Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the safe level of exposure is to (a) PM1 and (b) PM0.1.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
Public Health England (PHE) undertakes various air quality research projects, working with academic partners, to review the evidence for the health effects of air pollutants, regarding the health effects of particulate matter (PM0.1 and PM1). PHE is a partner in two health protection research units funded by the National Institute for Health Research, whose remit includes air pollution research. These projects can be viewed at the following link:
http://www.hpru-ech.nihr.ac.uk/
PHE also draws on scientific studies and reviews published in the peer reviewed literature and by authoritative bodies.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
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 increase early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
NHS England is establishing Rapid Diagnostic Centres across the country to upgrade and bring together the latest diagnostic equipment and expertise. The centres build on the 10 models piloted through the Accelerate, Coordinate and Evaluate programme, which have focussed on diagnosing cancers where patients often present with non-specific symptoms, such as those for pancreatic cancer, and may go to their general practitioner many times before being sent for appropriate tests.
NHS England will shortly be introducing a Faster Diagnostic Standard of 28 days for all cancer patients, including those with pancreatic cancer, which when taken together with the 62-day referral to treatment standard, will mean that all patients should expect to start their treatment within 34 days of diagnosis. This is a maximum, and trusts should continue to treat patients more quickly where there is a strong clinical need.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the finding that long NHS waiting times are leading to patient harm of the Public Accounts Committee’s June 2019 report NHS waiting times for elective and cancer treatment, what assessment his Department has made of the variation in waiting times for pancreatic cancer treatment across England.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
Clinical priority remains the main determinant of when a patient should be treated.
NHS England will shortly be introducing a Faster Diagnostic Standard of 28 days for all cancer patients, including those with pancreatic cancer. Trusts should continue to treat patients more quickly where there is a strong clinical need.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many Cuban-trained (a) doctors and (b) nurses are employed by the NHS.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
NHS Digital publishes hospital and community health services workforce statistics for NHS trusts and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in England.
NHS Digital workforce statistics reports on the nationality of doctors and nurses in English NHS trusts and CCGs. As at December 2018 there were 14 members of NHS staff of Cuban nationality (headcount), including a total of six doctors, nurses and health visitors and midwives. Nationality data is self-reported and may reflect cultural heritage rather than country of birth. We do not know whether these workers received their medical training in Cuba or not.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what research the Government has commissioned on the non-thermal effects of wireless radiation on human health.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
The Department has supported research in relation to concerns that there might be adverse effects from exposure to the low levels of radiofrequency radiation, or radio waves, from mobile phones and base stations.
The independently managed Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research (MTHR) programme ran from 2001 until 2012 and funded 31 projects, leading to over 60 publications. Information about the MTHR programme and the studies it supported can be found at the following link:
https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/*/http://www.mthr.org.uk/
MTHR research has considered symptoms in relation to the skin and the eyes. None of the research supported by MTHR has demonstrated that biological or adverse health effects are produced by radiofrequency exposure from mobile phones or base stations.
The Department continues to support research on exposure to radio waves, including the ongoing Cohort Study of Mobile Phone Use and Health (COSMOS) and the Study of Cognition, Adolescents and Mobile Phone studies (SCAMP) at Imperial College London. Information about these studies can be found at the following links:
http://www.thecosmosproject.org/
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what research the Government has commissioned on the potential effect of non-ionising electromagnetic radiation on people's health and in particular on (a) the eye and (b) skin.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
The Department has supported research in relation to concerns that there might be adverse effects from exposure to the low levels of radiofrequency radiation, or radio waves, from mobile phones and base stations.
The independently managed Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research (MTHR) programme ran from 2001 until 2012 and funded 31 projects, leading to over 60 publications. Information about the MTHR programme and the studies it supported can be found at the following link:
https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/*/http://www.mthr.org.uk/
MTHR research has considered symptoms in relation to the skin and the eyes. None of the research supported by MTHR has demonstrated that biological or adverse health effects are produced by radiofrequency exposure from mobile phones or base stations.
The Department continues to support research on exposure to radio waves, including the ongoing Cohort Study of Mobile Phone Use and Health (COSMOS) and the Study of Cognition, Adolescents and Mobile Phone studies (SCAMP) at Imperial College London. Information about these studies can be found at the following links:
http://www.thecosmosproject.org/
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department plans to publish on protecting people who suffer from electro-hypersensitivity from the effects of 5G.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
Public Health England (PHE) advises that the guidelines of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) should be adopted for limiting exposure to radio waves, and there is no convincing evidence that adverse health effects can result if these guidelines are complied with.
Carefully designed studies have been performed in the United Kingdom and around the world to investigate whether the health symptoms some people experience and attribute to exposure to radio waves within the ICNIRP guideline levels are indeed caused by exposure. The studies are detailed in the 2012 report from the independent Advisory Group on Non-ionising Radiation, available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/radiofrequency-electromagnetic-fields-health-effects
PHE continues to monitor the evidence on this topic.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many GP practices consist of (a) one, (b) two, (c) three to five, (d) six to ten, (d) 11-15, (e) 16 - 20 and (f) more than 20 GPs in each Clinical Commissioning Group area.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
The data requested is available in the attached table.