Asked by: David Evennett (Conservative - Bexleyheath and Crayford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much the NHS has spent on treating obesity-related diseases in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
It was estimated that in 2021 obesity related ill-health cost the National Health Service £6.5 billion annually.
The NHS is committed to improving obesity care and other major causes of ill health through a preventive approach as outlined in the NHS’s Long Term Plan. It continues to offer support to the population, enabling them to take greater control of their own health and stay healthy for longer.
Asked by: David Evennett (Conservative - Bexleyheath and Crayford)
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 raise public awareness of obesity-linked illnesses.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The Department is committed to action on obesity including raising awareness of obesity related illness. The Department’s ‘Better Health’ campaigns provide resources including free evidence-based digital tools, highlight health effects of obesity, and support people to make and sustain changes to improve their health. They include the Better Health websites, email programmes, and NHS Weight Loss, Food Scanner, Couch to 5K and Active 10 apps.
The NHS Health Check assesses the top risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes, including body mass index. Each year the programme engages over one million people aged between 40 and 74 years old and identifies around 317,000 people living with obesity who are made aware of the risks of developing CVD and diabetes and are then provided with advice and support to reduce their risk and referral for treatment if needed.
We have also recently published a Major Conditions Strategy case for change which highlights risk factors, such as obesity, in contributing to diseases that are collectively the greatest contributors to ill-health and early mortality. We will be publishing a final strategy next year.
Asked by: David Evennett (Conservative - Bexleyheath and Crayford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many obesity-related hospital admissions there were in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Data for admissions related to obesity and hyperalimentation is only available from 2019 when it was first collected. The following table shows the number of these hospital admissions since 2019:
Year | Admissions |
2022/2023 | 8,970 |
2021/2022 | 7,935 |
2020/2021 | 4,095 |
2019/2020 | 11,025 |
Source: NHS England
Asked by: David Evennett (Conservative - Bexleyheath and Crayford)
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 the dementia diagnosis rate in the Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
In December 2022, the recovery of the dementia diagnosis rate to the national ambition of 66.7% was included in the NHS priorities and operational planning guidance as part of the refined mental health objectives for 2023/24. This reinforces the importance of dementia as a key priority for NHS England and provides a clear direction for integrated care boards to support delivery of timely diagnoses within systems.
Asked by: David Evennett (Conservative - Bexleyheath and Crayford)
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 promote the use of urgent care centres.
Answered by Will Quince
A key aim of the Delivery plan for recovering urgent and emergency care services is making it easier for patients to access the right care. Urgent Treatment Centres (UTCs) are an important part of urgent and emergency care, providing patients with an alternative to accident and emergency, helping them get the right level of care and taking pressures off our Emergency Departments.
The NHS Directory of Services (DoS) enables referrals into the most appropriate urgent care service from 111 and 999, supporting better management of patients. Under the plan, a rebuild of the DoS platform will make it easier for staff in the NHS to direct people to the appropriate services.
NHS England will work with stakeholders to agree consistent approaches for patients who walk into hospitals, which will support patients to be seen in the most appropriate setting.
The plan sets out that integrated care boards (ICBs) should determine where UTCs will be most effective in their system. They may be co-located with the local emergency department or a standalone service either on or off a hospital site. Under the plan, ICB decisions about all existing services should be concluded through 2023/24.
Asked by: David Evennett (Conservative - Bexleyheath and Crayford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the proportion of registered General Practitioners to residents is in (a) Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency and (b) the London Borough of Bexley.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
We do not hold data for residents in these areas, so have used registered patients instead.
In March 2023, there were 5.9 fulltime equivalent (FTE) doctors in general practice per 10,000 registered patients in Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency and 5.4 FTE doctors in general practice per 10,000 registered patients in the London Borough of Bexley.
Asked by: David Evennett (Conservative - Bexleyheath and Crayford)
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 levels of childhood obesity.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
New Regulations on out of home calorie labelling for food sold in large businesses, including restaurants, cafes and takeaways, came into force in April 2022. Restrictions on the promotion by location of products high in fat, salt or sugar came into force on 1 October 2022. We are also working with the food industry to ensure it is easier for the public to make healthier choices and make further progress on reformulation.
Asked by: David Evennett (Conservative - Bexleyheath and Crayford)
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) identify and (b) support unpaid carers.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
The white paper ‘People at the Heart of Care’ sets out how we will invest up to £25 million to improve services provided to support unpaid carers. We expect this funding will identify and test a range of new and existing interventions for unpaid carers, which could include respite and breaks and peer group and wellbeing.
To support the identification of unpaid carers, we are encouraging the use of unpaid carer markers in National Health Service electronic health records by simplifying data collection and registration. We will also introduce a new marker indicating the presence of a contingency plan, where one is available, which describes the actions to take if the carer is no longer able to provide care.