Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
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 raise awareness of sickle cell disease amongst the Latin American and Latinx community.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to improving the lives of those living with rare diseases such as sickle cell disease. Increasing awareness of rare diseases in healthcare professionals is one of the four priorities of the UK Rare Diseases Framework. We published the annual England action plan in February 2025, where we report on the steps we have taken to advance this priority.
In England, there are approximately 17,000 people living with sickle cell disease, an inherited blood disorder with approximately 250 new cases a year. It is the fastest growing genetic condition in the country. It is generally more common in people of black African and black Caribbean heritage, 77% of patients, however, we recognise that the condition is not unique to this community and NHS England remains committed to delivering quality improvement to all patients living with sickle cell.
Our national Can You Tell its Sickle Cell campaign launched in 2022, to boost public awareness of sickle cell disease, including in the Latin American and Latinx community, and help staff better understand the condition, crises, and how to care for patients during their greatest hour of need. Co-developed with NHS England’s patient advisory group, clinical experts, and the Sickle Cell Society, the campaign included staff resources as well as hand-held patient cards distributed via haemoglobinopathy coordinating centres. The campaign was relaunched as part of Sickle Cell Awareness Month in 2025, and an information toolkit remains available on the national Campaign Resource Centre.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
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 impact of the enhanced pre-donation testing process pilot on reducing the number of deferrals for low Hb levels.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for blood donation in England. NHSBT tests donors’ haemoglobin (Hb) to ensure they are at sufficient levels to safely donate.
NHSBT has recently changed its testing to include the first line finger prick and blood drop test using copper sulphate that estimates donors’ Hb to be above the threshold for donation. If this test is failed, second line testing with venous HemoCue, a more accurate quantitative test, is carried out. If passed, a donor can donate. If failed, a donor is deferred to ensure they can replenish low iron stores to allow their Hb to improve back to safe donation thresholds.
Earlier in 2025, the peak of low Hb deferrals was greater than 12%. With the rollout of venous HemoCue across the country, this has fallen to 4.5% of donors attending per week and has remained below 5% since 15 September 2025, resulting in improved collections.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Breast Cancer Awareness Month, what steps he is taking in November 2025 to promote inclusive (a) wig and (b) prosthetic services.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department and the National Health Service in England recognise that there are particular challenges for specific groups of people and for breast cancer care, particularly concerning the promotion of inclusive wigs and prosthetic services.
For wigs and accessories, NHS Supply Chain has conducted extensive engagement nationally to fully understand the provision and supply and is working closely with industry groups to support access to the wigs framework, to provide a wider range of products for NHS providers to access. Appropriateness for the wearer has been one of the fundamental focus areas of consideration in this work.
Decisions about the funding and provision of health services, including prosthetic services, are the responsibility of local integrated care boards. NHS England funded audits into primary and metastatic breast cancer to help identify and reduce inequalities and variations in care. Using routine data collected on patients diagnosed with breast cancer in an NHS setting, the audits bring together information to look at what is being done well, where it is being done well, and what needs to be done better. Findings were published in September 2025, and the NHS is acting on the findings.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
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 a limited access to suitable (a) prosthetics and (b) wigs on ethnic minority patients; and what steps he is taking to improve access.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The current NHS Supply Chain Wigs Framework Agreement was awarded to 42 suppliers and provides a range of wigs, both real and synthetic, and headwear products to provide alternative choices to patients, as well as maintenance, styling, alteration, and repair services.
Whilst there is availability of Afro Caribbean wigs through the currently awarded suppliers, NHS Supply Chain is aware that due to the regionality of suppliers and the nature of them being predominantly micro and small to medium enterprises in many instances, patient choice and access across the United Kingdom can be subject to regional variation.
NHS Supply Chain acknowledges that there is a need to develop the framework offering to support an increase in accessibility to patients for Afro Caribbean products and services, and NHS Supply Chain is preparing to introduce enhanced specifications and a specific category for Afro Caribbean for the successor framework agreement due to launch on 1 February 2027.
NHS Supply Chain’s new Prosthetics, Components and Associated products Framework Agreement is due to launch on 24 November 2025, to replace the current Artificial Limbs framework. The new framework will offer over 95,000 products delivered by 12 suppliers to provide clinical choice to meet patient need. Ensuring that a patient has a prosthetic limb which blends with their actual skin tone is part of the routine standard of care. NHS Supply Chain works closely with the leading national charities and has not had any issues raised concerning accessing appropriate skin tone.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
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 NHS England to ensure the procurement of suitable (a) prosthetics and (b) wigs suitable for ethnic minority patients meets diverse patient needs.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The current NHS Supply Chain Wigs Framework Agreement was awarded to 42 suppliers and provides a range of wigs, both real and synthetic, and headwear products to provide alternative choices to patients, as well as maintenance, styling, alteration, and repair services.
Whilst there is availability of Afro Caribbean wigs through the currently awarded suppliers, NHS Supply Chain is aware that due to the regionality of suppliers and the nature of them being predominantly micro and small to medium enterprises in many instances, patient choice and access across the United Kingdom can be subject to regional variation.
