Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow and Gateshead East)
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 an assessment of the comparative effectiveness of different strategies to empower women for the purposes of tackling gender-based disparities within the Black community that may contribute to HIV transmission.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
No formal assessment has been made but it is a key principle of our approach, as set out in the HIV Action Plan, to ensure that all populations benefit equally from improvements made in HIV outcomes, including women in black communities. This includes scaling up HIV testing in targeted, high-risk populations and increasing equitable access to and use of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).
HIV Prevention England delivers a nationally co-ordinated programme of HIV prevention work designed to complement locally commissioned HIV prevention in areas with high HIV prevalence and for communities at risk of HIV transmission, with a particular focus on Black African women.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow and Gateshead East)
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 take steps to provide healthcare providers with cultural competency training for black individuals seeking HIV-related services.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The Department has no current plans to provide healthcare providers with cultural competency training. Individual employers providing HIV care are responsible for ensuring their staff are trained and competent to carry out their role.
The standard of training for health care professionals is the responsibility of respective independent statutory regulatory bodies who set the outcome standards expected at undergraduate level and approve courses. It is the responsibility of Higher Education institutions to write and teach the curricula content that enables their students to meet the regulators’ outcome standards.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow and Gateshead East)
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 encourage (a) research and (b) targeted interventions into factors driving HIV transmission within the black community.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The HIV Action Plan is the cornerstone of our approach in England to drive forward progress and achieve our goal to end new HIV transmissions, AIDS and HIV-related deaths within England by 2030. A key principle of our approach is to ensure that all populations benefit equally from improvements made in HIV outcomes, including black communities.
The UK Health Security Agency publishes a yearly monitoring and evaluation report, which sets out key indicators to track progress towards our ambitions in the HIV Action Plan, including by ethnicity, and these data help us to understand where services can be improved and made more accessible to key populations. The next report will be published on 1 December 2023.
The Department commissions HIV prevention interventions through our national HIV prevention programme, including targeted work with black African communities, and commission research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, which welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow and Gateshead East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System’s 2022-23 diagnostic funding was spent on diagnostic endoscopy procedures in South Tyneside.
Answered by Will Quince
£2.3 billion was awarded at the 2021 Spending Review to transform diagnostic services over the next three years to increase diagnostic capacity, including for endoscopy services. This funding will also increase the number of community diagnostic centres (CDCs) up to 160 by March 2025, including a number delivering endoscopy services.
In 2022/23, North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System spent a total of £245,092,935 on all diagnostic services. Of this, £1,565,858 (0.64%), was spent on diagnostic endoscopy procedures in South Tyneside.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow and Gateshead East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System plans to take to increase the availability of endoscopy procedures for patients in Jarrow constituency.
Answered by Will Quince
£2.3 billion was awarded at the 2021 Spending Review to transform diagnostic services over the next three years to increase diagnostic capacity, including for endoscopy services. This funding will also increase the number of Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) up to 160 by March 2025, including a number delivering endoscopy services.
Cutting National Health Service waiting lists, including for endoscopy services, is one of the Government’s top priorities. This is a shared ambition amongst integrated care systems (ICSs), including the North East and North Cumbria ICS. Priorities are set locally through joint strategic needs assessments as part of joint forward plans across the ICS and partnering NHS trusts.
NHS North-East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board is working closely with partner organisations to produce a Joint Forward Plan for 2023/24 to 2028/29, which is due to be published soon. The plan will include a significant focus on improving pathways, capacity and ultimately patient experience across diagnostic pathways, including endoscopy.
South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust, the main provider of diagnostics for South Tyneside and Jarrow, plan to deliver a 4% increase in elective activity from their 2019/2020 levels. This includes endoscopy services.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow and Gateshead East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to reduce endoscopy waiting lists in (a) the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System and (b) South Tyneside.
Answered by Will Quince
£2.3 billion was awarded at the 2021 Spending Review to transform diagnostic services over the next three years to increase diagnostic capacity, including for endoscopy services. This funding will also increase the number of Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) up to 160 by March 2025, including a number delivering endoscopy services.
Cutting National Health Service waiting lists, including for endoscopy services, is one of the Government’s top priorities. This is a shared ambition amongst integrated care systems (ICSs), including the North East and North Cumbria ICS. Priorities are set locally through joint strategic needs assessments as part of joint forward plans across the ICS and partnering NHS trusts.
NHS North-East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board is working closely with partner organisations to produce a Joint Forward Plan for 2023/24 to 2028/29, which is due to be published soon. The plan will include a significant focus on improving pathways, capacity and ultimately patient experience across diagnostic pathways, including endoscopy.
South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust, the main provider of diagnostics for South Tyneside and Jarrow, plan to deliver a 4% increase in elective activity from their 2019/2020 levels. This includes endoscopy services.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow and Gateshead East)
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 improve access to mental health services in Jarrow constituency.
Answered by Caroline Johnson - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
In September we announced ‘Our plan for patients’, which outlines how we will increase access to National Health Service mental health services, including in Jarrow. Improved access to general practice will expand routes into mental health care, as demonstrated through the A, B, C, D priorities.
Through the NHS Long Term Plan, we are investing an additional £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24 to expand NHS mental health services for adults, children and young people in England, including in Jarrow.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow and Gateshead East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of trends in the level of life expectancy in Jarrow constituency.
Answered by Caroline Johnson - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment has been made. ‘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.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow and Gateshead East)
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 increase the uptake of breast cancer screening in Jarrow constituency.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department is working with NHS England to finalise the delivery of £10 million for breast screening units, including determining which areas will benefit from this investment.
National Health Service breast screening providers are also encouraged to work with Cancer Alliances, Primary Care Networks, NHS regional teams and the voluntary sector to promote the uptake of breast screening and ensure access to services.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow and Gateshead East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what (a) financial and (b) other steps her Department is taking to help tackle NHS workforce shortages.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Department has commissioned NHS England to develop a long-term workforce plan. The plan will consider the number of staff and the roles required and will set out the actions and reforms needed to improve workforce supply and retention, including in Easington, Streatham, Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough, Nottingham South and Wirral South.