Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
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 (a) increase the availability of aspirin and (b) normalise aspirin supply chains.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is aware of a recent disruption to the supply of aspirin dispersible tablets and are working with suppliers to understand the causes and aid a return to normal supply as soon as possible. Supply issues have been addressed, and stock is regularly being made available for pharmacies to order.
We are working with all partners in the supply chain, including manufacturers and United Kingdom distributors, to ensure maximum accessibility to pharmacies and hospitals irrespective of where they are in the country.
The Department will continue to monitor the situation and expects supplies to return to normal over the coming weeks.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what advice and support his Department is providing to people in Shropshire who claim they have contracted, or might develop, serious illnesses as a result of using Johnson & Johnson talcum powder products.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Individuals in Shropshire who believe they may have been affected by use of talcum products should seek medical advice from their general practitioner. They may also wish to consider contacting specialist organisations for support and information on legal action.
The Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is the Government agency responsible for ensuring that medicines and medical devices work and are acceptably safe. Additives in medicines, termed excipients, are required to comply with the standards laid down in pharmacopeial monographs and can only be included in medicinal products at levels that are considered to be safe.
The MHRA is aware of general concerns in relation to the presence of asbestos in commercial talcum powder. However, pharmaceutical grade talcum powder has strict controls on the presence of asbestos. The British Pharmacopeia monograph for Purified Talc states that “Talc derived from deposits that are known to contain associated asbestos is not suitable for pharmaceutical use”. Furthermore, testing is required to confirm the absence of asbestos.
Oversight of commercial talc powder, including advice and support, falls within the remit of the Department for Business and Trade and specifically the Office of Product Safety and Standards (OPSS). The OPSS is the regulator of product safety and seeks to ensure that manufacturers, importers, and all those in the supply chain take steps to ensure that consumer products are safe, and they take any reports of negative health outcomes related to products incredibly seriously. Any serious undesirable effects related to cosmetic products should be directly reported to OPSS, to ensure that they can take the correct action. If a consumer wishes to report a serious undesirable effect, OPSS recommend contacting Trading Standards who can support with the process.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with relevant stakeholders on improving neurodevelopmental training for GPs on ADHD and autism across all ages.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
General practitioners (GPs) are responsible for ensuring their own clinical knowledge, including on autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, remains up-to-date and for identifying learning needs as part of their continuing professional development. This activity should include taking account of new research and developments in guidance, such as that produced by the National Institute and Care Excellence, to ensure that they can continue to provide high quality care to all patients.
All United Kingdom-registered doctors are expected to meet the professional standards set out in the General Medical Council’s (GMC’s) Good Medical Practice. The training curriculum for postgraduate trainee doctors is set by the Royal College of General Practitioners and must meet the standards set by the GMC.
The Health and Care Act 2022 introduced a statutory requirement that all providers registered with the Care Quality Commission must ensure their staff receive learning disability and autism training appropriate to their role, including GPs. To support this, a Code of Practice (Code) was published and finalised on 6 September 2025 setting out the Government’s expectations on training content and delivery. The Government is rolling out the recommended package, the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism, to health and adult social care staff.
NHS England is in the process of awarding a tender to pilot a Neurodevelopmental Credential for Doctors regardless of their field of practice and this will be available to GPs. The aim is to provide a training option pre- and post-Certification of Completion of Training, so that eligible doctors can gain the necessary specialist skills to enable them to work effectively in the growing number of specialist services for people with neurodevelopmental conditions, as well as in settings where people with neurodevelopmental conditions are part of a complex clinical picture.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
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 support research into inflammatory bowel disease on reducing waiting times for diagnosis and treatment.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is committed to ensuring that all patients, including those with inflammatory bowel disease, have access to cutting-edge clinical trials and innovative treatments.
