Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what psychological support is available for people (a) infected and (b) affected by contaminated blood and blood products in Luton South.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Psychological support is available for those who are beneficiaries of the England Infected Blood Support Scheme (EIBSS) and their families. The EIBSS provides a grant of up to £900 a year for beneficiaries and family members to access counselling and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence approved talking therapies. In August 2022, this offer was expanded to enable beneficiaries to access funding for ongoing or longer-term treatment. Further information is available at the following link:
https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/talking-therapy-support.
A bespoke psychological support service for infected blood victims, commissioned by NHS England, is currently being developed, and is intended to go live in early summer 2024.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
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 people who were (a) treated with contaminated blood products and (b) given contaminated blood transfusions by the NHS in Luton South constituency.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department has not made an estimate of the number of people who were treated with contaminated blood products and given contaminated blood transfusions by the National Health Service in the Luton South constituency.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
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 people who have died since being (a) treated with contaminated blood products and (b) given contaminated blood transfusions in Luton South constituency.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department has not made an estimate on the number of people who have died since being treated with contaminated blood products and given contaminated blood transfusions, in the Luton South constituency.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
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 improve access to mental health services.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
We increased investment in mental health services by close to a billion pounds in 2022-23 compared to the previous year, with almost £16 billion going on mental health care. This enabled 3.6 million people to access mental health support, a 10% increase from 2021-22.
We are also funding 24 early support hubs for young people across England, one of which will serve constituents in the Honourable Member’s Luton constituency.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how the £95 million investment in dementia clinical (a) trials and (b) innovative research will be allocated across the Mission’s pillars of (i) innovations in biomarkers, data and digital and imaging technologies, (ii) increasing the number and speed of UK-based clinical trials for research into dementia and neurodegeneration and (iii) end-to-end implementation.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission was launched in August 2022 with £95 million of Government funding. There is now more than £120 million of committed funding to the mission, which will be invested into three key pillars. The first pillar centres on biomarkers and experimental medicine, and will receive £50 million of the funding for the mission, with the intention of securing match funding from industry partners. As part of this pillar, Innovate UK launched a Small Business Research Initiative competition, with the aim of accelerating innovations in clinical biomarker tools and technologies for dementia, where organisations could apply for a share of £6 million of funding out of the allocated £50 million. These technologies will enable the discovery, validation, and implementation of a suite of decision-enabling biomarkers to help transform clinical trials and precision therapies. The competition closed on 4 September 2023, and the recipients awarded a portion of the £6 million will be announced soon.
The second pillar will focus on clinical trial infrastructure and innovation, with two recently announced initiatives to support its delivery. The first of these initiatives is the National Institute for Health and Care Research’s Dementia-Translational Research Collaboration Trials Network, with almost £50 million of funding over five years. This will expand the United Kingdom’s early phase clinical trial capabilities for dementia, speeding up the development of new treatments. The second initiative is the Clinical Trials Delivery Accelerator, focused on dementia, also named the Dementia Accelerator. This was announced in the Autumn Statement 2023, in response to Lord O’Shaughnessy’s independent review into commercial clinical trials in the UK, with up to £20 million of additional funding.
The third pillar will be focused on end-to-end implementation, specifically on aligning translational research, clinical practice, and regulatory frameworks to prepare health-systems for new dementia medicines. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, NHS England, the Department, the devolved administrations, and the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission are already working closely together to plan for the implementation of new dementia medicines, should they gain approval in the UK.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many full time equivalent employees of her Department work on the delivery of Op Courage.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Op COURAGE is a bespoke National Health Service commissioned service for veterans, delivering a comprehensive mental health treatment pathway. The Department retains oversight of the service with 1.4 full time equivalent (FTE) supporting policy delivery on Armed Forces and Veterans Health.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many full time equivalent employees in her Department work on the delivery of Op Restore.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Op Restore is a bespoke National Health Service-commissioned physical health and wellbeing service, which supports individuals who have served in, or are leaving, the British Armed Forces and have continuing, physical health injuries and related medical problems attributed to their time in the Armed Forces.
Op Nova provides support for those who have served in the British Armed Forces and who are in contact with the justice system, enabling them to access the services they need.
The Department retains oversight of these services, with 1.4 full time equivalent employees supporting policy delivery on armed forces and veterans’ health.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many full time equivalent employees in her Department work on the delivery of Op Nova.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Op Restore is a bespoke National Health Service-commissioned physical health and wellbeing service, which supports individuals who have served in, or are leaving, the British Armed Forces and have continuing, physical health injuries and related medical problems attributed to their time in the Armed Forces.
Op Nova provides support for those who have served in the British Armed Forces and who are in contact with the justice system, enabling them to access the services they need.
The Department retains oversight of these services, with 1.4 full time equivalent employees supporting policy delivery on armed forces and veterans’ health.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding was provided for Op Courage in 2023.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Planned spend on Op COURAGE in financial year 2023/24 is £23.5 million. Following the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, an additional £2.7 million was pledged over three years (until March 2025) to expand Op COURAGE services to support those experiencing complex mental and/or physical trauma, or alcohol and substance misuse.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding was provided for Op Nova in 2023.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Planned spend on Op RESTORE for 2023/24 is £0.5 million. Additional costs associated with treatment costs form part of overall expenditure within integrated care boards and are not separately identified.
Op NOVA launched on 1 April 2023. Planned spend on Op NOVA for 2023/24 is £2.03 million.