Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on targeted energy support for families running lifesaving medical equipment.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There have been no specific discussions. However, the Government’s cost of living support package currently delivers £15 billion worth of support measures to assist the most vulnerable with rising energy bills, including users of home medical equipment. In addition, certain specialised National Health Services, such as home Haemodialysis, do include the provision of financial support to offset energy costs sustained from running medical equipment at home. Home Oxygen Suppliers also reimburse cost of electricity required to run oxygen concentrator devices in homes, and this cost is passed onto integrated care boards as part of contractual arrangements.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will increase funding for (a) the treatment of and (b) research into myalgic encephalomyelitis.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is the responsibility of integrated care boards to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of the local population, including people with ME/CFS. The Department is developing a cross-Government Delivery Plan on ME/CFS. As part of the plan, we are working with other Government departments and stakeholders to determine ways to improve experiences and outcomes for all people who have ME/CFS.
The Government invests in health research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and the Medical Research Council (MRC), through UK Research and Innovation. The NIHR and MRC both welcome high-quality applications for research into all aspects of ME/CFS, including biomedical research. It is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to (a) recruit and retain more permanent staff in the NHS and (b) reduce NHS reliance on agency staff.
Answered by Will Quince
This Government is committed to growing the National Health Service workforce. We have record numbers of staff working in the NHS, including almost 4,700 more doctors and over 10,500 more nurses since last year. We are on track to meet the 50,000 nurses manifesto commitment and we have also funded 1,500 more medical school places each year to strengthen our workforce.
We also recognise the importance of retaining our experienced workforce. The NHS Retention Programme is helping to retain our experienced workforce through targeted interventions to support staff to stay, whilst keeping them well. The long term workforce plan currently being developed by NHS England will help ensure we have the right staff numbers with the right skills to deliver high quality services in the future.
A flexible workforce is important for running the NHS, to meet short term demand increases. This is done through staff banks and external agencies. Our policy is to reduce the use of agency spend and prioritise staff banks. Since 2015, we have controlled agency spend through price caps and procurement frameworks and have reduced agency spend by a third from £3.6 billion in 2015/16 to £2.4 billion in 2020/21
Alongside agency specific measures, the Government has worked with NHS trusts to develop their staff banks, including collaborative banks, which create a larger pool of flexible staff.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
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 waiting times for women in Somerset who have been referred for a gynaecology appointment.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
As of November 2022, the average waiting time for gynaecology treatment across England was 15.4 weeks, a decrease of nearly 14% from the peak average waiting time in July 2020. Per working day activity levels for gynaecology treatment continue to recover and as of November 2022 were 108% of pre-covid levels. While we do not have specific data for Somerset, a huge amount of work is underway nationally to tackle gynaecology wait lists.
The National Health Service has published the ‘Delivery Plan for Tackling the COVID-19 Backlog of Elective Care’ which outlines how the NHS will bring down waiting times across all elective services including gynaecology and menstrual health. The plan commits to investing in the physical separation of routine care to protect planned services from emergency care pressures where possible. We are increasing capacity for gynaecological surgery to tackle waiting lists through our surgical hub and High Volume Low Complexity programme.
Some gynaecological services, such as menstrual health services, are predominantly provided by general practitioners (GPs) which remained open throughout the pandemic. The Government invested £520 million to improve access and expand GP capacity during the pandemic. This is on top of the £1.5 billion already announced in 2020 to create an additional 50 million GP appointments by 2024 by growing and diversifying the workforce which will help tackle the backlog for gynaecological services.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department has taken to help tackle regional disparities in (a) access to and (b) experiences of care for people living with diabetes.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In 2022/23, £36 million has been allocated to integrated care systems, weighted by local levels of deprivation, to support the restoration of routine diabetes care. The NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme monitors delivery and provides support to systems.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the level of support provided by his Department to women with endometriosis.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No specific assessment has been made. However, NHS England is reviewing the service specification for severe endometriosis and will report in 2023. This will ensure that specialist endometriosis services have access to current evidence and advice to improve standards of care.
On 3 November 2022, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) confirmed it will update its guidelines on diagnosing endometriosis and surgical management if fertility is a priority. NICE will also explore mental wellbeing and support for people with suspected or confirmed endometriosis during the scoping of the update. The publication date of the updated guideline will be available in due course.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make a comparative assessment of the average time taken to diagnose Parkinson’s disease (a) in Somerset and (b) nationally in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no plans to make a specific assessment, as data on the average time taken to diagnose Parkinson’s Disease is not held centrally.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has taken recent steps to establish clinical trials to test the (a) safety and (b) efficacy of unlicensed cannabis-based products for the treatment of children with epilepsy.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department, via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), is developing two randomised controlled trials into epilepsy in adults and children. The trials will start in due course and results will be published once completed and peer reviewed. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including cannabis-based products for the treatment of children with epilepsy.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has taken recent steps to help ensure that research into the use of cannabis-based products for the treatment of children with epilepsy is adequately funded.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department, via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), is developing two randomised controlled trials into epilepsy in adults and children. The trials will start in due course and results will be published once completed and peer reviewed. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including cannabis-based products for the treatment of children with epilepsy.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
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 waiting times for cancer patients between urgent GP referral and treatment.
Answered by Will Quince
The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’ sets out how the National Health Service will recover and expand elective services over the next three years, including cancer services. We have allocated 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 already made available in 2021/2022 to increase elective activity.
The plan also sets out how NHS England will return the number of people waiting more than 62 days to start treatment following an urgent referral due to suspected cancer to pre-pandemic levels by March 2023. We have established 91 community diagnostic centres (CDCs) to ensure patients receive earlier diagnostic tests closer to home, including for cancer. We will deliver up to 160 CDCs to support the NHS to undertake up to 17 million tests by March 2025, with capacity for a further nine million per year once fully operational.