Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
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 potential merits of instructing the emergency services to contact responders to traumatic emergency incidents within 24 hours to see if they require mental health support.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The mental health of all National Health Service staff is taken seriously, including ambulance staff as responders to emergency incidents. At a national level, Ambulance Trust employees have access to the SHOUT helpline for crisis support alongside the Practitioner Health offer for more complex mental health wellbeing support, including for trauma and addiction.
NHS England is working closely with the Ambulance Staff Charity to fund the development of the Ambulance Staff crisis phoneline, to provide immediate, independent, and confidential support to ambulance staff in a mental health crisis.
NHS England is also continuing regular communication with key partners from the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, to explore wider support opportunities. This includes working with all Ambulance Trusts to support them to utilise the NHS Health and Wellbeing Framework, to improve the health of their workforce based on local bespoke needs.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
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 potential benefits of allocating palliative care funding through a long-term centrally managed, ringfenced grant.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. ICBs are responsible for commissioning of palliative and end of life care services to meet the needs of their local populations. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supporting commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.
The statutory guidance produced by NHS England on palliative and end of life care makes specific reference to commissioners defining how their services will meet population needs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and includes a priority action for ensuring that staff, patients, and carers can access the care and advice they need, whatever time of day. Regional NHS England teams continue to liaise with ICBs to ensure these commissioning arrangements are in place. Expert strategic networks in the regions provide an opportunity to share good practice around improving access and quality of palliative care and end of life care.
I will be meeting with the major hospice and palliative and end of life care stakeholders in February 2025 to discuss potential solutions on longer-term sector sustainability which will inform our 10-Year Health Plan.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
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 potential merits of a designated out of hours palliative care advice line in every region.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. ICBs are responsible for commissioning of palliative and end of life care services to meet the needs of their local populations. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supporting commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.
The statutory guidance produced by NHS England on palliative and end of life care makes specific reference to commissioners defining how their services will meet population needs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and includes a priority action for ensuring that staff, patients, and carers can access the care and advice they need, whatever time of day. Regional NHS England teams continue to liaise with ICBs to ensure these commissioning arrangements are in place. Expert strategic networks in the regions provide an opportunity to share good practice around improving access and quality of palliative care and end of life care.
I will be meeting with the major hospice and palliative and end of life care stakeholders in February 2025 to discuss potential solutions on longer-term sector sustainability which will inform our 10-Year Health Plan.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
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 help increase the number of cervical cancer screenings.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
A range of national improvements and innovations have been implemented to help increase uptake in the NHS Cervical Screening Programme. In some areas, cervical screening appointments can now be made in any primary care setting rather than just at an individual’s own general practice, with appointments being made available during evenings and on weekends and via integrated sexual health clinics. In addition, laboratories that analyse samples can now operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week to accommodate surges in capacity.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
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 help prevent cervical cancer.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The National Health Service’s cervical screening programme provides all women and people with a cervix between the ages of 25 and 64 years old with the opportunity to be screened routinely to detect certain types of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) infection, which is the cause of 99.7% of cervical cancer.
In England, the HPV vaccination programme and the NHS cervical screening programme together aim to reduce the number of individuals who develop invasive cervical cancer, and reduce the number of people who die from it. There has been an 87% reduction in cervical cancers in women who were vaccinated between the ages of 12 to 13 years old against HPV, when compared to previous generations.
England has signed up to the 2030 targets of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Strategy to Eliminate Cervical Cancer, and the NHS Cervical Cancer Screening Programme aligns with the WHO’s target of 70% of women screened using a high-performance test by 35 and 45 years of age.
Additionally, NHS England set out an ambition to eliminate cervical cancer by 2040 and is working with stakeholders to increase access to and uptake of the HPV vaccination in school aged children, and has initiatives underway to support improving access and uptake of the NHS cervical screening programme. Further information on the ambition to eliminate cervical cancer by 2040 is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/2023/11/nhs-sets-ambition-to-eliminate-cervical-cancer-by-2040/
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he expects the next round of discussions between NHS pay review bodies and health unions.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Pay Review Bodies (PRBs) consider evidence submitted to them from a range of stakeholders, including from trade unions, before making recommendations on the level of annual pay awards. Some trade unions have chosen not to submit evidence.
The Department has published its written evidence to the PRBs, setting out its evidence for 2025/26 across a wide range of areas such as recruitment, retention, motivation, and morale.
