Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
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 increase access to GP appointments (a) in Beckenham and Penge constituency and (b) nationally.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to improving access and capacity in general practice (GP). That’s why, in October 2024, we provided an £82 million boost to the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, enabling the recruitment of 1,000 newly qualified GPs across England. This will increase the number of appointments delivered in GPs, which will benefit thousands of patients and will also secure the future supply of GPs, and take pressure off those currently working in the system.
Additionally, we have announced a proposed £889 million uplift to the GP Contract in 2025/26, the largest uplift in years, with a rising share of total National Health Service resources going to GPs. We are also currently consulting on key proposals to improve access, continuity of care, and GP recruitment.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
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 help reduce bureaucracy in (a) GP and (b) other primary care services (i) in Beckenham and Penge constituency and (ii) nationally.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
To reduce bureaucracy in the National Health Service, on 4 October 2024, the Government and NHS England launched a Red Tape Challenge to address bureaucracy between primary and secondary care and give our health professionals back time to do what they do best. As part of the Red Tape Challenge there has been close engagement with professionals across primary care to learn more about what works and what needs to change.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
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 help (a) promote and (b) support participation in physical activity for people with long-term health conditions.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The Government and the National Health Service recognise the importance of physical activity for the prevention and management of long-term health conditions. The NHS Better Health Campaign promotes ways for adults, families, and children to move more, and signposts people, including those living with long term conditions who are ready to build movement back into their routines, to digital support like the NHS Active 10 walking app.
Local authorities and the NHS also promote and provide services for people living with long term conditions, such as exercise on referral and social prescribing, including access to physical activity interventions, fall prevention, and walking groups.
The Department, with Sport England, has delivered support and training to equip healthcare professionals to enable patients to move more, to improve their physical and mental health. Sport England continues to support work in this area through the Physical Activity Clinical Champions programme, which is currently being piloted in local areas.
NHS England is working closely with partners nationally and locally to explore how the NHS might galvanise support to make physical activity a core part of NHS care, in order to benefit patients, NHS staff, and the wider public. By empowering clinicians and healthcare professionals with the skills and confidence to discuss and promote physical activity, and by integrating it into key clinical pathways and aligning it with Core20PLUS5 for adults, children, and young people, the NHS could help to transform patient outcomes and reduce health inequalities.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
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 (a) recruit and (b) train specialist palliative care staff.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We will ensure that 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, including at the end of life. This summer, we will publish a refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, and treat patients on time again.
The training of health care professionals is the responsibility of the health care independent statutory regulatory bodies such as the General Medical Council (GMC), the Nursing and Midwifery Council, and the Health and Care Professions Council. These have the general function of promoting high standards of education and coordinating all stages of education to ensure that health and care students and newly qualified healthcare professionals are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes essential for professional practice.
The training curricula for postgraduate specialty training, including for palliative and end of life care, is set by the relevant royal college and has to meet the standards set by the GMC.
As we expand the medical workforce, we will ensure there is growth in foundation placement capacity and specialty training places that meets the demands of the NHS in the future. NHS England will work with stakeholders to ensure this growth is sustainable and focused in the service areas where need is greatest.
To ensure the health and social care workforce, including volunteers, are equipped and well- supported to deliver personalised care to people at the end of life, Health Education England, now part of NHS England, hosts the End of Life Care for All e-learning training programme, which includes nine modules on improving care for people at the end of life.
Additionally, we have committed to develop a 10-year plan to deliver an NHS fit for the future, and a central part of the plan will be our workforce and how we ensure we train and provide the staff, technology, and infrastructure the NHS needs to care for patients across our communities.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
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 improve access to healthcare services for children with cerebral palsy.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
We want a society where every person, including those with a long-term condition such as cerebral palsy, receives high-quality, compassionate continuity of care, with their families and carers supported. We will change the NHS so that it becomes not just a sickness service, but able to prevent ill health in the first place. This will help us be better prepared for the change in nature of disease and allow our services to focus more on the management of chronic, long-term conditions like cerebral palsy.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published guidance on care and support for children and young people with cerebral palsy, to support healthcare professionals and commissioners. The guidance recommends service providers develop clear pathways that allow patients with cerebral palsy access to multi-disciplinary teams, specialist neurology services and regular reviews of their clinical and functional needs. More information on the guidance is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng62
NHS England’s Getting It Right First Time Programme aims to improve care for people with neurological conditions, including those with cerebral palsy, by reducing variation and delivering care more equitably across the country.
Most services for people with cerebral palsy are commissioned locally by integrated care boards, which are best placed to make decisions according to local need. Nevertheless, at a national level, the Government is working closely with NHS England to continue to improve services for people with neurological conditions, including those with cerebral palsy.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of including in his 10 Year Plan offering young people pre-participation cardiac screening within the community.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
No assessment has been made on the potential merits of including community pre-participation cardiac screening into the 10-year plan.
This is because the UK National Screening Committee does not recommend offering screening for sudden cardiac death in people under the age of 39 years old. Research showed that current tests are not accurate enough to use in young people without symptoms. Individuals with the condition may receive a negative test result, a false negative, giving them false reassurance.
