Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how the Major Conditions Strategy will take into account the (a) care and (b) support needs of teenagers and young adults with cancer.
Answered by Will Quince
Cancer is a priority for this Government and the Department continues to take steps to demonstrate this. Childhood, young people’s and young adults’ cancers are included within the Department’s Major Conditions Strategy, which tackles contributions contributing most to morbidity and mortality.
While the Department cannot pre-empt its outcomes, the Major Conditions Strategy’s final report scheduled for early 2024 will draw on previous work, including submissions from childhood, young people and young adults’ cancer charities and stakeholders in response to our calls for evidence on cancer and on major conditions. The emphasis is on earlier diagnosis, better support to manage conditions, and improved coordination of treatment and care.
The Department is engaging with several stakeholders in the development of the Major Conditions Strategy including organisations that represent the needs and care of people with lived experience of cancer.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
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 data reporting on the (a) outcomes and (b) experiences of young people with cancer.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department is taking steps, along with other organisations, to better understand data on outcomes and experiences of young people with cancer.
On the data reporting of outcomes, the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS) collects, quality assures and analyses data on all people living in England who are diagnosed with cancer, including young people.
This data is used to measure diagnosis, treatment and outcomes for patients diagnosed with cancer. The data held by NCRAS supports service provision and commissioning in the National Health Service, clinical audits, and public health and epidemiological research, all of which contribute to improved outcomes for those diagnosed with cancer.
The National Cancer Patient Experience Survey, commissioned by NHS England, aims to understand the experiences of cancer care across England, for all patients aged 16 years old or over. This has surveyed patients annually since 2010.
In addition, the Under 16 Cancer Patient Experience Survey, commissioned by NHS England, is now in its second year and aims to gather feedback from children and young people and their parents/carers on the cancer care and treatment received.
These surveys provide valuable findings, helping the NHS to understand what is good about children, young people’s and adults’ cancer care, and identifying areas for improvements.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
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 giving the Care Quality Commission more freedom to scrutinise the level of patient involvement of (a) Integrated Care Systems and (b) Integrated Care Boards.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has a new duty to review and assess integrated care systems (ICSs), in which integrated care boards (ICBs) are in scope, as a statutory body within an ICS. As part of these assessments, my Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, has asked the CQC to consider whether each ICS is adequately considering the voices of people who use health and care services and their families, carers and representatives.
The CQC’s approach is driven by people’s needs and their experiences of health and care services. It will focus on what matters to the public and to local communities when they access, use and move between services.
It is the role of NHS England to assess an ICB’s performance against its statutory duties (such as the duty to promote the involvement of each patient).
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the next round of guidance for Integrated Care Systems on women’s health hubs planned for autumn 2023, whether his Department plans to (a) provide guidance for the commissioning of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) and (b) publish additional guidance on women’s health hubs in 2024.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department and NHS England are working together to develop further resources to support integrated care systems to establish women’s health hubs. In the autumn of 2023, we plan to publish a commissioning specification for hubs which will include guidance around commissioning long-acting reversible contraception, and a toolkit for virtual group consultations and virtual engagement events in women’s health hubs.
Currently there are no plans to publish additional guidance on women’s health hubs, but we will keep under review if integrated care systems would benefit from further guidance.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his announcement in July 2023 of £595,000 funding per Integrated Care System to support the expansion of Women’s Health Hubs, what steps his Department is taking to support Integrated Care Boards to determine how that funding is allocated to develop services that (a) best meet population needs and (b) reduce health inequalities.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning services that meet the health needs of their local population. We have published resources to support ICBs as they work with other system partners to implement the funding, including a core specification, and cost benefit analysis. These are available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/womens-health-hubs
The Women’s Health Ambassador for England has hosted 4 webinars over the summer to support local systems as they develop their plans. These webinars had a specific focus on how existing hubs are meeting population needs and reducing health inequalities.
We are developing further resources of a commissioning specification and a toolkit for virtual group consultations and virtual engagement events in women’s health hubs. ICBs have been asked to submit an initial return by 30 September 2023, setting out where their hub will be, what services it plans to offer, staffing model, and other information. This will enable the Department and NHS England to understand how systems are using the funding to meet population needs and reduce health inequalities. The Department and NHS England are in regular contact with systems to answer any questions and are holding drop-in sessions in September to support with completing the reporting template.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish data held by his Department on the number of trained long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) fitters (a) within the Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care System and (b) nationally.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Department does not hold data on the number of trained LARC fitters nationally, or within specific integrated care systems.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many surgery cancellations there have been by speciality in the last 12 months.
Answered by Will Quince
The information is not available in the format requested. However, we continue to work to minimise cancellations and reschedule activity as soon as possible across all specialities.
For example, from April 2023, providers are being asked to establish Perioperative Care Co-ordination teams. These are multidisciplinary teams that will assess health needs to proactively inform pre- and post-operative care and identify surgical risk factors, in order to reduce the chance of cancellations and to improve patient outcomes.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department made of the potential impact on trends in the level of employment on waiting times for orthopaedic surgery.
Answered by Will Quince
No assessment has been made.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of Cheshire and Merseyside's Integrated Care System's diagnostic funding was spent on diagnostic endoscopy procedures in Knowsley in the 2022-2023 financial year.
Answered by Will Quince
£2.3 billion was awarded at the 2021 Spending Review to transform diagnostic services over the next three years to increase diagnostic capacity, including for endoscopy services. This funding will also increase the number of Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) up to 160 by March 2025, including a number delivering endoscopy services.
In July 2021, Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care System opened St Helens CDC, which has since delivered 2,164 additional endoscopy tests closer to people’s homes, increasing earlier access to endoscopy procedures for the Knowsley population.
In 2022/23, Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care System spent a total of £46,608,474 on diagnostic scoping services. Of this, £3,268,694 (7.0%), was spent on diagnostic endoscopy procedures in Knowsley.
Data on funding for all diagnostics is not held in the format requested.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care System plans to take to increase the delivery of endoscopy procedures for patients in Knowsley constituency.
Answered by Will Quince
£2.3 billion was awarded at the 2021 Spending Review to transform diagnostic services over the next three years to increase diagnostic capacity, including for endoscopy services. This funding will also increase the number of Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) up to 160 by March 2025, including a number delivering endoscopy services.
In July 2021, Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care System opened St Helens CDC, which has since delivered 2,164 additional endoscopy tests closer to people’s homes, increasing earlier access to endoscopy procedures for the Knowsley population.
In 2022/23, Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care System spent a total of £46,608,474 on diagnostic scoping services. Of this, £3,268,694 (7.0%), was spent on diagnostic endoscopy procedures in Knowsley.
Data on funding for all diagnostics is not held in the format requested.