Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
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 tackle mental health issues in men; and how many people have accessed mental health services, by gender in each of the last three years.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
We know that men are less likely to seek help or talk about mental health issues and the National Suicide Prevention Strategy highlights men, especially middle-aged and young men, as a group at high risk of suicide. Every local authority now has a multi-agency suicide prevention plan in place and we are working with local government to assure the effectiveness of those plans. We have issued guidance to local authorities that highlights the importance of working across all local services, including the voluntary sector, to target high risk groups such as men.
We are expanding and transforming mental health services through the NHS Long Term Plan, to ensure that 380,000 more adults can access psychological therapies by 2023/24. For those with severe needs or in crisis, all National Health Service mental health providers have established 24 hours a day, seven days a week urgent mental health helplines.
The following table shows numbers of referrals and starts for Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services and numbers in contact with secondary mental health, learning disability and autism services in each of the last three years for which data is available.
Year* and gender** | Number of people in contact with NHS-funded secondary mental health, learning disabilities and autism services | Number of referrals to IAPT services | Referrals entering treatment for IAPT services |
2019-20 | 2,878,636 | 1,694,790 | 1,165,653 |
Males | 1,347,739 | 584,151 | 398,153 |
Females | 1,479,739 | 1,094,413 | 761,270 |
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2018-19 | 2,726,721 | 1,603,643 | 1,092,296 |
Males | 1,310,418 | 561,121 | 378,602 |
Females | 1,403,057 | 1,026,442 | 707,910 |
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2017-18 | 2,510,745 | 1,439,957 | 1,009,035 |
Males | 1,207,679 | 508,477 | 351,017 |
Females | 1,295,791 | 918,305 | 653,308 |
Notes:
*The number of providers submitting data has increased over the 2017-18 to 2019-20 period, which may account for some of the increase in rates.
** Gender subtotals do not add up to the total number of people because the total includes those for whom gender was invalid or missing.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
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 deliver civil service jobs in his Department to Dudley North constituency.
Answered by Edward Argar
Departmental staff predominantly work in the London and Leeds offices, with a smaller number of staff based in the Reading, Runcorn and Burnley sites. The majority of staff have been working at home due to the pandemic and the Department is currently considering future ways of working once restrictions support a physical return to our sites. As part of and the Places for Growth programme, we are considering locations and are engaging with staff and partners in health and social care to consider our future geographic footprint. This may result in an expansion of existing locations and the Department will consider the potential benefits of any additional locations for recruitment, retention, capability and staff diversity.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department made an assessment of the potential merits of altering a person's priority in the covid-19 vaccine rollout if they were about to undergo lifesaving surgery with a substantial stay in hospital, to minimise the risk of that person contracting covid-19 during treatment and recovery.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
If someone is due to undergo lifesaving surgery, it is likely they will have already been captured in priority cohort four as clinically extremely vulnerable or cohort six as clinically vulnerable. Included in the description of those classed as clinically extremely vulnerable are those identified based on clinical judgement and an assessment of their needs. If someone undergoing lifesaving surgery is deemed to be at high risk of mortality from COVID-19 by their clinician then they will have been offered their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine by 14 February 2021.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to prioritise people in (a) care homes and (b) BAME communities in the roll of a covid vaccine.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) are the independent experts who advise the Government on which vaccine/s the United Kingdom should use and provide advice on prioritisation at a population level. The JCVI have advised that the first priorities for any COVID-19 vaccination programme should be the prevention of COVID-19 mortality and the protection of health and social care staff and systems.
For the first phase, the JCVI have advised that the vaccine be given to care home residents and staff, as well as frontline health and social care workers, then to the rest of the population in order of age and clinical risk factors. Included in this are those with underlying health conditions, including severe and profound learning disability, which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality.
There is clear evidence that certain black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) groups have higher rates of infection, and higher rates of serious disease and mortality. The reasons are multiple and complex. There is no strong evidence that ethnicity by itself or genetics is the sole explanation for observed differences in rates of severe illness and deaths. What is clear is that certain health conditions are associated with increased risk of serious disease, and these health conditions are often overrepresented in certain BAME groups. Prioritisation of people with underlying health conditions will also provide for greater vaccination of BAME communities who are disproportionately affected by such health conditions.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
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 ensure that all unpaid carers will have access to the covid-19 vaccine, including those carers not in receipt of state benefits.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
On 15 February, Primary Care Networks and the National Booking Service began issuing the first vaccination appointment invitations to those eligible within cohort six of the priority groups as set by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation. This includes eligible unpaid carers who care for those vulnerable to COVID-19 and does not exclude on the basis of whether the carer is in receipt of state benefits.
We recognise the vital role that unpaid carers play in caring for vulnerable individuals and we are developing bespoke guidance for this group set out in a Standard Operating Protocol which has been developed in close cooperation with carers organisations and local authorities. This will be published shortly.