Oral evidence sessions are due to take place in January and February 2025. We expect to receive reports from the PRBs in the spring.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of social prescribing to treat medical conditions.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No recent assessments have been made of the potential merits of social prescribing to treat medical conditions.
The Department commissions the National Academy for Social Prescribing (NASP) to champion social prescribing and build the evidence base that will enable us to assess the benefits of the social prescribing programme.
The evidence base around nationally linked social prescribing is still evolving, and robust quantitative evidence is limited. However, a growing body of work is suggestive of positive effects in enhancing physical and mental health and wellbeing, building on existing positive local evidence.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of training given to palliative care specialists.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We will ensure the National Health Service has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the care patients need when they need it, including at end of life. In summer 2025, we will publish a refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade to treat patients on time again.
As we expand the medical workforce, we will ensure there is growth in foundation placement capacity and specialty training places that meets the demands of the NHS in the future. NHS England will work with stakeholders to ensure this growth is sustainable and focused in the service areas where need is greatest.
The training of health care professionals is the responsibility of the health care independent statutory regulatory bodies such as the General Medical Council (GMC), the Nursing and Midwifery Council and the Health and Care Professions Council. These have the general function of promoting high standards of education and coordinating all stages of education to ensure that health and care students and newly qualified healthcare professionals are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes essential for professional practice.
The training curricula for postgraduate specialty training, including for palliative and end of life care, is set by the relevant Royal College and must meet the standards set by the GMC.
To ensure the health and social care workforce, including volunteers, are equipped and well- supported to deliver personalised care to people at the end of life, Health Education England, now part of NHS England, hosts the End of Life Care for All e-learning training programme, which includes nine modules on improving care for people at the end of life.
Additionally, we have committed to develop a 10-year plan to deliver an NHS fit for the future, and a central part of the Plan will be our workforce and how we ensure we train and provide the staff, technology and infrastructure the NHS needs to care for patients across our communities.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the number of palliative care specialists available in the care system.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We will ensure the National Health Service has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the care patients need when they need it, including at end of life. In summer 2025, we will publish a refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade to treat patients on time again.
As we expand the medical workforce, we will ensure there is growth in foundation placement capacity and specialty training places that meets the demands of the NHS in the future. NHS England will work with stakeholders to ensure this growth is sustainable and focused in the service areas where need is greatest.
The training of health care professionals is the responsibility of the health care independent statutory regulatory bodies such as the General Medical Council (GMC), the Nursing and Midwifery Council and the Health and Care Professions Council. These have the general function of promoting high standards of education and coordinating all stages of education to ensure that health and care students and newly qualified healthcare professionals are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes essential for professional practice.
The training curricula for postgraduate specialty training, including for palliative and end of life care, is set by the relevant Royal College and must meet the standards set by the GMC.
To ensure the health and social care workforce, including volunteers, are equipped and well- supported to deliver personalised care to people at the end of life, Health Education England, now part of NHS England, hosts the End of Life Care for All e-learning training programme, which includes nine modules on improving care for people at the end of life.
Additionally, we have committed to develop a 10-year plan to deliver an NHS fit for the future, and a central part of the Plan will be our workforce and how we ensure we train and provide the staff, technology and infrastructure the NHS needs to care for patients across our communities.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of (a) trends in the level of costs of medicines and (b) potential closures of community pharmacies.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Business Services Authority publishes the prescribing costs in hospitals and the community for England, which are available at the following link:
www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/statistical-collections/prescribing-costs-hospitals-and-community-england
The Department has not made a recent assessment on the potential implications for policies based on trends in the level of the cost of medicines, however we have well established mechanisms to control the level of spend on medicines. For example, the voluntary scheme for branded medicines’ pricing, access, and growth, the statutory scheme for branded medicines to control the growth in sales of branded medicines, and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s evaluations ensure the cost effectiveness of spend on new medicines. We are engaging with stakeholders through the National Health Service 10 Year Plan to consider the role of the life sciences and the affordability of medicines in building an NHS fit for the future.
We are aware of the reduction in the number of pharmacies in recent years and recognise that pharmacy closures can impact on local communities. Local authorities are required to undertake a pharmaceutical needs assessment (PNA) every three years to assess whether their population is adequately served, and must keep these assessments under review. Integrated care boards give regard to the PNAs when reviewing applications from the new contractors. Contractors can also apply to open a new pharmacy to offer benefits to patients that were not foreseen by the PNA.
Patients can also access approximately 400 Distance Selling Pharmacies who must operate nationally, and send medicines to patients’ home free of charge. In rural areas dispensing doctors can also supply medicines.