NHS Supply Chain acknowledges that there is a need to develop the framework offering to support an increase in accessibility to patients for Afro Caribbean products and services, and NHS Supply Chain is preparing to introduce enhanced specifications and a specific category for Afro Caribbean for the successor framework agreement due to launch on 1 February 2027.
NHS Supply Chain’s new Prosthetics, Components and Associated products Framework Agreement is due to launch on 24 November 2025, to replace the current Artificial Limbs framework. The new framework will offer over 95,000 products delivered by 12 suppliers to provide clinical choice to meet patient need. Ensuring that a patient has a prosthetic limb which blends with their actual skin tone is part of the routine standard of care. NHS Supply Chain works closely with the leading national charities and has not had any issues raised concerning accessing appropriate skin tone.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
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 people with female reproductive systems are informed about symptoms of (a) ovarian and (b) other gynaecological cancers through NHS cervical screening programmes.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England works to ensure that core public information on screening is easily accessible and understandable to the public, and it regularly and systematically reviews this information.
Earlier this year, NHS England updated its cervical screening guidance to include that cervical screening is not a check for other cancers of the reproductive system, such as ovary, womb, vulval, or vaginal cancer. This guidance is available at the following link:
The guidance advises that you should not wait to contact a general practitioner if you have any concerns.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
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 support the domestic (a) collection and (b) processing of (i) blood, (ii) plasma, (iii) cells and (iv) tissues.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for blood services in England and also manages the NHS Organ Donor Register (ODR), which includes tissue donation for the supply of human tissue grafts for use in surgery. The Department provides Grant in Aid and seed funding to support NHSBT to grow and diversify donor bases, as well as its capacity to process collections.
Between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025, NHSBT met 99.9% of hospital demand for red cells from domestic collections; the remaining 0.01% of units were imported from other United Kingdom blood services.
The Department, NHSBT and NHS England worked together since 2021 to deliver an end-to-end domestic supply chain for plasma-based medicines, enabling UK plasma to be processed into lifesaving medications in specialist facilities in Europe. Since March 2025, this has increased self-sufficiency from 0% to 25% for immunoglobulins and from 0% to 80% for albumin.
The Department’s stem cell programme supports diverse recruitment of UK donors onto the UK Stem Cell Register. A global pool of donors is needed to cover the Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) diversity of the population so NHSBT works with international stem cell registries to meet patient demand.
NHSBT works to encourage people to consider signing the ODR including during the upcoming Organ Donation Week between 22 and 26 September 2025. However, there is no mandate for National Health Service establishments to acquire tissue from NHSBT therefore they can acquire from other sources, such as non-UK tissue banks.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
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 (a) bring forward modernised UK-specific legislative proposals for Substances of Human Origin (SoHO) and (b) (i) adopt and (ii) adapt relevant elements of the EU’s updated SoHO legislation.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Substances of Human Origin (SoHO) Regulation Review Programme launched in 2024 to consider recent changes that the European Union has made to its SoHO Regulation ((EU) 2024/1938) as well as stakeholder proposals for legislation in this area. It is reviewing: patient safety; intra-United Kingdom and UK-EU supply of SoHO; innovation within the sector; and health inequalities.
A key principle of the review is to maintain compatible high levels of minimum safety and quality standards for blood, blood components, tissues and cells, human breast milk, intestinal microbiota and blood preparations that are not used for transfusion, to support public health and the movement of SoHO. A targeted consultation, planned to launch by the end of 2025, will give stakeholders the opportunity to share views and highlight key issues and opportunities.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department plans to consult on reforms to the UK’s Substances of Human Origin; and whether that consultation will include proposals on (a) innovation, (b) patient safety and (c) donor protection.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Substances of Human Origin (SoHO) Regulation Review Programme launched in 2024 to consider recent changes that the European Union has made to its SoHO Regulation ((EU) 2024/1938) as well as stakeholder proposals for legislation in this area. It is reviewing: patient safety; intra-United Kingdom and UK-EU supply of SoHO; innovation within the sector; and health inequalities.
A key principle of the review is to maintain compatible high levels of minimum safety and quality standards for blood, blood components, tissues and cells, human breast milk, intestinal microbiota and blood preparations that are not used for transfusion, to support public health and the movement of SoHO. A targeted consultation, planned to launch by the end of 2025, will give stakeholders the opportunity to share views and highlight key issues and opportunities.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Imkaan’s report entitled Why Should Our Rage be Tidy, published in November 2024, what steps his Department has taken to help tackle the mental health impacts of violence and abuse on Black and minoritised survivors of violence against women and girls.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Imkaan’s report reinforces the fact that too many people, including Black and minoritised survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence, are not receiving the mental health care they need, and that waits for mental health services are too long. We are determined to change that, which is why we have chosen to prioritise funding to expand NHS Talking Therapies. Survivors can access help and support through their general practitioner or by self-referring.
Protecting and supporting victims and survivors of sexual abuse is a core priority for NHS England, delivered through a network of 48 specialist sexual assault referral centres (SARCs) across the country. NHS England commissions SARCs through a distinct national service specification including working with specialist support services, ensuring that children and young people up to the age of 18 years old receive trauma-informed, developmentally appropriate care and safeguarding support, and that adults receive tailored care that reflects their needs and rights, with clear referral pathways to health, justice, and specialist support services. This is in addition to support services commissioned by the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office.