Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing medical exemptions to access NHS care for dental injuries caused as a result of epileptic seizures.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are currently no plans to extend the list of people eligible for free National Health Service dental care to include those with dental injuries caused by epileptic seizures.
Free NHS dental care is available to people who meet one of the following criteria: under 18, or under 19 and in full-time education; pregnant or have had a baby in the previous 12 months; being treated in an NHS hospital and the treatment is carried out by the hospital dentist, keeping in mind that patients may have to pay for any dentures or bridges; and receiving low-income benefits, or under 20 and a dependant of someone receiving low-income benefits.
Support is also available through the NHS Low Income Scheme for those patients who are not eligible for exemption or full remission of dental patient charges.
More information is available at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/dentists/who-is-entitled-to-free-nhs-dental-treatment-in-england/
Community dental services provide specialised dental services to people with additional needs and are available in a variety of places to ensure everyone can have access to dental care. These include hospitals, specialists’ health centres and mobile clinics, as well as home visits or visits in nursing and care homes. These services may be available to people with epilepsy, depending on their needs.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make an assessment of the adequacy of the online NHS Dentist checker information.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
National Health Service dentists are required to update their NHS website profiles at least every 90 days to ensure patients have up-to-date information on where they can access care. This includes information on whether they are accepting new patients.
Integrated care boards can review which practices in their area have not updated their profile in a 90-day period, and work with practices to ensure websites are up to date.
Patients in England are not registered with an NHS dental practice, although many NHS dental practices do tend to see patients regularly. There is no geographical restriction on which practice a patient may attend.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on confirmed cases of waterborne illness linked to exposure to (a) Salmonella and (b) Leptospira at UK bathing waters since 2020.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There have been no reported outbreaks of salmonella spp. associated with recreational water use in the time period requested since 2020.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) undertakes surveillance of Salmonella spp. infections. No information is available on the suspected cause of gastrointestinal infection for individual cases, unless salmonellosis cases are epidemiologically linked to an outbreak.
The UKHSA also undertakes routine surveillance for leptospirosis infections in humans, and publishes a quarterly report on the common animal-associated infections, with further information available at the following link:
Exposure history is not well reported by cases. Water sources may be in the United Kingdom or abroad, and do not necessarily reflect where the infection was acquired. The following table shows the most recent figures of confirmed cases of leptospirosis in each quarter, from Quarter one of 2020 to Quarter two of 2024:
Year | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
Confirmed leptospirosis cases | 51 | 54 | 52 | 70 | 30 |
Potential exposure to water source | 18 | 17 | 16 | 21 | 6 |
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
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 help prevent community pharmacy closures in (a) rural and (b) deprived areas.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Pharmacies play a vital role in our healthcare system, and the Government recognises the integral role they play within our communities, as an easily accessible ‘front door’ to the National Health Service, staffed by highly trained and skilled healthcare professionals. We have secured a funding uplift for the profession that brings the core budget to £3,073 million from 2025/26. This represents a significant growth of 19.7% in 2023/24.
Community pharmacies are private businesses that provide NHS funded services. Most pharmacies are not directly commissioned or contracted by the NHS, instead contractors apply to gain entry to the NHS pharmaceutical list and if an application is approved, a pharmacy can open and start providing services.
Local authorities are required to undertake a pharmaceutical needs assessment (PNA) every three years to assess whether their population is adequately served by local pharmacies, and must keep these assessments under review. Integrated care boards (ICBs) 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. If there is a need for a new local pharmacy to open and no contractors apply to open a pharmacy and fill the gap, ICBs can commission a new pharmacy to open outside of the market entry processes, and fund the contract from the ICB’s budgets. The Pharmacy Access Scheme helps protect access to pharmacies in areas where there are fewer pharmacies and higher health needs, so that no area is left without access to local, physical NHS pharmaceutical services.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
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 increase levels of funding for research into essential tremors.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR is supporting research that involves essential tremors and has awarded £2,814,334 for related studies in the last five years. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of health and care, including essential tremors, and research topic proposals can be made to the NIHR via the following link:
https://www.nihr.ac.uk/get-involved/suggest-a-research-topic
Funding applications to the NIHR are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take through the 10 Year Health Plan to support community pharmacies.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is determined to shift more healthcare out of hospitals and into the community, to ensure patients and their families receive personalised care in the most appropriate setting, and community pharmacies will have a big role to play in that shift.
As part of the work to develop a 10-Year Health Plan, we have been carefully considering policies, with input from the public, patients, health staff, and our partners, including from the community pharmacy sector.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
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 publish (a) an arthritis action plan and (b) other disease-specific action plans following publication of the NHS 10 Year Health Plan.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are currently no plans to publish an arthritis action plan following the publication of the 10-Year Health Plan.
Services for those with musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions, including arthritis, are commissioned locally by integrated care boards (ICBs). The Department expects MSK services to be fully incorporated into integrated care system planning and decision-making.
As announced in the Get Britain Working white paper, we are delivering the joint Department for Work and Pensions, Department of Health and Social Care, and NHS England Getting It Right First-Time (GIRFT) MSK Community Delivery Programme. With a £3.5 million funding boost, GIRFT teams will deploy their proven Further Faster model to work with ICB leaders to further reduce MSK community waiting times, including for those with arthritis, and improve data and metrics, and referral pathways to wider support services.
To support health and care professionals in the early diagnosis and management of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, and in the provision of services for people living with arthritis, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published expert guidance for rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, with further information on both available, respectively, at the following two links:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng100
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng226
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
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 help people with arthritis to stay physically active.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Guidance published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on the diagnosis and management of osteoarthritis recommends therapeutic exercise for all people with osteoarthritis that is tailored to their needs and that is part of a wider structured treatment package. It advises that for people with osteoarthritis, long-term adherence to an exercise plan can help to reduce pain and increase functioning and quality of life. The guidance is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng226
More widely, the Government and the National Health Service recognise the important role of physical activity in the prevention and management of long-term health conditions, including arthritis. The NHS Better Health Campaign promotes ways for adults, families and children to move more, and signposts people, including those living with long term conditions who are ready to build movement into their routine, to digital support like the NHS Active 10 walking app.
Local authorities and the NHS also promote and provide services for people living with long term conditions, such as exercise on referral and social prescribing, including access to physical activity interventions, falls prevention and walking groups.
The Department, with Sport England, has delivered support and training to equip healthcare professionals to enable patients to move more to improve their physical and mental health. Sport England continues to support work in this area through the Physical Activity Clinical Champions programme, which is currently being piloted in local areas.
NHS England is working closely with partners nationally and locally to explore how the NHS might galvanise support to make physical activity a core part of NHS care to benefit patients, NHS staff, and the wider public.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the discharge process on patients in cross-county areas.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Enabling people to be discharged from hospital more quickly and with the right support contributes to speedier recovery and better outcomes. In some instances, this may mean discharging a patient outside of their local area so that they can receive the most appropriate short-term care after discharge. Some hospitals have excellent relationships and processes for cross-county discharges, although we know that in other instances these can cause delays whilst the care transfer hub determine responsibility for funding post discharge care.
The Hospital Discharge and Community Support Guidance sets out that integrated care boards and local authorities should agree local arrangements to ensure that any decisions about the joint funding of care can be made swiftly. These arrangements should follow the ‘Who Pays?’ guidance for services funded by the National Health Service, and reference ‘ordinary residence’ rules for services funded by local authorities, so that there is no adverse effect on timely discharge. Both sets of guidance are available at the following links:
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies the (a) side effects and (b) long-term health implications of the use of clozapine as a medicament.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) regulates medicines and medicinal products and ensures that the product information for each medicines reflects what is known about the medicine and provides information to support safe use and minimise risks. The product information consists of the Summary of Product Characteristics for healthcare professionals and the patient information leaflet supplied in each pack of medicine.
Clozapine was first authorised in 1989 and is now indicated for treatment-resistant schizophrenic patients and in schizophrenia patients who have severe, untreatable neurological adverse reactions to other antipsychotic agents, including atypical antipsychotics. Treatment resistance is defined as a lack of satisfactory clinical improvement despite the use of adequate doses of at least two different antipsychotic agents, including an atypical antipsychotic agent, prescribed for adequate duration.
Clozapine is also authorised to treat psychotic disorders occurring in patients with Parkinson's disease, in cases where standard treatment has failed. Clozapine is associated with several potentially serious side effects which are outlined in the product information, that require monitoring of various aspects of patient’s health to minimise risks including monitoring: white blood cells, blood pressure, heart function, liver function, body weight, glucose, cholesterol, other medication, falls and for signs of infection.
As clozapine is used when other treatments have failed to manage a patient’s condition, careful monitoring is required to minimise the risks to ensure patients are able to receive effective treatment with clozapine.
The safety of clozapine is continuously monitored by the MHRA to ensure the product information reflects what is known about the medicine. The MHRA is in the process of reviewing the blood monitoring requirements and will be seeking views in the summer from patients, patients’ families and healthcare professionals on methods to improve awareness of the risks associated with clozapine and how to manage them.