Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 potential impact of levels of access to PSMA PET-CT imaging on regional and ethnic inequalities in prostate cancer diagnosis and outcomes.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department recognises that access to PSMA PET-CT imaging varies across England and that this may exacerbate existing disparities.
NHS England has introduced a commissioning policy for PSMA PET-CT imaging for patients with high-risk or recurrent prostate cancer, and work is underway to expand capacity and improve resilience in diagnostic services
Tackling health inequalities remains a core priority. Through the Core20PLUS5 framework, NHS England is working to reduce disparities in cancer outcomes. The forthcoming National Cancer Plan will set out further actions to improve early diagnosis and equitable access to cancer services across England.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 adequacy of the recent uptake of covid boosters.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
COVID-19 vaccination uptake figures are published regularly during the spring and winter campaigns, as part of the National flu and COVID-19 surveillance report, available at the following link:
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 support the adoption of the a) Asthma Control Test and b) COPD Assessment Test as part of annual reviews for respiratory patients in primary care.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Asthma Control Test and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Assessment Test are accessible online for patients to use and the results can be taken to a general practice to help inform an annual assessment or other general practice appointment associated with these conditions.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Department of Health on the application of learning from the NHS England Neurology Transformation Programme to improve access to specialised neurology care for people living with multiple sclerosis in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is committed to sharing learning and best practice across the United Kingdom health systems.
The Neurology Transformation Programme in England aims to improve access, coordination, and outcomes for people with neurological conditions, including multiple sclerosis, through service redesign and workforce development.
Officials continue to engage through the UK Neuro Forum to ensure that insights from this work are available to colleagues in Northern Ireland and other devolved administrations.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 potential impact of the UK National Screening Committee’s draft recommendation on prostate cancer screening on future demand for PSMA PET-CT imaging, including modelling of the different demand scenarios included in the current public consultation.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The independent UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), which is made up of leading medical and screening experts, advises ministers in all four nations of the United Kingdom on the evidence on screening. They have carried out an evidence review to look at screening for prostate cancer. Where the committee is confident that screening provides more good than harm, they recommend a screening programme. Treatment can lead to immediate life changing side effects which need to be balanced against potential benefits some years in the future.
On 28 November 2025, the UK NSC opened a 12-week public consultation on an evidence review to look at screening for prostate cancer and a draft recommendation to:
Alongside the consultation, work is being carried out to assess the costs and resources required to deliver the possible screening pathway, this could include an assessment of future demand for PSMA PET-CT imaging.
We anticipate that the UK NSC will make a final recommendation on screening for prostate cancer in early 2026. My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, will consider this and make a decision on whether to accept and next steps at this point.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to increase access to weight loss jabs for more long-term conditions.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19 November 2025 to Question 89687.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will provide an update into his Department's research efforts into Motor Neurone Disease.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Government responsibility for delivering motor neurone disease (MND) research is shared between the Department of Health and Social Care, with research delivered by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, with research delivered via UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), primarily through the Medical Research Council for MND.
The Government is investing in MND research across a range of areas, including an £8 million investment via the NIHR into the EXPERTS-ALS, a pre-clinical study which is designed to accelerate the identification and testing of the most promising treatment candidates for treating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the most common form of MND.
The MND Translational Accelerator, supported by £6 million of Government funding, is connecting the UK Dementia Research Institute, the UK MND Research Institute, and Dementias Platform UK. Twelve projects have been funded through the Accelerator, and all are aimed at speeding up the development of treatments for MND.
In August 2025, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency approved Tofersen to treat SOD1-ALS, a rare form of MND. Research into Tofersen was supported by NIHR’s Sheffield Biomedical Research Centre, and all three trial phases were delivered by the NIHR’s Research Delivery Network, demonstrating tangible impact of NIHR funded research into MND.
The NIHR and UKRI continue to welcome funding applications for research into MND. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on meeting the 18-week treatment targets set out in the Elective Reform Plan.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to returning, by March 2029, to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment (RTT).
NHS England’s Operational Planning Guidance for 2025/26 set a target that 65% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks by March 2026, with every trust expected to deliver a minimum 5% improvement on current performance over that period.
To achieve this interim March 2026 target, we expect the size of the total waiting list to reduce. We have already made significant progress on this. As of October 2025, the waiting list had reduced by over 225,000 since the Government came into office, and performance against the RTT standard has improved by 2.9%, reaching 61.8%.
This has been supported by the delivery of 5.2 million additional appointments between July 2024 and June 2025 compared to the previous year, more than double the Government’s pledge of two million. This marks a vital First Step towards delivering the constitutional standard.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 tackle (a) elective care and (b) joint replacement waiting times.
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 Rushcliffe on 19 November to Question 89685.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ban the blanket use of body mass index thresholds as a means of determining eligibility for joint replacement surgery.
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 Rushcliffe on 20 November 2025 to Question 89688.