Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
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 number of patients to have undergone NHS cataract surgery in private clinics in each of the last six years.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the number of patients who have undergone National Health Service cataract surgery in private clinics in each of the last six years:
Year | Independent provider total | Difference | ||
Admissions | Patients | Admissions | Patients | |
2017/18 | 75,096 | 57,676 | - | - |
2018/19 | 101,609 | 77,652 | 26,513 | 19,976 |
2019/20 | 132,980 | 100,815 | 31,371 | 23,163 |
2020/21 | 99,185 | 77,982 | 33,795 | 22,833 |
2021/22 | 230,717 | 175,985 | 131,532 | 98,003 |
2022/23 | 373,252 | 276,175 | 142,535 | 100,190 |
2023/24 | 457,714 | 327,121 | 84,462 | 50,946 |
2024/25 | 377,265 | 267,011 | 80,449 | 60,110 |
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS England.
Note: the data for 2024/25 is provisional as counts produced from provisional data are likely to be lower than those generated for the same period in the final data set.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
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 quality of lenses used by private providers of NHS cataract surgery.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made of the quality of lenses used by private providers of National Health Service cataract surgery.
The safety of all patients, whether they are treated in the NHS or the independent sector, is a top priority for the Government. All providers of healthcare are regulated by the Care Quality Commission and follow a set of fundamental standards of safety and quality, below which care should never fall.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
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 number and proportion of patients who have received NHS cataract surgery in private clinics and have then been re-admitted post-surgery to NHS providers in each of the last six years.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
A table showing the number and proportion of patients who received National Health Service cataract surgery in private clinics, who were then re-admitted post-surgery to NHS providers in each of the last six years, is attached.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the number of people waiting longer than 18 weeks for treatment for (a) wet macular degeneration and (b) glaucoma in (i) England, (ii) Merseyside and (iii) Liverpool.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The classification codes required to identify pathways where patients may have glaucoma or macular degeneration do not allow for distinction between the two conditions. The following table provides an estimate of the number of patients who have been waiting longer than 18 weeks for treatment specifically for wet macular degeneration and glaucoma in England, Merseyside, and Liverpool, via the latter’s integrated care boards (ICBs), as a snapshot for the week ending 27 April 2025, extracted on 8 May 2025:
Condition | England | Cheshire and Merseyside ICB | NHS Liverpool Sub ICB |
Glaucoma or macular degeneration | 782 | 41 | 2 |
Source: Waiting List Minimum Data Set, NHS England.
However, these figures may include patients that also have other conditions, as full coding for glaucoma and macular degeneration procedures requires diagnostic codes that are not available in the Waiting List Minimum Data Set.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
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 number of NHS Ophthalmology departments that do not have enough consultants to provide a full service for patients needing treatment for (a) glaucoma and (b) wet macular degeneration.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold information on shortages of ophthalmology consultants. Appropriate levels of staffing will be decided by local system workforce planning.
NHS England publishes quarterly National Health Service hospital trust vacancy and job advert data. The publication sets out vacancy rates for total NHS staff and, separately, for registered nurses and doctors at a national and regional level. The latest data for December 2024 shows the vacancy rate for doctors was 5.2%. The data is not detailed enough to identify vacancy rates for ophthalmology consultants.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
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 number of NHS Ophthalmology departments that do not have enough consultants to provide a full service.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold information on shortages of ophthalmology consultants. Appropriate levels of staffing will be decided by local system workforce planning.
NHS England publishes quarterly National Health Service hospital trust vacancy and job advert data. The publication sets out vacancy rates for total NHS staff and, separately, for registered nurses and doctors at a national and regional level. The latest data for December 2024 shows the vacancy rate for doctors was 5.2%. The data is not detailed enough to identify vacancy rates for ophthalmology consultants.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much his Department spent on the Healthy Start Scheme in the (a) 2023-24 and (b) 2024-25 financial year.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department spent £86,382,173 on the Healthy Start scheme in 2023/24. Audited data on the Department’s spend on the Healthy Start scheme for the 2024/25 financial year is not yet available.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
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 adequacy of treatment for lung conditions in the NHS: and what steps his Department is taking to include this treatment in the NHS 10-year plan.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In collaboration with a number of partners, the National Health Service has developed a package for systems containing the information and support required to help increase the number of people receiving early and accurate diagnosis for respiratory disease. Following a significant drop in the volume of respiratory specific diagnostic tests, such as spirometry, during the pandemic, NHS England has managed to bring these numbers to above pre-pandemic levels.
In alignment with the Neighbourhood Health Service model, NHS England is leading on the development of an approach for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) management to support proactive identification and management of rising risk patients in winter to reduce demand on primary and secondary care by identifying at risk patients, optimizing care, and strengthened support.
Furthermore, Core20PLUS5 identifies COPD as one of the five clinical areas of focus requiring accelerated improvement to help tackle healthcare inequalities. Focusing on respiratory health to increase vaccination uptake, namely for COVID-19, flu, and pneumovax, in people with COPD will avoid exacerbations leading to emergency treatment in hospital and inpatient care.
The 10-Year Health Plan will deliver the three big shifts our NHS needs to be fit for the future: from hospital to community; from analogue to digital; and from sickness to prevention. All of these are relevant to improving respiratory health in all parts of the county. More tests and scans delivered in the community to allow for earlier diagnosis, better joint working between services, and greater use of apps and wearable technology will all help people manage their long-term conditions, including respiratory conditions, closer to home. Earlier diagnosis of conditions will help people manage their conditions, prevent deterioration, and improve survival rates. Taking action to reduce the causes of the biggest killers, such as enabling a smoke free generation, can further help prevent lung conditions.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
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 bring forward legislative proposals to ensure that only registered nurses can legally use the title nurse.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for Ashfield on 27 March 2025 to Question 40615.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help improve access to early prostate cancer (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment in deprived communities.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government understands that more needs to be done to improve outcomes for all people with prostate cancer. To achieve this, we have delivered an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week during our first year in Government, as the first step to ensuring early diagnosis and faster treatment.
To address disparities and find ways to better detect prostate cancer earlier, we have invested £16 million in the United Kingdom-wide TRANSFORM trial, aimed at helping find the best ways of detecting prostate cancer in men, even if they are not displaying any symptoms. This research will aim to address some of the inequalities that exist in prostate cancer diagnosis by targeting black men in trial recruitment, ensuring that one in ten participants are black men. We have also asked the National Screening Committee to review the evidence for prostate cancer screening, including for high-risk groups.
The NHS England Cancer Programme also commissions clinical cancer audits, which provide timely evidence for cancer service providers of where patterns of care in England may vary, increase the consistency of access to treatments, and help stimulate improvements in cancer treatment and outcomes for patients, including those with prostate cancer.