Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
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 support people who suffer with chronic urinary tract infections in Mid Bedfordshire constituency.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are nine pharmacists in the Mid Bedfordshire constituency area, and all offer the Pharmacy First service. This service builds on the NHS Community Pharmacist Consultation Service which has run since October 2019. The consultation service enables patients to be referred into community pharmacy for a minor illness or an urgent repeat medicine supply.
The Pharmacy First service, launched 31 January 2024, adds to the existing consultation service and enables community pharmacies to complete episodes of care for seven common conditions following defined clinical pathways, including urinary tract infections.
It is common for recurrent urinary tract infections to be treated with a longer-term course of antibiotics, following antimicrobial guidelines for primary care. Should symptoms continue then a referral may be made to a specialist urologist.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
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 adequacy of ADHD assessments in identifying that condition in girls.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is the responsibility of the integrated care boards (ICBs) in England to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) services, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines.
NICE guidelines on ADHD, published and updated in September 2019, aim to improve the diagnosis of ADHD, recognising that ADHD may be under-diagnosed in women and girls, and to improve the quality of care and support that people of all ages who are diagnosed with ADHD receive.
NHS England has established an ADHD taskforce which is working to bring together those with lived experience with experts from the National Health Service, education, charity, and justice sectors. The taskforce is working to get a better understanding of the challenges affecting those with ADHD, including timely and equitable access to services and support, with the final report expected in the summer.
In conjunction with the taskforce, NHS England has carried out detailed work to develop an ADHD data improvement plan to inform future service planning. NHS England has also captured examples from ICBs who are trialling innovative ways of delivering ADHD services and is using this information to support systems to tackle ADHD waiting lists and provide support to address people’s needs.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the press notice entitled New deal for GPs will fix the front door of the NHS, published on 28 February 2025, whether the funding announced in that notice is in addition to funding allocated to his Department at the Autumn Budget 2024.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have made necessary decisions to fix the foundations of the public finances in the Autumn Budget. Resource spending for the Department will be £22.6 billion more in 2025/26 than in 2023/24, as part of the Spending Review settlement.
As a part of this allocation, we are investing £889 million in core general practice (GP) funding, and up to £80 million for the use of Advice and Guidance between GPs and consultants. This brings the total spend on the GP Contract to £13.2 billion in 2025/26, the biggest increase in over a decade. We are pleased that the General Practitioners Committee England is supportive of the contract changes.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
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 increasing the level of geographic detail available on the number of (a) A&E and (b) Urgent Care Centre admissions.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England publishes accident and emergency admission data for a range of different geographical footprints. This includes at an integrated care board, regional, and provider level. We will continue to keep the range of data available to support the improvement of National Health Services under review. Further information is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ae-waiting-times-and-activity/
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions his Department has had with the NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board on the proposed Wixams GP surgery.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning, which includes planning, securing, and monitoring, general practice (GP) services within their health systems through delegated responsibility from NHS England. The Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICB has advised that they updated the Central Bedfordshire Health and Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee about the ICB’s intention to deliver a permanent healthcare facility in Wixams, with a further update to follow in the spring. The ICB has committed to undertaking further analysis with the new developers of Wixams town centre, to understand the dependencies, such as roads and power connections, and to assess the facility's delivery timeline against the likely costs and affordability. Further information about the Central Bedfordshire Health and Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee is available at the following link:
We know that there is pressure on primary care estates and service provision in areas of high population growth. At a national level, we continue to work closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to ensure that all new and existing developments have an adequate level of healthcare infrastructure for the community.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
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 19 February 2025 to Question 29563 on General Practitioners: Finance, what his planned timetable is for confirming funding for GP surgery projects.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards were informed of their allocations in the planning guidance issued on 30 January 2025. The final element to be confirmed is the operation of a small element of incentives funding.
The Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund was announced during the 2024 Spending Review and provides new capital funding of £102 million for the 2025/26 financial year, to support improvements in the primary care estate.
Systems have also received their indicative allocations relating to this specific fund through the planning guidance, and have submitted the priority schemes they wish to support to NHS England for assessment at the regional level. The assessments are due to completed by 31 March 2025, and the systems will be notified shortly afterwards about successful schemes.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
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 19 February 2025 to Question 29563 on General Practitioners: Finance, what his planned timetable is for confirming the allocations for integrated care boards.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards were informed of their allocations in the planning guidance issued on 30 January 2025. The final element to be confirmed is the operation of a small element of incentives funding.
The Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund was announced during the 2024 Spending Review and provides new capital funding of £102 million for the 2025/26 financial year, to support improvements in the primary care estate.
Systems have also received their indicative allocations relating to this specific fund through the planning guidance, and have submitted the priority schemes they wish to support to NHS England for assessment at the regional level. The assessments are due to completed by 31 March 2025, and the systems will be notified shortly afterwards about successful schemes.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
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 adequacy of call waiting times for emergency support for suicidal people in Bedfordshire.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
People experiencing suicidal thoughts can access emergency support through a variety of services. These include accident and emergency, mental health crisis services via NHS 111, the police, mental health street triage services, ambulance services, general practitioners, and voluntary, community, and social enterprise organisations.
While waiting times data is published by NHS England across many of these services, information on the reason for the call is not available.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
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 19 February 2025 to Question 29563 on General Practitioners: Finance, what projects he has discussed with the NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund was announced during the 2024 Spending Review, and provides new capital funding of £102 million for the 2025/26 financial year to support improvements in the primary care estate.
The Department and NHS England have worked with the Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board to prioritise high-impact projects where investment can unlock significant productivity gains and additional usable space from existing buildings. We are unable to publish the details while the assessment of those schemes is still ongoing, to ensure each project is judged on its own merit.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
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 ensure adequate support for people with postural tachycardia syndrome in Bedfordshire.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Improving health outcomes for people who live with long-term conditions, including postural tachycardia syndrome, is a key part of the Government's mission to build a National Health Service fit for the future.
The integrated care boards (ICBs), including the Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICB, which serves Bedfordshire, are responsible for commissioning services that meet the needs of their population. The Government expects ICBs to take account of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines and other best practice in designing their services to meet the needs of their local populations.
The NICE publishes guidance on the diagnosis and treatment of long-term conditions for use by healthcare professionals and commissioners. The NICE has produced a clinical knowledge summary on the clinical management of blackouts and syncope, which sets out how clinicians should assess and diagnose postural tachycardia syndrome.
This was last updated in November 2023, and is available at the following link: https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/blackouts-syncope/diagnosis/assessment/