Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his planned timetable for publishing the report on the E.coli O157 outbreak that started in August 2022.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The report is expected to be published in March 2024.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of trends in average waiting times to access (a) community paediatric services, (b) occupational therapy and (c) speech and language therapy in the last three years.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Addressing waiting lists is a priority for the Department and the National Health Service, and NHS England has asked local systems to develop and agree plans for reducing their community services waiting lists.
Community Health Service data was first published in October 2022 and is now published monthly. It is available at the following link:
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of (a) improving and (b) adapting the SNOMED CT classification system in primary care when diagnosing suspected myalgic encephalomyelitis.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
NHS England has not undertaken an assessment of the coding for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). Whilst we are unable to estimate the numbers of patients misdiagnosed or missed, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guideline NG206 estimates that there are over 250,000 people in England and Wales with ME/CFS. The guideline is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng206
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an estimate of NHS spending on branded drugs under the voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing, access and growth.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
We plan to publish the forecasts of branded medicines sales for the voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing, access and growth alongside the full scheme documents published later this month.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an estimate of the number of patients with suspected myalgic encephalomyelitis that have been (a) misdiagnosed and (b) missed due to the SNOMED CT classification system in primary care.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
NHS England has not undertaken an assessment of the coding for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). Whilst we are unable to estimate the numbers of patients misdiagnosed or missed, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guideline NG206 estimates that there are over 250,000 people in England and Wales with ME/CFS. The guideline is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng206
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress her Department has made on implementing the interim delivery plan on myalgic encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome; and if she has an expected timeline on when the plan will be fully implemented.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
We have been consulting on ‘My Full Reality’, the cross-government interim delivery plan on myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), which seeks to improve the experiences and outcomes of people living with this condition.
We are analysing the results of the consultation and the views and experiences gathered through this consultation will be used to build a picture of how well the interim delivery plan identifies and meets the needs of the ME/CFS community and to highlight any significant gaps where further action may be necessary.
We will publish the final delivery plan in due course.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the APPG on Brain Tumours' report entitled Pathway to A Cure, whether his Department has taken steps to implement that report's recommendations on engaging healthcare professionals with research.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department welcomes the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) report, recommendations of which continue to be worked through with the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology, UK Research and Innovation and the Medical Research Council (MRC), and with the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
In February 2023 the APPG report recommended that NIHR and UKRI should build research capacity, encouraging and retaining talent through fellowships and research incentives. In July 2023, NIHR jointly funded with the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission (TJBCM), the first two TJBCM Neuro-Oncology Fellowships, a new Fellowship Programme to support high quality training in neuro-oncology clinical practice and research to ensure clinicians are equipped with the relevant research skills needed to lead neuro-oncology trials that change practice.
Other capacity-building initiatives underway include: the designation of 28 TJBCM adult Centres of Excellence within the National Health Service, creating a world-class network of brain tumour treatment and research centres to provide the best care and share best practice; the Tessa Jowell Academy Programme, a free national learning and networking digital platform for NHS brain tumour professionals to share excellence in research, treatment and care; and the TJBCM Brain Tumour Research Novel Therapeutics Accelerator programme, to review and provide guidance on the translation and development of novel treatments, guided by a multidisciplinary international group of experts.
The NIHR is continuing to work with the TJBCM to develop further capacity-building initiatives.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the APPG on Brain Tumours' report entitled Pathway to A Cure, whether his Department plans to implement a joint strategy for brain tumour research with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department welcomes the All-Party Parliamentary Group report, recommendations of which continue to be worked through with the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology, UK Research and Innovation and the Medical Research Council (MRC), and with the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
The report recommended action by the research funding agencies on coordinating activities and making funding available. We are taking steps to ensure that funders work closely together to coordinate work along the translational pathway, from the discovery and early translational science typically supported by the MRC, feeding through to the applied health and care research funded by the NIHR.
It is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. As with other Government funders of health research, the NIHR does not allocate funding for specific disease areas. The level of research spend in a particular area, is driven by factors including scientific potential and the number and scale of successful funding applications.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of conducting health impact assessments of the public health impacts of new free trade agreements; and if he will make an impact assessment of the potential impact of accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership on public health.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department of Health and Social Care does not carry out specific health impact assessments for Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). Section 42 of the Agriculture Act 2020 commits the Government to produce a report which examines new FTAs in the context of their impact on domestic statutory protections in the United Kingdom, including the impact on human health. This report must be laid in Parliament as part of the scrutiny process. This process will apply to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) Agreement.
The “Section 42 report”, as it is known, is led by the Department for Business and Trade, and is drafted in consultation with other Government departments, including the Department of Health and Social Care.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
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 patient care within NHS podiatry services, in the context of trends in vacancy rates of NHS podiatrists.
Answered by Will Quince
NHS England has worked extensively to enhance and modernise the podiatry professions. Central to this has been the development of education and training for support workers in podiatry and the development of the the podiatry apprenticeship.
NHS England is also continuing to promote podiatry as a career option through a suite of careers resources. The recently launched NHS Employers guide to podiatry sets out the full range of opportunities and offers guidance from career promotion in schools, to effective staff recruitment, retention and return to practice.