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Written Question
Blood: Contamination
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate her Department has made of how many people in St Helens North constituency have been affected by the infected blood scandal.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The Department has not made an estimate of the number of people who were treated with contaminated blood products and given contaminated blood transfusions by the National Health Service in St Helens North constituency.


Written Question
Liver Diseases: North West
Thursday 1st February 2024

Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate she has made of the rate of liver disease in (a) St Helens North constituency and (b) the North West.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) publishes Liver Disease profiles that compare local areas within England. Data for the prevalence of liver disease is not collected. The profiles provide liver disease mortality and hospital admissions rates for areas to assess their local level of disease.

The profiles do not publish data by constituency; however, the profile does publish data for local authorities. For St. Helens Metropolitan District Council, the rate of mortality during 2021 from liver disease was 31.3 (23.4 to 40.9) per 100,000 population aged under 75 years old. In 2021/22, the hospital admission rate due to liver disease was 196.8 (150.9 to 246.4) per 100,000 population across all ages.

For the North West region, the rate of mortality during 2021 from liver disease was 29.3 (28.0 to 30.7) per 100,000 population aged under 75 years old. The regional rate was significantly higher than the England mortality rate of 21.2 per 100,000 and was the highest regional rate in England. In 2021/22, the hospital admission rate due to liver disease was 160.6 (154.5 to 166.7) per 100,000 population across all ages in the North West region. The regional rate was significantly higher than the England hospital admission rate of 150.6 per 100,000 and was the fourth highest regional rate in England.


Written Question
Measles: North West
Thursday 1st February 2024

Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate her Department has made of the number of measles cases there are in (a) St Helens and (b) the North West.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The UK Health Security Agency publishes routine data on laboratory confirmed measles. As provided in the latest published data between 1 January 2023 and 30 November 2023 there have been eight laboratory confirmed cases in the North West.

Monthly cases by age and region are available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/measles-epidemiology-2023/confirmed-cases-of-measles-in-england-by-month-age-and-region-2023

This routine report does not include a breakdown of cases by local authority due to small numbers and the risk of deductive disclosure.


Written Question
Mental Health Services: Children and Young People
Wednesday 31st January 2024

Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time was for child and adolescent mental health services in (a) St Helens North constituency and (b) the North West in the latest period for which data is available; and what steps she is taking to reduce those waiting times.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

Since 2018, we have invested an extra £2.3 billion a year to expand mental health services in England, with the aim of enabling two million more people, including 345,000 more children and young people to access mental health support.

We’re rolling out mental health support teams to schools and colleges. These now cover approximately 35% of pupils and are expected to reach 50% of pupils by March 2025. NHS England is also developing a new waiting time standard for children and their families to receive community-based mental health care within four weeks of referral.

Whilst the relevant data is not available at a constituency level, the following table shows the number of referrals for children and young people aged under 18 years old, supported through National Health Service-funded mental health, and waiting times for first contact between September and November 2023 for NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board (ICB), North West Commissioning Region, and England:

Location

Number of referrals

Median waiting time between referral start date and first contact

90th percentile waiting time between referral start date and first contact

NHS Cheshire and Merseyside ICB

8,550

21 days

469 days

North West Commissioning Region

26,125

11 days

250 days

England

179,295

13 days

225 days

Source: Mental Health Services Data Set, NHS England

Notes:

  1. These metrics are in line with the proposed new waiting time standards for mental health but are not yet associated with a target, due to significant data quality concerns on the part of NHS England.

The 90th percentile waiting time was 469 days meaning 10% of children and young people who received a first contact in this period waited over 469 days.


Written Question
Dental Services: St Helens North
Wednesday 10th January 2024

Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to increase the availability of NHS dental treatment in St Helens North constituency.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Our plan for dentistry, to be published shortly, will build upon the first package of reforms agreed in July 2022, which included changes to banding and the introduction of a minimum Units of Dental Activity value. Our plan will include addressing how we continue to improve access, particularly for new patients; and how we make National Health Service work more attractive to ensure NHS dentists are incentivised to deliver more NHS care.

The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, published on 30 June 2023, sets out the steps the NHS and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. These include a 40% increase to dentistry undergraduate training places by 2031/32. To support this ambition, we will expand places by 24% by 2028/29, taking the overall number that year to 1,000 places.

From 1 April 2023, responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to all integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. ICBs are responsible for having local processes in place to identify areas of need and determine the priorities for investment.

Patients who are struggling to find a local dentist can contact NHS England’s Customer Contact Centre for assistance or contact NHS 111 if seeking urgent care.


Written Question
Dental Services: St Helens North
Wednesday 10th January 2024

Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help increase capacity of NHS dentists in St Helens North constituency.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Our plan for dentistry, to be published shortly, will build upon the first package of reforms agreed in July 2022, which included changes to banding and the introduction of a minimum Units of Dental Activity value. Our plan will include addressing how we continue to improve access, particularly for new patients; and how we make National Health Service work more attractive to ensure NHS dentists are incentivised to deliver more NHS care.

The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, published on 30 June 2023, sets out the steps the NHS and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. These include a 40% increase to dentistry undergraduate training places by 2031/32. To support this ambition, we will expand places by 24% by 2028/29, taking the overall number that year to 1,000 places.

From 1 April 2023, responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to all integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. ICBs are responsible for having local processes in place to identify areas of need and determine the priorities for investment.

Patients who are struggling to find a local dentist can contact NHS England’s Customer Contact Centre for assistance or contact NHS 111 if seeking urgent care.


Written Question
Cancer: St Helens North
Monday 8th January 2024

Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time was for a referral for each type of cancer in St Helens North constituency in each year since 2010.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

This information is not held in the format requested.


Written Question
Vulnerable Adults: Abuse
Monday 18th December 2023

Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information her Department holds on the number of section 42 enquiries made by local authorities in (a) the North West, (b) Merseyside and (c) St Helens.

Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Information on the number of section 42 enquiries commenced by each local authority is published annually by NHS Digital via the Safeguarding Adults Collection (SAC). This data has been published since 2014.

To determine the number of section 42 enquiries made by local authorities in the North West, Merseyside, and St Helens for any year since 2014, this data can be found in the SAC via the NHS England website. This is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/safeguarding-adults


Written Question
Organs: Donors
Thursday 30th November 2023

Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people are on the organ donation waiting list in St Helens North constituency.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

As of 30 October 2023, the number of people on the waiting list in St Helens North is nine.


Written Question
Mental Health Services: Ambulance Services
Tuesday 28th November 2023

Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many mental health ambulances are in service in (a) St Helens North constituency and (b) the North West.

Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England advises that the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) currently has two mental health vehicles in operation, with one of these in the Cheshire and Merseyside area.

As part of our £150 million capital investment in mental health pathways, NWAS expects seven Mental Health Response Vehicles (MHRVs) to be in operation in two phases. Five MHRVs are expected to be delivered early in 2024, and a further two MHRVs are expected in April 2024. Three of the MHRVs are expected to be deployed in Cheshire and Merseyside.