Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
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 ensure that pharmacies across the country have sufficient supplies of the antibiotics used to treat strep A.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department is working urgently with manufacturers and wholesalers to explore what can be done to expedite deliveries and bring forward stock they have to help ensure it gets to where it is needed, to meet demand as quickly as possible and support access to these vital medicines.
Further, Serious Shortage Protocols (SSPs) have been issued across the United Kingdom for penicillin medicines, which will help mitigate local supply issues by allowing pharmacists to supply alternative forms of the medicine, or alternative antibiotics, if they do not have the product stated on the prescription.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
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 ensure (a) parents and (b) healthcare providers are informed about the (i) symptoms and (ii) treatment of strep A.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has declared a national enhanced incident to co-ordinate the public health response. The UKHSA is working with schools and general practitioners to provide information on scarlet fever and Group A streptococcus, including relevant information for parents to understand the symptoms for urgent referrals for children with more serious cases. We are undertaking research to understand how parents are responding to this information.
A surveillance report and communications for the health system have been published to raise awareness among frontline clinicians. On 2 December, an alert was issued to remind clinicians of their legal duty to notify cases. Guidance has been issued to support clinical diagnosis, promote appropriate use of antimicrobials whilst ensuring patient safety.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the report by the Health Foundation entitled Healthy life expectancy target: the scale of the challenge, published on 7 March 2022, on the length of time it will take to add five years to healthy life expectancy.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
There are no current plans to make a specific assessment. The Government is committed to supporting individuals to live healthier lives through improving access to health and care services. The Department continues to review the most effective ways to improve life expectancy and healthy life expectancy and further information will be available in due course.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
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 increase life expectancy.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
There are no current plans to make a specific assessment. The Government is committed to supporting individuals to live healthier lives through improving access to health and care services. The Department continues to review the most effective ways to improve life expectancy and healthy life expectancy and further information will be available in due course.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
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 ensure that the NHS is prepared to tackle pressures during winter 2022-23 caused by (a) the flu, (b) covid-19 and (c) levels of NHS staff vacancies.
Answered by Will Quince
The National Health Service is delivering an integrated COVID-19 booster and flu vaccination programme to increase immunity for those at higher risk from COVID-19 and flu during the winter and reduce pressure on healthcare services. In winter 2022/23, the NHS will also increase bed capacity by the equivalent of at least 7,000 general and acute beds, maximise the use of virtual wards, and establish Acute Respiratory Infection hubs to support same day assessment and reduce admissions.
Health Education England has a mandated target to train 3,000 paramedic graduates nationally per annum from 2021 to 2024 to increase the domestic paramedic workforce. The NHS is maximising the recruitment of new staff in primary care, including care co-ordinators and social prescribing link workers. This is in addition to an investment of at least £1.5 billion in 2020 to create an additional 50 million general practice appointments by 2024.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
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 ensure that patients who are fit for discharge are promptly released from hospital.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is providing £500 million to reduce delays in discharges from hospital to social care, which will be distributed to local authorities and integrated care boards. The allocations were published on 16 November 2022 and are available at the following link:
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of reduced access to community mental health services during the COVID-19 pandemic on the numbers of people detained under the Mental Health Act.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
In 2020/21, the number of detentions under the Mental Health Act 1983 increased by an estimated 4.5% compared to the previous year. While in ‘Monitoring the Mental Health Act 2020/21’, the Care Quality Commission suggested that reduced access to community mental health services may have caused this increase, the extent has not been confirmed. It is estimated that there were 5.7% fewer detentions under the Act in 2021/22.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department are taking to address the dental appointment backlog.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
In July 2022, we announced improvements to the National Health Service dental system to improve access for patients and address backlogs in dental care. This included guidance on the frequency for patients attending check-ups.
An additional £50 million was made available for NHS dentistry in the final quarter of 2021/22 to allow more patients access to dental care and reduce backlogs. The available appointments were targeted at those most in need of urgent dental treatment, vulnerable groups and children.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his Department is taking to (a) ensure a fair funding system for NHS dental practices and (b) increase the number of NHS dentists.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
NHS England invests £3 billion in dentistry each year, with decisions on priorities made within the overall National Health Service budget. Health Education England has undertaken a three-year review of education and training, which is being implemented through the Dental Education Reform Programme to improve recruitment and retention.
In July 2022, we announced measures to reform NHS dental services to increase access for patients and remunerate dentists fairly for caring for patients with complex needs. We are also working with NHS England and the sector on longer-term improvements to make NHS dentistry a more appealing place to work. During the last quarter of 2021, a one-off additional £50 million was made available for NHS dental services to allow those patients unable to obtain an NHS appointment access to dental care.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
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 potential impact of NHS staff strikes on NHS waiting list backlogs.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department is working with the National Health Service and trade unions to ensure there is minimal disruption to patient care and emergency services continue to operate as normal should any strike action take place. The NHS has existing plans in place to manage any disruption to waiting lists.