Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the health impact of air pollution caused by diesel-powered generators for (a) personal and (b) commercial use.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has made no assessment of the health impact of air pollution caused by diesel-powered generators for personal use.
Diesel generators meeting the thresholds prescribed in the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2018 will be subject to an environmental permit issued by the appropriate regulator; the Environment Agency for those under Part A1 of the Regulations and local authorities for those falling under Parts A2 & B of the Regulations, being utilised within a commercial setting.
UKHSA has a Working Together Agreement with the Environment Agency in relation to Environmental Permitting. When consulted, UKHSA provides advice to the Environment Agency on the potential impacts on human health of emissions arising from existing or proposed regulated facilities.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
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 consequences for his policies of the long-term (a) health impact of air pollution and (b) cost of treatments in the NHS associated with such pollution.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Air pollution has a significant effect on people’s health and poor air quality is the largest environmental risk to public health in the United Kingdom. Long-term exposure to air pollution can cause chronic conditions such as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases as well as lung cancer. The Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants has estimated that long-term exposure to air pollution in the UK has an annual effect equivalent to 29,000 to 43,000 deaths.
Between 2017 and 2025 the total cost to the national health service and social care from air pollution in England has been estimated, by Public Health England, to be £1.6 billion for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) combined where there is robust evidence for an association between exposure and disease; where the evidence is less robust the estimated cost is £2.81 billion for PM2.5 and £2.75 billion for NO2.
Implementation of the Government’s policies to improve air quality will therefore support better health and help mitigate demand for health and care services.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
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 findings of the research article, Heightened COVID-19 Mortality in People With Severe Mental Illness Persists After Vaccination: A Cohort Study of Greater Manchester Residents, published in the Schizophrenia Bulletin in August 2022; and whether his Department is taking steps to protect patients with severe mental illness from covid-19.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department takes key research and evidence into consideration when developing its policies. This includes evidence that relates to the cohorts at high risk of developing COVID-19 including severe mental illness.
The NHS Long Term Plan commits to at least an additional £2.3 billion a year to expand and transform National Health Service mental health services in England by 2023/24 so that an additional two million people get the support they need. This is on top of the additional £500 million provided for 2021/22, to accelerate our NHS mental health expansion plans and to target those groups whose mental health has been most affected by the pandemic including those with severe mental illness, young people, and frontline staff.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
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 merits of patient self-referral into routine NHS community services to reduce GP backlogs in England.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Direct access and self-referrals allow patients to take control of their healthcare, streamlines access to services and reduces unnecessary burden on general practitioner (GP) appointments. The NHS England ‘2023/24 priorities and operational planning guidance’ was published in December 2022. This set out a key action for systems to expand direct access and self-referral for a range of services where GP involvement is not clinically necessary. By September 2023, systems are asked to put in place self-referral routes to audiology-including hearing aid provision as well as falls response services, musculo-skeletal physiotherapy services, weight management services, community podiatry, and wheelchair and community equipment services. Systems are also expected to put in place direct referral pathways from community optometrists to ophthalmology services for all urgent and elective eye consultations by September 2023.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of including (a) primary care optometrists and (b) other primary care clinicians on integrated care boards alongside primary medical clinicians such as GPs.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Health and Care Act 2022 sets a minimum membership requirement for integrated care boards that includes representatives from National Health Service trusts, Primary Care and Local Authorities. However, the local areas can, by local agreement, go beyond the legislative minimum requirements in order to address their local needs.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
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 the wider use of other NHS Primary Care providers to ease the pressures on General Practice.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) 2019-24 five-year deal sets out the vision for how community pharmacy will support the NHS Long Term Plan by being better integrated into the National Health Service, delivering more clinical services, and becoming the first port of call for minor illness. All community pharmacies provide health advice including support for self-care and healthy living advice. NHS 111 phone and online as well as general practitioner practices can refer patients with a minor illness to a community pharmacy and this will be expanded to urgent and emergency care setting in March. Most pharmacies now also carry out blood pressure checks. From Autumn, pharmacies will also be able to supply oral contraception without a visit to general practice.
In addition, NHS England’s 2023/24 priorities and operational planning guidance published in December 2022 asks systems to expand direct access and self-referrals to community health services to empower patients to take control of their healthcare.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to move towards patient self-referral as the default pathway for (a) community audiology and (b) other routine community NHS services.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
There are currently differing approaches to patient self-referral to audiology services across the country. The NHS England ‘2023/24 priorities and operational planning guidance’ was published in December 2022. This set out a key action for systems to expand direct access and self-referral for a range of services where general practitioner involvement is not clinically necessary. By September 2023, systems are asked to put in place self-referral routes to audiology-including hearing aid provision as well as falls response services, musculo-skeletal physiotherapy services, weight management services, community podiatry, and wheelchair and community equipment services. Systems are also expected to put in place direct referral pathways from community optometrists to ophthalmology services for all urgent and elective eye consultations by September 2023.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
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 merits of adding Minor Eye Care Services to the General Ophthalmic Services contract to ease the pressures on (a) GPs and (b) A&E waiting times.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
In England, integrated care boards are responsible for the planning and commissioning of services to meet local needs. This includes decisions on whether to commission locally enhanced services, such as minor eye conditions services, from primary eye care providers. NHS England’s transformation programme is also considering what eye care services can be safely moved out of hospital and into the community to ease ophthalmology pressures.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
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 all NHS commissioners offer primary care optometrists the opportunity to provide Minor Eye Conditions Services to all communities across England.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
In England, integrated care boards are responsible for the planning and commissioning of services to meet local needs. This includes decisions on whether to commission locally enhanced services, such as minor eye conditions services, from primary eye care providers. NHS England’s transformation programme is also considering what eye care services can be safely moved out of hospital and into the community to ease ophthalmology pressures.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to encourage covid-19 vaccine take-up in patients with severe mental illness.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Government continues to work with the National Health Service and UK Health Security Agency to provide information to explain the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination and has launched a nationwide communications campaign to encourage eligible members of the public to protect themselves by getting their COVID-19 boosters. To raise awareness of the risks of being unvaccinated and to make vaccination as convenient as possible, guidance is being given to general practitioners, primary care networks and vaccination services to prioritise individuals coming forward for vaccination.
Resources are also being shared by Charity Partners to ensure greater reach to individuals with Severe Mental Illness (SMI) as well as invites sent to those with SMI and their carers to further encourage them to come forward for vaccination. We are also providing reasonable adjustments for individuals, where identified or requested, including quiet spaces and additional resources.
There is a collaborative approach to analyse and understand the vaccine uptake data for those with SMI through engagement with national and regional mental health leads, health inequalities leads and data analysts. To understand what works and develop good practice, the COVID-19 vaccination deployment programme works closely with NHS SMI programme leads in addition to engaging closely with SMI charities.