Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what (a) functions and (b) responsibilities are assigned to child practitioners.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Children and young people’s wellbeing practitioners assess and support children and young people with mental health problems, improving their access to therapies. Further information on children and young people’s wellbeing practitioners is available at the following link:
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
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 local integrated care boards implement NHS guidance on equitable access to fertility treatment for same-sex female couples.
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. ICBs are expected to commission fertility services in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines. We are aware that compliance with these guidelines is variable for same-sex female couples and other groups.
The NICE is currently reviewing the fertility guideline and will consider whether the current recommendations for access to National Health Service-funded treatment are still appropriate. We expect this review to be published later in 2025. The Department is working with NHS England to consider future policy options to support ICBs to provide more equitable in vitro fertilization services.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of access to fertility treatment for female couples.
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. ICBs are expected to commission fertility services in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines. We are aware that compliance with these guidelines is variable for same-sex female couples and other groups.
The NICE is currently reviewing the fertility guideline and will consider whether the current recommendations for access to National Health Service-funded treatment are still appropriate. We expect this review to be published later in 2025. The Department is working with NHS England to consider future policy options to support ICBs to provide more equitable in vitro fertilization services.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the 10 Year Health Plan will help tackle specific health challenges faced by women; and whether gender-specific health interventions such as menstruation will be included in its long-term goals.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to prioritising women’s health as we reform the National Health Service, and women’s equality will be at the heart of our missions. We are considering how to take forward the Women’s Health Strategy, by aligning it to the Government’s missions and forthcoming 10-Year Health Plan.
The 10-Year Plan will ensure a better health service for everyone, regardless of condition or service area. We will carefully be considering policies with input from the public, patients, health and care staff, and our partners as we develop the plan.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
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 support the implementation of electronic prescribing across all NHS settings.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Frontline Digitisation programme in NHS England is supporting National Health Service trusts to reach a core level of digitisation, as set out in our minimum digital foundations.
83% of all NHS trusts have stated that they have electronic prescribing capabilities in place, largely as part of their core Electronic Patient Record. NHS England's Transformation Directorate is supporting the remaining NHS trusts to achieve this as part of their core level of digitisation over the next financial year.
In primary care, 95% of all prescriptions are produced electronically via the national Electronic Prescription Service (EPS). The EPS is not strictly mandated, but it is strongly recommended for use by prescribing and dispensing services in NHS settings.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on the implementation of the recommendations of his Department's report entitled Good for you, good for us, good for everybody: A plan to reduce overprescribing to make patient care better and safer, support the NHS, and reduce carbon emissions, published on 22 September 2021.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 9 September 2024 to Question 2902.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
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 help reduce melanoma incidence rates.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The Department continues to advise patients to follow National Health Service guidance on reducing the risk of melanoma. The advice is available at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/seasonal-health/sunscreen-and-sun-safety/
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
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 support GP surgeries (a) improve energy efficiency and (b) reduce their carbon footprint.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Primary care will play an important role in helping the National Health Service achieve the net zero targets outlined in the report, Delivering a Net Zero NHS, published in July 2022, by decarbonising its estate, travel, and supply chain. Targeted efforts are needed to reduce emissions from medicines, which make up nearly two-thirds of primary care’s carbon footprint. There is range of support available to general practice (GP) surgeries to achieve this transition.
Supported by NHS England, the Royal College of General Practitioners is actively working to reduce the carbon footprint of GP surgeries through several initiatives like the Net Zero Hub, which provides guidance, eLearning, and tools for sustainability, and the Green Impact for Health Toolkit, which offers practical advice and awards for sustainable practices, among others. GP surgeries are also encouraged to use grants through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, for low-carbon heating solutions.
On efficiency and heat, all new buildings and major refurbishment projects, including primary care upgrades, will need to comply with NHS England’s Net Zero Building Standard, published in 2023.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
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 reduce overprescribing.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Overprescribing can be addressed by taking a shared decision making approach and optimising a person's medicines; ensuring that patients are prescribed the right medicines, at the right time, in the right doses. The National Health Service is responding to the challenge of overprescribing and driving changes in this area by:
Offering treatments that are not medicines is also key to addressing overprescribing. Many other initiatives delivered across the NHS contribute towards this. These include delivery of personalised care and shared decision-making, NHS Talking Therapies for anxiety and depression, and social prescribing.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many mental health trusts are implementing smoking cessation services.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
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. Smoking is closely associated with poor mental health and wellbeing, as people with mental health conditions die 10 to 20 years earlier, with smoking contributing significantly to this. Further information on the wellbeing of smokers aged 18 years old and over, and the relationship between smoking and mental health, is available respectively at the following links:
https://ukhsa.blog.gov.uk/2020/02/26/health-matters-smoking-and-mental-health/
It also costs our country £17 billion a year, £14 billion of which is through lost productivity alone. It puts huge pressure on the National Health Service and social care, costing over £3 billion a year. At the end of quarter three of 2023/24, 37 out of 48 Mental Health services identified as eligible under the NHS Long Term Plan, are reporting that they are delivering tobacco dependence treatment services.