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 implications for his policies of the report by Lord Darzi entitled Independent investigation of the NHS in (a) England and (b) Beckenham and Penge constituency.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Lord Darzi’s full report has laid bare the true extent of the challenges facing our health service, giving us the frank assessment necessary to face these problems honestly and properly, and do the hard work required to fix them. Lord Darzi’s findings will inform our 10-Year Health Plan to radically reform the National Health Service, and build a health service that is fit for the future. across England’s constituencies, such as Beckenham and Penge.
The plan will be a key element of how we deliver the change needed to meet the three mission goals, specifically: a fairer system where everyone lives well for longer: an NHS that is there when people need it: and fewer lives lost to the biggest killers.
This is a long-term challenge and will take time to deliver, and so the plan will consider both the immediate actions needed to get the NHS back on its feet and bring waiting lists down, as well as the longer-term changes needed to make the health service fit for the future.
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 recent assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of NHS urgent and emergency care services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to supporting the National Health Service to reduce urgent and emergency service waiting times, and to achieve the standards set out in the NHS Constitution.
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care ordered an investigation of NHS performance by Professor Lord Darzi. The report, which was published on 12 September 2024, includes an assessment of the pressures on urgent and emergency care services, and is available at the following link:
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 his policy is on the role of pharmacies in (a) delivering healthcare and (b) improving health outcomes in the community.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to expanding the role of community pharmacies. We want to develop and better utilise the skills of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to improve access to care in local communities and address inequalities.
That includes making prescribing part of the services delivered by community pharmacists. In preparation, NHS England is piloting the use of prescribing by community pharmacists in a range of pathways that will enable them to play an increased role in delivering clinical services in primary care.
Pharmacies have demonstrated their reach into their local communities, particularly in delivering preventative healthcare like vaccinations and advice on minor illness. The Government is committed to shifting more care from the hospital to the community, and pharmacies will play a vital role in that.
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 reduce waiting times for elective surgeries in Beckenham and Penge constituency.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Tackling waiting lists is a key part of our Health Mission and a top priority for the Government, as we get the National Health Service back on its feet. Equality of both access to care and outcomes will be at the heart of building an NHS that is fit for the future.
We have committed to achieving the NHS Constitutional standard that 92% of patients should wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment by the end of this Parliament. As a first step to achieving this, we will deliver an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week across the country, and will increase the number of computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and other tests, that are needed to reduce elective and cancer waits.
Dedicated and protected surgical hubs are also helping to reduce elective surgeries’ wait times by focusing on high volume low complexity surgeries, as recommended by the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and transforming the way the NHS provides elective care. There is one surgical hub within the King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, the Orpington Hospital Elective Surgical Hub. This stand-alone hub opened in December 2013 and is a single specialty hub focusing on trauma and orthopaedics. Patients from the Beckenham and Penge constituency can be referred to this surgical hub for elective surgeries.