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Written Question
Healthy Start Scheme: Stroud
Friday 28th March 2025

Asked by: Simon Opher (Labour - Stroud)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many families are receiving Healthy Start in Stroud.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) operates the Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department. Monthly figures for the number of people on the digital Healthy Start scheme are published on the NHS Healthy Start website, which is available at the following link:

https://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/healthcare-professionals/

The NHSBSA does not hold data on the number of families receiving Healthy Start, but it does hold data on the number of people receiving health start. The number of people on the scheme receiving Healthy Start in February 2025 for Stroud is 356.

The NHSBSA does not currently hold data on the number of people who are eligible for the scheme. An issue was identified with the Healthy Start source data that is used to calculate the uptake of the NHS Healthy Start scheme. The NHSBSA removed data for the number of people eligible for the scheme and the uptake percentage from January 2023 onwards.

The issue has only affected the data on the number of people eligible for the scheme. It has not prevented anyone from joining the scheme or continuing to access the scheme, if they are eligible.

The following table shows the number of people on the scheme for all three wards in Liverpool West, as of February 2025:

Ward

Number of people on the digital scheme

West Derby Deysbrook

36

West Derby Leyfield

16

West Derby Muirhead

20


Written Question
Accident and Emergency Departments: Standards
Thursday 27th March 2025

Asked by: Simon Opher (Labour - Stroud)

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 the use of temporary care environments in patient care.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government recognises that long waits in accident and emergency departments are unacceptable and lead to worse patient outcomes. Patients should expect and receive the highest standard of service, and we are determined to tackle the issue of corridor care. NHS England published guidance in September 2024 regarding the use of temporary escalation spaces, which is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/principles-for-providing-safe-and-good-quality-care-in-temporary-escalation-spaces/

In January 2025, the NHS England mandate and operational planning guidance for 2025/26 were published. These set out the priorities and actions to be taken to reform and improve urgent and emergency care services. This includes increasing the proportion of patients admitted, discharged, and transferred from an emergency department within 12 hours across 2025/26 compared to 2024/25.

We will shortly set out the further improvements and actions to be taken to support urgent and emergency care services this year.


Written Question
Accident and Emergency Departments: Standards
Thursday 27th March 2025

Asked by: Simon Opher (Labour - Stroud)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to publish guidance on the use of temporary care environments before the publication of the urgent and emergency care plan.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government recognises that long waits in accident and emergency departments are unacceptable and lead to worse patient outcomes. Patients should expect and receive the highest standard of service, and we are determined to tackle the issue of corridor care. NHS England published guidance in September 2024 regarding the use of temporary escalation spaces, which is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/principles-for-providing-safe-and-good-quality-care-in-temporary-escalation-spaces/

In January 2025, the NHS England mandate and operational planning guidance for 2025/26 were published. These set out the priorities and actions to be taken to reform and improve urgent and emergency care services. This includes increasing the proportion of patients admitted, discharged, and transferred from an emergency department within 12 hours across 2025/26 compared to 2024/25.

We will shortly set out the further improvements and actions to be taken to support urgent and emergency care services this year.


Written Question
Doctors: Training
Thursday 27th March 2025

Asked by: Simon Opher (Labour - Stroud)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to complete the review of postgraduate medical training.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The postgraduate medical training review announced by the Chief Medical Officer for England and National Medical Director of NHS England is underway and on track. NHS England launched an extensive engagement and listening exercise to consider the future of postgraduate medical training in February 2025. This engagement exercise will run through to June 2025, with findings evaluated and reported in summer 2025.


Written Question
Cancer: Children and Young People
Monday 17th March 2025

Asked by: Simon Opher (Labour - Stroud)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what consideration his Department has given to including a separate faster diagnosis target for children and young people with cancer.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Faster Diagnosis Standard (FDS) includes children and young people and ensures that cancer is diagnosed or ruled out, within 28 days from referral. The latest FDS data, for December 2024, shows that 89.8% of children and young people with suspected cancer received a diagnosis or all-clear within 28 days of referral, above the overall FDS rate.

