Asked by: Keir Mather (Labour - Selby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she plans to increase the availability of dental care appointments for veterans.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
In July 2022, we announced a package of improvements to the National Health Service dental system, detailed in Our plan for patients. This outlined how we will meet oral health needs and increase access to NHS dental care through several improvements to the 2006 contract. These changes were designed to improve access for all that need it, including veterans.
A key principle of the Armed Forces Covenant is that the Armed Forces community experiences no disadvantage in accessing healthcare. The NHS takes its responsibilities under the Covenant very seriously.
We are working on our Dentistry Recovery Plan which will address how we continue to improve access, particularly for new patients; and how we make NHS work more attractive to ensure NHS dentists are incentivised to deliver more NHS care.
Asked by: Keir Mather (Labour - Selby)
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 people with limited internet capability access online health services.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
In September 2023, NHS England published a framework for action on digital inclusion to help the system design and implement inclusive digital approaches and technologies. Additional help is provided by community organisations and local partners by providing free devices and mobile data to digitally excluded people; for example, the National Device Bank and a National Data Bank run by the Good Things Foundation.
Patients unable to use digital channels will continue to be able to access services via telephone and through traditional face to face services.
Asked by: Keir Mather (Labour - Selby)
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 increase the availability of medicine supply in (a) Selby and Ainsty constituency and (b) nationally.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The Department works at a national level to address medicine supply issues and help prevent, manage, and mitigate medicine shortages. Medicine supply problems can occur for several reasons; for example, they can be due to manufacturing difficulties, regulatory problems, problems with the supply of raw materials, sudden demand spikes or from issues which are related to the distribution of the product.
The production of medicines is complex and highly regulated, and materials and processes must meet rigorous safety and quality standards. Occasionally, the National Health Service experiences temporary shortages of specific medicines.
We know how distressing the possibility of shortages can be and we have well-established processes for working with the pharmaceutical industry, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, NHS England, the devolved governments and others operating in the supply chain to help ensure patients have access to the treatments they need.
Asked by: Keir Mather (Labour - Selby)
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 support the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of mental health specialists in Selby and Ainsty constituency.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The National Health Service has published a Long Term Workforce Plan which outlines the steps the Government has taken to support the recruitment and retention of mental health specialists, including in Selby and Ainsty.
Asked by: Keir Mather (Labour - Selby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of GP surgeries are rated as Good by the CQC in Selby and Ainsty constituency.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
As of 13 September 2023, there are seven general practice surgeries rated ‘good’ (87.5%) by the Care Quality Commission in the Selby and Ainsty constituency.
Asked by: Keir Mather (Labour - Selby)
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 increase access to NHS dentistry in Selby and Ainsty constituency.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
In July 2022 we announced a package of reforms to improve access to National Health Service dentistry. This included changes to the banding of courses of treatments and the introduction of a minimum Units of Dental Activity value.
From 1 April 2023, responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to all integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. ICBs are responsible for having local processes in place to involve patient groups, and for undertaking oral health needs assessments, to identify areas of need and determine the priorities for investment.
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, published on 30 June 2023, sets out the steps the NHS and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. These include a 40% increase to dentistry undergraduate training places by 2031/32.
However, we know that we need to do more, and that there are some areas where access is particularly problematic. We are working on our Dental Plan, which will address how we continue to improve access, particularly for new patients, and how we make NHS work more attractive to ensure NHS dentists are incentivised to deliver more NHS care.
Asked by: Keir Mather (Labour - Selby)
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 increase the availability of face-to-face GP appointments in Selby and Ainsty constituency.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
We are investing at least £1.5 billion to create an additional 50 million general practice (GP) appointments by 2024 by growing and diversifying the workforce. In the twelve months to July 2023, there were 352.6 million appointments booked across England, up by 43.8 million compared to the twelve months up to July 2019.
The National Health Service is clear that GPs must provide face-to-face appointments, alongside remote consultations, and patients’ input into consultation type should be sought and their preferences for face-to-face care respected unless there are good clinical reasons to the contrary. In Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board, 69.7% of appointments were face-to-face in July 2023.