Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review report First Do No Harm, published on 8 July 2020, what steps they will take to provide monetary compensation for people adversely affected by clinical and surgical pelvic mesh.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Dissolution. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to generate real-world data on any future RSV immunisation programme for older adults and infants and, if so, how such data would be used to inform future eligibility.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK Health Security Agency monitors national immunisation programmes in England, and will monitor the implementation of any future protection immunisation programmes for older adults and infants. This includes immunisation coverage, immunisation effectiveness at preventing disease, including the duration of the protective effect, the overall impact of the immunisation programme, and any safety signals. This real-world data will be shared with the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation and the Department, to inform future policy including future eligibility.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the UK Radiotherapy Board report Recovering radiotherapy services in England: Our plan for action, published in May, what assessment they have made of the finding that "a relatively small increase in staff funding would make a big difference to patient care".
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Whilst no assessment has been made of this finding, the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan (LTWP) sets out the steps the National Health Service and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. It will put the workforce on a sustainable footing for the long term.
The Government is backing the LTWP with over £2.4 billion over the next five years, to fund additional education and training places. This is on top of increases to education and training investment, reaching a record total of £6.1 billion over the next two years. By significantly expanding domestic education, training, and recruitment, we will have more healthcare professionals working in the NHS. This will include more doctors and nurses, alongside an expansion in a range of other professions, including more staff working in new roles. The LTWP also commits to reform and modernise the way staff work, and harness new technology and innovations to increase productivity and make sure staff can spend more time with patients.
In January 2024 there were 35,252 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff in the cancer workforce, an increase of 60.7% since January 2010. This includes 8,142 FTE consultants in January 2024, an increase of 69.6% since January 2010. There are 3,144 FTE therapeutic radiographers working in NHS trusts and other core organisations in England. This is 4.3% more than in 2023, 14.6% more than in 2019, and 55.2% more than in 2010.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to work with NHS England and with the devolved administrations to ensure that socioeconomic benefits from immunisation, including those relating to productivity, can be fully realised in the UK.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department continues to work across the health system, with the devolved administrations, to deliver robust, cost-effective programmes which benefit public health. The Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advises on the approach to immunisation, and also evaluates opportunities to deliver robust, cost-effective programmes that protect public health. Investments in vaccines and other health interventions are assessed for cost effectiveness within a broader framework that allows one intervention to be assessed fairly alongside another.
While the JCVI does not consider productivity and economic outcomes, the Department can still opt to consider the productivity and economic impacts of immunisation, where this is judged to be an important additional consideration, in line with His Majesty's Treasury’s Green Book guidance.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to evaluate and understand the impact of immunisation programmes on productivity and economic outcomes.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department continues to work across the health system, with the devolved administrations, to deliver robust, cost-effective programmes which benefit public health. The Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advises on the approach to immunisation, and also evaluates opportunities to deliver robust, cost-effective programmes that protect public health. Investments in vaccines and other health interventions are assessed for cost effectiveness within a broader framework that allows one intervention to be assessed fairly alongside another.
While the JCVI does not consider productivity and economic outcomes, the Department can still opt to consider the productivity and economic impacts of immunisation, where this is judged to be an important additional consideration, in line with His Majesty's Treasury’s Green Book guidance.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to review eligibility for any future RSV immunisation programme, and whether such a review would be based on timing or on assessment of data.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government have made a policy decision on the eligibility of a potential respiratory snncytial virus (RSV) programme, which is in line with the Joint Committee of Vaccination and Immunisation’s (JCVI) September 2023 advice.
