Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 shorten the diagnosis period for endometriosis.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to prioritising women’s health and improving the diagnosis times for gynaecological conditions, including endometriosis. We have taken urgent action to tackle gynaecology waiting lists through the Elective Reform Plan. In gynaecology, the plan supports innovative models offering patients care closer to home, and piloting gynaecology pathways in community diagnostic centres.
Endometriosis is also included in the core curriculum for general practitioners, and for obstetricians and gynaecologists. The General Medical Council is introducing the Medical Licensing Assessment for most incoming doctors, including all medical students graduating from academic year 2024/25 and onwards. Within this assessment are several topics relating to women’s health, including endometriosis. This will encourage a better understanding of endometriosis among doctors as they start their careers in the United Kingdom.
Clinical guidelines support healthcare professionals to diagnose and treat conditions. In November 2024, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published updated recommendations on the diagnosis, management and treatment of endometriosis. This is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng73
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department taking to improve access to dentistry care in Nottinghamshire.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In the NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board (ICB), in the 24 months to June 2024, 42% of adults were seen by a National Health Service dentist, compared to 40% in England. In the 12 months to June 2024, 60% of children were seen by an NHS dentist in the ICB, compared to 56% nationally.
The Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access NHS dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the sector, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.
The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the ICBs across England. For the Ashfield constituency, this is the NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 potential merits of introducing a national awareness campaign on prostate cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England run Help Us Help You campaigns to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms and address the barriers to acting on them, to encourage people to come forward as soon as possible to see their general practitioner. The campaigns focus on a range of symptoms, as well as encouraging body awareness to help people spot symptoms across a wide range of cancers at an earlier point.
The Department continues to advise patients to follow National Health Service guidance on signs and symptoms of several types of cancer, including prostate cancer. This advice is available publicly on the NHS.UK website, at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/prostate-cancer/
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with the NHS on lower rates of (a) adults and (b) children having seen a dentist in Nottinghamshire in the last two years than the equivalent average rates for England, as of March 2024.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In the NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board (ICB), in the 24 months to June 2024, 42% of adults were seen by a National Health Service dentist, compared to 40% in England. In the 12 months to June 2024, 60% of children were seen by an NHS dentist in the ICB, compared to 56% nationally.
The Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access NHS dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the sector, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.
The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the ICBs across England. For the Ashfield constituency, this is the NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will take steps to prioritise buying medical devices from UK companies.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The United Kingdom’s medical technology (MedTech) sector is valuable for patients, the National Health Service, and the economy, creating high valued jobs across the country. This is why the Department published the MedTech Strategy and subsequent One Year On documents, setting out the advancements we are putting in place to drive improvements to the ecosystem.
On 13 February 2025, the Government published its National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS), which sets out the priorities for public procurement, and maximises the impact of every pound spent. The NPPS is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-procurement-policy-statement
This will come into effect alongside the commencement of the Procurement Act 2023, on 24 February 2025. The Government is determined to ensure public money spent on public procurement annually delivers economic growth, supports small businesses, champions innovation, and creates good jobs and opportunities across the country.
The act will create a simpler and more flexible, commercial system, and will more effectively open public procurement to new entrants such as UK small businesses and social enterprises, so that they can compete for and win more public contracts. The act also allows contracting authorities to reserve below threshold contracts for UK suppliers, as set out in Section 15 of a published guidance note for the act. The full guidance on below-threshold contracts is available at the following link:
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 implications for her policies of trends in the level of illegal sales of (a) tobacco, (b) vape and c) alcohol products.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Evidence shows that when we have introduced targeted tobacco control measures, they have had a positive impact on tackling the problems of illicit tobacco. When the age of sale was increased from 16 to 18 years old in 2007, this created 1.3 million more people who were no longer able to be sold cigarettes, and in theory would be in the market for illicit cigarettes. However, in practice, the number of illicit cigarettes consumed fell by 25% from 10 billion in 2005/06 to 7.5 billion in 2007/08. Overall, the consumption of illicit cigarettes has gone from 15 billion cigarettes in 2000/2001 to 1.5 billion cigarettes in 2022/2023.
The Government is investing over £100 million over five years to boost HM Revenue and Customs and Border Force’s enforcement capabilities to tackle illicit tobacco, supporting their Illicit Tobacco Strategy. In 2025/26, we will invest £30 million of new funding in total for enforcement agencies, including Trading Standards, Border Force, and HM Revenue and Customs, to tackle the illicit and underage sale of tobacco and vapes.
We have invested £3 million over two years specifically to enhance the work led by National Trading Standards to tackle underage and illicit vape sales. This is done through enhancing market surveillance, enforcement action at ports, intelligence development, and financial support for the storage and disposal of vapes. The new funding for 2025/26 will build on this work to tackle underage and illicit vape sales.
