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 NHS dental services in Birmingham Yardley.
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.
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 recent assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the estimated shortfall of 3000 cancer nurse specialists, according to Macmillan Cancer Support's 2021 statistics, who are trained in providing emotional and psychological support; and what plans he has to tackle that shortfall.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
In 2022/23, Health Education England (HEE) is investing an additional £50 million to expand the cancer and diagnostics workforce, including cancer nurse specialists. It is the responsibility of individual employers to ensure that the appropriate staff are recruited, trained and competent to carry out these roles, including in providing emotional and psychological support. HEE is working with stakeholders, including Macmillan Cancer Support, to develop a programme to support nurses working in the cancer care pathway. This includes a career and education capabilities framework.
In July 2021, the Department commissioned HEE to update the existing long term strategic framework for the health workforce. This will address long term workforce demand and supply and its impact on the future workforce. The Department has also commissioned NHS England to develop a long-term plan for workforce and its conclusions will be available in due course.
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 has taken steps to improve training for NHS professionals providing emotional and psychological support for (a) solid tumour cancer patients and (b) blood cancer patients.
Answered by James Morris
Health Education England is developing a career framework for cancer nurses and allied health professionals, which will include training in emotional and psychological support. In addition, a project to establish training standards and job roles for cancer support workers will also include training in the knowledge of cancer, cancer treatments and the potential short and long term effects and enhanced communication and psychological skills to support patients, including those with solid tumours and blood cancer.
No specific assessment has been made of the provision of psychological support for blood cancer patients. However, NHS England and NHS Improvement have asked Cancer Alliances to review mental health provision for these patients through its 2022/23 planning guidance. Access to Improving Access to Psychological Therapies long term condition pathways have been identified as a priority to support integration of mental health and physical health services for patients with co-morbid long-term conditions, such as cancer.
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 recent assessment he has made of the provision of psychological support for blood cancer patients across England; and what plans he has to address regional disparities in that provision.
Answered by James Morris
Health Education England is developing a career framework for cancer nurses and allied health professionals, which will include training in emotional and psychological support. In addition, a project to establish training standards and job roles for cancer support workers will also include training in the knowledge of cancer, cancer treatments and the potential short and long term effects and enhanced communication and psychological skills to support patients, including those with solid tumours and blood cancer.
No specific assessment has been made of the provision of psychological support for blood cancer patients. However, NHS England and NHS Improvement have asked Cancer Alliances to review mental health provision for these patients through its 2022/23 planning guidance. Access to Improving Access to Psychological Therapies long term condition pathways have been identified as a priority to support integration of mental health and physical health services for patients with co-morbid long-term conditions, such as cancer.
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 support he has provided to ensure best practices of emotional and psychological support delivery can be shared across NHS England services.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
A new Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) dataset is being implemented to enable NHS England to monitor existing integrated pathways and support local areas and share best practice. NHS England has also published guidance developed with the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines (NICE) to share best practice on implementing the IAPT long term conditions pathway. This expansion of IAPT will ensure that more people can receive emotional and psychological support in line with NICE’s guidance.
We are also expanding integrated community models to allow at least 370,000 adults and older adults with severe mental illness each year to have greater choice and control over their care and are supported to live well in their communities.
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 new specific offence of strangulation and suffocation in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, whether victims of those crimes in a domestic abuse setting will be able to access sexual assault referral centres.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs) are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to all victims and survivors of sexual violence and abuse irrespective of age, gender or when the assault or abuse occurred. NHS England and NHS Improvement will review service provision to determine whether forensic and medical interventions for non-fatal strangulation should form part of the core offer for SARCs.
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 plans his Department has to reduce mortality rates for patients awaiting treatment within NHS England’s cardiology service; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
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, if his Department will publish data at regular intervals on the mortality rates of patients who have been on the waiting list for treatment within NHS England’s cardiology service; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
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, if he will make it his policy to provide a regular publication of mortality data broken down by diagnosis of specific conditions.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
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 assessment his Department has made of the regions of NHS England that have the best-performing cardiology service on the basis of the number of patients treated as a proportion of the whole population of that area; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.