Oral Answers to Questions

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Tuesday 6th December 2022 Commons Chamber

[Neil O’Brien]

I have already talked about some of the things we are doing to crack on with improving public health and narrowing inequalities, but I will add some more. We are driving up blood donations from shortage groups and vaccine uptake in areas with the lowest uptake. I mentioned the extra £900 million for drug treatment, taking the total to £3 billion over three years. I will not repeat all the things I mentioned but, across the board, we are working at pace to improve public health and narrow health inequalities.

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind)]

10. What steps his Department is taking to improve survival rates from sudden cardiac arrest.

[The Minister of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Helen Whately)]

Immediate cardiopulmonary resuscitation doubles or quadruples the chance of surviving an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Defibrillation within three to five minutes dramatically improves the chance of survival, which is why NHS England is establishing a network of defibrillators and community first responders to save up to 4,000 lives a year by 2028.

[Margaret Ferrier]

On average, 150 people a day die from sudden cardiac arrest outside hospital. Access to a defibrillator is crucial for survival. Without one, the chance of surviving drops by 10% every minute. I welcome the Government’s commitment to rolling out defibrillators across state-funded schools in England and Wales, but I share the concern that, because of significant ongoing supply chain issues, it might not be achieved. Can the Minister explain how the Department is helping to reach the target of supplying 20,000 defibrillators by 2023?

[Helen Whately]

As the hon. Lady says, access to a defibrillator makes a great difference to the survival prospects of somebody having a sudden cardiac arrest, which most commonly happens either at home or in the workplace. Since May 2020, the Government have required all new school builds and refurbishments to have defibrillators installed. I am happy to look into the concern she raises and get back to her. I am also working on other initiatives to make sure we get more defibrillators into public places.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Speaker]

Last question, Margaret Ferrier.

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind)]

What assessment has the Secretary of State made of geographic variation in access to innovative liver cancer treatments, such as selective internal radiation therapy?

[Steve Barclay]

It is a brilliant question on which to close, because one of the things that all hon. Members should be hugely interested in is how we are adopting innovation more quickly and industrialising that innovation across the NHS as a whole, as opposed to in silos. That is something that we are focused on in the Department and it is a key priority. I am happy to speak to the Scottish Government and others about how we can work together on that.