being offered vaccines are aware of the potential benefits and side effects of vaccines, public-facing information is provided in multiple languages and accessible formats, with training standards provided for healthcare professionals who will support the consent process.
The Government remains committed to addressing challenges around vaccine confidence and to improving vaccination uptake rates to fully protect the public from preventable diseases.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the the adequacy of the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) continues to process a significant number of claims, with 11,251 claims related to COVID-19, adult flu, and other diseases processed between 1 November 2021 and 13 December 2024.
The Department is working with the NHS Business Services Authority, the administrators of the scheme, to take steps to improve the VDPS by modernising operations, improving claimants’ experiences, and processing claims at a faster rate.
Ministers have also met with the families of those who have suffered harm following COVID-19 vaccination, many of whom raised the need for reform of the VDPS. Whilst any changes to the VDPS may need to be a cross-Government decision, ministers have agreed to look closely at the issues raised.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with the School and Public Health Nurses Association on the number of school nurses in schools in (a) Newcastle-under-Lyme constituency, (b) Staffordshire and (c) England.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
We are committed to creating the healthiest generation of children ever. The child health workforce, including school nurses, who lead the delivery of the Healthy Child Programme for five to 19-year-olds, is central to how we support children, young people, and families.
We are also committed to training the staff we need to ensure everyone receives care from the right professional, when and where they need it. We will need to do this in the context of the 10-Year Plan.
Local authorities are best placed to determine local workforce needs, as they know their communities best. Determining the skills and workforce requirements should be underpinned by a local plan, and led by the area’s identified health needs.
The Chief Public Health Nurse Office has established a programme of work which aims to improve the delivery of the Healthy Child Programme, which includes school nursing.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
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 merits of a 21-day diagnosis-to-treatment pathway for people with pancreatic cancer.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale on 24 October 2024 to Question 10063.