Asked by: Simon Lightwood (Labour (Co-op) - Wakefield and Rothwell)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of NHS patients who require (a) medication information and (b) patient information booklets in an additional language.
Answered by Will Quince
No specific estimate has been made of the number of National Health Service patients who require medication information and patient information booklets in an additional language.
NHS trusts are expected to adhere to statutory requirements under the Equality Act 2010, and to their responsibilities under the Public Sector Equality Duty.
Asked by: Simon Lightwood (Labour (Co-op) - Wakefield and Rothwell)
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 patient access to primary care.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
We are investing at least £1.5 billion to create an additional 50 million general practice appointments by 2024 by growing and diversifying the workforce.
We have recruited over 29,000 additional primary care staff, and there are nearly 2,000 more doctors in general practice compared to 2019.
Our Recovery Plan for Primary Care supports practices to address access challenges by tackling the 8am rush for appointments, cutting bureaucracy for GPs and expanding community pharmacy services.
Asked by: Simon Lightwood (Labour (Co-op) - Wakefield and Rothwell)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has taken recent steps to increase the availability of hormone replacement therapy implants in NHS hospitals.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The services provided are a matter for the National Health Service locally. Under the NHS Constitution, patients in England have a right to medicines and treatments that have been recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for use in the NHS, if a prescriber discusses treatment options with the patient and says that they are clinically appropriate for them. There are also arrangements in place for additional, local decision making in the absence of a relevant NICE recommendation.
Asked by: Simon Lightwood (Labour (Co-op) - Wakefield and Rothwell)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had recent discussions with NHS trusts on the adequacy of the availability of hormone replacement therapies.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
There have been no specific discussions. However, the Department regularly engages with NHS England at a regional and national level on the supply of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) medicines to ensure appropriate management plans are put in place where there are supply issues and to minimise any impact to patients. The Department also meets regularly with individual suppliers to discuss the supply position, identify issues and take action to address them. We are also holding quarterly roundtables with HRT manufacturers, wholesalers and community pharmacists to monitor progress and agree what more needs to be done to ensure supply is sufficient to meet demand.
Access to high-demand products has improved since actions have been taken by industry with our support, as well as the issuance of Serious Shortage Protocols (SSPs) for some HRT products facing supply issues to limit dispensing to three months’ supply to even out distribution and allow specified alternative products to be supplied, as necessary. 21 SSPs for HRT products have been issued since April 2022. The majority of these have been withdrawn as supply issues have been resolved and only five SSPs remain in place.
Asked by: Simon Lightwood (Labour (Co-op) - Wakefield and Rothwell)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment has he made of the adequacy of the availability of hormone replacement therapies.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
There have been no specific discussions. However, the Department regularly engages with NHS England at a regional and national level on the supply of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) medicines to ensure appropriate management plans are put in place where there are supply issues and to minimise any impact to patients. The Department also meets regularly with individual suppliers to discuss the supply position, identify issues and take action to address them. We are also holding quarterly roundtables with HRT manufacturers, wholesalers and community pharmacists to monitor progress and agree what more needs to be done to ensure supply is sufficient to meet demand.
Access to high-demand products has improved since actions have been taken by industry with our support, as well as the issuance of Serious Shortage Protocols (SSPs) for some HRT products facing supply issues to limit dispensing to three months’ supply to even out distribution and allow specified alternative products to be supplied, as necessary. 21 SSPs for HRT products have been issued since April 2022. The majority of these have been withdrawn as supply issues have been resolved and only five SSPs remain in place.
Asked by: Simon Lightwood (Labour (Co-op) - Wakefield and Rothwell)
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 ensure that it meets its 75 per cent target for the uptake of the NHS Healthy Start scheme by March 2023.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) operate the Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department. The NHSBSA is committed to increasing uptake of the scheme to ensure as many children as possible have a healthy start in life. The NHSBSA promotes the Healthy Start scheme through its digital channels and has created free tools to help stakeholders promote the scheme locally. The NHSBSA has also reached out to stakeholders to see how it can support them to promote the scheme.
Asked by: Simon Lightwood (Labour (Co-op) - Wakefield and Rothwell)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the number of families who may be eligible for backdated payments due to delays in digitisation of the Healthy Start scheme; and whether his Department is taking steps to provide interim support to those families.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
The NHS Business Services Authority operate the Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care. They identified an issue with the application process following the digitisation of the scheme and worked with Department for Work and Pensions to resolve the issue quickly. All those who may be eligible for a backdated payment have received or are due to receive payments.
Asked by: Simon Lightwood (Labour (Co-op) - Wakefield and Rothwell)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of including metachromatic leukodystrophy in the newborn blood spot test; and whether the UK National Screening Committee is expected to report on that issue.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) has not yet reviewed the evidence for including metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD) in National Health Service newborn blood spot screening. It was, however, sent a request to review the possibility of including the condition as part of its annual call for new screening topics, which it is currently evaluating.
Individuals can sign up to receive alerts when the UK NSC starts reviewing any new condition, including MLD, via the UK NSC website.
Asked by: Simon Lightwood (Labour (Co-op) - Wakefield and Rothwell)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, what steps he is taking to raise awareness of the symptoms of ovarian cancer.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
We encourage people to get in touch with their general practitioner if they notice or are worried about symptoms that could be cancer. NHS England is running the ‘Help Us, Help You’ (HUHY) campaigns, which seeks to address the barriers that are deterring patients from accessing the National Health Service. A campaign on abdominal and urological symptoms launched on 31 October 2022 and ran through to December 2022, addressing symptoms of ovarian cancer. NHS England is in the process of planning HUHY activity for 2023/24.
Asked by: Simon Lightwood (Labour (Co-op) - Wakefield and Rothwell)
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 take steps to (a) review NHS hospital car parking charges for medical students and (b) provide funding for medical students in financial need.
Answered by Will Quince
Currently the Government has no plans to review National Health Service hospital car parking charges for medical students. NHS trusts determine car parking charges locally. All trusts that charge for car parking have implemented free hospital car parking for those with the greatest need. This includes NHS staff working overnight, which extends to students employed by the trust. The Government reviews funding arrangements for all healthcare students before the start of each academic year.
Whilst we will attempt to address a variety of issues with the finite resources available to us, we must also strike a balance between ensuring students are financially supported during their studies and delivering maximum value for money for the taxpayer.