Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of NHS dental provision in Cornwall.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We acknowledge that there are additional pressures facing National Health Service dental services in certain parts of the country, including in the South-West of England.
From 1 April 2023, responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to all integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. ICBs are responsible for having local processes in place to involve patient groups, and for undertaking oral health needs assessments, to identify areas of need and determine the priorities for investment. NHS England has been working with ICB partners on the South-West Dental Reform Programme and have commissioned additional urgent dental care appointments that people can access via NHS 111.
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, published on 30 June 2023, sets out the steps the National Health Service and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. These include a 40% increase to dentistry undergraduate training places by 2031/32.
In July 2022, we announced a package of reforms to improve access to NHS dentistry, which outlined the steps we are taking to meet oral health needs and increase access to dental care. But we know we need to do more, including in some areas where access is particularly problematic. We are working on our Dentistry Recovery Plan which will be published shortly.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for the Lords) plans to reply to the correspondence from the the hon. Member for St Ives of 29 September 2023 on gaining consents under legal charges from NHS bodies.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Lord Markham) replied to the hon. Member on 17 November 2023.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 13 September 2023 to Question 198352 on Dental Services: Cornwall, how funding recovered from NHS dentists may be spent by his Department.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has provided guidance for integrated care boards (ICBs) that requires dental funding to be ringfenced, with any unused resources re-directed to improve National Health Service dental access in the first instance. A schedule setting out the dental ringfence has been issued to ICBs. NHS England’s 2023/24 revenue finance and contracting guidance, which provides more detail, is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/2023-24-revenue-finance-and-contracting-guidance/
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to ensure patients with Huntington’s Disease have access to community mental health services when psychiatric symptoms are present.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
We have been made aware of instances of people with Huntington’s disease experiencing difficulty in accessing mental health services. NHS England has circulated a statement to integrated care services (ICSs) to say that mental health services should be offered based on clinical need and people should not be excluded due to coexisting conditions where the service is clinically appropriate.
We are also 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 including those with Huntington’s disease can get the mental health support that they need.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of directing the Care Quality Commission to assess the adequacy of care home laundry hygiene standards.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and social care providers in England. The CQC’s fundamental standard for premises and equipment, under Regulation 15 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, requires ancillary services, such as laundry rooms, to be maintained in line with the fundamental standard. People using the service and staff using the equipment should be trained to use it or be supervised and/or risk assessed as necessary.
Where a health and care provider does not comply with Regulation 15, the CQC can take regulatory action.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of the NHS using Tirzepatide to treat patients with diabetes when Ozempic is not available.
Answered by Will Quince
The relative merits of Tirzepatide compared to other treatments in any indication is subject to appraisal by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which provides recommendations to the National Health Service on a drug’s clinical and cost-effectiveness, including an assessment of comparator products in its methods where appropriate.
NICE published final draft guidance on 8 September 2023 which recommends Tirzepatide for treating type 2 diabetes alongside diet and exercise in adults who meet the specified criteria. Final guidance on Tirzepatide is expected in October 2023.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of units of dental activity under NHS dental contracts were handed back to NHS England in Cornwall in financial year 2021-22.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
During 2021/22 there were two contract hand backs of 300 Units of Dental Activity (UDAs) and 800 UDAs. In 2021/22, 940,152 UDAs were commissioned, therefore 0.12% of contracted activity (1,100 UDAs) was handed back.
During 2021/22 there was also a contract reduction of 11,000 UDAs. Taking all of these reductions into account, there was a recurrent reduction of 12,100 UDAs. This represents a reduction of 1.29% of total commissioned activity.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer to Question 195463 on Dental Services: Cornwall, how much of the £4,562,496 recovered from dentists in Cornwall in 2021-22 is (a) available and (b) allocated for financial year 2023-24.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Financial accounting rules do not allow for funding recovered from one financial year (in this case, 2021/22) to be spent in another financial year (in this case, 2023/24). Where a dental contract underperforms in any one year any financial recovery associated with the contractual performance should accrue to the year in which the underperformance takes place.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his Department's expected timescale is for updating its statutory guidance on autism; and how he will ensure that people with autism are consulted.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department is committed to ensuring autistic people are involved in the formation of policy and decision-making processes. This year, we are working on updating the Statutory Guidance on Autism to support the National Health Service and local authorities to deliver improved outcomes for autistic people.
There will be a public consultation on the draft guidance in due course, which will give autistic people, their families, and carers the opportunity to give their views. We expect to publish the updated Statutory Guidance in 2024.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
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 potential merits of (a) paid sabbaticals, (b) guaranteed study leave and (c) reform of NHS deaneries on the (i) recruitment and (ii) retention of NHS doctors.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department has not made any assessment of the potential merits of paid sabbaticals, guaranteed study leave or reform of NHS deaneries on the recruitment and retention of NHS doctors.
Individual NHS employers are responsible for developing their own policy relating to sabbaticals. Policies are designed to meet the employers’ specific recruitment and retention needs.
Arrangements relating to study leave are detailed in the national terms and conditions of employment for NHS doctors. Requests for study leave will normally be granted, subject to the need to maintain NHS services.
NHS deaneries deliver national recruitment to training posts across the four nations but do not run recruitment for employment and do not have responsibility for retention.