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Written Question
Mental Health Services: Birmingham
Thursday 14th November 2024

Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average time was between referral and first contact for mental health services for people aged 17 years and under in Birmingham in each of the last five years.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Tables showing the average time between referral and first contact for mental health services for people aged 17 years old and under in Birmingham in each of the last five years are attached. There are a number of caveats that should be taken into account when interpreting this data, which are included in the attachment.


Written Question
General Practitioners: Finance
Monday 11th November 2024

Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)

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 31 October 2024 to Question 11046 on General Practitioners: Finance, when he plans to determine the overall GP contract investment in the 2025-26 financial year.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department will confirm funding for general practices (GPs) for 2025/26 as part of the usual GP contract process later in the year, including through consultation with the sector.


Written Question
Mental Health Services: Slaughterhouses
Monday 11th November 2024

Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will (a) make an assessment of the adequacy of access to mental health support provisions for abattoir workers and (b) take steps to ensure that workers in this industry have access to such support.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

There are no plans to make such an assessment. Access to mental health services in the National Health Service is based on clinical need, including for abattoir workers.

Too many people with mental health issues are not getting the support or care they need, which is why we will fix the broken system to ensure we give mental health the same attention and focus as physical health and that people can be confident of accessing high quality mental health support when they need it, regardless of the sector in which they work.

Workers can also get help with their mental health from the NHS by speaking to their general practitioner, by self referring to local NHS Talking Therapies services, by calling NHS111 and selecting option two, or consulting the NHS or Every Mind Matters websites, or from the many voluntary, community or social enterprise organisations that provide support for people’s mental health.


Written Question
Mental Health Services: Birmingham
Wednesday 6th November 2024

Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)

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 16 September 2024 to Question 3680 on Mental Health Services: Lincolnshire, if he will provide this information for each constituency in Birmingham.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The following table shows the number of Mental Health Support Teams across the Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board (ICB), broken down by the year in which they became operational, or are planned to become operational:

Number of teams

Total operational teams

Year the team became operational

2019/20

1

1

2020/21

1

2

2021/22

2

2022/23

2

2023/24

8

10

Year the team is planned to become operational

2024/25

n/a

2025/26

6

n/a

Source: NHS Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board.

The ICB has advised that each team covers a cluster of schools in a broadly geographic area, but these are not defined on a parliamentary constituency or ward basis.


Written Question
Respiratory Syncytial Virus: Vaccination
Monday 28th October 2024

Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)

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 October to Question 9121, on Respiratory Syncytial Virus: Vaccination, when he expects to receive further advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation on the potential merits of extending eligibility for that vaccine to people who turned 80 before 01 September 2024.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

In the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s (JCVI) statement summarising the advice for the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) programme, the committee stated that an extension to the initial programme would be considered when there is more certainty about protection provided by the vaccination in the very elderly, and evidence of the real-world impact of the programme in the 75 up to 80-year-old cohort.

The JCVI will continue to keep its advice under review and any potential changes to its advice for the RSV programme, and the timing for it, will be guided by having the necessary scientific evidence with which to do so. The JCVI has continued to review the RSV programme, including at their main meeting on 2 October 2024, but is currently unable to provide an estimate of when suitable evidence will be available to inform future advice. Any potential forthcoming advice on the potential merits of extending eligibility for the RSV programme for older adults will be carefully considered by the Government.


Written Question
NHS: Pay
Thursday 17th October 2024

Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to publication entitled Government and Agenda for Change trade unions offer in principle, published by NHS Employers on 16 March 2023, whether it remains his Department's policy to implement the measures listed under the sub-section of that document entitled Pay setting process.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department is progressing work on all non-pay commitments covered in the 2023/24 Agenda for Change pay deal, including reviewing aspects of the pay setting process. Recommendations from this work will be considered at the earliest opportunity.


Written Question
Ambulance Services: Labour Turnover
Wednesday 14th August 2024

Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of trends in the retention of ambulance workers aged fifty and over in the last ten years.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is committed to tackling the workforce crisis across the National Health Service. This will be achieved through better workforce planning, which will address the recruitment and retention challenges facing the NHS.

Valuing and supporting our NHS workforce will be essential in delivering our mission to build an NHS fit for the future and the pay uplifts announced on 29 July 2024 will mean paramedics will see their pay increase by 5.5%, backdated to April 2024.

In the meantime, NHS England continues to lead on a range of initiatives to boost retention, with a strong focus on improving organisational culture, supporting staff wellbeing, and promoting flexible working opportunities. It is continually reviewing the effectiveness of these and their impact on the workforce.

New retirement flexibilities were introduced in the legacy NHS Pension Scheme last year. These measures are designed to allow older staff to choose to work for longer in a more flexible way, thereby helping to boost capacity, supporting patient care.


Written Question
Mental Health Services: Children and Young People
Monday 5th August 2024

Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many referrals have been accepted by Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in Birmingham in each of the last five years.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The following table shows the number of referrals to Birmingham mental health services for those aged 17 years old and under, those referrals who received first contact, and those referrals who received first contact within six months of the referral date, over each of the last five years:

Year

Referrals

Referrals who received first contact

Referrals who received first contact within six months of the same year

2019/20

22,265

8,946

1,607

2020/21

19,936

7,880

1,444

2021/22

27,435

10,594

1,681

2022/23

25,252

7,831

1,403

2023/24

34,879

7,500

385

Source: data taken from the Mental Health Services Dataset, published by NHS England.

Notes:

  1. in some instances, it may not be expected that a first contact would be recorded, for example those received by triage teams may be closed without a contact, with a new referral being opened once triaged instead; and
  2. a cyber incident between August 2022 and March 2023 impacted several providers submitting Mental Health Services data, therefore some individual providers may not be able to submit complete data.

Finally, as of March 2024 the number of referrals still waiting for first contact, having waited at least six months and regardless of when the referral started, is 15,181.


Written Question
Mental Health Services: Children and Young People
Monday 5th August 2024

Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have been waiting over six months to access CAMHS support in Birmingham.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The following table shows the number of referrals to Birmingham mental health services for those aged 17 years old and under, those referrals who received first contact, and those referrals who received first contact within six months of the referral date, over each of the last five years:

Year

Referrals

Referrals who received first contact

Referrals who received first contact within six months of the same year

2019/20

22,265

8,946

1,607

2020/21

19,936

7,880

1,444

2021/22

27,435

10,594

1,681

2022/23

25,252

7,831

1,403

2023/24

34,879

7,500

385

Source: data taken from the Mental Health Services Dataset, published by NHS England.

Notes:

  1. in some instances, it may not be expected that a first contact would be recorded, for example those received by triage teams may be closed without a contact, with a new referral being opened once triaged instead; and
  2. a cyber incident between August 2022 and March 2023 impacted several providers submitting Mental Health Services data, therefore some individual providers may not be able to submit complete data.

Finally, as of March 2024 the number of referrals still waiting for first contact, having waited at least six months and regardless of when the referral started, is 15,181.


Written Question
Hospices: Children
Wednesday 31st July 2024

Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to (a) reinstate the Children's Hospice Grant for 2025-26 and (b) up-rate that funding in line with inflation.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

In 2024/25, NHS England provided £25 million in funding for children and young people’s hospices. This was distributed via integrated care boards, in line with National Health Service devolution. We are currently considering the future of this important funding stream beyond 2024/25.