Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
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 ensure that fertility patients under the South West London ICB can access three rounds of fertility care.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Funding decisions for health services in England are made by integrated care boards (ICBs) and are based on the clinical needs of their local population.
On 31 March, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published its updated fertility guideline, which recommends that women aged under 40 years old who meet the clinical eligibility criteria should be offered up to three full cycles of in vitro fertilisation.
We expect all ICBs to consider and reflect the updated NICE fertility guideline in their commissioning decisions, and we are working with NHS England to support greater consistency in provision.
The Government published the Women's Health Strategy on 15 April which commits to ensuring that every woman can easily access fertility services and we are currently working to assess current provision of NHS-commissioned fertility services as a baseline to inform supporting material for every ICB to implement the new NICE guidelines in full.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had discussions with ministerial colleagues regarding the potential for the UK to become a global leader in AI-enabled cardiac diagnostics through partnerships with the third sector and academic institutions.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and ministers across the Government regularly engage with colleagues, the National Health Service, academia, and industry on how the United Kingdom can strengthen its position as a global leader in the safe and responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare.
The Government recognises the significant potential of AI‑enabled technologies, including in cardiac diagnostics, to support earlier detection, improve clinical decision‑making, and deliver better outcomes for patients. The UK already benefits from a strong life sciences ecosystem and world‑leading academic research, which play an important role in developing, evaluating, and deploying innovative diagnostic tools.
Historically through programmes such as the NHS AI Lab, and current ongoing support for health data research through partnerships with universities, charities, and industry, the Government is creating the conditions for innovation to be translated safely into clinical practice. Any adoption of AI‑enabled diagnostics in the NHS is subject to robust evaluation, regulation, and clinical oversight to ensure patient safety and effectiveness through regulatory bodies such as The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has had discussions with Cardiac Risk in the Young on the use of its cardiac screening dataset to support the development of AI-enabled diagnostic tools.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Sudden cardiac death in the young is always a tragedy. Officials and Ministers from the Department have met with representatives from Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) on several occasions.
The Department understands that the data set was recently published. The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) will open a public consultation to seek comments from members of the public and stakeholders on screening for the conditions associated with sudden cardiac death this spring. This public consultation will provide an opportunity for members of the public and stakeholders, including CRY, to draw the UK NSC’s attention to any relevant evidence and which could inform its recommendation.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
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 improve the recording and classification of sudden cardiac deaths in people aged under 35.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for the processing, analysis, and publication of death records in England and Wales. Further information is available on the ONS website, at the following link:
NHS England has a published a national service specification for inherited cardiac conditions (ICC) that covers patients who often present as young adults with previously undiagnosed cardiac disease or families requiring follow up due to a death from this cause. The specification states that specialist ICC services should follow recommendations for standards of care, best practice, care pathways, treatment algorithms, data collection, and audit.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
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 application of artificial intelligence for supporting the interpretation of electrocardiograms in screening for inherited cardiac conditions in people aged 14 to 35.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that artificial intelligence (AI) has enormous potential for improving healthcare across all areas of the National Health Service and social care, including for cardiac conditions.
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is funding research into the potential impact of AI on diagnosis and treatment for major conditions, including cardiovascular diseases, and research into how the technology can be used to improve NHS services and reduce the burden of clinicians’ workloads.
Between 2017 and 2023, the Department has invested £148 million through the NIHR and an additional £123 million through the AI in Health and Care Award to research AI in healthcare.