Furthermore, individuals who do not have the condition may receive a positive test result, a false positive, which can lead to unnecessary tests, treatments, and caution against exercise, which itself is harmful.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
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) to raise awareness of (i) pregnancy and (ii) baby loss and (b) improve bereavement care for (A) mothers and (B) families impacted.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to ensuring that all women and babies receive safe, compassionate, and personalised care, particularly when things go wrong. In February 2024, the Department launched the Baby Loss Certificate service. This service is a non-statutory, voluntary scheme to enable those who have experienced any pregnancy loss to record and receive a certificate to provide recognition of their loss, if they wish to do so.
To support the reduction of preventable baby loss, all trusts are implementing the third version of the Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle, which provides maternity units with detailed guidance and a package of interventions to reduce stillbirths, neonatal brain injury, neonatal death, and preterm birth.
Many trusts have specialist bereavement midwives, who are trained to care for and support parents and families who have suffered the loss of their baby. All trusts are now signed up to The National Bereavement Care Pathway, which acts as a set of standards and guidance that trusts should follow when a patient has suffered a baby loss.
Paid Parental Bereavement Leave was introduced in 2020. This entitlement is available to parents who lose a child under 18 years old, including where a baby is stillborn after 24 weeks of pregnancy.
In May 2024, NHS England published a new national policy framework to provide all National Health Service staff who suffer a miscarriage with up to 10 days additional paid leave. Women who experience a miscarriage in the first 24 weeks of pregnancy are offered up to 10 days paid leave, and their partners are offered up to five. The new guidance supports NHS employees and provides managers and colleagues with advice on how to support people affected by baby loss, including ensuring that staff who return from work after their pregnancy loss are offered occupational health support, including referrals to specialist services at their trust, or specialist miscarriage and baby loss charities and organisations.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
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 improve dementia care and support for (a) patients and (b) families post-diagnosis in (i) England and (ii) Beckenham and Penge constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is committed to delivering high quality care and support for every person with dementia, and central to this is the provision of personalised care and support planning for post diagnostic support.
The Department has produced guidance on what to expect from health and care services following a dementia diagnosis, which is available at the following link:
There has been a longstanding priority in the London Borough of Bromley, including Beckenham and Penge, to ensure fast and effective dementia diagnostic services, as well as a strong community support offer which is provided by the Bromley Dementia Support Hub and MindCare Dementia respite service. These services are delivered through a partnership of National Health Service and voluntary sector partners to ensure that there is a tailored offer of support for those who need it.
The Bromley Dementia Support Hub, together with the MindCare Dementia Service provided by South-East London Mind, and in partnership with the Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, Bromley Well, and Age UK Bromley and Greenwich, offers a range of support services and stimulating activities both in-person and online for people living with dementia, and their friends and family carers.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
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 adequacy of access to maternal mental health services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
People with mental health issues are not getting the support or care they deserve or need, which is why we will fix the system to ensure we give mental health the same attention and focus as physical health, and that people can be confident in accessing high quality mental health support when they need it. We will recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers to reduce delays and provide faster treatment, which will also help ease pressure on hospitals.
NHS England’s three-year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal services commits to offering all women a personalised care and support plan, considering physical health, mental health, and social complexities, with an updated risk assessment at every contact.
Specialist perinatal mental health services are available in all 42 integrated care system (ICS) areas of England. Maternal mental health services are available in 40 of the 42 ICS areas in England, and the last two are being supported by NHS England to ensure they are up and running as soon as possible. There are currently 19 Mother and Baby Units across England, with 153 operational beds.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
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 help reduce the number of people off work due to long term sickness.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
We know that appropriate work is generally good for health and wellbeing. We want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. We want people to avoid poverty, and for this to happen we must ensure that disabled people and people with health conditions have the opportunity to work and save for as long as they wish and are able to. Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group, so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key.
The Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Work and Pensions are committed to supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, and have range of support available so individuals can stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems.
Measures include joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies and Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care, as well as support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants.
We have also launched WorkWell services in 15 integrated care board areas across England from October this year. WorkWell seeks to help people with health-related barriers to start and get on in work.
Employers play a key role in increasing employment opportunities and supporting disabled people and people with health conditions to thrive as part of the workforce. Our support to employers includes increasing access to Occupational Health, a digital information service for employers, and the Disability Confident scheme. Further information on the digital information service is available at the following link:
As part of the Get Britain Working plan, more disabled people and those with health conditions will be supported to enter and stay in work, by devolving more power to local areas so they can shape a joined-up work, health, and skills offer that suits the needs of the people they serve.
The Autumn Budget 2024 included more than £2.7 billion in 2025/26 for the Department for Work and Pensions to deliver individualised employment support programmes and reduce health related inactivity, helping the Government meet its ambition to support more people into work. This includes more than £800 million for disability employment support and £240 million to tackle the root causes of inactivity through the Get Britain Working White Paper.