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, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies on the implementation of the Women's Health Strategy for England of the implementation of the Scottish Women’s Health Plan.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
We have no plans to make an assessment.
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 his Department has assessed the potential merits of collecting data on ethnicity and age for those presenting with menstrual health conditions.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No specific assessment has been made. Across inpatient, outpatient and diagnostic services in secondary care, the National Health Service has asked local systems to draw up delivery plans which address the longest waiters and ensure health inequalities are tackled throughout the plan. This will have a particular focus on analysis of waiting times by ethnicity and deprivation.
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 improve the information and resources on menstrual health conditions provided to primary healthcare professionals to help diagnosis and referrals to specialist treatment.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Women’s Health Strategy sets out our ambitions to improve healthcare professional education and training on women’s health, including working alongside the Women's Health Ambassador, education institutions, professional bodies and other stakeholders to improve education and training.
There are a number of resources available to healthcare professionals in primary care. For example, the Royal College of General Practitioners has developed a Women’s Health toolkit which aims to support practising general practitioners (GPs). This resource is continually updated to ensure GPs have the most up-to-date advice to provide the best care for their patients. The Royal College of Nursing has also produced a women’s health pocket guide for nurses and midwives working with women. New credentials focused on women’s health have already been piloted or are in development. This will standardise and improve training in these areas of women’s health.
The National Institute for Care and Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for providing authoritative, evidence-based guidance for healthcare professionals to drive best practice in the National Health Service. NICE is currently updating its guidelines on endometriosis and menopause, and the development of a guideline on polycystic ovary syndrome is being considered through the established topic selection process.
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 his Department plans to update the NHS website to include up-to-date information on menstrual health conditions using plain English.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
As part of our work to deliver the Women’s Health Strategy we will launch a women’s health area on the National Health Service website before summer recess. This will be the first step in transforming the NHS website, so it becomes the first port of call for women’s health information. Future work will include improving pages on women’s health conditions, including menstrual health, to ensure they contain the most up-to-date evidence and advice with enhancing signposting to other reliable sources of information and support.
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 his Department plans to join up the budgets and commissioning for sexual and reproductive health and women’s health.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Department has no plans to join up the budgets and commissioning for sexual and reproductive health and wider women’s health. Local authorities across England are responsible for commissioning comprehensive, open access sexual and reproductive health services to meet local demand, and it is for them to decide on commissioning arrangements based on an assessment of local need.
Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning services for women’s health issues such as gynaecological conditions, maternity, or menopause as well as other health services that meet the needs of their populations. This will empower local health and care leaders to join up planning and provision of services, both within the National Health Service and with local authorities and help deliver more person-centred and preventative care.
In addition, the Women’s Health Strategy for England encourages local commissioners and providers to consider adopting models of care which bring together essential women’s services, for example through women’s health hubs.
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 assessment he has made of the levels of capacity and potential creation of efficiencies within the community pharmacy sector since 2019 in the context of the community pharmacy contractual framework (CPCF).
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The capacity and potential for efficiencies within the community pharmacy sector are considered jointly by the Department, NHS England and the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee during negotiations on the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF). The CPCF 2019/2024 five-year deal commits £2.592 billion each year to the sector. In September last year we agreed an additional £100 million for the remainder of the five-year deal.
The Department and NHS England continue to monitor patient access to pharmaceutical services closely and have been working closely with NHS England and Lloyds Pharmacy to assess the potential impact of the recent Lloyds announcement.
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 community pharmacies increase their capacity.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The capacity and potential for efficiencies within the community pharmacy sector are considered jointly by the Department, NHS England and the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee during negotiations on the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF). The CPCF 2019/2024 five-year deal commits £2.592 billion each year to the sector. In September last year we agreed an additional £100 million for the remainder of the five-year deal.
The Department and NHS England continue to monitor patient access to pharmaceutical services closely and have been working closely with NHS England and Lloyds Pharmacy to assess the potential impact of the recent Lloyds announcement.
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 his Department has made an assessment of the impact of the recent announcement by Lloyds Pharmacy that it will close 237 branches on (a) former patients and (b) nearby pharmacies.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The capacity and potential for efficiencies within the community pharmacy sector are considered jointly by the Department, NHS England and the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee during negotiations on the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF). The CPCF 2019/2024 five-year deal commits £2.592 billion each year to the sector. In September last year we agreed an additional £100 million for the remainder of the five-year deal.
The Department and NHS England continue to monitor patient access to pharmaceutical services closely and have been working closely with NHS England and Lloyds Pharmacy to assess the potential impact of the recent Lloyds announcement.
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 plans to extend bursaries available to healthcare students to (a) medicine and (b) dentistry students.
Answered by Will Quince
There are no current plans to do so. In years one to four of an undergraduate medical or dental course, domestic students can access student loans from Student Finance England. From year five of an undergraduate course and from year two of a graduate-entry course, eligible medical and dental students can access the NHS Bursary. This is non-repayable and comprises payment for tuition fees and, where eligible, further grants and allowances.
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 will take to avoid regional variations in patient access to (a) radioligand therapy and (b) other specialised radiotherapy services, once specialised commissioning responsibility is delegated to integrated care boards in April 2023.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is currently the accountable and responsible commissioner for prescribed specialised services, which includes a range of cancer treatments. Following delegation to local systems, NHS England will remain the accountable commissioner for these services and maintain its role in setting national standards and holding systems to account.