Asked by: Christian Wakeford (Labour - Bury South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much and what proportion of the annual NHS cancer budget is allocated to the provision of training and development for the cancer workforce.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The information is not held in the format requested.
Asked by: Christian Wakeford (Labour - Bury South)
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 effect of the covid-19 outbreak on the ability of Health Education England to achieve the objectives of the Cancer Workforce Plan by 2021; and if he will outline the steps he is taking to develop that plan after 2021.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Health Education England (HEE) will publish an assessment of progress on the diagnostic radiography ambition once National Health Service Hospital and Community Health Service workforce statistics for March 2021 have been published by NHS Digital and analysed by HEE.
In 2021/22 HEE will continue implementation of the cancer workforce plan, including training grants for cancer nurse specialists and chemotherapy nurses, support for reporting radiographers and an increase in postgraduate medical training places across the key cancer medical professions of clinical radiology, oncology, histopathology, and gastroenterology.
Asked by: Christian Wakeford (Labour - Bury South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Cancer Workforce Plan, what progress Health Education England has made on achieving its target of FTE 2227 diagnostic radiographers in place by 2021.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Health Education England (HEE) will publish an assessment of progress on the diagnostic radiography ambition once National Health Service Hospital and Community Health Service workforce statistics for March 2021 have been published by NHS Digital and analysed by HEE.
In 2021/22 HEE will continue implementation of the cancer workforce plan, including training grants for cancer nurse specialists and chemotherapy nurses, support for reporting radiographers and an increase in postgraduate medical training places across the key cancer medical professions of clinical radiology, oncology, histopathology, and gastroenterology.
Asked by: Christian Wakeford (Labour - Bury South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review's patient reference group was established with the aim of discussing the (a) three interventions in that review, valproate, mesh and primodos, and (b) future of patients and their welfare within the health system.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The Department has not established any groups or sub-groups on sodium valproate or medications in pregnancy.
The Department has established a Patient Reference Group (PRG) consisting of patients and patients’ representatives, including those involved in the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety (IMMDS) Review and those with a wider interest in patient safety. The purpose of the PRG is to discuss all recommendations set out in the Review and to provide challenge, advice and scrutiny to the work to develop the Government’s response. The scope of the PRG does not extend beyond the recommendations in the Review.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has established groups on sodium valproate and medications in pregnancy. The Sodium Valproate Expert Working Group of the Commission on Human Medicines was convened in February 2014 to advise the Commission on Human Medicines on the risks of valproate in pregnancy and on measures to minimise risk. The MHRA convened the Valproate Stakeholder Network in January 2016 to support communications around the valproate toolkit to raise awareness among women of the risks. It is now focused on consistent UK-wide implementation of the valproate Pregnancy Prevention Programme and monitoring compliance.
In July 2019 the Commission on Human Medicines established a new Expert Working Group on Optimising Data on Medicines used in Pregnancy. The Expert Group was to advise on better ways to collect and monitor data on the safety of medicines during pregnancy. The report and recommendations of the Expert Group were published in January 2021.
NHS England and Improvement has established groups on sodium valproate and the IMMDS Review. The National Director of Patient Safety set up a clinically-led Valproate Safety Implementation Group in June 2020, with 3 further subgroups.
The Pelvic Floor Health Oversight Group continues the work of previously established stakeholder groups responsible for setting and communicating the conditions of the national pause on vaginal mesh insertion procedures in July 2018 and has also been considering the pelvic mesh related recommendations from the IMMDS Review. A subgroup has also been established to support delivery against data and registry related conditions of the national pause and is considering data related actions from the Review on pelvic mesh. An expert reference group steering the establishment of perinatal pelvic health services is also considering actions related to postnatal pelvic physiotherapy from the Review.
Asked by: Christian Wakeford (Labour - Bury South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety (IMMDS) Review and the publication of its report in July 2020, how many (a) groups and (b) sub groups have been established in respect of (i) sodium valproate, (ii) medications in pregnancy, (iii) the IMMDS Review and (iv) the recommendations of that review since the publication of the valproate toolkit in 2015.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The Department has not established any groups or sub-groups on sodium valproate or medications in pregnancy.
The Department has established a Patient Reference Group (PRG) consisting of patients and patients’ representatives, including those involved in the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety (IMMDS) Review and those with a wider interest in patient safety. The purpose of the PRG is to discuss all recommendations set out in the Review and to provide challenge, advice and scrutiny to the work to develop the Government’s response. The scope of the PRG does not extend beyond the recommendations in the Review.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has established groups on sodium valproate and medications in pregnancy. The Sodium Valproate Expert Working Group of the Commission on Human Medicines was convened in February 2014 to advise the Commission on Human Medicines on the risks of valproate in pregnancy and on measures to minimise risk. The MHRA convened the Valproate Stakeholder Network in January 2016 to support communications around the valproate toolkit to raise awareness among women of the risks. It is now focused on consistent UK-wide implementation of the valproate Pregnancy Prevention Programme and monitoring compliance.
In July 2019 the Commission on Human Medicines established a new Expert Working Group on Optimising Data on Medicines used in Pregnancy. The Expert Group was to advise on better ways to collect and monitor data on the safety of medicines during pregnancy. The report and recommendations of the Expert Group were published in January 2021.
NHS England and Improvement has established groups on sodium valproate and the IMMDS Review. The National Director of Patient Safety set up a clinically-led Valproate Safety Implementation Group in June 2020, with 3 further subgroups.
The Pelvic Floor Health Oversight Group continues the work of previously established stakeholder groups responsible for setting and communicating the conditions of the national pause on vaginal mesh insertion procedures in July 2018 and has also been considering the pelvic mesh related recommendations from the IMMDS Review. A subgroup has also been established to support delivery against data and registry related conditions of the national pause and is considering data related actions from the Review on pelvic mesh. An expert reference group steering the establishment of perinatal pelvic health services is also considering actions related to postnatal pelvic physiotherapy from the Review.
Asked by: Christian Wakeford (Labour - Bury South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether there a national funding formula in place for social care.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Government uses the Adult Social Care Relative Needs Formula to allocate funding to each local authority. The formula was used to distribute the new Social Care Grant in 2021/22.
Asked by: Christian Wakeford (Labour - Bury South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to ensure people who are needle phobic have access to a covid-19 vaccine through the development of alternative vaccination methods.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Vaccinators at vaccine sites have received the appropriate training to make sure everyone feels safe. The process is overseen by clinicians who if required would be able to provide further assistance. We recommend that individuals with a needle phobia contact the vaccination centre directly prior to attendance to determine what mitigations they have for relevant patients, and to see if any special arrangements could be identified to help the recipient feel more comfortable.
Currently there is one route of administration of the COVID-19 vaccination.