Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the average time it takes for a child under the age of 18 diagnosed with cancer to start treatment.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have not made a specific assessment; the Department is taking steps to reduce cancer treatment waiting times across England, including the time between an urgent general practitioner referral and the commencement of treatment. Increasing the diagnosis and treatment referrals for cancers in young people, whilst reducing waiting times, is a priority for the Government. Although survival has more than doubled since the 1970s in the United Kingdom, there is more to be done to improve childhood cancer outcomes, including reducing waiting times between diagnosis and treatment.
The Government is working jointly with NHS England on implementing the delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlogs in elective care and plans to spend more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25 to help drive up and protect elective activity, including cancer diagnosis and treatment activity.
In the 2023/24 Operational Planning Guidance, NHS England announced it is providing over £390 million in cancer service development funding to Cancer Alliances in each of the next two years to support delivery of the strategy and the operational priorities for cancer which includes increasing and prioritising diagnostic and treatment capacity for cancer.
In addition, the National Health Service now offers all children and young people with cancer whole genome sequencing to enable more comprehensive and precise diagnosis, and access to more personalised treatments.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
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 the process for assessing the eligibility of dementia patients for continuing healthcare funding.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Eligibility for National Health Service Continuing Healthcare (CHC) is not determined by age, diagnosis or condition, or financial means; it is assessed on a case-by-case basis considering the totality of an individual’s needs. This ensures a person-centred approach to CHC, whereby the individual is placed at the centre of the assessment and care-planning process. We continue to work with our partners, including NHS England who are responsible for oversight of CHC delivery, external organisations, and people with lived experience, to seek feedback on CHC policy and implementation.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
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 take steps to implement AI technology that predicts heart attacks years in advance.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Many of the artificial intelligence (AI) technologies that are looking at heart attack prediction are still in research and development. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) carried out an Early Value Assessment (EVA) on Cari-Heart in March 2023. Cari-Heart is a medical device that uses AI to analyse heart computerised tomography (CT) scans, to give clinicians a patient’s personalised risk of heart attack. NICE’s EVA does not recommend Cari-Heart for use in the National Health Service and that it should only be used for research to generate more evidence of its effectiveness at this stage.
Further pilot testing of Cari-Heart in five NHS trusts has started. This will evaluate the effectiveness of the tool as it analyses chest CT scans to help clinicians assess patients’ risk of heart attack.
The Department is funding the AI in Health and Care Award. This has provided £123 million to 86 AI technologies to test and evaluate some of the most promising AI technologies likely to meet the aims set out in the NHS Long Term Plan. A number of these trials include AI technologies that could assist clinicians to treat heart disease. These could generate more evidence of these technologies' effectiveness, which could lead to their rapid adoption in the NHS.
Another trial, which has received a £1.2 million award from the National Institute for Health Research, will test an AI-enabled smart stethoscope in 200 general practices (GPs) across London and Wales. The TRICORDER programme will assess if by providing the tool to GPs this can increase early detection of heart failure and reduce diagnosis through emergency hospital admission.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support his Department provides for research into motor neurone disease.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Government responsibility for delivering motor neurone disease (MND) research is shared between the Department of Health and Social Care, with research delivered by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, with research delivered via UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
The Government has committed to make at least £50 million available for MND research over the next five years, ending in March 2027. Around three-quarters of the £50 million pledged funding (£36.9 million) has now been allocated to cutting edge researchers by DHSC and DSIT, less than two years since the announcement. For the remainder of the £50 million, we continue to support researchers to apply for funding via the Medical Research Council and NIHR MND highlight notice.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the report on Understanding the experiences of unpaid carers of people living with Motor Neurone Disease, published by the Motor Neurone Disease Association in November 2022.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made on the policy implications following the publication of the report.
Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are required to undertake a Carer’s Assessment for any unpaid carer who appears to have a need for support and to meet their eligible needs on request from the carer.
In 2023/24, £327 million of Better Care funding has been earmarked to provide short breaks and respite services for carers. This also funds additional advice and support to carers and a small number of additional local authority duties.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
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 ensure that alternatives to elvanse and guanfacine are available for people with ADHD.
Answered by Will Quince
We are aware of disruptions to the supply of medicines used for the management of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), including elvanse and guanfacine. Some issues have now been resolved. However, we know that there are currently disruptions to the supply of some other medicines, primarily driven by issues which have resulted in capacity constraints at key manufacturing sites. These issues are expected to resolve by the end of December 2023.
We understand how frustrating and distressing medicine shortages can be and we want to assure patients that we are working intensively with the respective manufacturers to resolve the issues as soon as possible and to ensure patients have continuous access to ADHD medicines in the United Kingdom, in the short and long term.
We have issued communications to the National Health Service to advise healthcare professionals on management of patients whilst there continue to be disruptions to supplies. Patients are advised to speak to their clinician regarding any concerns they have and to discuss the suitability of treatment with alternative medicines.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
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 help ensure that there are adequate supplies of (a) elvanse and (b) guanfacine.
Answered by Will Quince
We are aware of disruptions to the supply of medicines used for the management of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), including elvanse and guanfacine. Some issues have now been resolved. However, we know that there are currently disruptions to the supply of some other medicines, primarily driven by issues which have resulted in capacity constraints at key manufacturing sites. These issues are expected to resolve by the end of December 2023.
We understand how frustrating and distressing medicine shortages can be and we want to assure patients that we are working intensively with the respective manufacturers to resolve the issues as soon as possible and to ensure patients have continuous access to ADHD medicines in the United Kingdom, in the short and long term.
We have issued communications to the National Health Service to advise healthcare professionals on management of patients whilst there continue to be disruptions to supplies. Patients are advised to speak to their clinician regarding any concerns they have and to discuss the suitability of treatment with alternative medicines.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the average time taken for an individual to receive a mental health (a) assessment and (b) diagnosis.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No such formal assessment has been made. The demand on National Health Service mental health services has risen significantly as the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise in the cost of living on people’s mental health continue to be felt. The NHS is working to ensure that help is available for people as early as possible.
We are investing at least £2.3 billion of additional funding a year by March 2024 compared to 2018/19, to expand and transform mental health services in England so that two million more people can get the mental health support that they need. The Plan also commits to growing the mental health workforce by an additional 27,000 staff in the same period.
NHS England is working towards implementing five new access and waiting time standards for mental health services as part of its clinical review of NHS Access Standards.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
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 implications for his Department's policies of the Health and Social Care Select Committee report entitled NHS Dentistry, published on 14 July 2023.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Department is carefully considering the recommendations of the Health and Social Care Committee’s Ninth Report of Session 2022–23 on NHS dentistry, published on 14 July 2023. The Government’s response will be submitted in due course.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
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 support people who have experienced harm as a result of the hormone pregnancy drug Primodos.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
As we announced following the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety (IMMDS) Review, which covered Primodos, our priority is to make medicines and devices safer, and the Government is pursuing a wide range of activity to further this aim.
Our 2021 response to the IMMDS Review and December 2022 update explains the changes that have been put in place since the Review’s report publication, and the further action we will take to implement the recommendations accepted and to improve patient safety. This includes appointing Dr Henrietta Hughes as the first ever Patient Safety Commissioner in England to champion patients’ voices in relation to the safety of medicines and medical devices.