Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
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 effectiveness of public awareness campaigns on hypertension; and whether he plans to introduce additional measures to encourage regular blood pressure monitoring amongst adults.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In March 2024, the Department launched a campaign to raise awareness of high blood pressure, or hypertension, and to encourage those eligible to get checked for free at their local pharmacy. The campaign ran for three weeks with advertising on television, video-on-demand, social media, and on poster sites near to pharmacies, in addition to public relations and partnerships support.
Visits to the National Health Service pharmacy look-up tool increased by over 967%, and there were 117,546 visits to the tool over the campaign period, compared to 12,154 in the three weeks prior to the campaign launch. In March 2024, 50,046 more people got life-saving blood pressure checks than in the same period the previous year, a 42% uplift. In April 2024, there were 76,627 more checks, equivalent to a 66% uplift.
We continue to invest heavily in the community pharmacy hypertension service, and since October 2021, pharmacies have delivered nearly 4.2 million blood pressure and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring checks. In addition, the NHS Blood Pressure @Home initiative has delivered over 220,000 blood pressure monitors to enable at-risk patients to measure their blood pressure remotely.
Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
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 improve early detection and management of high blood pressure; and whether he plans to expand community-based screening initiatives.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The single greatest risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) is raised blood pressure and as set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will publish a modern service framework for CVD later this year. The framework will identify the best evidenced interventions, set clear quality standards, drive innovation in CVD prevention and management, and reduce unwarranted variation.
We have invested heavily in hypertension case-finding for those over 40 years old in community pharmacies. As part of the service, pharmacies have delivered nearly 4.2 million blood pressure and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring checks since October 2021 and as of August 2024, 7,641 pharmacies were actively delivering the service.
Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
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 reduce male suicide rates through access to timely mental health care, follow-up after (a) self-harm and (b) crisis presentations and support for men at high-risk due to (i) relationship breakdown and (ii) trauma.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 10-Year Health Plan sets out ambitious plans to boost mental health support across the country. This includes transforming mental health services into neighbourhood mental health centres which are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, improving assertive outreach and access to timely mental health care, expanding talking therapies, and giving patients better access to all-hours support directly through the NHS App. These services are available to men at high-risk due to relationship breakdown and trauma.
The Suicide Prevention Strategy for England, published in 2023, identifies middle aged men and people who have self-harmed as a priority group for targeted and tailored support at a national level.
On 19 November 2025, to coincide with International Men’s Health Day, we published the Men’s Health Strategy. The Strategy includes tangible actions to improve access to healthcare, provide the right support to enable men to make healthier choices, develop healthy living and working conditions, foster strong social, community and family networks and address societal norms. It also considers how to prevent and tackle the biggest health problems affecting men of all ages, which include mental health and suicide prevention, respiratory illness, prostate cancer, and heart disease.
Through the Men’s Health Strategy, we are launching a groundbreaking partnership with the Premier League to tackle male suicide and improve mental health literacy, by embedding health messaging into the matchday experience.
We also announced the Suicide Prevention Support Pathfinders programme for middle-aged men. This program will invest up to £3.6 million over three years in areas of England where middle-aged men are at most risk taking their own lives and will tackle the barriers that they face in seeking support.
Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2025 to Question 36392, if he will provide an update on funding for lobular breast cancer research.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the crucial need for research into all forms of cancer, including lobular breast cancer. We remain committed to the role of research in driving a stronger collective understanding of the biology behind lobular breast cancer and to improve outcomes for women.
Government responsibility for delivering cancer research is shared between Department for Health and Social Care, with research delivered by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, with research delivered via UK Research and Innovation, which includes the Medical Research Council.
In November 2025, the NIHR issued a highlight notice encouraging applications for new research into lobular breast cancer, to improve the detection, diagnosis, treatment, and long-term surveillance of patients.
The NIHR continues to welcome high quality funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including lobular breast cancer.
Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
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 current age limits for routine breast cancer screening; and whether he plans to review these limits to improve early detection for patients outside of the standard screening range.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is guided by the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an independent scientific advisory committee which makes its recommendations based on internationally recognised criteria and a rigorous evidence review and consultation process. It is only where the committee is confident that screening would provide more good than harm that a screening programme is recommended, as all medical interventions carry an inherent risk.
The NHS Breast Screening Programme (NHS BSP) offers all women in England between the ages of 50 to 71 years old the opportunity to be screened every three years for breast cancer, to help detect abnormalities and intervene early to reduce the number of lives lost to invasive breast cancer.
The AgeX research trial has been looking at the effectiveness of offering some women one extra screen between the ages of 47 to 49 years old, and one between the ages of 71 to 73 years old. The biggest trial of its kind ever to be undertaken, AgeX will provide robust evidence about the effectiveness of screening in these age groups, including the benefit and harms. The UK NSC will review the publication of the age extension trial when it reports.
Women with a very high risk of breast cancer, for example due to family history, may be offered screening earlier and more frequently, sometimes using magnetic resonance imaging rather than a mammogram.
