Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
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 8 November 2022 to Question 71350 on Prescriptions: Miscarriage, whether a maternity exemption certificate can be backdated by one month in the situation whereby a woman has already miscarried when the application is submitted to cover the period in which she was pregnant.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The National Health Service (Charges for Drugs and Appliances) Regulations 2015 provide that a maternity exemption certificate must be backdated one month before the date on which the application is received by the NHS Business Services Authority. The application process requires that a health care professional, such as a midwife or a general practitioner, must authorise the application to confirm the patient’s pregnancy and expected due date. The NHS Business Services Authority must then issue the certificate on this basis.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department will allow the submission of a Matex certificate application after a woman has miscarried to be backdated to cover the period of time that the woman was pregnant.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
A maternity exemption certificate start date is automatically backdated one month from the date the application is received. A maternity exemption certificate start date cannot be backdated further under any circumstances. There are no plans to amend the period for which maternity exemption certificates can be backdated.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
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 impact on public health of the delayed publication of the Gambling white Paper.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
No specific assessment has been made.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
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 Batley and Spen 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 Lancaster and Fleetwood, Batley and Spen, Warrington North, and Chesterfield to provide evidence and intelligence.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
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 Batley and Spen constituency.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
In September we announced ‘Our plan for patients’, which outlines how we will increase access to National Health Service mental health and eating disorder services, including in Batley and Spen. Ensuring easier access to general practice will expand this route to access mental health services. Through the NHS Long Term Plan, we are investing an additional £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24 to expand NHS mental health and eating disorder services for adults, children and young people in England, including in Batley and Spen.
We will invest approximately £1 billion in community mental health care for adults with severe mental illness. including eating disorders, by 2023/24 and an additional £53 million per year in children and young people's community eating disorder services to increase capacity in the 70 community eating disorder teams.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
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 17 October 2022 to Question 62167 on Dental Services: Batley and Spen, for what reason Lancaster and Fleetwood constituency was referenced in her Answer; and what estimate she has made of the number of dental practices in Batley and Spen which returned to full delivery of contracted activity by July 2022.
Answered by Will Quince
This was an inadvertent administrative error and we have arranged for the record to be corrected.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has provided additional (a) financial and (b) other support to help tackle (i) patient backlogs and (ii) increased workloads in GP surgeries in Batley and Spen constituency.
Answered by Will Quince
The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’, published in February 2022, stated the ambition to reduce patient backlogs for planned National Health Service treatments and the Government plans to spend more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25. We made £520 million available to expand general practice capacity during the pandemic. This was in addition to at least £1.5 billion announced in 2020 by 2024 which includes supporting increased workloads in general practitioner (GP) surgeries, including in Batley and Spen. In September 2022, ‘Our plan for patients’ announced measures to support GP practices increase access and manage workloads, such as the provision of 31,000 phone lines and funding to expand the staff roles working in general practice, including in Batley and Spen.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
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 adequacy of social care capacity in Batley and Spen constituency.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
No specific assessment has been made. Local authorities have a responsibility under the Care Act 2014 to ensure that the care needs of the local population are met.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
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 support the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of GPs in Batley and Spen constituency.
Answered by Will Quince
We are working with NHS England, Health Education England and the profession to increase the general practice workforce in England, including in Batley and Spen. This includes measures to improve recruitment, address the reasons why doctors leave the profession and encourage them to return to practice.
The updated GP Contract Framework announced a number of new schemes, alongside continued support for existing recruitment and retention schemes for the general practice workforce. This includes the GP Retention Scheme, the GP Retention Fund, the National GP Induction and Refresher, the Locum Support Scheme, the New to Partnership Payment and the Supporting Mentors Scheme.