Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Hitchin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many cases of postnatal depression involved (a) engagement with and (b) mental health assessment of the woman’s partner by the relevant service in the most recent 12-month period for which data is available.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Hitchin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will publish data on the number of (a) fathers who have accessed perinatal mental health services and (b) maternity outreach clinics that offer (i) evidence-based mental health assessments and (ii) signposting.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Hitchin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to increase availability of Givinostat for children.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department understands the impact that Duchenne muscular dystrophy has on those living with it and their families, and the urgent need for new treatment options. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new licensed medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS independently based on an assessment of their costs and benefits. The NHS in England is legally required to fund medicines recommended by the NICE, normally within three months of the publication of final guidance. The NICE is currently evaluating givinostat for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy and its independent Appraisal Committee will meet to consider the evidence in July 2025.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Hitchin)
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 support NHS trusts to (a) recognise and (b) involve fathers as parents in (i) maternity and (ii) early childhood services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service’s three-year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal services recognises that listening and responding to all women, their partners and families, is an essential part of enabling and delivering safe and high-quality care. There are multiple initiatives in place that recognise and involve the role of fathers and other parents. These initiatives include:
- ensuring that fathers’ perspectives shape improvements to services and care, through Maternity and Neonatal Voice Partnerships;
- encouraging fathers’ involvement in the care for their babies in neonatal units, through Family Integrated Care, helping to strengthen the parent-infant bond and infant health outcomes;
- providing evidence-based assessments and support for partners, including fathers, through Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Services. This has helped 5% to 10% of fathers experiencing mental health conditions during the perinatal period;
- health visiting services that are parent focussed and which include both mothers and fathers, and which are including in perinatal mental health support; and
- the Department announcing £126 million for the continuation of the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme for 2025/26 in 75 local authorities with high levels of deprivation in January 2025. This includes £36.5 million for bespoke perinatal mental health and parent-infant relationship support, including for fathers.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Hitchin)
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 ensure that NHS services (a) engage with new fathers and (b) record their details alongside the mothers in their baby's health records.
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 Livingston on 31 March 2025 to Question 38280.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Hitchin)
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 potential benefits of making prostate cancer screening mandatory.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
Screening for prostate cancer is currently not recommended by the UK National Screening Committees (UK NSC). This is because of the inaccuracy of the current best test, called the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA). A PSA-based screening programme could harm some men as many would be diagnosed with a cancer that would not have caused them problems during their life. This would lead to additional tests and treatments which can also have harmful side effects, such as sexual dysfunction and incontinence.
The UK NSC regularly reviews its recommendations, and the evidence review for prostate cancer screening is underway and plans to report within the UK NSC’s three-year work plan.
The evidence review includes modelling the clinical effectiveness and cost of several approaches to prostate cancer screening, including different potential ways of screening the whole population from 40 years of age onwards, and targeted screening aimed at groups of people identified as being at higher than average risk, such as black men or men with a family history of cancer.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Hitchin)
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 on the provision of Enhurtu to Her2 low metastatic breast cancer patients.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department’s ministers and officials have had a number of recent meetings at which the issue of the availability of Enhertu for the treatment of HER2 low metastatic breast cancer has been discussed, including with Breast Cancer Now and other campaigners.
The Government wants patients to be able to benefit from access to innovative and effective new treatments such as Enhertu at a price that fairly reflects the benefits that they bring to patients, and does not displace funding for other valuable treatments and services. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and NHS England have been clear with the companies that the price represents the main barrier to access to Enhertu for patients with HER2 low breast cancer, and we encourage the companies to come forward with an improved commercial offer.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Hitchin)
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 reduce waiting times for non-cancerous gynaecological services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Tackling waiting lists is a key part of our Health Mission and a top priority for the Government, as we get the National Health Service back on its feet. Equality of both access to care and outcomes will be at the heart of building an NHS that is fit for the future. This includes ensuring that women’s health is not neglected.
We have committed to achieving the NHS Constitutional standard that 92% of patients should wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment by the end of this Parliament, which includes those waiting for gynaecology treatment. To achieve this, we will deliver an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments per week, and will increase the number of computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and other tests, that are needed to reduce elective and cancer waits. This urgent work will help the nearly 600,000 women on gynaecology waiting lists get the care they need.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Hitchin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to shorten the diagnosis time for endometriosis.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Endometriosis is a common gynaecological condition, estimated to affect one in 10 women of reproductive age. Endometriosis can significantly impact women and girls’ physical and mental health, and anyone with symptoms of endometriosis should contact their general practice.
Cutting waiting lists is a key priority for the Government, and we are committed to prioritising women’s health as we build a National Health Service fit for the future. We will deliver an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments per week, as a first step in our commitment to ensuring patients can expect to be treated within 18 weeks.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Hitchin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to improve access to clinical trials for those affected by brain tumours.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The Department is committed to implementing the recommendations of Lord O'Shaughnessy’s review into commercial clinical trials, making sure that the United Kingdom leads the world in clinical trials, and ensuring that innovative, lifesaving treatments are accessible to National Health Service patients, including those with brain tumours.
The Department funded National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) funds research and research infrastructure, which supports patients and the public to participate in high-quality research.
In addition, the NIHR provides an online service called Be Part of Research, which promotes participation in health and social care research by allowing users to search for relevant studies and register their interest. This makes it easier for people to find and take part in health and care research that is relevant to them.
When designing research studies, researchers consider inclusion and exclusion criteria carefully to ensure they are not unnecessarily excluding specific groups who would benefit from the outcome of their study. The Health Research Authority is developing guidance to improve practices in this area.