Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will (a) review and (b) update the NHS Continuing Healthcare guidance to ensure that mobility assessments fully consider the impact of severe dementia and other cognitive impairments on an person's care needs.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no plans to update NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) guidance regarding mobility assessments or specialist assessments by dementia nurses. The CHC assessment process is supported by the Decision Support Tool. This provides practitioners with a way to bring together and record an individual’s needs in the twelve ‘care domains’, including mobility. The assessment should consider the ways in which an individual’s needs interact with one another, for example how cognition impacts on mobility.
Eligibility for CHC is not determined by diagnosis or condition but is assessed on a case-by-case basis considering the totality of an individual’s needs, ensuring a person-centred approach. Someone with specialist knowledge of an individual’s condition, for example dementia, should be involved in the process. Assessments should take into account evidence from a comprehensive range of assessments relating to the individual. For individuals with dementia, this could include specialist assessments by dementia nurses.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
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 full interoperability between NHS IT systems.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Health and Social Care Act 2022, the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 and the Health and Social Care Information Standards (Procedure) Regulations 2025, establish a new legislative framework for setting mandatory information standards for public and private health and adult social care providers and IT suppliers in the health and care system. This will provide the basis for ensuring interoperability between IT systems.
Mandatory information standards will be introduced in a staged process, allowing for different systems to communicate and share data more effectively.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
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 estimate of the annual cost to the NHS of repeated or unnecessary appointments resulting from poor communication between departments and trusts.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not estimated the cost to the NHS of any repeated or unnecessary appointments which might conceivably have resulted from poor communication between departments and trusts.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
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 ensure that the pathway into paramedicine is accessible to (a) mature students and (b) career changers, in the context of the requirement for new paramedics to hold a BSc qualification.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Paramedicine students are able to access the Learning Support Fund (LSF), a non-repayable grant of £5,000 per academic year. Further financial support is available for childcare, travel, and dual accommodation costs while on clinical placements. Students studying paramedicine as a second degree are also able to access the LSF, subject to meeting other eligibility criteria. Apprenticeships offer an alternative training route for those for whom a full-time university course is not practical or preferred, allowing people to earn as they learn.
Pathways can also be shortened, depending on the level of someone's prior learning, via a process called Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL), which recognises previous learning and experience. People with non-traditional qualifications can apply to universities to determine if their skills, knowledge, and abilities may be recognised via APEL.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
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 financial barriers for people studying Paramedic Science as a second undergraduate degree.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Students studying paramedicine as a second degree are able to access the Learning Support Fund (LSF), subject to meeting the other eligibility criteria. The LSF comprises a non-repayable training grant of £5,000 per academic year. Further financial support is available for childcare and travel and dual accommodation costs while on clinical placements.
Access to student loans is governed by The Education (Student Support) Regulations 2011 (as amended) and is a matter for the Department for Education.
The Government keeps the funding arrangements for all healthcare courses, including paramedicine, under close review.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to make second-degree Paramedic Science students eligible for (a) student finance and (b) the NHS Learning Support Fund.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Students studying paramedicine as a second degree are able to access the Learning Support Fund (LSF), subject to meeting the other eligibility criteria. The LSF comprises a non-repayable training grant of £5,000 per academic year. Further financial support is available for childcare and travel and dual accommodation costs while on clinical placements.
Access to student loans is governed by The Education (Student Support) Regulations 2011 (as amended) and is a matter for the Department for Education.
The Government keeps the funding arrangements for all healthcare courses, including paramedicine, under close review.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has considered providing self-sampling cervical screening kits to all women.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Following the announcement to introduce human papillomavirus (HPV) self-sampling in the National Health Service cervical screening programme for the under-screened population, the NHS has begun planning an in-service evaluation (ISE) of HPV self-sampling in the wider population.
The purpose of the ISE is to ensure that the self-sampling test is as accurate at detecting HPV as a clinician collected specimen, and to evaluate its impact on cervical screening uptake. The findings of the ISE will inform any future UK National Screening Committee recommendation to ministers to offer self-sampling across the whole population.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has considered allowing dentists qualified in Canada an exemption from the requirement to sit the Overseas Registration Examination before practicing in the UK.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Overseas Registration Exam (ORE) exam is operated by the General Dental Council (GDC). The GDC is independent of the Government.
It is the role of the GDC to set the standards that must be met by domestic and international applicants wishing to be added to the United Kingdom dental register, and the required routes to registration.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2025 to Question 36441 on World Health Assembly, by what date his Department will confirm (a) ministerial attendance at the World Health Assembly 2025 and (b) whether it plans to endorse the WHO resolution on Reducing the Burden of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) through the Promotion of Kidney Health and Strengthening Prevention and Control of Kidney Disease.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The World Health Assembly (WHA) is a unique opportunity to meet health ministers from around the world and to showcase the United Kingdom’s health leadership. The Department is planning to send a senior representation to the WHA in May, but plans are still being finalised.
The UK is actively engaged in negotiations on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) resolution ‘Reducing the Burden of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) through the Promotion of Kidney Health and Strengthening Prevention and Control of Kidney Disease’ in advance of the 156th WHO Executive Board this February. The Executive Board recommended the adoption of all resolutions considered to the WHA in May, including this one, subject to ongoing WHO budget discussions.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to review the Continuing Healthcare Assessment for dementia patients.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has no plans at this time to review the NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) assessment in relation to individuals with dementia.
Eligibility for CHC is not determined by age, diagnosis, condition, or financial means, as it is assessed on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the totality of an individual’s needs. This ensures a person-centred approach to CHC, where the individual is placed at the centre of the assessment and care-planning process. We continue to work with our partners, including NHS England, who are responsible for oversight of CHC delivery, external organisations, and people with lived experience, to seek feedback on CHC policy and implementation.