Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
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 help increase the availability of GP appointments in North Cornwall constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to improving capacity and access to local services across the country, including in the North Cornwall constituency. North Cornwall sits within the NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board. Since June 2024, there has been an 18.2% increase in appointments delivered, higher than the national average increase of 17.8% in the same period.
In October 2024, we injected £82 million into the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme to enable the recruitment of 1,000 newly qualified general practitioners (GPs) across England, which will increase the number of appointments delivered, and care for thousands of patients
The Government has delivered the biggest boost to GP funding in years, an £889 million uplift, with GPs now receiving a growing share of National Health Service resources. For the first time in four years, the General Practitioners Committee England backed the new 2025/26 contract, which includes key reforms to improve access, for instance by making sure patients can request appointments online throughout core hours.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
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 adequacy of the availability of specialist (a) paediatric and (b) transitional healthcare services for teenagers in the South West.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to raising the healthiest generation of children ever. This involves ensuring that children receive the appropriate care and support whenever they need it.
Supporting children and young people as they transition into adulthood, especially those with long-term or complex conditions and/or vulnerabilities, including those with mental health issues, is a priority in the South West, and work is underway in some National Health Service trusts.
Currently, the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust’s paediatric department delivers care to children up to the age of 16 years old. Work in some pathways, such as eating disorders and diabetes, has started to address transitional arrangements. A review of the transition arrangements in place for children over 16 years old is underway with the local community and acute hospital trust, as this has been identified as an area for improvement by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board.
In the NHS Long Term Plan, NHS England committed to delivering a service model for zero to 25 year olds where appropriate, to enhance children and young people’s experience of health, continuity of care, and outcomes, and their experience of the transition between services.
A national transition framework is currently awaiting publication to help local areas set up this model, or to strengthen an existing one. The principles of age-appropriate services set out in this document apply to young adults receiving care for the first time, as well as those already on a transition pathway.
While this framework focuses on the broad principles of transition, future work will focus on specific considerations and conditions. Training is also being developed for healthcare staff to develop their skills in providing the best standard of care.
Improving transitional care for young people is a South West regional priority, and the national transition framework and core competencies, once published, will support integrated care boards with implementation.
The Government’s 10-Year Health Plan, set to be published later this year, will outline the broader measures to shift England’s health and care systems toward preventing ill health. The Department will also publish a refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan to ensure the NHS has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the care that patients, including teenagers, need when they need it.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
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 merits of including mental health waiting lists in the targets outlined in the Plan for Change.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Waiting lists for those referred for support are too high across England, including in rural communities. People with mental health issues are not getting the support or care they need, which is why we will fix the broken system to ensure we give mental health the same attention and focus as physical health, so that people can be confident in accessing high quality mental health support when they need it.
Nationally, we plan to recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers across child and adult mental health services in England to reduce delays and provide faster treatment. We will also introduce access to a specialist mental health professional in every school and roll out Young Futures hubs in communities.
We recognise the unique challenges for mental health services across England, the growing treatment gap, and the spectrum of interventions required, from prevention to early intervention and treatment for mental ill-health. Early engagement from our 10-Year Health Plan has indicated that early mental health support and community-based interventions are critical in delivering substantial long-term health benefits to the public.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure that waiting times for mental health treatment are no longer than waiting times for treatment for physical health conditions.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Too many people with mental health issues are not getting the support or care they need when they need it, which is why we are committed to ensuring we give mental health the same attention and focus as physical health, so that people can be confident in accessing high quality mental health support when they need it.
This includes recruiting 8,500 more mental health workers, introducing access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, rolling out Young Futures hubs, and modernising the Mental Health Act.
We have also committed £26 million in capital investment to open new mental health crisis centres, reducing the pressure on busy emergency mental health and accident and emergency services and ensuring people have the support they need when they need it.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with NHS England on reducing delays in referrals for specialist treatment in the South West.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Too many people have been left in limbo waiting for National Health Service treatment. The waiting list in the South West region stands at 642,756, with 63% of those having waited less than 18 weeks, compared with the 18-week standard of 92%, and with a median waiting time of 12.8 weeks from referral to treatment.
