Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Mid Buckinghamshire)
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 implications for his policies of the number of of paediatric interventional radiologists employed per million children in the (a) NHS and (b) US.
Answered by Will Quince
The Surgery in Children Clinical Reference Group (CRG) provides clinical leadership and advice to NHS England and the Surgery in Children Operational Delivery Group, including on paediatric imaging and interventional radiology. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the Programme of Care, the CRG and the Surgery in Children Operational Delivery Networks (ODNs) have had to prioritise surgery restoration and recovery, however, the issues linked to the concerns raised about access to interventional radiology are to be presented to the Women and Children’s Programme of Care on the 28 June 2023 and will also be presented to ODNs to incorporate into their respective network work programmes during 2023/24.
The number of paediatric interventional radiologists will also be the subject of discussions between NHS England and the Department.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Mid Buckinghamshire)
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 steps to (a) increase access to paediatric interventional radiology services and (b) ensure that every hospital has a strategy for dealing with out-of-hours emergencies requiring those services since 2010.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Surgery in Children Clinical Reference Group (CRG) provides clinical leadership and advice to NHS England and the Surgery in Children Operational Delivery Group, including on paediatric imaging and interventional radiology. Since the COVID-19 pandemic surgery restoration and recovery have been prioritised, however, the issues linked to access to interventional radiology are to be presented to the Women and Children’s Programme of Care on the 28 June 2023 and will also be presented to Surgery in Children Operational Delivery Networks to incorporate into their respective work programmes during 2023/24.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Mid Buckinghamshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to increase the tariffs applied to paediatric interventional radiology procedures.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
This will be subject to discussions with NHS England as tariffs are set by NHS England.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Mid Buckinghamshire)
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 (a) paediatric interventional radiology (PIR) inclusion in all relevant NHS service specifications and (b) PIR policies in all hospitals that treat children.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Department will discuss these issues with NHS England. National Health Service trusts are expected to have the relevant policies in place, in line with service specification and commissioning guidance produced by NHS England.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Mid Buckinghamshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to require all hospitals that provide paediatric services to have paediatric interventional radiology service policies in place.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Department will discuss these issues with NHS England. National Health Service trusts are expected to have the relevant policies in place, in line with service specification and commissioning guidance produced by NHS England.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Mid Buckinghamshire)
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 merits of requiring all hospitals that provide paediatric services to have paediatric interventional radiology service policies in place.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Department will discuss these issues with NHS England. National Health Service trusts are expected to have the relevant policies in place, in line with service specification and commissioning guidance produced by NHS England.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Mid Buckinghamshire)
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 facilitate equal access to paediatric interventional radiology services.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Department will discuss these issues with NHS England. National Health Service trusts are expected to have the relevant policies in place, in line with service specification and commissioning guidance produced by NHS England.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Mid Buckinghamshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to expand national capacity for paediatric interventional radiology training.
Answered by Will Quince
As of January 2023, there were 1,584 full-time equivalent (FTE) trainee doctors working in clinical radiology services in the NHS in England. This is an increase of 274 (20.9%) since 2020.
The Government funded an additional 20 Specialty Training posts for interventional radiologists in 2021/22 and 2022/23. These increases have expanded the number of radiologists who can train to deliver paediatric interventional radiology.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Mid Buckinghamshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that the Major Conditions Strategy includes policies on bowel cancer patients.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Major Conditions Strategy will draw on previous work on cancer, including over 5,000 submissions provided to the Department as part of our Call for Evidence last year. Many of those submissions will have included feedback on bowel cancer. We will continue to work closely with stakeholders, citizens and the National Health Service in coming weeks to identify actions for the Strategy that will have the most impact.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Mid Buckinghamshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he will meet with representatives from The Royal College of Radiologists to discuss the findings and recommendations of their paediatric interventional radiology report.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
I would be pleased to meet The Royal College of Radiologists to discuss their recent report into paediatric interventional radiology.