Asked by: Margaret Hodge (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce waiting times for elective surgeries in Barking and Dagenham.
Answered by Will Quince
The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’ sets out how the National Health Service will recover and expand elective services over the next three years, including in Barking and Dagenham. We have allocated more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25, in addition to the £2 billion Elective Recovery Fund and £700 million Targeted Investment Fund already made available in 2021/2022 to increase elective activity. This funding aims to deliver the equivalent of approximately nine million additional checks and procedures and 30% further elective activity by 2024/25 than pre-pandemic levels. A proportion of this funding will be invested in workforce capacity and training and we have committed to invest £5.9 billion for new beds, equipment and technology.
The target to eliminate waiting times of two years or more for elective procedures was met in July 2022 and we aim to eliminate waiting time of eighteen months or more by April 2023. This will be achieved through increasing capacity, seeking alternate capacity in other trusts or the independent sector and engaging with patients to understand choices made regarding their care.
Asked by: Margaret Hodge (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate her Department has made on the number of people in my constituency of Barking and Dagenham who are unable to afford prescription costs.
Answered by Will Quince
No specific estimate has been made. However, arrangements are in place to help with the affordability of National Health Service prescriptions, including exemptions relating to age, income or qualifying medical conditions. Approximately 89% of NHS prescription items are dispensed in the community free of charge.
To support those who do not qualify for an exemption from prescription charges, the cost of prescriptions can be capped by purchasing a prescription pre-payment certificate, which can be paid for in instalments. A holder of a 12-month certificate can get all the prescriptions they need for just over £2 per week. Additionally, people on a low income who do not qualify for an exemption from prescription charges can also seek help under the NHS Low Income Service, which provides help with health costs on an income-related basis.
Asked by: Margaret Hodge (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made on the number of children on wait lists for treatment at CAHMS.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No specific assessment has been made as a national access and waiting times standard for child and adolescent mental health services has not yet been defined.
NHS England consulted on the definition and introduction of five proposed waiting time standards, including for children, young people and their families/carers, presenting to community-based mental health services to receive care within four weeks of referral. This may involve immediate advice, support or a brief intervention, help to access another service, commencing a longer-term intervention or agreement about a patient care plan or a specialist assessment. We are working with NHS England on the next steps following the conclusion of the consultation.
Asked by: Margaret Hodge (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of trends in the level of the closure of beds in NHS hospitals across the Borough of Barking and Dagenham.
Answered by Will Quince
No specific assessment has been made. However, the National Health Service plans to substantially increase capacity and resilience for winter 2022/23. NHS bed capacity will be increased by the equivalent of at least 7,000 general and acute beds, including new physical beds and expanding the use of innovative virtual wards to treat patients safely at home.
The Government has also invested £500 million in an Adult Social Care Discharge Fund to assist safe discharges for patients when medically fit and increase bed capacity and reduce waits for emergency care.
Asked by: Margaret Hodge (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate her Department has made of the number of FTE Fully qualified GPs excluding GPs in Training Grade practicing in Barking and Dagenham (a) today and (b) what the number was in 2013.
Answered by Will Quince
This information is not collected in the format requested.
Asked by: Margaret Hodge (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help support the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of midwives in Barking and Dagenham.
Answered by Will Quince
NHS England retains oversight of local workforce plans and is updated on vacancy rates. However, recruitment and retention is undertaken at trust level.
In 2022, an additional £127 million has been invested in the National Health Service maternity workforce and improving neonatal care, including in Barking and Dagenham. This is in addition to the £95 million invested in 2021 to fund a further 1,200 midwives and 100 consultant obstetricians. The NHS People Plan focuses on improving the retention of NHS staff by prioritising staff health and wellbeing. In 2022/23, £45 million has been allocated to support the continuation of 40 mental health hubs, the Professional Nurse Advocates programme and expanding the NHS Practitioner Health service.
Asked by: Margaret Hodge (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made on the impact in-work poverty on health outcomes.
Answered by Caroline Johnson
We recognise the influence of determinants such as income have on health and the need to support low-income and vulnerable households in the context of increasing cost of living. The Government’s Energy Price Guarantee will save the average household at least £1,000 a year, in addition to the £37 billion allocated to measures to assist households and businesses, including £15 billion to directly support the most vulnerable households.
Asked by: Margaret Hodge (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help improve access to mental health services in Barking constituency.
Answered by Caroline Johnson
In September we announced ‘Our Plan for Patients’, which outlines how we will increase access to National Health Service mental health service including in Barking. Making it easier to access general practice through our ABCD priorities will expand this route as a gateway to mental health care.
Through the NHS Long Term Plan, we are investing an additional £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24 to expand these services for adults, children and young people in England, including in Barking.
We will invest approximately £1 billion in community mental health care for adults with severe mental illness.
Asked by: Margaret Hodge (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many GPs who had been previously working in North East London ICS area have left the profession over the last three years.
Answered by Will Quince
This information is not collected in the format requested.
Asked by: Margaret Hodge (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has provided additional (a) financial and (b) other support to help tackle (i) patient backlogs and (ii) increased workloads in GP surgeries in Barking constituency.
Answered by Will Quince
The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’, published in February 2022, stated the ambition to reduce patient backlogs for planned National Health Service treatments and the Government plans to spend more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25. We made £520 million available to expand general practice capacity during the pandemic. This was in addition to at least £1.5 billion announced in 2020 by 2024 which includes supporting increased workloads in general practitioner (GP) surgeries, including in Barking. In September 2022, ‘Our plan for patients’ announced measures to support GP practices increase access and manage workloads, such as the provision of 31,000 phone lines and funding to expand the staff roles working in general practice, including in Barking.