Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has had discussions with Leukaemia UK on publication of a cancer strategy.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The Department has not had discussions with Leukaemia UK regarding the publication of a cancer strategy. The NHS Long Term Plan, published in January 2019, sets out the National Health Service’s current key ambitions on cancer. The plan sets out the NHS ambition to increase the number of cancers diagnosed at stages 1 and 2 to 75%, to increase the number of people surviving cancer for five years by 55,000 as a result.
Professor Lord Darzi is currently undertaking an independent investigation into the state of the NHS, the findings of which will feed into the Government’s 10-year plan to build a health service that is fit for the future. The Government will set out any further priorities on cancer and health in due course.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
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 review the immigration health surcharge.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has not announced any plans to review the policy.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to ensure that people with breast cancer receive (a) an early diagnosis and (b) swift treatment.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The Department is responsible for healthcare in England. In Northern Ireland, health is a transferred matter.
Improving early diagnosis of cancer, including breast cancer, is a priority for NHS England. NHS England has an ambition to diagnose 75% of cancers at stage 1 or 2 by 2028, which will help tens of thousands of people live longer. The National Health Service in England carries out approximately 2.1 million breast cancer screens each year in hospitals and mobile screening vans, usually in convenient community locations.
The Department is committed to improving waiting times for cancer treatment across England. We will start by delivering an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week, as the first step to ensuring early diagnosis and faster treatment.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
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 making dental (a) foundation and (b) vocational training mandatory for dentists entering private practice.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The General Dental Council (GDC) is the independent regulator of dentistry in the United Kingdom, and sets the standards that must be met by domestic and international applicants wishing to be added to the UK dental register. Only dentists and dental care professionals registered with the GDC can legally practise in both National Health Service and private dentistry in the UK. The GDC sets out these standards to ensure registrants are safe to practise, and patients receive a high standard of care.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the clinical experience dentists receive before becoming eligible to practice.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The General Dental Council (GDC) is the independent regulator for dentists and dental care professionals in the United Kingdom. The GDC sets the standards of training and education required, including clinical placements, to gain entry to its register, and approves and inspects education and training providers.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to review the standards of training for dentistry students.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The General Dental Council (GDC) is the independent regulator for dentists and dental care professionals in the United Kingdom. The GDC sets the standards of training and education required, including clinical placements, to gain entry to its register, and approves and inspects education and training providers.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
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 (a) help increase the survival rate of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests and (b) increase the availability of defibrillators in public settings.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As of July 2024, there are 93,113 automated external defibrillators registered in the United Kingdom on the National Defibrillator Network, also known as The Circuit, including 73,682 in England. Moving forward, the Department has asked Professor Lord Darzi to investigate the state of the National Health Service. The Department will then set out its 10-year plan for the NHS.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department plans to undertake a (a) review of and (b) public consultation on the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
All routine policy, including the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS), is reviewed on a regular basis. My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care is currently looking into aspects of the scheme, following recent meetings with interested stakeholders.
Separately, work is underway with the scheme’s administrator, the NHS Business Service Authority, to review processes and make administrative changes, to improve the scheme within the current legislative framework. Formal consideration of whether any reforms to the VDPS are necessary will form part of Module 4 of the COVID-19 Inquiry, chaired by the Rt Hon Baroness Heather Carol Hallett DBE.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has given to the potential merits of increasing the level of funding for research into (a) pancreatic cancer and (b) other cancers with lower survival rates.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The Government is proud to invest £1.3 billion per year on health research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). NIHR research expenditure for all cancers was over £121.8 million for 2022/23, and more is spent on cancer than any other disease group. Our investments in cancer, including rare and less survivable cancers such as pancreatic cancer, are pivotal to informing efforts to improve cancer prevention, treatment, and care.
As part of our commitment to driving more and better research into less survivable cancers, the Government awarded £2 million to new interdisciplinary research teams tackling hard to treat cancers via the Medical Research Council’s two-day cancer sandpit strategic funding opportunity in 2023, which focused on technological innovation for understanding cancers, including pancreatic cancer, with the poorest survival rates.
The NIHR continues to encourage and welcome applications for research into any aspect of human health, including pancreatic cancer and other cancers with lower survival rates. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality, rather than against specific disease funding allocations. We would welcome more applications from researchers working on pancreatic cancer prevention, treatment, and care.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of whistleblowing procedures for health workers with concerns about patient safety.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
I feel strongly that the National Health Service must support and welcome all staff to speak up. It is the duty of a health practitioner to speak up whenever they are concerned. Over the last decade, the Government and our system partners have delivered major initiatives in response to recommendations made to the Department. Our focus has been on making progress and this approach has improved governance, delivered more robust regulation, enabled staff to speak up more freely, protected whistleblowers, and changed the way patient safety is approached in the NHS.
The data submitted by the Freedom to Speak Up Guardians provides invaluable insight into the implementation of the Freedom to Speak Up policy, which is reported quarterly to the National Guardian’s Office. Over 100,000 cases have been raised with Freedom to Speak Up Guardians since 2017.
Whilst there is more to do to remove detriments, there are signs that the improvements to speaking up are valued, for example, over 25,000 cases were brought to Freedom to Speak Up Guardians throughout 2022/23, a 25% increase on the previous year. 19% of cases reported in 2022/23 involved an element of patient safety or quality, up from 18.8% in 2021/22.