While the NHS BSP does not automatically invite women for breast screening after their 71st birthday, women aged 71 years old or over can still have breast screening every three years if they want to, by calling their local breast screening service to ask for an appointment.
Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
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 ensure that local cancer treatment facilities, such as mobile chemotherapy units and hospital breast cancer clinics, have sufficient resources to meet demand and reduce waiting times for patients.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in the plan for reforming elective care, the Government is committed to improving performance on cancer waiting times.
To improve access to cancer treatment, the Government is investing an extra £26 billion in the National Health Service and providing it with the resources it needs, including community diagnostic centres, to ensure patients are diagnosed faster and earlier so that they receive timely access to treatment. £70 million will also be spent on replacing out-of-date radiotherapy equipment so that cancer patients benefit from faster and safer cancer treatment using the most up-to-date technology. Replacing these older machines will save as many as 13,000 appointments from being lost to equipment breakdown.
NHS England has partnered with the charity Hope For Tomorrow to establish mobile chemotherapy units across England, bringing chemotherapy and cancer treatments closer to patients' homes, reducing waiting time for hospital appointments, with units staffed by specialist nurses offering personalised care.
The NHS has made important progress on the treatment of cancer, including breast cancer, delivering an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week to ensure faster treatment for those who need it most.
Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what mechanisms are in place for NHS mental health trusts to be held accountable when written recommendations for improving carer involvement and crisis support following formal apologies are not implemented within agreed timescales.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Anyone receiving treatment for their mental health deserves safe, high-quality care, and to be treated with dignity and respect.
Families, staff, and the public deserve answers when things go wrong in mental health settings and it is vitally important that, where care falls short, we learn from any mistakes made to improve care across the National Health Service and protect patients in the future.
All NHS providers are held to account under the NHS Oversight Framework 2025/26 when they fail to implement written recommendations, for instance on carer involvement or crisis support, in agreed timescales. This includes a capability assessment, where trusts are evaluated for leadership, governance, and ability to implement change, with failures heightening oversight. As part of the Provider Improvement Programme, low performing trusts enter a structured programme, gaining intensive, formal improvement interventions.
NHS England can formally step in using its enforcement guidance if performance or governance is below acceptable standards. NHS England regional teams convene regular meetings with trusts and integrated care boards to review progress on agreed recommendations and implementation plans.
It is the role of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman to carry out independent investigations into complaints about treatment or service provided through the NHS where organisation level complaints processes have already been followed.
Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
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 ensuring that NHS mental health trusts do not discharge patients with high PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores without robust safety planning and follow-up support; and what guidance his Department has issued to help prevent such cases.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In 2024, statutory guidance was issued on discharge from all mental health, and learning disability and autism inpatient settings, under the NHS Act 2006. The guidance also sets out that prior to discharge, robust planning and safety management should be developed for all patients, in collaboration with the person and their chosen carer or carers with input from relevant members of the multi-disciplinary team.
For individuals detained under the Mental Health Act, in the Mental Health Act 2025, passed this year, we have strengthened discharge decision making by requiring consultation with another professional before discharge, as well as introducing requirements around care and treatment planning. We will provide further guidance on this in the revised Code of Practice.
Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the policy paper entitled Fit for the future: 10 Year Health Plan for England, published on 30 July 2025, whether the proposal to provide opt-out smoking cessation interventions in all routine care within hospitals includes people who (a) have been referred through urgent suspected referral for cancer, (b) are awaiting cancer treatment and (c) are undergoing cancer treatment.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 10-Year Health Plan committed to ensuring that all hospitals integrate ‘opt-out’ smoking cessation interventions into routine care. Within their 2025/26 allocations, integrated care boards have access to funding to support the rollout of tobacco dependency treatment services in hospital settings, including acute and mental health inpatient settings and maternity services. Where inpatients are identified as a smoker, including those in cancer-related services or undergoing cancer treatment, the expectation would be for them to receive an opt-out referral to talk to a specialist and subsequently make an informed decision about accessing treatment tailored to their needs.
Future funding decisions, including any decision to expand tobacco dependency treatment services across routine care, are subject to the Spending Review process.
Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 10 July 2025 to Question 64433 on Smoking: Health Services, if he will take steps to use (a) A&E, (b) lung screening and (c) other new NHS services to automatically enrol smokers into cessation services.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 10-Year Health Plan committed to ensuring that all hospitals integrate ‘opt-out’ smoking cessation interventions into routine care. Within their 2025/26 allocations, integrated care boards have access to funding to support the rollout of tobacco dependency treatment services in hospital settings, including acute and mental health inpatient settings and maternity services. Where inpatients are identified as a smoker, including those in cancer-related services or undergoing cancer treatment, the expectation would be for them to receive an opt-out referral to talk to a specialist and subsequently make an informed decision about accessing treatment tailored to their needs.
Future funding decisions, including any decision to expand tobacco dependency treatment services across routine care, are subject to the Spending Review process.