The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Since April 2025, the NIHR has funded a total of 40 projects into Crohn's and Colitis research, with a combined total funding value of £17.6 million, and including studies aimed at reducing time to diagnosis, such as the Redesign a faster Pathway to Inflammatory bowel disease Diagnosis study, with further information available at the following link:
https://fundingawards.nihr.ac.uk/award/NIHR305671
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
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 improve early diagnosis rates of blood cancers in Shropshire.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department continues to support the National Health Service to diagnose and treat cancer, including blood cancers, as early and fast as possible. We recognise that patients with cancers with non-specific symptoms (NSS) such as blood cancer, are waiting too long for diagnosis and subsequent treatment.
To tackle late, emergency setting diagnoses of blood cancers, the NHS has implemented NSS pathways for patients who present with symptoms such as weight loss and fatigue, which do not clearly align to a tumour type. There are currently 115 NSS services operating in England, including in Shropshire, with blood cancers being one of the most common cancer types diagnosed through these pathways.
Early diagnosis is a key focus of the National Cancer Plan. It will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, including speeding up diagnosis and treatment and ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, ultimately driving up this country’s cancer survival rates.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the UK National Screening Committee will commence its next cardiac screening review.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK National Screening Committee is currently examining the evidence for screening for risks of sudden cardiac death and will open a public consultation to seek comments from members of the public and stakeholders on this in due course.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, who the responsible lead for promoting and ensuring compliance with the NHS Accessible Information Standard will be following the abolition of NHS England.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Following the merger of NHS England with the Department of Health and Social Care, the responsible lead for the Accessible Information Standard will be determined as part of the arrangements for how the new organisation will support equal access to health and social care services and information about them.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in what way he plans to protect NHS whistleblowers, following the closure of the National Guardian's Office.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Dr Dash’s review of patient safety across the health and care landscape was published in July 2025. The review’s recommendations aim to streamline, simplify, and consolidate functions across the patient safety landscape by removing duplication and overlap.
The review specifically recommends that staff voice functions should be strengthened, by incorporating the responsibilities of the National Guardian’s Office directly into the new Department of Health and Social Care structure and providers. The network of Freedom to Speak Up Guardians will continue. These changes reinforce our commitment to ensuring that National Health Service staff have the confidence to come forward and speak out if they have concerns.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
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 reduce waiting times for mental health treatment in (a) Shropshire, (b) Telford and (c) Wrekin.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Long waits for mental health services are being driven by increasing demand in a system in desperate need of change, including in Shropshire, Telford, and Wrekin.
The Government is piloting innovative models of care in the community, including six neighbourhood adult mental health centres that are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and which bring together community, crisis, and inpatient care.
NHS England Planning Guidance for 2025/26 makes it clear that for this year, to support reform and improvements, we expect all providers to reduce the variation in children and young people accessing services and improve productivity.
We are also improving data quality so we can support providers to understand demand across their areas. Since July 2023, NHS England has included waiting times metrics for referrals to urgent and community-based mental health services in its monthly mental health statistics publication to help services to target the longest waits.
Our 10-Year Health Plan will inform the future vision and delivery plan for mental health services in England. Earlier intervention remains a key focus of the plan, with the aim of reducing pressure on mental health services.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will support Integrated Care Boards to offer community ear wax removal services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) have a statutory responsibility to commission cost-effective healthcare to meet the needs of their local populations. This includes the arrangement of services for ear wax removal. When ICBs exercise their functions, including commissioning healthcare services such as ear wax removal, they have a duty to reduce inequalities between persons with respect to their ability to access health services, and to reduce inequalities between patients with respect to the outcomes achieved for them by the provision of health services.
Guidance for general practitioners (GPs) on ear wax removal is provided by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Manual ear syringing is no longer advised by the NICE due to the risks associated with it, such as trauma to their ear drum or infection, so GPs will often recommend home treatment remedies to alleviate ear wax build-up.
However, in line with the NICE’s guidance, a person may require ear wax removal treatment if the build-up of earwax is linked with hearing loss. A GP could then consider referring the patient into audiology services, which ICBs are responsible for commissioning.