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Written Question
Sexual Assault Referral Centres
Thursday 28th March 2024

Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NHS England has completed its review of service provision of June 2022 to determine whether forensic and medical interventions for non-fatal strangulation which occur in domestic abuse should form part of the core offer for sexual assault referral centres or should be cared for elsewhere.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The National Sexual Assault Referral Centre’s (SARC) Service Specification, as reviewed and updated in June 2023, now reflects the offence of non-fatal strangulation (NFS). The specification states: Appropriate medical and forensic interventional support is provided to all service users presenting with sexual assault and/or sexual abuse where the presenting need also indicates non-fatal strangulation. It is widely acknowledged that many victims of sexual assault will have also experienced domestic abuse.

For cases of non-fatal strangulation not associated with sexual assault, victims’ immediate healthcare needs can be treated in other acute healthcare settings such as emergency departments. The Institute for Addressing Strangulation recently published guidelines for clinical management of non-fatal strangulation in acute and emergency care services.


Written Question
Domestic Abuse: Sexual Assault Referral Centres
Monday 27th November 2023

Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 8 June 2022 to Question 11698 on Domestic Abuse: Sexual Assault Referral Centres, whether NHS England has completed its review of service provision to determine whether forensic and medical interventions for non-fatal strangulation should form part of the core offer for sexual assault referral centres.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The National Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) Service Specification as reviewed and updated in June 2023 now reflects the offence of non-fatal strangulation. The specification states ‘Appropriate medical and forensic interventional support is provided to all service users presenting with sexual assault and/or sexual abuse where the presenting need also indicates non-fatal strangulation.’ It also references the Institute for Addressing Strangulation guidelines. From April 2024, all SARCs will collect data on incidences of non-fatal strangulation where it is part of a sexual assault/rape and thus has necessitated attendance at a SARC.


Written Question
Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme: Cancer
Monday 24th April 2023

Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to provide financial support for the cost of travelling to hospital by cancer patients who do not qualify for the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme.

Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Patients who do not qualify for the HTCS and are on low incomes may be able to claim the costs from the Department for Work and Pensions through the Universal Credit or Personal Independence Payment schemes.


Written Question
Organs: Donors
Monday 5th December 2022

Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people are on the organ donation waiting list in the West Midlands as of 28 November 2022; what the average waiting time was for an organ donation in the West Midlands in the latest period for which data is available; how many organ transplants took place in the West Midlands in the latest period for which data is available; and how many people were taken off the waiting list for an organ donation due to a clinical decision in the West Midlands in (a) 2019, (b) 2020 and (c) 2021.

Answered by Neil O'Brien

The following table shows the number of patients on the transplant waiting list in the West Midlands as of 28 November 2022. Suspended patients refers to those who have been temporarily removed from the list.

Active

Suspended

Total

Total

687

431

1,118

Source: NHS Blood and Transplant

NHS Blood and Transplant does not hold the data on the average waiting time for organ donation in the West Midlands or the number of people removed from the waiting list in the West Midlands due to a clinical decision.

The following table shows the number of transplants which took place in the West Midlands in 2021/22 and 2022/23 as of 28 November.

2021/22

2022/23 to date

Total

377

260

Source: NHS Blood and Transplant


Written Question
Dementia: Diagnosis
Monday 31st October 2022

Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to improve the (a) identification and (b) referral process for dementia diagnosis.

Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England is working with general practitioner IT system providers to reproduce the Dementia Quality Toolkit (DQT) using SNOMED coding. The DQT includes system searches which can be used by general practitioners to identify people whose records suggest that they might have dementia, but do not have a recorded diagnosis. Publication of the toolkit is anticipated by April 2023.

In 2021/22, the Government made £17 million available to clinical commissioning groups to address dementia waiting lists and increase the number of diagnoses. This included identifying areas of good practice in dementia diagnosis and provision of pre and post diagnostic support, which will be shared with dementia clinical networks and stakeholders. In 2022/23, NHS England has initiated a project to fund two trusts in each region to pilot the Diagnosing Advanced Dementia Mandate tool to improve diagnosis of dementia in care homes.


Written Question
Dementia: Ethnic Groups
Monday 31st October 2022

Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)

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 ensure that people from ethnic minority communities are receiving timely dementia diagnoses.

Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England has commissioned the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities’ Dementia Intelligence Network to investigate the underlying variation in dementia diagnosis rates in targeted areas in England. This investigation includes the assessment of population characteristics such as rurality, ethnicity and age to provide context for variation and enable targeted investigation and provision of support locally.


Written Question
Mental Health Services: Birmingham Yardley
Friday 21st October 2022

Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)

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 improve access to mental health services in Birmingham Yardley constituency.

Answered by Caroline Johnson

In September we announced ‘Our Plan for Patients’, which outlines how we will increase access to National Health Service mental health and eating disorder services, including in Birmingham Yardley. Making it easier to access general practice through our ABCD priorities will expand this route as a gateway to mental health care.

Through the NHS Long Term Plan, we are investing an additional £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24 to expand these services for adults, children and young people in England, including in Walsall South.

We will invest approximately £1 billion in community mental health care for adults with severe mental illness, including eating disorders, by 2023/24 and an additional £53 million per year in children and young people's community eating disorder services to increase capacity in the 70 community eating disorder teams.


Written Question
Eating Disorders: Birmingham Yardley
Friday 21st October 2022

Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)

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 support young people with eating disorders in Birmingham Yardley constituency.

Answered by Caroline Johnson

In September we announced ‘Our Plan for Patients’, which outlines how we will increase access to National Health Service mental health and eating disorder services, including in Birmingham Yardley. Making it easier to access general practice through our ABCD priorities will expand this route as a gateway to mental health care.

Through the NHS Long Term Plan, we are investing an additional £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24 to expand these services for adults, children and young people in England, including in Walsall South.

We will invest approximately £1 billion in community mental health care for adults with severe mental illness, including eating disorders, by 2023/24 and an additional £53 million per year in children and young people's community eating disorder services to increase capacity in the 70 community eating disorder teams.


Written Question
Breast Cancer: Birmingham Yardley
Tuesday 18th October 2022

Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)

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 increase the uptake of breast cancer screening in Birmingham Yardley constituency.

Answered by Will Quince

The Department is working with NHS England to finalise the delivery of £10 million for breast screening units, including determining which areas will benefit from this investment.

National Health Service breast screening providers are also encouraged to work with Cancer Alliances, Primary Care Networks, NHS regional teams and the voluntary sector to promote the uptake of breast screening and ensure access to services.


Written Question
Dental Services: Birmingham Yardley
Monday 17th October 2022

Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the NHS dentist provision in Birmingham Yardley constituency.

Answered by Will Quince

No specific assessment has been made. However, NHS England asked dental practices to return to full delivery of contracted activity from July 2022, including in Birmingham Yardley. In September, we announced ‘Our plan for patients’, which outlines how we will meet oral health needs and increase access to dental care, including in Birmingham Yardley.

The plan includes improvements to ensure dentists are renumerated fairly for more complex work, allowing greater flexibility to reallocate resources and to utilise dentists with greater capacity to deliver National Health Service treatment, whilst enabling full use of the dental team. The plan also includes streamlining processes for overseas dentists and holding the local NHS to account for dentistry provision. In addition, Health Education England is also reforming dental education to improve the recruitment and retention of dental professionals.