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 improve uptake for jobs in the ambulance service.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As of March 2025, there were over 21,900 full time equivalent ambulance staff in National Health Service trusts and other core organisations in England, representing an increase of over 1,900, or 9.6%, compared to the previous year.
We will publish a refreshed workforce plan for staff across the NHS, including ambulance services, to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, to ensure the NHS has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the care patients need when they need it.
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 research his Department has undertaken on potential links between dementia and depression.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department delivers dementia research via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Recently completed NIHR-funded research has found that depression across the life course is associated with an increased risk of dementia, but that this is strongest in mid to late life. Further research is needed to determine whether the strength of this association is due to depression as a risk factor for dementia or the early presentation of neurodegenerative processes.
The NIHR is funding the £2.9 million ENHANCE programme, which will develop an app intervention to address risk factors for dementia, including depression, and will test it to see the effects on cognition, risk, quality of life, and affordability. In the long-term, the research will examine health records to see if the app intervention has reduced rates of dementia. NIHR-funded research is also seeking to understand whether compassion focused therapy is an acceptable intervention for people with dementia and depression or anxiety.
The NIHR continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including dementia. 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. Welcoming applications on dementia to all NIHR programmes enables maximum flexibility both in terms of the amount of research funding a particular area can be awarded, and the type of research that can be funded.
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 help improve diagnosis of ADHD.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As health is a devolved matter, each administration of the United Kingdom takes its own decisions on the provision of assessments for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
It is the responsibility of the integrated care boards (ICBs) in England to make appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including providing access to ADHD assessment and treatment, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.
NHS England has established an ADHD taskforce which is bringing together those with lived experience with experts from the National Health Service, education, charity, and justice sectors to get a better understanding of the challenges affecting those with ADHD, including in accessing services and support, with the report expected in the summer.
For the first time, NHS England published management information on ADHD waits at a national level on 29 May 2025 as part of its ADHD data improvement plan, and has released technical guidance for ICBs to improve the recording of ADHD data, with a view to improving the quality of ADHD wait time data. NHS England has also captured examples from ICBs in England who are trialling innovative ways of delivering ADHD services, and is using this information to support systems in tackling ADHD waiting lists and providing support to address people’s needs.
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 merits of increasing the (a) national minimum wage and (b) national living wage for care workers.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Adult social care is a historically low paid sector, and most care workers are paid at or just above the National Living Wage. In 2023/24, approximately 70% of care workers in the independent sector earned within £1 of the National Living Wage.
The Government is introducing the first ever Fair Pay Agreement to the adult social care sector so that care professionals are recognised and rewarded for the important work that they do. Fair Pay Agreements will empower worker representatives, employers, and others to negotiate pay, and terms and conditions in a responsible manner. This will help to address the recruitment and retention crisis in the sector, in turn supporting the delivery of high-quality care.
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 has made recent progress on making one-off payments to healthcare staff.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The most recent one-off payments for National Health Service staff in England were agreed as part of the 2023 Agenda for Change pay deal. No future one-off payments are actively being considered.
The Department provided funding to cover the cost of these payments to eligible staff. It is the responsibility of local employing organisations to ensure correct payments are made to eligible staff.
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 (a) publish a strategy to help improve the (i) diagnosis and (ii) detection of less survivable cancers and (b) ensure comprehensive (A) commissioning and (B) diagnostic capacity in (1) non-specific symptoms pathways, (2) urgent suspected cancer pathways and (3) GP direct access.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is working to develop a new National Cancer Plan, which will include further details on how we will improve the diagnosis and detection of less survivable cancers.
As set out in the new plan for reforming elective care, the Government is committed to improving diagnostic capacity for cancer patients. Providers have been asked to identify local opportunities in both community diagnostic centres (CDCs) and hospital based diagnostic services to improve performance against the NHS Constitution standard for diagnostics and the cancer faster diagnosis standard, to reduce the number of patients waiting too long for a confirmed diagnosis of cancer and to start treatment.
The 2025/26 capital guidance confirmed that £1.65 billion of capital funding will be allocated to support National Health Service performance across secondary and emergency care across 2025/26 more broadly. This includes £0.6 billion which has been provisionally allocated for interventions to increase diagnostic capacity, including expanding existing CDCs, as well as building up to five new CDCs in 2025/26.
To expand diagnostic capacity in the non-specific symptom pathway (NSS), the NHS is rolling out rapid diagnostic centres (RDC) as part of the NSS pathway, where patients suspected of having cancer can get the right tests at the right time in as few visits as possible. RDC pathways promote the continuous improvement of cancer diagnostics.
The NHS is also expanding direct access to diagnostic scans across all general practices through the national roll out of fast track testing, helping to cut waiting times and speed up cancer diagnosis or cancer all-clear for patients, including developing and delivering at least 10 straight-to-test pathways by March 2026.