On alcohol, the Licensing Act 2003 regulates the sale and supply of alcohol in England and Wales, and sets out offences relating to the purchase and consumption of alcohol by children. The protection of children from harm is one of the four licensing objectives under the act, and the statutory guidance that accompanies this act makes it clear that the illegal purchase and consumption of alcohol by minors is a criminal activity that may arise in connection with licensed premises, and that this should be treated particularly seriously by licensing authorities. The guidance also sets out that licensing authorities are expected to maintain close contact with the police, young offenders’ teams, and trading standards officers about the extent of unlawful sales and consumption of alcohol by minors, be involved in the development of any strategies to control or prevent these unlawful activities, and to pursue prosecutions.
Since 2016, HM Revenue and Customs has operated a comprehensive strategy to combat illicit alcohol. This initiative has seen duty losses successfully reduce by over £500 million annually. This has been achieved through the introduction of measures such as the Alcohol Wholesaler Registration Scheme, which controls the supply of wholesale alcohol in the United Kingdom. Collaborative efforts with other enforcement agencies such as Trading Standards and Border Force have also enhanced compliance and enforcement, significantly reducing the availability of illicit alcohol.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions officials in his Department have had with the manufacturers of Creon.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department monitors and manages medicine supply at a national level so that stocks remain available to meet regional and local demand. Information on stock levels within local areas is not held centrally.
The Department is continuing to engage with all suppliers of pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT) to boost production and mitigate the supply issue. Suppliers have managed to secure additional pharmaceutical ingredients resulting in expected increased volumes of PERT for 2025. The Department has also reached out to specialist importers who have sourced unlicensed stock to assist in covering the gap in the market. In December 2024, the Department issued further management advice to healthcare professionals. This directs clinicians to prescribe unlicensed imports when licensed stock is unavailable, and includes actions for integrated care boards to ensure that local mitigation plans are put in place and implemented. The Department, in collaboration with NHS England, has created a webpage to include the latest updates on PERT availability and easily accessible advice on the prescribing and ordering of alternative PERT products.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to help tackle shortages of Creon.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department monitors and manages medicine supply at a national level so that stocks remain available to meet regional and local demand. Information on stock levels within local areas is not held centrally.
The Department is continuing to engage with all suppliers of pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT) to boost production and mitigate the supply issue. Suppliers have managed to secure additional pharmaceutical ingredients resulting in expected increased volumes of PERT for 2025. The Department has also reached out to specialist importers who have sourced unlicensed stock to assist in covering the gap in the market. In December 2024, the Department issued further management advice to healthcare professionals. This directs clinicians to prescribe unlicensed imports when licensed stock is unavailable, and includes actions for integrated care boards to ensure that local mitigation plans are put in place and implemented. The Department, in collaboration with NHS England, has created a webpage to include the latest updates on PERT availability and easily accessible advice on the prescribing and ordering of alternative PERT products.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 (a) help support community pharmacists in the early detection of leukaemia, (b) expand phlebotomy capacity and (c) increase levels of access to full blood counts.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is a priority for the Government to support the National Health Service in catching cancer, including blood cancers, as early as possible, to treat these diseases faster and more effectively, and thereby improve outcomes.
NHS England does not currently commission any phlebotomy or full blood count services from community pharmacies. Patients can access these services in community diagnostic centres (CDCs), which offer local populations a wide range of diagnostic tests closer to home, and greater choice on where and how they are undertaken, reducing the need for hospital visits and speeding up diagnosis.
The Elective Reform Plan commits to transform and expand diagnostic services and speed up waiting times for tests, including for blood tests. We will also expand the number of CDCs operating seven days a week and 12 hours a day, as well as the tests they offer, so that patients have greater access to these more convenient tests. We will also deliver additional CDC capacity in 2025/26 by expanding a number of existing CDCs and building up to five new ones.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 potential impact of levels of capacity in phlebotomy services on the time taken for leukaemia cases to be diagnosed.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are taking meaningful steps to improve cancer diagnostic performance for all cancers, including leukaemia. The 2025/26 NHS Planning Guidance sets a stretching target for cancer diagnosis that will see approximately 100,000 more people every year having cancer confirmed or ruled out within 28 days.
This will be supported by our commitment to improve diagnostic performance. We are delivering an additional two million operations, scans, and appointments during our first year in Government, as a first step in our commitment to ensuring that patients can expect to be treated within 18 weeks. As of December 2024, community diagnostic centres are now delivering additional tests and checks on 168 sites across the country and have delivered over 12.2 million additional tests since July 2021, including phlebotomy service tests.
We have also announced plans for a revised NHS Long Term Workforce Plan in summer 2025 to ensure the National Health Service has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the care patients need when they need it.
Finally, the National Cancer Plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology. The plan will seek to improve every aspect of cancer care to improve the experience and outcomes for people with cancer, including leukaemia.