Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
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 effectiveness of the use of penalty charge notices for individuals incorrectly claiming free prescriptions.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
We have made no such assessment. The Department and NHS England have delegated responsibility to the NHS Business Services Authority to carry out checking and recovery procedures on their behalf where claims for exemption from National Health Service prescriptions and dental charges cannot be validated.
It is right that the Government takes steps to recoup money for the NHS that is lost to fraud, including using penalty charge notices, so that it can be reinvested into caring for patients.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the guidance entitled Vaccination against shingles guide from September 2023, updated on 22 August 2023, whether his Department made an assessment of the potential merits of providing all people aged between 65 and 69 a free vaccination for shingles.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advised Government on the rollout of the cohort expansion for the Shingles programme. Their advice was that the expansion should be done in stages, beginning with those aged 65 and 70 years old, and was based on various considerations, including population impact. The Government has accepted this advice, and it forms the basis of NHS England guidance on the programme.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether people working in laundry businesses that supply NHS hospitals are eligible for the covid-19 booster vaccination in winter 2023.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The primary aim of the COVID-19 vaccination programme continues to be the prevention of severe disease (hospitalisation and death) arising from COVID-19. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has recommended a targeted approach focussed on those most vulnerable to serious outcomes from COVID-19 including older individuals and individuals with specified existing clinical conditions.
On 8 August 2023, the Government accepted advice from the JCVI on who should be offered a COVID-19 vaccine in the autumn 2023 booster programme. This includes residents in a care home for older adults, all adults aged 65 years and over, persons aged six months to 64 years old in a clinical risk group, frontline health and social care workers, persons aged 12 to 64 years old who are household contacts and persons aged 16 to 64 years old who are carers.
The objective of immunisation of frontline health and social care staff is to protect those workers at high risk of exposure who may also expose vulnerable individuals whilst providing care. Individuals working in laundry businesses that supply National Health Service hospitals are not in direct contact with vulnerable individuals and are therefore not, as a group, eligible for COVID-19 vaccination in autumn. However, if individuals meet any of the other criteria for eligibility set out above, they will be able to receive a COVID-19 vaccination.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with ambulance trusts on ensuring that new build residential properties appear on the navigation software used by ambulance crews.
Answered by Will Quince
No such discussions have taken place.
All ambulance services use Ordnance Survey (OS) maps for their mapping and address systems. OS maps are updated with new addresses as they are registered and made available to ambulance services for download every six weeks.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
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 adequacy of the availability of ear syringing treatment through the NHS in West London; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
The Department has not assessed the availability of ear syringing treatment on the NHS in West London. In June 2018 the National Institute for Health Care Excellence (NICE) updated its guidance ‘Hearing loss in adults: assessment and management’ so that it no longer recommends manual ear wax syringing. This is due to risks associated with the treatment such as trauma to their ear drum or infection. Instead, NICE guidance suggests alternative arrangements, such as ear irrigation using an electronic irrigator, micro suction, or another method of earwax removal, such as manual removal using a probe.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
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 adequacy of treatment by NHS England for people with long covid.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
No assessment has been made. The Government has invested more than £50 million in 22 research projects for Post COVID-19 conditions to improve understanding and treatment of these conditions. We are also monitoring research being undertaken internationally. The National Institute for Health and Care Research welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including Post COVID-19 conditions.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to support further research into the treatment of long covid.
Answered by Will Quince
Over £50 million has already been invested in long COVID-19 research projects to improve our understanding of the diagnosis and underlying mechanisms of the disease and the effectiveness of both pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies and interventions, as well as to evaluate clinical care.
The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including long COVID-19. It is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. Applications 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. In all disease areas, the amount of NIHR funding depends on the volume and quality of scientific activity.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has he made of the adequacy of the (a) treatment and (b) support available for NHS staff experiencing the menopause.
Answered by Will Quince
There are over 70 Hormone Replacement Therapy products with the vast majority in good supply.
To help ensure employees experiencing the menopause feel well informed and supported while at work, NHS England has signed the Menopause Workplace Pledge. NHS England has also published guidance for line managers and colleagues on supporting National Health Service staff through the menopause. This guidance helps NHS organisations, line managers, and those working in the NHS understand more about the menopause, how they can support colleagues at work and those experiencing menopause symptoms.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many dementia diagnoses were made in (a) the London Borough of Hounslow and (b) Greater London in each of the last five years.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
NHS England collect data on the number of patients with a diagnosis of dementia. The data is available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/primary-care-dementia-data
NHS England are not able to provide the data for Borough of Hounslow. The closest geography that we are able to provide is NHS North West London Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships (STPs) from March 2019 to March 2022 and for NHS North West London Integrated Care Board (ICB) for March 2023. The following table shows the data for of the number of dementia diagnosis in such area.
Year | Area | Number of dementia diagnoses |
March 2023 | NHS North West London ICB | 12,410 |
March 2022 | North West London Health and Care Partnership STP | 12,558 |
March 2021 | North West London Health and Care Partnership STP | 11,993 |
March 2020 | North West London Health and Care Partnership STP | 12,896 |
March 2019 | North West London STP | 13,007 |
Year | Area | Number of dementia diagnoses |
March 2023 | London | 40,894 |
March 2022 | London | 49,866 |
March 2021 | London | 47,709 |
March 2020 | London | 51,707 |
March 2019 | London | 51,727 |
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to include in the upcoming NHS workforce plan an estimate of the number of NHS staff who have left the NHS a result of (a) their mental health and (b) symptoms of the menopause in the last 12 months.
Answered by Will Quince
The health and wellbeing of all National Health Service staff is a priority for the Government. NHS England have developed a number of health and wellbeing initiatives which include a wellbeing guardian role, a focus on healthy working environments, empowering line managers to hold meaningful conversations with staff to discuss their wellbeing, and a comprehensive emotional and psychological health and wellbeing support package.
While the Long Term Workforce Plan will include material about how to improve retention of staff, it will not include specific estimates of why staff have left within the last 12 months.