Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
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 improve access to GP services in (a) Coventry North East constituency and (b) Coventry.
Answered by James Morris
Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care Board has undertaken a communications campaign for patients to advertise how to access general practitioner (GP) services in the area and the range of services available from healthcare professionals in local practices. This has included radio advertisements, printed materials available in GP practices and a leaflet sent to homes in Coventry and Warwickshire. There are a variety of appointments available, including face-to-face, telephone and e-consultations to offer patients flexibility and convenience.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate his Department has made of the average waiting time for emergency care in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
No specific estimate of waiting times in Coventry and the West Midlands has been made as the data is not collected in the format requested. NHS Digital collects data on median waiting times by National Health Service trust, which is aggregated at national level. In May 2022, the median average waiting time in accident and emergency at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust was 128 minutes and 186 minutes in England.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) face-to-face and (b) telephone GP appointments held in (i) Coventry North East constituency, (ii) Coventry, (iii) the West Midlands and (iv) England in each of the last three years.
Answered by James Morris
The information requested is not held at constituency level or for Coventry and the West Midlands. The following table shows the number of appointments in general practice conducted face-to-face and through telephone consultation in England in each of the last three years.
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
Face-to-face general practice appointments | 242,086,946 | 162,417,746 | 178,859,427 |
Telephone general practice appointments | 40,258,709 | 97,278,674 | 117,693,170 |
Note:
This information excludes appointment for COVID-19 vaccinations.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on levels of health inequalities in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.
Answered by Maggie Throup
No specific assessment has been made at constituency level as this information is not collected in the format requested. The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities’ (OHID) Segment Tool provides information on the causes of deaths and age groups associated with inequalities in life expectancy at local area level. The tool is available at the following link:
https://analytics.phe.gov.uk/apps/segment-tool/
The data shows the contribution of causes of death to the gap in life expectancy between the most and least deprived fifth of areas in Coventry in 2020/21. The gap in life expectancy in Coventry was 10.2 years for males and 7.5 years for females. The contribution of COVID-19 to these gaps was 1.11 years and 0.97 years for males and females respectively.
OHID’s COVID-19 Health Inequalities Monitoring for England (CHIME) tool collects data relating to inequalities in the impacts of COVID-19, which is available at the following link:
https://analytics.phe.gov.uk/apps/chime/
In the West Midlands, the gap in male life expectancy between the most and least deprived tenth of areas was 11.2 years in 2021, an increase of 1.9 years than in 2019. For females, the gap was 9.2 years in 2021, an increase of 1.9 years than in 2019. Within the West Midlands, the contribution of COVID-19 deaths to the gap in life expectancy in 2021 was 1.97 years for males and 1.80 years for females. For both sexes, COVID-19 was the cause of death which made the biggest contribution to the life expectancy gap in 2021.
In England, the gap in male life expectancy between the most and least deprived tenth of areas in England was 10.5 years in 2021, an increase of 1.2 years than in 2019. For females, the gap was 8.7 years in 2021, an increase of a year compared to 2019. The contribution of COVID-19 deaths to the gap in life expectancy in 2021 was 1.40 years for males and 1.19 years for females. For females, COVID-19 was the cause of death which made the biggest contribution to the life expectancy gap in England in 2021. For males, heart disease made the biggest contribution, followed by COVID-19.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
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 improve access to NHS dentistry in (a) Coventry North East constituency and (b) Coventry.
Answered by James Morris
Since July 2022, NHS England has asked practices to deliver 100% of contracted units of dental activity to improve access for patients safely, including in Coventry. The National Health Service regional team in the Midlands is planning to invest further in community dental services to support the most vulnerable patients with special needs and paediatric services reduce waiting times.
The Department and NHS England have recently announced improvements to the NHS dental system to increase access, target patients with higher oral health needs and make NHS dentistry a more attractive place to work for dentists and their teams, including in Coventry.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
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 women’s health inequalities in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
In the Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care Board area, local maternity and neonatal systems have developed an equity and equality strategy and an action plan will be submitted to NHS England by the end of September 2022. This will support services for smoking cessation, gestational diabetes, women with complex social needs and additional training for staff. Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care System is reviewing inequalities in its screening programmes to improve access. It is also promoting the use of the Health Equity Assessment Tool to identify and address inequalities in women’s health services. University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust and Coventry City Council are collaborating on targeted programmes for women living in deprived areas who have gestational diabetes or are obese.
In Birmingham and Solihull, a health inequality five year strategy is currently in development focussing on improving maternity pathways, reducing infant mortality, working towards the best start in life for children, mental health services, improving prevention services and better outcomes for those with disabilities and those in social care. Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board will work with local communities to reduce health inequalities through improvements to ethnicity and data coding to ensure that groups are identified and supported more effectively. In Herefordshire and Worcestershire, continuity of carer maternity plans are being developed through the Core20PLUS5 initiative, to address disparities in access to services for women. Herefordshire and Worcestershire’s inequalities strategy sets out how data sets will be combined to reduce health inequalities in tobacco dependence and maternity services.
The forthcoming Women’s Health Strategy aims to ensure that all women and girls have equitable access to and experience of services and disparities in outcomes are reduced. Further information will be available later this year.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the average waiting time for mental health treatment in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
No specific estimate has been made as there is no universal waiting time standard across all mental health services.
The National Health Service Mental Health Dashboard records data where a waiting time standard is in place, including access to psychological therapies; early intervention in psychosis; and children and young people’s eating disorders. This data is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/nhs-mental-health-dashboard/
In February 2022, NHS England published the outcomes of its consultation on the potential introduction of five new access and waiting time standards for mental health services. We are working with NHS England on the next steps.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of average waiting times for joint replacement surgery in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England; and what steps his Department is taking to (i) clear backlogs and (ii) reduce average waiting times for joint replacement surgery in those areas.
Answered by Edward Argar
No specific estimate has been made of waiting times in Coventry and the West Midlands as this information is not collected at city or sub-region level. As of April 2022, the median average waiting time for trauma and orthopaedic treatment across England, which includes joint replacement surgery, was 14.7 weeks. This is a reduction of approximately 39% compared to August 2020.
We are providing more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25, in addition to the £2 billion Elective Recovery Fund and £700 million Targeted Investment Fund, to increase activity in elective services. This could deliver the equivalent of approximately nine million checks, scans and procedures, including for patients awaiting joint replacements.