Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
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 merits of expanding the swap to stop scheme to include smoking cessation products such as nicotine replacement therapies.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Swap to Stop programme has been developed to provide smokers with more choice by providing the option of accessing free vapes to support quit attempts. This offer includes expert support provided by local stop smoking services.
Medicinally licensed nicotine replacement therapies are already available to smokers via prescription or voucher. Stop smoking service data suggests that 69% of 176,566 stop smoking service users accessed licensed nicotine replacement therapy in 2022/23. Whilst there is not currently a medicinally licensed vape, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency stands ready to support a future medicinally licensed vaping product should industry come forward with a successful candidate.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
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 extending prescribing rights for stop smoking medicines to (a) dentists, (b) opticians and (c) specialist nurses.
Answered by Will Quince
On 4 October 2023, as part of the Prime Minister’s smokefree generation announcement, the Government also announced an additional £70 million of funding per year to local stop smoking services to help even more people to quit smoking. Local authorities will work with a range of local partners to deliver this. The announcement is available at the following link:
Dentists are all qualified prescribers. Several health professions can undertake training to independently prescribe including nurses and optometrists. This allows healthcare professionals who have the necessary skills and experience to prescribe within their area of professional competence. These professionals would need to have the necessary skills in prescribing nicotine replacement therapy and have been commissioned to provide the service.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Royal College of Radiologists report Clinical Radiology Workforce Census 2022, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of that report's findings on the number of consultant paediatric interventional radiology posts in (a) the UK and (b) outside London.
Answered by Will Quince
The Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) report ‘Clinical Radiology Workforce Census 2022’, published on 8 June 2023, reported that the total interventional radiology workforce grew by 15 whole time equivalent consultants, representing a 2% growth, and that there was a decrease by one consultant in paediatric interventional radiology posts.
Although the Department has not undertaken a formal assessment of the RCR report, it is already taking steps to expand the clinical radiology workforce through funding commitments and has made significant progress since investment. As of March 2023, there were 3,678 full-time equivalent consultants working in the clinical radiology specialism in National Health Service trusts and integrated care boards in England. This is an increase of 174 (5.0%) since last year and 1,404 (61.8%) since March 2010.
The Government has funded an additional 20 Specialty Training year six places for interventional radiologists in 2021/22 and 2022/23. Additionally, Health Education England (HEE) have recently started a new training pathway allowing trainees to start training in interventional radiology at Speciality Training year 1, directly from the foundation year.
In January 2023, HEE announced that nearly 900 additional medical specialty training posts have been created for this year, including more than 500 in the key areas of mental health and cancer treatment.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to take steps to review the NHS Business Services Authority policy on prescription penalty charges.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
We have no current plans to make a review. NHS Penalty Charge Notices are issued in accordance with the National Health Service (Penalty Charge) Regulations 1999.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
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 increase the equality of access to paediatric interventional radiology services; and if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of those steps on (a) survival rates and (b) life-long health complications for children eligible for this care.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Surgery in Children Clinical Reference Group (CRG) provides clinical leadership and advice to NHS England and the Surgery in Children Operational Delivery Group, including on paediatric imaging and interventional radiology.
The issues linked to the concerns raised about access to interventional radiology are to be presented to the Women and Children’s Programme of Care Steering Group on the 28 June 2023, discussed at the Surgery in Children Clinical Reference Group meeting on 14 July and will also be presented to the Surgery in Children Operational Delivery Networks to incorporate into their respective network work programmes during 2023/24.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to take steps to ensure that paediatric interventional radiology service policies are in place for all hospitals that provide paediatric services.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Surgery in Children Clinical Reference Group (CRG) provides clinical leadership and advice to NHS England and the Surgery in Children Operational Delivery Group, including on paediatric imaging and interventional radiology.
The issues linked to the concerns raised about access to interventional radiology are to be presented to the Women and Children’s Programme of Care Steering Group on the 28 June 2023, discussed at the Surgery in Children Clinical Reference Group meeting on 14 July and will also be presented to the Surgery in Children Operational Delivery Networks to incorporate into their respective network work programmes during 2023/24.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to take steps to expand national capacity for paediatric interventional radiology training.
Answered by Will Quince
As of January 2023, there were 1,584 full-time equivalent (FTE) trainee doctors working in clinical radiology services in the National Health Service in England. This is an increase of 274 (20.9%) since 2020.
The Government funded an additional 20 Specialty Training posts for interventional radiologists in 2021/22 and 2022/23. These increases have expanded the number of radiologists who can train to deliver paediatric interventional radiology.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
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 (a) improving access to paediatric interventional radiology services and (b) ensuring all hospitals have a strategy to deal with out-of-hours emergencies requiring paediatric interventional radiologists.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department will discuss these issues with NHS England.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
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 ratio of the number of paediatric interventional radiologists to the number of children.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department will discuss these issues with NHS England.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure equal access to paediatric interventional radiology services in the UK.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department will discuss these issues with NHS England.