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, how many people passed away with sepsis in (a) the last 12 months and (b) the previous 12 month period.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes annual data on the number of death registrations where sepsis was the underlying cause of death, and where sepsis was mentioned anywhere on the death certificate, in England and Wales between 2001 and 2023. The ONS has not yet published the number of death registrations for sepsis for 2024.
According to the ONS, the number of deaths registered where sepsis was mentioned anywhere on the death certificate in England and Wales was 26,203 in 2023. Published ONS data for deaths involving sepsis is 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, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the misuse of weight-loss medications; and what discussions he has had with his counterparts in (a) Northern Ireland, (b) Wales and (c) Scotland on this issue.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
When prescribing weight-loss drugs, prescribers, whether National Health Service or private, are accountable for their prescribing decisions, and are expected to take account of appropriate national guidance. In addition to the duty of the prescriber, patients themselves must be honest when providing information to a prescriber so that they receive advice and medicines which are appropriate for them
In response to concerns of unsafe prescribing online, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) published updated guidance for online pharmacies. The GPhC, the Care Quality Commission, and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency have the powers to investigate and take action against rogue prescribers, products, and suppliers, and we are clear they have our full support to crack down on services that putting people in danger.
We are committed to continuing to work with the devolved administrations to ensure that medicine regulation is keeping patients safe across the United Kingdom. No discussions specific to the misuse of weight loss drugs have been held between my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and his counterparts in the devolved administrations thus far.
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 NHS England is taking to ensure that NHS trusts are prepared to deliver (a) timely and (b) equitable access to emerging treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, in the context of (i) challenges highlighted through recent early access programmes and (ii) the likelihood of these therapies entering routine commissioning.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department understands the impact that Duchenne muscular dystrophy has on those living with it and their families, and the urgent need for new treatment options. If new therapies for Duchenne muscular dystrophy are approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), then appropriate commissioning plans will be put in place to enable equitable access to treatment through Specialised Neurology Services.
The delivery of timely and equitable access to new treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy under company-sponsored early access schemes is not the responsibility of NHS England. Individual pharmaceutical companies may put in place Early Access Programmes (EAPs) to allow early access to new medicines that do not yet have a marketing authorisation. Participation in EAPs is decided at an individual National Health Service trust level, and under these programmes, the cost of the drug is free to both patients taking part in it, and to the National Health Service, although NHS trusts must still cover administration costs and provide clinical resources to deliver the EAP.
There are no common clinical, data, or regulatory standards for company-sponsored EAPs, meaning each one demands a new protocol to be devised and delivered by each participating trust, which can create significant pressures on clinical and financial resources. Companies providing a sponsored EAP also reserve the right to limit or to close registration of new patients at any time, meaning that any financial and clinical investment made by trusts to establish an EAP could be undermined by a commercial decision that would most likely happen in the event of the treatment not being recommended following an appraisal by NICE.
NHS England has published guidance for integrated care systems (ICS) on free of charge (FoC) medicine schemes, including EAPs, providing advice on potential financial, resourcing, and clinical risks.
ICSs should use the guidance to help determine whether to implement any FoC scheme, including assessing suitability and any risks in the short, medium, and long term. The guidance is 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 NHS England has made an assessment of the adequacy of the preparedness of NHS trusts to implement new treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, in the context of lessons learned from recent early access programmes.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department understands the impact that Duchenne muscular dystrophy has on those living with it and their families, and the urgent need for new treatment options. If new therapies for Duchenne muscular dystrophy are approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), then appropriate commissioning plans will be put in place to enable equitable access to treatment through Specialised Neurology Services.
The delivery of timely and equitable access to new treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy under company-sponsored early access schemes is not the responsibility of NHS England. Individual pharmaceutical companies may put in place Early Access Programmes (EAPs) to allow early access to new medicines that do not yet have a marketing authorisation. Participation in EAPs is decided at an individual National Health Service trust level, and under these programmes, the cost of the drug is free to both patients taking part in it, and to the National Health Service, although NHS trusts must still cover administration costs and provide clinical resources to deliver the EAP.
There are no common clinical, data, or regulatory standards for company-sponsored EAPs, meaning each one demands a new protocol to be devised and delivered by each participating trust, which can create significant pressures on clinical and financial resources. Companies providing a sponsored EAP also reserve the right to limit or to close registration of new patients at any time, meaning that any financial and clinical investment made by trusts to establish an EAP could be undermined by a commercial decision that would most likely happen in the event of the treatment not being recommended following an appraisal by NICE.
NHS England has published guidance for integrated care systems (ICS) on free of charge (FoC) medicine schemes, including EAPs, providing advice on potential financial, resourcing, and clinical risks.
ICSs should use the guidance to help determine whether to implement any FoC scheme, including assessing suitability and any risks in the short, medium, and long term. The guidance is available at the following link: