Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will take steps to ensure that people experiencing acute or chronic side effects from taking gabapentin do not have to wait for a (a) referral and (b) assessment by mental health services.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
While we have no specific plans to do so, we are committed to expanding and transforming mental health services in England through the NHS Long Term Plan, so that more people, including those experiencing side effects from taking gabapentin, can get the mental health help and support that they need.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle under-age alcohol use.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Guidance from England’s Chief Medical Officer for healthcare professionals is clear, an alcohol-free childhood is the healthiest and best option. The Department promotes this through online platforms such as the NHS.UK website, and the Talk to FRANK online resource. Local authorities promote these guidelines as part of their public health duties.
The Department for Education’s statutory guidance, Relationships education, relationships and sex education and health education, became mandatory in September 2020. Through this, education on drugs, alcohol, and tobacco became compulsory at state-funded primary and secondary schools, teaching children and young people how to manage influences and pressures, and keep themselves healthy and safe.
To deter individuals selling alcohol to a person aged under 18 years old, the maximum fine for the offence of persistently selling alcohol to children was increased from £10,000 to £20,000, under s 147A(8) of the 2003 Licensing Act.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she is taking steps to ensure that family hubs provide advice on smoking and vaping harm reduction.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Smoking is the number one entirely preventable cause of ill-health, disability, and death in this country. It is responsible for 80,000 yearly deaths in the United Kingdom, and one in four of all UK cancer deaths. It costs our country £17 billion a year, £14 billion of which is through lost productivity alone. It puts a huge pressure on the National Health Service and social care, costing over £3 billion a year.
The Government is investing an additional £300 million to improve support for families, though the joint Department of Health and Social Care and Department for Education Family Hubs and Start for Life programme. The Family Hubs and Start for Life programme guide sets out minimum expectations that local authorities receiving programme funding should deliver by March 2025. With regards to smoking support, the programme guide sets out that staff in a family hub are expected to be trained in delivering Very Brief Advice on smoking to parents identified as smokers, and some family hubs may provide smoking cessation support on-site, for example through drop-ins.
Staff in family hubs know what stop smoking services (SSS) are provided locally, and connect families to these services. Smokers are three times as likely to succeed with SSS, when compared to an unsupported quit attempt. As announced in Stopping the start: our new plan to create a smokefree generation, published in October 2023, the Government is investing an additional £70 million per year, for five years, to support local authority led SSS, almost doubling current spend and supporting 360,000 people to set a quit date each year.
In addition, we are establishing a financial incentives scheme to help pregnant smokers and their partners to quit smoking, with smoking cessation support. This evidence-based intervention will encourage pregnant women to give up smoking, and remain smokefree throughout pregnancy and beyond, helping to improve the health and wellbeing of both mother and baby.
Whilst anyone smoking should focus on giving up cigarettes before giving up vaping, giving up vaping is an important step in overcoming nicotine dependence. We are working with the NHS Better Health website to provide advice for people who want to quit vaping. The National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training has produced guidance for local SSS staff, on how best to support vapers to quit. We are also exploring further ways to support people to quit vaping, as part of the national Swap to Stop programme.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to ensure that mental health discharge processes protect the (a) patient and (b) community.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
On 26 January 2024, new statutory guidance was published for those being discharged from mental health inpatient settings. This sets out how health and care systems can work together effectively to support the discharge process from all mental health inpatient settings, and ensure the right support in the community. The guidance also includes best practice on how patients and carers should be involved in discharge planning. There are currently no plans to update this guidance covering the process for discharge.
The Mental Health Act Code of Practice provides statutory guidance on the care and treatment of patients detained under the Mental Health Act, including consideration of whether someone is ready to be discharged, and who should be involved in making this decision.
As part of its planning guidance, NHS England has asked all local systems to review their community mental health services to ensure that they have clear policies and practice in place for patients with serious mental illness, who require intensive community treatment and follow-up, but where engagement is a challenge. NHS England plans to provide national guidance by Autumn 2024, to support these reviews. NHS England will consider further steps as appropriate, following the completion of the reviews.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
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 assessment of the potential impact of (a) an ageing population and (b) trends in the level of comorbidities on demand for rehabilitation services.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Effective capacity and demand planning supports the provision of adequate rehabilitation packages. The 2023-2025 Better Care Fund Policy Framework requires local areas to agree and submit a plan showing:
- expected demand for intermediate care services, and other short-term care, to help people to remain independent at home;
- services to support this recovery, including rehabilitation and reablement;
- expected capacity in the health and wellbeing board area to meet this demand.
Appropriate capacity should be commissioned, within available budgets, for people with step-down intermediate care needs. This includes, but is not limited to, older people and those with comorbidities.
In addition, the Major Conditions Strategy outlines our approach in tackling six groups of major health conditions, by creating a health and care system that is faster, simpler, and fairer, focusing on prevention, proactive care and more person-centred care.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has had recent discussions with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency on (a) its advice on prescribing and (b) the side effects of gabapentin.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Gabapentin is authorised for the treatment of some forms of epilepsy, as well as peripheral neuropathic pain. The product information for gabapentin, approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), provides information to support the prescribing of the medication including recommendations for dose, duration of use, as well as gradual reduction when stopping. The product information includes warnings about possible side effects.
The MHRA continuously monitors the safety of gabapentin and ensures the product information reflects what is known about the medicine and its side effects.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions she has had with community pharmacists on supporting people with (a) smoking and (b) vaping (i) addiction and (ii) dependency.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Quitting smoking is the best thing a smoker can do for their health and smokers are three times as likely to succeed with stop smoking services (SSS) when compared to an unsupported quit attempt. As announced in Stopping the start: our new plan to create a smokefree generation, published in October 2023, the Government is investing an additional £70 million per year for five years to support local authority-led SSS, around doubling current spend and supporting 360,000 people to set a quit date each year. Local authorities commission a variety of settings, including community pharmacy, to deliver SSS. In 2022/23, 12,165 of the 176,566 quit dates set through SSS were in a pharmacy setting. Since March 2022, hospitals have been referring patients to community pharmacy to continue the stop smoking journey they started in hospital as part of the NHS Smoking Cessation Service in community pharmacies agreed by the Department, NHS England and Community Pharmacy England. Across the country, 4841 community pharmacies have signed up to deliver the service.
In addition, we are establishing a financial incentives scheme to help pregnant smokers and their partners to quit smoking, with smoking cessation support. This evidence-based intervention will encourage pregnant women to give up smoking, and remain smokefree throughout pregnancy and beyond, helping to improve the health and wellbeing of both mother and baby.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance she issues to mental health services on their obligations to a people that (a) police and (b) local authorities find too unwell to be in the community.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
On 26 January 2024, new statutory guidance was published for those being discharged from mental health inpatient settings. This sets out how health and care systems can work together effectively to support the discharge process from all mental health inpatient settings, and ensure the right support in the community. The guidance also includes best practice on how patients and carers should be involved in discharge planning. There are currently no plans to update this guidance covering the process for discharge.
The Mental Health Act Code of Practice provides statutory guidance on the care and treatment of patients detained under the Mental Health Act, including consideration of whether someone is ready to be discharged, and who should be involved in making this decision.
As part of its planning guidance, NHS England has asked all local systems to review their community mental health services to ensure that they have clear policies and practice in place for patients with serious mental illness, who require intensive community treatment and follow-up, but where engagement is a challenge. NHS England plans to provide national guidance by Autumn 2024, to support these reviews. NHS England will consider further steps as appropriate, following the completion of the reviews.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make it her policy to require an independent second assessment prior to discharging a person from mental health services.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
On 26 January 2024, new statutory guidance was published for those being discharged from mental health inpatient settings. This sets out how health and care systems can work together effectively to support the discharge process from all mental health inpatient settings, and ensure the right support in the community. The guidance also includes best practice on how patients and carers should be involved in discharge planning. There are currently no plans to update this guidance covering the process for discharge.
The Mental Health Act Code of Practice provides statutory guidance on the care and treatment of patients detained under the Mental Health Act, including consideration of whether someone is ready to be discharged, and who should be involved in making this decision.
As part of its planning guidance, NHS England has asked all local systems to review their community mental health services to ensure that they have clear policies and practice in place for patients with serious mental illness, who require intensive community treatment and follow-up, but where engagement is a challenge. NHS England plans to provide national guidance by Autumn 2024, to support these reviews. NHS England will consider further steps as appropriate, following the completion of the reviews.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to educate current drug users on the risks of synthetic drugs.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is actively monitoring, and responding to, the continued threat posed by the growing levels of potent synthetic opioids in the United Kingdom. We are working to increase awareness of the dangers of synthetic opioids. The Government’s drug information and advice service, Talk to FRANK, aims to reduce drug misuse and its harms by increasing awareness among young people and parents. Information on synthetic opioids and the danger of their misuse is available at the following link:
https://www.talktofrank.com/drug/synthetic-opioids
Education on drug use is also a statutory component of relationships and sex education and health education in England. The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities and the Department for Education have commissioned lesson plans and other resources to support teachers in delivering quality drug prevention interventions. The lesson plans target primary and secondary students, teaching them how to manage influences and pressure, and keep themselves healthy and safe. These resources are being updated, and will have an increased emphasis on the risks of synthetic drugs.