Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help support (a) hospice and (b) other end-of-life services.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of the Health and Care Act 2022, the Government added palliative care services to the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission, promoting a more consistent national approach, and supporting commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care.
The majority of palliative and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services. However, we also recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, play in providing support to people at end of life, and their families. Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing NHS services. The amount of funding hospices receive is dependent on many factors, including what other statutory services are available within the ICB footprint. Charitable hospices provide a range of services which go beyond that which statutory services are legally required to provide, and consequently, the funding arrangements reflect this.
To support ICBs, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications for both adults and children. NHS England has also commissioned the development of a palliative and end of life care dashboard, which brings together relevant, all age local data in one place. The dashboard helps commissioners understand the palliative and end of life care needs of both adults and children in their local population, enabling ICBs to put plans in place to address and track the improvement of health inequalities.
NHS England has also funded seven strategic clinical networks for palliative and end of life care. These networks support commissioners in the delivery of outstanding clinical and personalised care for people in the last years of life, and reduce local variation.
At a national level, NHS England has confirmed it will renew the Children and Young People’s hospice funding for 2024/25, again allocating £25 million of grant funding for children’s hospices, using the same prevalence-based allocation approach as in 2022/23 and 2023/24. The Government has provided £60 million of additional funding to help deliver the one-off payments to over 27,000 eligible staff employed on dynamically linked Agenda for Change contracts by non-NHS organisations, including some hospices.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding support her Department is providing to Integrated Care Boards on the operation of (a) hospices, (b) palliative care and (c) end-of-life services.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The majority of palliative and end of life care is provided by core National Health Service staff and services. However, we also recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, play in providing support to people at end of life, and their families. Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing NHS services.
The amount of funding hospices receive is dependent on many factors, including what other statutory services are available within the integrated care board (ICB) footprint. Charitable hospices provide a range of services which go beyond that which statutory services are legally required to provide, and consequently, the funding arrangements reflect this.
However, since 2020, NHS England has provided hospices with over £350 million to secure and increase NHS capacity, and to support hospital discharge, as part of the COVID-19 response. In addition, since 2021/22, nearly £63 million has been provided to children’s hospices as part of the Children and Young People’s Hospice Grant. Furthermore, additional investment in children and young people’s palliative and end of life care, including hospices, has also been made through the NHS Long Term Plan’s commitment to match-fund clinical commissioning groups, and subsequently ICBs, totalling over £23 million.
As set out in the Health and Care Act 2022, ICBs are responsible for determining the level of NHS-funded palliative and end of life care locally, including hospice care, and are responsible for ensuring that the services they commission meet the needs of their local population.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of outsourcing dialysis services in Lambeth on patient care.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Any service changes should be based on clear evidence that they will deliver better patient outcomes.
Within Lambeth, patients who will receive dialysis at the new site in Brixton will receive care in a significantly improved environment within brand new facilities in a great example of innovative public/private partnership.
NHS England has established the Renal Services Transformation Programme to reduce unwarranted variation in the quality and accessibility of renal care.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the report entitled A comparison of the care of Asian and White women who have experienced a stillbirth or neonatal death, published by the MBRRACE-UK Perinatal Confidential Enquiry on 14 December 2023, what recent discussions her Department has had with NHS England on ensuring that women (a) from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and (b) at risk of premature birth are offered the (i) tests and (ii) medication that are recommended by NHS guidelines.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Departmental and NHS England colleagues meet regularly to discuss initiatives to reduce disparities in maternity and neonatal outcomes, and pre-term births. NHS England has invested £6.8 million into their Equity and Equality guidance, which focuses on actions to reduce disparities for women and babies, including for those living in the most deprived areas. It sets out actions and expectations on Local Maternity and Neonatal Systems to consider complex social factors and adhere to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guidelines regarding maternity care.
All National Health Service trusts are now implementing the Saving Babies’ Lives Care Bundle (SBLCB), which provides up-to-date, evidence-based best practice regarding reducing perinatal mortality, including guidance around reducing preterm birth. The SBLCB recommends a universal risk assessment of all women for preterm birth at their antenatal booking appointment, with those at higher and intermediate risk being offered a care pathway designed to reduce the chances of preterm birth.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to ensure that seriously ill children and their families can access information on how to access emotional and psychological support.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The clinical team responsible for a seriously ill child’s physical healthcare should discuss and review their emotional and psychological status regularly with them, or their family, and support them with access to information and services for their mental health if needed. Commissioners are encouraged to ensure local pathways include assessment and ongoing support of patients’ mental and psychological wellbeing and cognitive status.
