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 strategy his Department has for ensuring the 62-day cancer waiting times target for first treatment is met.
Answered by James Morris
The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’ sets out the ambition for the number of people waiting more than 62 days from an urgent referral for cancer to return to pre-pandemic levels by March 2023. The Department has committed an additional £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25, in addition to the £2 billion Elective Recovery Fund and the £700 million targeted Investment Fund already made available to the system.
This investment will allow up to 160 new community diagnostic centres (CDC) to deliver additional, digitally connected, diagnostic capacity in England, providing patients with a coordinated set of diagnostic checks, including for cancer. CDCs and the associated re-design of the cancer pathway will reduce waiting times from presentation to diagnosis and the number of interactions required to receive a diagnosis. NHS England is also working with National Health Service trusts to develop bespoke support to improve waiting times.
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 the 62-day cancer waiting times target for first treatment is met.
Answered by James Morris
The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’ sets out the ambition for the number of people waiting more than 62 days from an urgent referral for cancer to return to pre-pandemic levels by March 2023. The Department has committed an additional £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25, in addition to the £2 billion Elective Recovery Fund and the £700 million targeted Investment Fund already made available to the system.
This investment will allow up to 160 new community diagnostic centres (CDC) to deliver additional, digitally connected, diagnostic capacity in England, providing patients with a coordinated set of diagnostic checks, including for cancer. CDCs and the associated re-design of the cancer pathway will reduce waiting times from presentation to diagnosis and the number of interactions required to receive a diagnosis. NHS England is also working with National Health Service trusts to develop bespoke support to improve waiting times.
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 treatment capacity within NHS cancer services to tackle the cancer backlog.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’ sets out how the National Health Service will increase elective services, including cancer treatment, over the next three years. We are allocating 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 elective activity. We will also deliver nine million additional treatments and diagnostic procedures in the next three years and approximately 30% more elective activity by 2024/25, compared to pre-pandemic levels.
In 2022/23, Health Education England (HEE) is investing an additional £50 million to increase the cancer and diagnostics workforce. The Department has commissioned HEE to review long-term workforce demand and supply and NHS England will develop a long-term workforce strategy, including supply projections. The forthcoming 10 Year Cancer Plan will also ensure that the appropriate workforce is in place.
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 (a) increase cancer treatment capacity and (b) reduce waiting times for that treatment.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’ states that by March 2023, the number of people waiting more than 62 days to start treatment from an urgent referral for cancer should return to pre-pandemic levels. The National Health Service will ensure that 75% of patients who have been urgently referred by their general practitioner for suspected cancer will be diagnosed or have cancer ruled out within 28 days by March 2024.
The Department has committed an additional £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25 for the recovery of elective services, including cancer treatments. This is in addition to the £2 billion Elective Recovery Fund and £700 million targeted Investment Fund made available to increase capacity and prioritise cancer services. The Department has also provided £20 million to Cancer Alliances to meet the needs of cancer patients.
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 the provision of care and long-term treatment for long covid.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
NHS England has invested £224 million to support the assessment, treatment and rehabilitation of people with post-COVID-19 syndrome, including £90 million in 2022/23. There are over 90 assessment services to support adults, children and young people with the long term effects of COVID-19 and to direct them to appropriate care pathways.
We have invested over £50 million in research projects for post-COVID-19 syndrome to improve our understanding and treatment of the condition.
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 will take to ensure that patients are able to access treatment at wound dressing clinics without delay.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The National Wound Care Strategy Programme (NWCSP) is working with NHS England and NHS Improvement’s Transformation Directorate and the Academic Health Science Network Transforming Wound Care programme to promote the equitable provision of wound care clinics in England.
In December 2020, the NWCSP published clinical recommendations for lower limb care, including to allow more people with chronic lower limb wounds to receive equitable care in dedicated chronic lower limb services staffed by clinicians with appropriate time, knowledge, and skills and with established referral routes to escalate care. The NWCSP is currently testing this model, with full results expected in 2022/23.
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 trends in the level of referrals of people aged over 65 to the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme since 2019.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The following table shows the number of referrals of people aged over 65 years old to Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services. The data shows a decline in referrals from 2020/21 due to the impact of the pandemic as many people aged over 65 years old were more likely to be isolating. While complete data for 2021/22 is not yet available, the number of referrals is now increasing.
Year | Number of referrals |
2018/19 | 104,347 |
2019/20 | 105,438 |
2020/21 | 74,565 |
2021/22 to Quarter 3 | 72,717 |
Source: Psychological Therapies, Annual Reports on the use of IAPT services, NHS Digital
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 relationship between an early diagnosis and good mental health for people living with dementia.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
Timely diagnosis of dementia ensures that a person with dementia can access the advice, information, care and support to allow them to live well with the condition and remain independent for as long as possible. Mental wellbeing is acknowledged as one benefit of an early diagnosis. ‘Benefits of timely dementia diagnosis’ indicates that those who receive a diagnosis can understand their experience and reduce their anxiety. This report is available at the following link:
We will set out plans for dementia in England for the next 10 years later this year, including dementia diagnosis.
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 his Department will (a) collect and (b) publish data on access by people (i) facing digital exclusion and (b) with dementia to Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
We have no current plans to do so. However, NHS England and NHS Improvement have committed to publishing and disseminating resources on inclusive digital transformation for local services and regional teams and understand the needs of specific cohorts at increased risk of digital exclusion.
The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) dataset collects and publishes data on access by people with dementia. However, as the volume of this data is low, it is suppressed to protect patient confidentiality. NHS England and NHS Improvement aim to increase the level of data collected for IAPT Long Term Conditions services, including dementia.
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 assurances his Department has received from NHS England that the increase in provision of care in the community and remote consultations as a result of the covid-19 outbreak will not result in missed cancer diagnoses.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The National Health Service in England continued to prioritise cancer diagnosis and treatment throughout the pandemic. In March 2022, over 250,000 urgent cancer referrals were made by general practitioners in England – an increase of 70,000 compared to March 2020. With NHS England, we are increasing diagnostic capacity and connectivity by investing in more than 160 community diagnostic centres, to improve access to tests for cancer. Online consultations and telemedicine are also providing flexibility for patients.