Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Royal College of Radiologists’ 2022 Workforce Census, what assessment he has made of the shortage in the NHS clinical oncology workforce on (a) radiotherapy waiting times, (b) patient outcomes and (c) staff well-being.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No such assessment has been made. The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan (LTWP) was published on 30 June 2023. Backed by over £2.4 billion of Government investment over the next five years, the LTWP will put the workforce on a sustainable footing for the long term.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps is the Minister taking to increase access to NHS dental services in County Durham.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reasons his Department has not responded to the Health and Social Care Select Committee's report on NHS dentistry within two months of its publication on 14 July 2023.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Department is carefully considering the recommendations of the report. The Government’s response will be submitted in due course.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
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 ensure that radiotherapy LINAC machines used in NHS Trusts are replaced once they go beyond their recommended 10-year lifespan; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of rolling replacement funding.
Answered by Will Quince
Since April 2022, the responsibility for investing in new radiotherapy machines has sat with local systems. This is supported by the 2021 Spending Review, which set aside £12 billion in operational capital for the National Health Service from 2022 to 2025.
Recent capital planning guidance sets out the expectation that the majority of radiotherapy equipment, particularly linear accelerator machines, will need to be replaced at 10 years of age, to make progress on NHS Long Term Plan priorities. The guidance states that integrated care systems need to develop replacement plans as part of their multi-year capital plans, in partnership with specialised commissioners, Cancer Alliances and Radiotherapy Operational Delivery Networks, based on an assessment of equipment age, capacity and demand, opportunities to improve access and service risk.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what changes his Department plans to make to the (a) reporting of and (b) data collected by NHS England on cancer waiting times after 1 October 2023.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department has taken steps to work with NHS England to modernise and simplify National Health Service cancer waiting time targets. The new standards are more in line with the requirements of modern cancer care, with a greater focus on outcomes and incentivising the completion of the pathway, in the best interests of patients.
From 1 October 2023, the NHS will move from the 10 different standards currently in place to three:
- Faster Diagnosis Standard: a diagnosis or ruling out of cancer within 28 days of referral (set at 75%, rising to 80% by 2026);
- 31-day treatment standard: commence treatment within 31 days of a decision to treat for all cancer patients (set at 96%); and
- 62-day treatment standard: commence treatment within 62 days of being referred or consultant upgrade (set at 85%).
There will be minimal changes to reporting of data by trusts. In addition, Cancer Waiting Time statistics will continue to be published monthly by NHS England, who will take this opportunity to improve the granularity of the statistics by cancer type.
NHS England will continue to collect and publish some data on the other process-based standards, such as first and subsequent radiotherapy or chemotherapy treatments. This data will remain important in terms of being able to analyse and understand reasons for any changes in overall performance.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will bring forward proposals to ban the off-label prescribing of Ozempic.
Answered by Will Quince
We have issued guidance to prescribers and pharmacists that medicines which are solely licensed to treat type 2 diabetes, such as Ozempic, should not be routinely prescribed for weight loss. The guidance is clear that these medicines should only be prescribed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, in order to protect supply for diabetes patients.
Decisions about what medicines to prescribe are made by the doctor or healthcare professional responsible for that part of the patient’s care and prescribers are accountable for their prescribing decisions, both professionally and to their service commissioners. All prescribers, whether employed privately or by the National Health Service, are also expected by their professional regulators and the Government to take account of appropriate national guidance. This includes Medicines Supply Notifications and National Patient Safety Alerts.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
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 potential impact of the increase in the Immigration Health Surcharge on the number of migrants with (a) acute and (b) chronic health issues who will seek NHS treatment.
Answered by Will Quince
Regulations will be laid in Autumn 2023 to amend the Immigration (Heath Charge) Order 2015 to increase the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) and a full economic impact assessment will be prepared.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the £95 million of additional funding for maternity services in England announced by her Department in 2021, how many of the additional (a) 1,200 midwives and (b) 100 obstetricians have been recruited to the NHS in England as of 10 October 2022.
Answered by Will Quince
This information is not held centrally in the format requested. However, data on the number of midwives and obstetricians as of July 2022 is available at the following link:
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 2 June 2023 to Question 185884 on Cancer: Drugs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of current levels of capacity for services delivering systemic anti-cancer therapies in breast cancer on patient outcomes.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made. At present, the Department has no plans to publish levels of breast cancer SACT delivery capacity as this data is not held centrally.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 2 June 2023 to Question 185884 on Cancer: Drugs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of levels of demand for services delivering systemic anti-cancer therapies in breast cancer on health equality.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made. At present, the Department has no plans to publish levels of breast cancer SACT delivery capacity as this data is not held centrally.