The Health and Care Act 2022 placed a legal duty on integrated care boards (ICBs) to commission palliative and end of life care services, which meet the needs of their whole population. To support ICBs in this, NHS England has published statutory guidance, along with service specifications for children and young people, which make reference to including a holistic approach to care. This includes links to social prescribing, assessing, and addressing the needs of children, young people and families, and clear referral pathways to other services such as children and young people’s mental health services. The statutory guidance and the service specifications for children and young people are available respectively at the following links:
Patients’ family members who feel they need emotional and psychological support should speak to their general practice, or can self-refer to NHS Talking Therapies online. Details are available on the NHS website.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to paragraph 4.2 of the report entitled A comparison of the care of Asian and White women who have experienced a stillbirth or neonatal death, published by the MBRRACE-UK Perinatal Confidential Enquiry on 14 December 2023, whether her Department has had discussions with NHS England on taking steps to improve how ethnicity data is recorded.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department has regular and ongoing discussions with NHS England, and other relevant bodies, on improving neonatal and maternity data quality. This includes discussions on how to improve the recording of ethnicity data. NHS Equity and Equality Guidance, produced as part of NHS England’s three-year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal services, includes ethnic coding data completeness to better understand local populations and their health outcomes. Ethnic coding data completeness has improved year on year, from 85% in 2019 to 93% in 2022.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has taken steps with NHS England to ensure that parents who have experienced stillbirth or neonatal death are (a) encouraged and (b) supported to (i) ask questions and (ii) talk about their experience as part of the NHS review of their care.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Perinatal Mortality Review Tool (PMRT) provides robust and standardised reviews for bereaved parents about why their baby died. The tool’s aim is to also ensure local and national learning to improve care and prevent future baby deaths. All trusts and health boards across England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland are using the PMRT.
On 14 December 2023, Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK published their fifth annual PMRT report. The report found that most trusts and health boards ensure all bereaved parents were made aware of the PMRT and review process in their unit, and 95% reported that they offer parents the opportunity to share their thoughts, questions, or concerns about any aspect of their care for the review to address.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential impact long covid has had on sufferers of the condition.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Long COVID is a complex condition, affecting multiple systems within the body. Commonly reported symptoms include fatigue, shortness of breath, cognitive impairment, and muscle pain.
NHS England has invested £314 million to expand long COVID treatment in the National Health Service and rehabilitation services, establishing 100 long COVID services for adults and 13 specialist paediatric hubs for children and young people. These assess people with long COVID and direct them into appropriate care pathways which provide appropriate support and treatment.
The Government has also invested over £50 million into long COVID research. The projects aim to improve our understanding of the diagnosis and underlying mechanisms of the disease and the effectiveness of both pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies and interventions, and to evaluate clinical care.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when her Department plans to adopt (a) 3D Mammography and (b) other new cancer screening technologies.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) is aware of research into the use of three-dimensional (3D) mammography and the growing interest to use artificial intelligence (AI) in the National Health Service breast screening programme. Guidance has been published on GOV.UK on the use of Tomosynthesis 3D imaging in a clinical trial setting as part of the NHS breast screening programme.
The UK NSC had also worked with Health Technology Assessments to design an evaluation of existing AI in a prospective study to look at whether it could be used to read breast screening mammograms.
There are currently no plans to adopt these technologies, but evidence to inform a UK NSC decision on the use of 3D mammography and AI in the NHS breast screening programme will be reviewed by the Committee when available.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of lowering the breast cancer screening age to 40.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) currently recommends that all women aged from 50 years old up to their 71st birthday are invited for breast every three years, which are the parameters used for the national breast screening programme in England. There are circumstances where some women are offered screening more regularly, or outside this age bracket, for example those known to be at very high risk of breast cancer.
A research trial, AgeX, has been looking at the effectiveness of offering some women one extra screen between the ages of 47 and 49, and one between the ages of 71 and 73. The UK NSC will review the results of this trial as soon as they are available.