Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
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 fracture liaison services across England.
Answered by Will Quince
The Government recognises the value of quality assured secondary fracture prevention services, including fracture liaison services (FLS). Within the 'Major Conditions Strategy: Case for change and our strategic framework', under next steps for musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions, it sets out that, together with NHS England, we will explore supporting the provision of FLS. This could include identifying people at risk of further osteoporotic fragility fracture and implementing strategies to reduce risk of future fracture, including falls, and mortality.
Through its Getting it Right First Time Programme, with a specific workstream on MSK health, NHS England is exploring how best to support integrated care systems in the diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis. This includes a focus on improving provision of and equity of access to high-quality, secondary fracture prevention services, such as FLS, which help to identify those most at risk and offer preventative support.
We are currently assessing the accessibility of FLS through data collected in the national Falls and Fragility Fracture Audit Programme. This aims to identify any disparities in provision across England and to improve services.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
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 help reduce the time taken to diagnose ovarian cancer.
Answered by Will Quince
Improving early diagnosis of cancer, including ovarian cancer, remains a priority. We are working towards the NHS Long Term Plan ambition of diagnosing 75% of stageable cancers at stage 1 and 2 by 2028. The latest published data shows this was 52% between January to December 2020. Achieving this will mean that, from 2028, 55,000 more people each year will survive their cancer for at least five years after diagnosis. The National Health Service is improving pathways to get people diagnosed faster once they are referred and is looking into alternative routes into the system, including non-specific symptom (NSS) pathways for patients who do not fit clearly into a single ‘urgent cancer’ referral pathway but who are at risk of being diagnosed with cancer. This will help support faster ovarian cancer diagnosis. 108 NSS pathways are currently operational, with more in development. By March 2024, the NSS programme will achieve full population coverage across England for non-specific symptom pathways as set out in the 2023/24 NHS Planning Guidance.
Reducing variation in cancer services is a strategic priority for the NHS Cancer Programme. The NHS Cancer Programme has commissioned five new cancer clinical audits, which will provide timely evidence for cancer service providers of where patterns of care in England may vary, increase the consistency of access to treatments and help stimulate improvements in cancer treatment and outcomes for patients. The Royal College of Surgeons began work on this audit in October last year with the first outcomes expected in 2023/24. This includes an audit on ovarian cancer.
To encourage people to get in touch with their general practitioner if they notice or are worried about symptoms that could be cancer, NHS England is running the ‘Help Us, Help You’ (HUHY) campaigns. This included multiple phases of the campaign that had a focus on abdominal symptoms which, among other abdominal cancers, can be indicative of ovarian cancer, most recently in November and December 2022. Alongside that phase of the campaign, NHS England funded a series of community engagement events coordinated by a cluster of gynaecological cancer charities, led by Target Ovarian Cancer.
The NHS plans to run further HUHY campaign activity through 2023/24.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
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 help increase awareness of the main symptoms of ovarian cancer.
Answered by Will Quince
Improving early diagnosis of cancer, including ovarian cancer, remains a priority. We are working towards the NHS Long Term Plan ambition of diagnosing 75% of stageable cancers at stage 1 and 2 by 2028. The latest published data shows this was 52% between January to December 2020. Achieving this will mean that, from 2028, 55,000 more people each year will survive their cancer for at least five years after diagnosis. The National Health Service is improving pathways to get people diagnosed faster once they are referred and is looking into alternative routes into the system, including non-specific symptom (NSS) pathways for patients who do not fit clearly into a single ‘urgent cancer’ referral pathway but who are at risk of being diagnosed with cancer. This will help support faster ovarian cancer diagnosis. 108 NSS pathways are currently operational, with more in development. By March 2024, the NSS programme will achieve full population coverage across England for non-specific symptom pathways as set out in the 2023/24 NHS Planning Guidance.
Reducing variation in cancer services is a strategic priority for the NHS Cancer Programme. The NHS Cancer Programme has commissioned five new cancer clinical audits, which will provide timely evidence for cancer service providers of where patterns of care in England may vary, increase the consistency of access to treatments and help stimulate improvements in cancer treatment and outcomes for patients. The Royal College of Surgeons began work on this audit in October last year with the first outcomes expected in 2023/24. This includes an audit on ovarian cancer.