The Department and NHS England are supporting a range of efforts, nationally and in the South West region, to reduce the time patients are waiting from being referred for specialist care, and to return to the 18-week constitutional standard. We have delivered an additional 2.5 million operations, scans, and appointments across elective services nationally since July 2024. We will support further progress in the South West region and across the United Kingdom, with approximately £1.5 billion of capital funding in 2025/26 for new surgical hubs and diagnostic scanners across England.
The Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, sets out the productivity and reform efforts needed to return to the 18-week standard, including reforms to outpatient care to ensure care is delivered in the right clinical setting and unnecessary appointments are reduced. In addition, the plan commits to diagnostic transformation, including investment in new and expanded community diagnostic centres and the rollout of straight to test pathways. Significant transformation across high priority specialities with waiting list challenges will also bring down waiting times for patients who have been referred for specialist treatment.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
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 expand access to the Nuss procedure for pectus excavatum cases in the South West.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has carefully reviewed the evidence to treat pectus excavatum in patients. In an interim clinical commissioning urgent policy statement, NHS England concluded that there is enough evidence to make surgical treatment available as a routine commissioning treatment option for patients of all ages with pectus excavatum resulting in very severe physiological symptoms, including for patients in the South West. The criteria for the surgery is available at the following link:
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
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 access to mental health services for victims of domestic abuse in (a) North Cornwall constituency and (b) other rural communities.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Too many people are not receiving the mental health care they need, and we know that waits for mental health services are far too long. This is why we will fix the broken system to ensure we give mental health the same attention and focus as physical health and that people can be confident of accessing high quality mental health support when they need it.
Nationally, we plan to recruit an additional 8,500 mental health mental health staff in England to reduce delays and provide faster treatment. It is important that all parts of the system, including health, policing and justice services, work together to protect domestic abuse victims.
Tackling violence against women and girls is a top priority for the Government, we have a mission to halve this violence in a decade. We are working across Government to deliver a transformative approach to this, underpinned by a new strategy to be published later in 2025.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
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 reduce waiting times for mental health treatment.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Too many people are not receiving the mental health care they need and we know that waits for mental health services are lengthy. As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future, we will recruit an extra 8,500 mental health workers across children and adult mental health services to cut waiting times and ensure people can access treatment and support earlier.
We will provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school in England so every young person has access to early support to address problems before they escalate. We are also rolling out Young Futures Hubs to provide open access mental health support for children and young people.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
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 patient outcomes for those undergoing heroin detoxification using Buvidal compared to Methadone.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made on patient outcomes for those undergoing heroin detoxification using buprenorphine long-acting injection, branded Buvidal, compared to methadone specifically. The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities is currently undertaking analysis of National Drug Treatment Monitoring System data to look at the comparative outcomes between Buvidal and other opioid substitution treatment medicines generally, not just methadone. This work is currently incomplete.
Treatment decisions are taken between a person and their clinician to ensure the right option for them, and long-acting injectable buprenorphine, branded as Buvidal, oral buprenorphine, and methadone should be offered as part of a package of care, alongside the usual talking therapies and recovery support that can help people stay off drugs. Local authorities are responsible for commissioning drug and alcohol services according to local need, and this includes the provision of buprenorphine long-acting injections.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of NHS dentist capacity in Saint Columb Major.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data on dental activity is available at integrated care board (ICB) level, with statistics available from the NHS Business Services Authority. These are available at the following link, with the most recent statistics for 2023/24 having been published on 22 August 2024:
https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/statistical-collections/dental-england/dental-statistics-england-202324
The data for NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly ICB, which includes Bodmin, Bude, Camelford, Launceston, Padstow, Wadebridge, Tintagel, Delabole, Port Isaac and Saint Columb Major, shows that 34% of adults were seen by a National Health Service dentist in the previous 24 months up to June 2024, compared to 40% in England; and 48% of children were seen by an NHS dentist in the previous 12 months up to June 2024, compared to 56% in England.
The Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access NHS dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the sector, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.