Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much NHS England spent on agency nurses in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The amount spent on agency nurses by year for each of the last five years is set out in the table below.
Financial Year | Agency (nursing) spend |
2018-19 | £843 million |
2019-20 | £879 million |
2020-21 | £838 million |
2021-22 | £1.1 billion |
2022-23 | £1.37 billion |
The Long Term Workforce Plan sets out a path to reduce the National Health Service’s reliance on agency. We estimate that the reliance on temporary staffing in FTE terms will reduce from 9% in 2021/22 to around 5% from 2032/33 onwards, with mostly bank staff fulfilling the requirement for temporary staffing.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress her Department has made on the final delivery plan for ME/CFS.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have been consulting on My Full Reality, the cross-government interim delivery plan on myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), which seeks to improve the experiences and outcomes of people living with this condition.
We are analysing the results of the consultation, and the views and experiences gathered through this consultation will be used to build a picture of how well the interim delivery plan identifies and meets the needs of the ME and CFS community, and to highlight any significant gaps where further action may be necessary. We will publish a summary of the consultation responses, which will inform the final delivery plan, in due course.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she has taken to ensure that the SNOMED CT classification system used by GPs in primary care is (a) adequate and (b) used consistently for diagnosing myalgic encephalomyelitis.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine - Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT) is the structured clinical vocabulary for use in an electronic health record. It is a contractual requirement for all National Health Service healthcare providers in England to use SNOMED CT for capturing clinical terms, including diagnoses, within electronic patient record systems.
Within SNOMED CT, all content for myalgic encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome is contained within a single overarching code, with linked codes for mild, moderate, and severe forms. These can be used by all NHS healthcare providers, including general practitioners.
Updates to the United Kingdom’s edition of SNOMED CT are made by NHS England, with any user being able to submit requests for new or changed concepts and codes, via a central portal.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what research the National Institute for Health and Care Research is undertaking on the potential link between Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and long covid.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has invested more than £50 million into 22 research projects for long COVID, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and UK Research and Innovation.
In the last five years, the NIHR has allocated approximately £3.44 million to support nine research projects on myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) and chronic fatigue syndrome. The NIHR is also co-funding, with the Medical Research Council, a £3.2 million study called DecodeME, which is the world’s largest genetic study of the disease.
The Department commissions research through the NIHR. It is not currently specifically funding research on potential links between ME and long COVID, but it welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to fund research to (a) tackle the causes of and (b) treat Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department commissions 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 on the causes and treatment of myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME).
In the last five years, the NIHR has allocated approximately £3.44 million to support nine research projects on ME and chronic fatigue syndrome. The NIHR is also co-funding, with the Medical Research Council, a £3.2 million study called DecodeME, which is the world’s largest genetic study of the disease.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care when she plans to respond to the letter of 16 October 2023 from Sling the Mesh, Health Sense, Transparimed and others on her Department's consultation on the disclosure of industry payments to the healthcare sector.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
A response for this correspondence was issued on 28 February 2024.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to her Department's consultation on the disclosure of industry payments to the healthcare sector, which closed on 16 October 2023, whether she plans to bring forward regulations under section 92 of the Health and Social Care Act 2022.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department launched a United Kingdom-wide public consultation on 4 September 2023, on the disclosure of industry payments to the healthcare sector. The consultation sought views on the possible introduction of regulations through new secondary legislation, as well as views on alternative options to regulations. The English-language consultation closed on 16 October 2023, and the Welsh-language consultation closed on 16 November 2023.
The Department is analysing responses, and the Government’s response will be published in due course. If a decision is made to regulate the sector, any regulations will be available six months before implementation.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when her Department plans to publish the responses to the public consultation on the disclosure of industry payments to the healthcare sector.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department launched a United Kingdom-wide public consultation on 4 September 2023, on the disclosure of industry payments to the healthcare sector. The consultation sought views on the possible introduction of regulations through new secondary legislation, as well as views on alternative options to regulations. The English-language consultation closed on 16 October 2023, and the Welsh-language consultation closed on 16 November 2023.
The Department is analysing responses, and the Government’s response will be published in due course. If a decision is made to regulate the sector, any regulations will be available six months before implementation.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department plans to remove certain targets for (a) hospitals and (b) general practices.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Targets for hospitals and general practices (GPs) are regularly reviewed. Existing targets for the National Health Service are set out in several places, including in legislation, in the Government’s mandate to NHS England and in the ‘2023/24 priorities and operational planning guidance’. Targets for hospitals and GPs are further set out within the ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’, the ‘Delivery plan for recovering urgent and emergency care’ and the ‘Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care’.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many leptospirosis cases were diagnosed in hospital settings in each of the last five years.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Whilst we do not report data on settings where cases were diagnosed, the following table shows the number of confirmed leptospirosis cases in England between 2019 and 2023:
Year | Number of confirmed leptospirosis cases in England |
2019 | 83 |
2020 | 50 |
2021 | 54 |
2022 | 52 |
2023 (up to 30 June) | 13 |