Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Mental Health Bill, whether he plans to include a statutory duty to provide early intervention strategies to detect and address mental health issues for children and young people within primary and secondary schools; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The draft Mental Health Bill, published in June 2022, is intended to modernise the Mental Health Act and work better for people with serious mental illness. The draft Bill has completed its pre-legislative scrutiny and the Joint Committee published its report on 19 January 2023 on the Draft Mental Health Bill. The Department will consider the Committee’s recommendations carefully and we will introduce the Bill when parliamentary time allows.
Separate to the provisions in the draft Bill, there are currently 287 mental health support teams in place in around 4,700 schools and colleges across the country, offering support to children experiencing anxiety, depression and other common mental health issue. These
teams now cover 26% of pupils, a year earlier than originally planned and this will increase to 399 teams, covering around 35% of pupils by April 2023 with over 500 planned to be deployed by 2024.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had recent discussions with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on access to Fampridine for people with multiple sclerosis.
Answered by Will Quince
There have been no specific discussions. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for developing evidence-based guidance for the National Health Service on whether medicines represent a clinical and cost-effective use of resources. NICE was unable to recommend fampridine in its clinical guideline on managing multiple sclerosis which was originally published in 2014 and updated in 2022.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress has been made in the further development of guidance by the relevant professional bodies with respect to the role of health professionals in supporting women to make informed choices on antenatal testing for foetal abnormalities.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ current guidance ‘Supporting women and their partners through prenatal screening for Down's syndrome, Edwards' syndrome and Patau's syndrome’ is available at the following link:
The guidance states that all women must receive information about antenatal screening tests early in pregnancy before they are asked to make any screening decision. National Health Service staff should ensure that information provided to parents on screening options and the conditions screened for is accessible, accurate and balanced. Women are supported in the personal decision to accept or decline antenatal screening tests and to stop this screening during the care pathway if they wish. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists are developing updated materials, including a ‘Green-top guideline’ and accompanying patient information, which is due for publication in 2025.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she taking to increase adult social care capacity in Weaver Vale constituency.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Local authorities are responsible for ensuring there is sufficient care capacity to meet the care needs of the local population.
We have made £500 million available to support discharge from hospital into the community. We are launching a £15 million international recruitment fund and a new domestic campaign shortly.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps her Department has taken to help tackle health inequality in Weaver Vale constituency.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
‘Our plan for patients’, published on 22 September, sets out the immediate priorities to support individuals to live healthier lives, including improving access to health and care services in all areas and preventing ill-health. Further information on measures to address health disparities will be available in due course.
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities works with local system partners in Weaver Vale to support programmes to reduce health inequalities, including providing evidence and intelligence.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to protect the £780 million of funding for rebuilding the drug treatment system announced as part of the Government’s 10-Year Drug Strategy.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The £780 million comprises £532 million for the Department of Health and Social Care to improve treatment services to reduce harm and increase recovery rates, with the remaining funding shared between the Ministry of Justice, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and the Department for Work and Pensions.
In 2022/23, local authorities have been allocated £96 million via the drug strategy for drug and alcohol treatment services, in addition to existing funding from the Public Health Grant and indicative funding published for three years. The additional investment in treatment services supports the strategy’s commitment to prevent 750,000 crimes, including 140,000 neighbourhood crimes and prevent nearly 1,000 drug related deaths.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what (a) financial and (b) other steps her Department is taking to help tackle NHS workforce shortages in Weaver Vale constituency.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department has commissioned NHS England to develop a long-term workforce plan. The plan will consider the number of staff and the roles required and will set out the actions and reforms needed to improve workforce supply and retention, including in Weaver Vale.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what (a) financial and (b) other steps her Department is taking to help tackle NHS workforce shortages in Weaver Vale constituency.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department has commissioned NHS England to develop a long-term workforce plan. The plan will consider the number of staff and the roles required and will set out the actions and reforms needed to improve workforce supply and retention, including in Weaver Vale.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
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 cancelled operations in Weaver Vale constituency in the past 12 months.
Answered by Will Quince
This information is not collected in the format requested.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an estimate of the number of medical practitioners who leave the NHS after their foundation years to work in other countries in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Will Quince
The United Kingdom Foundation Programme (UKFP) has surveyed doctors finishing their second year of foundation training. The last iteration of the survey in 2019 showed that at the end of training, 635 out of 6,864 trainees or 9.3%, reported their planned next work destination as outside of the UK. However, it is expected that some of these trainees will return to practice in the UK.
The UKFP survey aligns with the latest information from the General Medical Council’s ‘The state of medical education and practice in the UK – the workforce report 2022’, which tracked the location of the 2016 cohort of doctors who completed their second year of foundation training. This shows that of 6,207 doctors who finished placements in England, only 387 or 6% had left the UK workforce after a year and 414 or 7% had left after five years. Those leaving may be working in other countries and also include those no longer working in the medical profession.