Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
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 help tackle (a) sexism, (b) racism and (c) bullying behaviour within the ambulance service; and if she will establish an independent body to review complaints made by ambulance workers.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Everyone working in the National Health Service must feel safe from any form of bullying, harassment, discrimination, or abuse, and feel confident that they can raise concerns, which will be taken seriously and acted on.
The Department welcomes the publication of the NHS England commissioned independent review into ambulance sector culture. NHS England has established a Delivery Board to deliver the review’s important recommendations. This includes actions led by the Office of the Chief Allied Health Professions at NHS England, and the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, on stopping misogyny and improving sexual safety in the ambulance service. This programme of work will build on the work already underway through the NHS People Plan, and the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Improvement Plan
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
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 (a) promote better awareness within the NHS of the symptoms of Lyme disease and (b) speed up (i) testing and (ii) analysis of test results for Lyme disease.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) Clinical Knowledge Summaries (CKS) are specifically aimed at general practices (GPs), and cover the availability of testing services. The entomology group in the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) also has a tick awareness scheme, which sends out information on avoiding tick bites in a spring campaign, and supports local authorities in areas with a high prevalence of Lyme disease. Further information on Lyme disease, access to testing, and the NICE’s CKS’ is available respectively at the links below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/lyme-disease-guidance-data-and-analysis
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng95
https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/lyme-disease/management/management/
All confirmatory testing in England is performed by the Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory (RIPL). Delays may occur in the referring laboratory when submitting the sample, during testing at the RIPL, or when accessing the results, which are sent back electronically, before being passed onto GPs. Only the RIPL is within the UKHSA’s control, and the RIPL is planning to introduce new technology to speed up tests for neuroborreliosis.
National data analysis is released through the Fingertips system, which is regularly updated. The annual number of cases of Lyme disease varies from year to year, depending on weather conditions in the Lyme season, the effects of weather and human activities on animals that harbor the disease, and the tick population. Further information on the Fingertips system is available at the following link:
https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/health-protection/data
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the review of the contractual arrangements under which NHS dental treatment is carried out will be completed.
Answered by Will Quince
In July 2022, we announced measures to improve the National Health Service dental system and in ‘Our plan for patients’ published in September 2022. This aims to increase access for patients, including those with greater oral health needs and ensure that dentists are fairly rewarded for the delivery of NHS care. Further information on improving access for patients, including in the South West, will be available later in the autumn.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will take urgent steps to improve the availability and quality of NHS dental treatment in Torridge and West Devon constituency.
Answered by Will Quince
In July 2022, we announced measures to improve the National Health Service dental system and in ‘Our plan for patients’ published in September 2022. This aims to increase access for patients, including those with greater oral health needs and ensure that dentists are fairly rewarded for the delivery of NHS care. Further information on improving access for patients, including in the South West, will be available later in the autumn.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of funding the construction of defibrillator networks from the NHS central budget.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No specific assessment has been made. However, in partnership with The British Heart Foundation, the Resuscitation Council UK and the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, NHS England and NHS Improvement have developed ‘The Circuit’; a database to register defibrillators in the United Kingdom. This will assist ambulance services to identify the nearest defibrillator at the time of an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the cost of building the Government's planned national network of defibrillators; and what proportion of that cost his Department will cover.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No estimate has been made as the Government has not funded the network. We have encouraged communities and organisations in England to consider purchasing a defibrillator as part of first aid equipment, particularly in locations where there are high concentrations of people. Many community defibrillators have since been provided in public locations through national lottery funding, community fundraising schemes, workplace funding or by charities.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what financial support his Department has provided for the purchase of defibrillators for installation in public places in the last five years; what recent assessment he has made of the need to install community defibrillators in public places; and what steps he is taking to support the installation of more defibrillators in public places.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
In 2015/16, we provided £2 million to increase the availability of Automated External Defibrillators and the number of people trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Since then, we have encouraged communities and organisations across England to consider purchasing a defibrillator as part of first-aid equipment, particularly in locations where there are high concentrations of people. Many community defibrillators have since been provided through national lottery funding, community fundraising schemes, workplace funding or by charities
No recent assessment has been made of the need to install community defibrillators in public places. The NHS Long Term Plan has a programme funded in 2022/23 which includes national projects to improve bystander response in relation to out of hospital cardiac arrests.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government has a maximum distance it considers appropriate for patients to travel for dental care; what data he holds on waiting times for patients in Devon for NHS dental care; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of reimbursing the cost of urgent dental treatment undertaken privately in circumstances where no local NHS dentists are available.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
There are no geographical restrictions on which practice a patient may attend, including urgent dental centres (UDCs). This enables patients wider choice when seeking a new dentist or choosing to stay with a familiar practice. No maximum travel distance is therefore defined.
Data is not held on waiting times in Devon and no specific assessment has been made, as the provision of urgent care has now returned to pre-pandemic levels. Patients can access care from any high street National Health Service dental practice accepting patients or via NHS 111. Over 700 UDCs continue to support the provision of urgent dental care, where a patient does not have or cannot access a dentist.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans the Government has to administer covid-19 vaccinations to inmates in prisons.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has agreed that it would be difficult to advise additional prioritisation of detainees above the wider population based on the potential increased risk of exposure in a detained setting alone.
The overarching priority for the vaccination programme continues to be to reduce mortality, morbidity and hospitalisation and the JCVI has that priority should be based on age as the strongest indicator of risk of serious outcomes and clinical risk factors. Therefore, inmates in prisons will be prioritised for vaccination according to their own age and clinical risk along with the rest of the population.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
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 the number of consultant neurologists in the NHS.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Department does not hold this information. National Health Service workforce statistics published by NHS Digital show that the full time equivalent number of consultant neurologists employed by the NHS in England has increased by 30% between September 2010 and December 2017:
FTE | Consultant Neurologists |
September 2010 | 589 |
September 2011 | 610 |
September 2012 | 651 |
September 2013 | 689 |
September 2014 | 732 |
September 2015 | 756 |
September 2016 | 732 |
September 2017 | 766 |
December 2017 | 764 |
Source: NHS Digital
Health Education England is responsible for assessing the future need of the NHS at a national level in order to ensure sufficient supply of doctors across all grades and specialties. However, data on the number of trainees entering neurology is not routinely published.