To encourage people to get in touch with their general practitioner if they notice or are worried about symptoms that could be cancer, NHS England is running the ‘Help Us, Help You’ (HUHY) campaigns. This included multiple phases of the campaign that had a focus on abdominal symptoms which, among other abdominal cancers, can be indicative of ovarian cancer, most recently in November and December 2022. Alongside that phase of the campaign, NHS England funded a series of community engagement events coordinated by a cluster of gynaecological cancer charities, led by Target Ovarian Cancer.
The NHS plans to run further HUHY campaign activity through 2023/24.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
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 facilitate the employment of dentists from overseas by NHS dental practices.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
To deliver National Health Service dental services, a dentist must be registered with the General Dental Council (GDC) and listed on the Dental Performers List (DPL) of the country in which they wish to practise.
We have recently introduced legislation that enables the GDC to improve its international registration processes. The GDC is identifying the ways it considers these processes can best be improved, while maintaining the necessary standards for public protection, and is working to implement any changes over the next 12 months. In the meantime, the GDC has announced that it has tripled the number of places for Part 1 of its Overseas Registration Exam (ORE) in response to the current demand, meaning there will be 600 places available for the August 2023 sitting of the ORE Part 1, instead of the usual 200.
As of 1 April 2023, NHS England manages all applications to join the England DPL. This means all applicants who have not completed Dental Foundation Training in the United Kingdom are invited by NHS England to engage in a structured conversation that assesses whether they have the knowledge, skills, and experience to perform NHS primary dental services.
The change is intended to accelerate the process for overseas dentists to join the DPL and start working in the NHS.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to reduce the waiting time to be enlisted on a course accredited by Health Education England to enable dentists to perform clinical supervision of colleagues.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
NHS England are responsible for supervisors in recognised formal training programmes. Educational and clinical supervisors receive their training either before, or within three months, of the trainee commencing the programme.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time from referral to second appointment was for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services service users for (a) all pathways and (b) the neurodevelopment diagnostic pathway for autism and ADHD between April 2022 and January 2023.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The information requested is not available, as the data for this period has not been validated due to being impacted by a cyber incident that affected several providers.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many children under the age of (a) four and (b) eleven were admitted to hospital for a tooth extraction in Bradford constituency in each of the last five years.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
This information is not held in the format requested.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to answer Question 63059 on General Practitioners: Bradford South, tabled by the Hon. Member for Bradford South on 12 October 2022, on what steps his Department is taking to help support the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of GPs in Bradford South constituency.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 27 October to Question 63059.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
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 reduce waiting times for elective surgeries in Bradford South constituency.
Answered by Will Quince
The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’ sets out how the National Health Service will recover and expand elective services over the next three years, including in Bradford South. We have allocated more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25, in addition to the £2 billion Elective Recovery Fund and £700 million Targeted Investment Fund already made available in 2021/2022 to increase elective activity. This funding aims to deliver the equivalent of approximately nine million additional checks and procedures and 30% further elective activity by 2024/25 than pre-pandemic levels. A proportion of this funding will be invested in workforce capacity and training and we have committed to invest £5.9 billion for new beds, equipment and technology.
The target to eliminate waiting times of two years or more for elective procedures was met in July 2022 and we aim to eliminate waiting time of eighteen months or more by April 2023. This will be achieved through increasing capacity, seeking alternate capacity in other trusts or the independent sector and engaging with patients to understand choices made regarding their care.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps her Department has taken to help tackle health inequality in Bradford South constituency.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
‘Our plan for patients’, published on 22 September, sets out the immediate priorities to support individuals to live healthier lives, including improving access to health and care services in all areas and preventing ill-health. Further information on measures to address health disparities will be available in due course.
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities works with local system partners in York, Easington, Bradford, Washington and Sunderland to support programmes to reduce health inequalities, including providing evidence and intelligence.