Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 130 of the Strategic Defence Review, published on 2 June 2025, what progress he has made with Cabinet colleagues to help ensure that the NHS is prepared for mass military casualties in the event of a major war.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There is a strong foundation of cross-government working between the Department of Health and Social Care and the Ministry of Defence (MOD).
A series of joint Emergency Preparedness Resilience and Response exercises have taken place, and planning continues so that the National Health Service and the MOD can respond to a wide range of incidents and emergencies which could affect health or patient care. As part of this planning, the MOD and DHSC are exploring the United Kingdom’s ability to manage various combat scenarios and the treatment of casualties.
MOD is also participating in DHSC’s cross-government Exercise PEGASUS, the national Tier 1 pandemic preparedness exercise set to assess the UK’s ability to respond to a pandemic. Both activities focus on understanding system-wide capacity and capability, potential future need and shared plans for delivery.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 130 of the Strategic Defence Review, published on 2 June 2025, what recent progress he has made on creating integrated crisis plans.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The creation of integrated crisis plans are broader than health and will consider the recommendations identified in the NATO Medical Action Plan. These recommendations and the creation of integrated crisis plans will be discussed as part of the ongoing engagement between the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and the Ministry of Defence.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 9 September 2025 to Question 72364 on Electronic Patient Records, what assessment his Department has made of the digital maturity of the North-West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 20 October 2025 to Question 81534 and on 22 October 2025 to Question 82444.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 130 of the Strategic Defence Review, published on 2 June 2025, what progress his Department has made in rebuilding medical capabilities for warfighting.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
A series of joint wargame exercises have taken place that have been used to identify gaps in medical warfighting capabilities. These exercises continue to inform planning between the National Health Service and the Ministry of Defence to ensure both can respond to a wide range of warfighting scenarios that might affect health and patient care.
The Department of Health and Social Care and the NHS have actively worked alongside the Ministry of Defence to rebuild medical capabilities for warfighting through the introduction of the digital extraction of redacted patient notes from general practice surgeries. This has reduced the recruitment process significantly for medically trained warfighting personnel. Furthermore, the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS are also reviewing how military medical staff operate across the NHS in clinical placements.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 130 of the Strategic Defence Review, published on 2 June 2025, how many and what proportion of reserves work in the NHS for each of the three services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold the information requested.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
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 merits of introducing a national standard offering for glaucoma testing.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards are responsible for assessing the health needs of their local population and for commissioning primary and secondary eye care services to meet them, which could include glaucoma referral filtering services.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guideline on the diagnosis and management of glaucoma, reference code NG81, recommends that people planning eye care services should consider commissioning referral filtering services, for example, repeat measures, enhanced case-finding, or referral refinement, for chronic open angle glaucoma and related conditions. This guideline is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng81
The Getting It Right First Time programme is currently developing best practice guidance for glaucoma services to support the adoption of high standards across the pathway, from detection onwards.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 9 September 2025 to Question 72364 on Electronic Patient Records, what level on the HIMMS EMRAM model are hospitals in the New Hospital Programme required to be upon completion of their building.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 20 October 2025 to Question 81534 and on 22 October 2025 to Question 82444.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 9 September 2025 to Question 72364 on Electronic Patient Records, what steps his Department is taking to help support the North-West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust to procure a modern enterprise-wide electronic patient record system.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 20 October 2025 to Question 81534 and on 22 October 2025 to Question 82444.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 9 September 2025 to Question 72364 on Electronic Patient Records, what Electronic Patient Records systems are approved for procurement by NHS trusts.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
National Health Service trusts procure suppliers from the Clinical Digital Health Solutions Framework, details of which are available at the following link:
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
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 merits of updating GP guidance to allow GPs to have proactive conversations on prostate cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) commissioned an evidence review looking at screening for prostate cancer. We anticipate a public consultation on the findings of this review later this year and a recommendation by the committee in the first quarter of next year.
Consideration of changes to the guidance for general practitioners regarding prostate cancer will be taken based on the findings of the evidence review.