When a new immunisation programme is introduced, policy decisions are made about who the National Health Service will offer the immunisation to. These decisions are based on the advice and recommendations of the JCVI. The eligibility of an immunisation programme is not reviewed in a time-based manner, although the JCVI keeps all immunisation programmes and advice under review and can update its advice based on new and emerging data.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to support NHS England’s pilot to reduce the faecal immunochemical test threshold for the Bowel Cancer Screening Programme from 120µg/g to 80µg/g; and whether they have had discussions with NHS England regarding geographical areas for the pilot.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to improving the NHS Bowel Screening programme, and welcome NHS England’s plans for pilot areas, which will reduce the faecal immunochemical test (FIT) down to 80µg/g. NHS England plans to publish an Expression of Interest to give all bowel screening services, and their partner symptomatic endoscopy providers, an opportunity to submit their interest in becoming a FIT@80 pilot site. These pilot sites are planned to be selected and launched later in 2024/25, and attention will be paid to ensure there is regional variation across the pilot sites selected.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Royal College of Radiologists report Clinical Radiology Workforce Census 2022, published on 8 June 2023, what steps they will take to address the shortfall in clinical oncologists in England.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan (LTWP) sets out the steps the National Health Service and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. It will put the workforce on a sustainable footing for the long term.
We are building our cancer workforce. In January 2024 there were over 35,200 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff in the cancer workforce, an increase of over 13,300, or 60.7% since January 2010.
Regarding clinical oncology specifically, as of January 2024, there are currently over 1,600 FTE doctors working in the speciality of clinical oncology in NHS trusts and other core organisations in England. This is 2.2% more than last year, 27.7% more than 2019, and 66.5% more than in 2010. This includes over 900 FTE consultants. This is 5.1% more than last year, 22.0% more than in 2019, and 80.2% more than in 2010.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to (1) the recent Royal College of Radiologists’ Radiotherapy Briefing, published in May, and (2) the HERO (Health Economics in Radiation Oncology) report by the UK Radiotherapy Board, published on 2 May, what is their current assessment of the state of radiotherapy services in England.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
According to the latest data, of those 10,328 cancer patients referred for first or subsequent treatment for radiotherapy in March 2024, 89.7% were treated within 31 days. Since 2016, there has been significant investment in radiotherapy equipment, so that every radiotherapy provider had access to modern, cutting-edge radiotherapy equipment, enabling the rollout of new techniques like stereotactic ablative radiotherapy. The total central investment made between 2016 and 2021 was £162 million, and enabled the replacement or upgrade of approximately 100 radiotherapy treatment machines. This is investment on top of that committed by National Health Service trusts, either from their own capital budgets or via donations.
From April 2022, the responsibility for investing in new radiotherapy machines sits with local systems. As outlined in the 2024/25 NHS Planning Guidance, NHS England is providing over £266 million in cancer service development funding to Cancer Alliances, to support delivery of the operational priorities for cancer. This is supported by the 2021 Spending Review, which set aside £12 billion in operational capital for the NHS.
The Department is working closely with NHS England to make sure we have the right workforce with the right skills up and down the country. We are building our cancer workforce. In January 2024 there were over 35,200 full-time equivalent staff in the cancer workforce, an increase of over 13,300, or 60.7% since January 2010.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made towards ensuring that people with cancer who require radiotherapy treatment can start treatment within their target of 31 days.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are seeing continued high levels of urgent cancer referrals, with over 12,000 urgent referrals seen for suspected cancer per working day in March 2024, compared to approximately 9,000 in March 2019. In March 2023, 89.7% of patients received a first or subsequent radiotherapy treatment within 31 days of a decision to treat, which is 0.6% higher than last year. From March 2023/24, 127,336 people received a first or subsequent radiotherapy treatment, which is 1,359 more than the previous year.
The Government continues to work with NHS England on implementing the Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of 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.
We are building our cancer workforce. In January 2024 there were over 35,200 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff in the cancer workforce, an increase of over 13,300, or 60.7% since January 2010. This includes over 8,100 FTE consultants in January 2024, an increase of over 3,300, or 69.6% since January 2010.
Since 2016, the Department has invested £162 million into cutting-edge radiotherapy equipment to replace or upgrade more than 100 radiotherapy treatment machines, so we can deliver the best possible outcomes for patients. From April 2022, the responsibility for investing in new radiotherapy machines sits with local systems.