Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
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 increase collaboration between his Department and Drinkaware.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
External engagement is a fundamental part of what United Kingdom ministerial Government departments do. We recognise the importance of promoting transparency through engagement and the need to take a balanced and proportionate approach.
In Fit for the Future: 10-Year Health Plan for England, the Government has committed to some crucial steps to help people make healthier choices about alcohol, for instance making it a legal requirement for alcohol labels to display health warnings and consistent nutritional information. The plan can be accessed online at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/10-year-health-plan-for-england-fit-for-the-future
In the development and progression of the 10-Year Health Plan’s commitments and other policies, Department officials have met a wide range of stakeholders and are making plans for further stakeholder engagement to take place shortly. Stakeholder insights will help shape the Department’s work to ensure that are policies are most effective.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
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 improve the (a) treatment and (b) prevention of cardiovascular diseases that disproportionately impact women, including (i) Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection, (ii) Myocardial Infarction with Non-Obstructive Coronary Arteries and (iii) Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In 2023, 31% of those who died prematurely from cardiovascular disease (CVD) were women. We are committed to reducing premature mortality from heart disease and stroke by 25% in the next 10 years through improvements in prevention and treatment.
To accelerate progress towards this ambition, we will publish a new cardiovascular disease Modern Service Framework (CVD MSF) in 2026. The CVD MSF will support consistent, high quality and equitable care whilst fostering innovation across the CVD pathway.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
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 help reduce sepsis mortality in patients with leukaemia and other cancers.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Sepsis has no specific diagnostic test, and the signs and symptoms can vary hugely across all patients, making sepsis challenging to diagnose early. It is therefore critical that all acutely unwell patients are treated promptly and appropriately regardless of cause.
Screening, diagnosis, and treatment of suspected sepsis is supported by the use of the National Early Warning Score (NEWS2). NEWS2 supports clinicians to determine the need for immediate care and is used in 99% of acute National Health Service trusts and 100% of ambulance trusts in England.
To further aid clinical staff in diagnosing sepsis early, the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published national guidelines on the recognition, diagnosis, and early management of suspected sepsis in people aged 16 years old and over. People with a weakened immune system, such as those having chemotherapy treatment, are more likely to get an infection that could lead to sepsis. Therefore, NICE has additional guidelines on the prevention and management of neutropenic sepsis in people with cancer. NICE guidelines provide authoritative, evidence-based guidance on best practice and should be taken fully into account by healthcare professionals in the care and treatment of NHS patients. The guidelines can be accessed alongside NHS England’s online sepsis training programmes.
Additionally, the Department continues to fund research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, to improve our understanding of sepsis diagnosis and immediate management.
The National Cancer Plan will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and ongoing care. It will seek to improve every aspect of cancer care to better the experience and outcomes for people with cancer. Our goal is to reduce the number of lives lost to cancer over the next 10 years.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
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 timely access to chemosaturation for patients with metastatic ocular (uveal) melanoma.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department remains committed to ensuring that cancer patients, including those with metastatic ocular melanoma, have timely access to treatment and tailored medical support.
In 2016, NHS England concluded that there was insufficient evidence to make chemosaturation treatment available to patients on the National Health Service. NHS England is currently in the early stages of policy development for chemosaturation to treat metastatic uveal melanoma where surgery to remove or destroy affected cells and tissue in the liver is not feasible.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published an Interventional Procedure Guidance for this treatment, and while this does allow NHS trusts to offer the treatment locally, they can only do so if they put in place special arrangements for clinical governance, consent, audit, or research, because further evidence of benefit and safety is needed. The 2016 NHS England Clinical Commissioning policy is currently under review, and we expect that a new draft policy will be shared with stakeholders over the coming months. If NHS England’s clinical panel makes the treatment routinely available across the NHS in England it will require further consideration through relative prioritisation and investment before full roll out.
The development of a Clinical Commissioning policy will determine both if the evidence is now sufficient to enable making the treatment routinely available and, if it is, whether to allocate service development funding to implement it across the NHS in England.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
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 improve women's heart health.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to prioritising women’s health, and we are delivering our commitment that never again will women’s health be neglected.
In 2023, 31% of those who died prematurely from cardiovascular disease (CVD) were women. We are committed to reducing premature mortality from heart disease and stroke by 25% in the next 10 years. To accelerate progress towards this ambition, we will publish a new CVD modern service framework in 2026. Officials and NHS England are working closely to deliver the framework and are engaging widely throughout its development.
The NHS Health Check, a core component of England’s CVD prevention programme, aims to detect people at risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and kidney disease in those aged between 40 and 74 years old. The programme prevents approximately 500 heart attacks or strokes annually and every year, approximately 770,000 women complete an NHS Health Check.
Work to improve access to the NHS Health Check programme is ongoing, including the development of a NHS Health Check Online service, which will allow women to undertake their health check at home, at a time and place convenient to them.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
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 publish guidance on managing hypoglycaemia that includes (a) treatment, (b) when to seek medical help and (c) rules for those with diabetes who drive or operate heavy machinery.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published advice on the management of type 1 diabetes, including advice on managing acute hypoglycaemia, which is available at the following link:
https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/diabetes-type-1/management/
There are no current plans for the Department to publish specific guidance for distinct workforce groups.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the report by Sarcoma UK entitled Unique Among Cancers: A state of the nation review of sarcoma care, published on 11 June 2025, what steps he plans to take to help tackle issues noted in that report relating to sarcoma (a) diagnosis, (b) treatment and (c) care.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has received, and relevant officials are currently considering, Sarcoma UK’s report reviewing sarcoma care across the United Kingdom.
The Department will get the National Health Service diagnosing cancer earlier and treating it faster, including sarcoma. To achieve this, the NHS in England has delivered an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week as the first step to ensuring early diagnosis and faster treatment.
NHS England has published a national service specification, covering both bone and soft tissue sarcomas. The specification requires close working between sarcoma services and other NHS partners, co-ordinated by Sarcoma Advisory Groups, to improve care pathways.
The National Cancer Plan for England will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and ongoing care, as well as research and innovation. The plan will seek to improve every aspect of cancer care to better the experience and outcomes for all patient groups, including sarcoma patients.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
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 potential merits of offering additional resources to neighbourhood teams to provide targeted interventions enabling equitable access to (a) HPV vaccination and (b) cervical screening.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of our 10-Year Health Plan, we have recently launched the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme, to support systems with the roll-out of neighbourhood health services which will bring together teams of professionals, including pharmacists, to work together to provide comprehensive care in the community.
The Department is working with NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency to encourage high uptake of all immunisation and screening programmes, including in areas where coverage has historically been low, by exploring new, accessible, and innovative delivery models.
The Department is also working with partners to develop options for human papillomavirus (HPV) catch-up vaccination through community pharmacies from 2026, with the ambition to increase the accessibility and uptake of HPV vaccinations among younger adults who have left school, supporting our aim to eliminate cervical cancer by 2040.
For cervical screening, primary care networks collaborate across their local neighbourhoods to offer additional appointments to improve access and convenience. Regional commissioners and providers also undertake targeted outreach campaigns. For example, the Living Well initiative in Cheshire and Merseyside offers mobile cervical screening to eligible individuals. The service can reach more individuals by being closer to where people live, work, and shop.
NHS England has also increased the provision of cervical screening sample taking services in integrated sexual health settings, which in turn has helped to improve access for people eligible for screening, especially individuals who would not access general practice or are not registered with a general practice.