We are committed to getting the National Health Service diagnosing cancer earlier and treating it faster so that more children and young people survive. That is why on 4 February 2025, we relaunched the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce to identify tangible ways to improve outcomes and experience. The Taskforce will explore opportunities for improvement, including detection and diagnosis, genomic testing and treatment, research and innovation, and patient experience

The Taskforce will ensure that the unique needs of children and young people with cancer are carefully considered as part of the National Cancer Plan.


Written Question
Cancer: Screening
Friday 14th March 2025

Asked by: Simon Opher (Labour - Stroud)

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 ensure that cancer screening programmes recommended by the National Screening Committee are (a) funded and (b) available to patients as quickly as possible.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) Secretariat works closely with NHS England. This means NHS England is aware of conditions that the committee is considering for a screening programme. The costs and workforce requirements of potential screening programmes are considered when setting budgets so that when a positive recommendation is made by the UK NSC and accepted by Ministers, the National Health Service can begin work on implementing the screening programme.

The roll out of a screening programme needs to be done systematically and at a pace that the NHS’s capacity can cope with to ensure safety for those members of the public who accept the screening offer.


Written Question
NHS 111: Older People
Tuesday 11th March 2025

Asked by: Simon Opher (Labour - Stroud)

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 ensure that the NHS 111 service is accessible to elderly patients.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS 111 is designed to be widely accessible and used by as many people as possible, including elderly patients. Patients can get help from NHS 111 by calling 111 for free from a landline or mobile phone, as well as in the NHS App and by using 111 online. More information about these is available at the following links:

https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-app/about-the-nhs-app/

https://111.nhs.uk/

Further information on alternative access to NHS 111 is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/urgent-emergency-care/nhs-111/accessing-nhs-111/

The NHS 111 online accessibility statement is available at the following link:

https://111.nhs.uk/Help/Accessibility


Written Question
Cancer: Screening
Tuesday 11th March 2025

Asked by: Simon Opher (Labour - Stroud)

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 ensure early diagnosis of cancer.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Earlier diagnosis of cancer, at stages 1 or 2, is key to delivering improved cancer outcomes and boosting chances of survival. The earlier that cancer is diagnosed, the more options there are for effective treatment.

The Government is committed to improving rates of early diagnosis. We are increasing public awareness of cancer signs and symptoms through the NHS Help Us, Help You campaigns, to help people spot symptoms across a wide range of cancers at an earlier point. Additionally, we are streamlining referral routes by introducing the non-specific symptom pathway, for patients who present with vague and non-site-specific symptoms which do not clearly align to a tumour type. We are also increasing the availability of diagnostic capacity through the roll-out of more community diagnostic centres.

Furthermore, the latest rapid registration data shows our 12-month early diagnosis rate reached 58.7% as of July 2024; this is 2.7% higher than pre-pandemic levels. This means approximately 7,000 more people are being diagnosed at stage 1 and 2. The roll out of the lung screening programme has driven two thirds of this improvement and latest data shows early diagnosis for lung cancer is eight percentage points higher than pre-pandemic. We will build on recent successes, including further roll out of the lung screening programme, to diagnose cancer earlier and boost survival rates.

Additionally, the recently announced National Cancer Plan, which will complement the 10-Year Health Plan and support delivery of the Government’s Health Mission, will set out further actions to improve early diagnosis.


Written Question
NHS 111: Standards
Friday 7th March 2025

Asked by: Simon Opher (Labour - Stroud)

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 the average response time for the NHS 111 service.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is committed to continuing to improve NHS 111 to ensure that patients can access the right care the first time, only visiting accident and emergency services when necessary. This includes through growing the clinical workforce, making urgent mental health support universally available, and expanding and promoting NHS 111 online.

The latest National Health Service published data showed that in December 2024, 77.4% of NHS 111 calls were answered within 60 seconds, which compares to 60% in December 2023. However, we know there is more to do. We will shortly set out further actions to support improvements to urgent and emergency care services during 2025/26.


Written Question
Osteoporosis: Diagnosis
Friday 28th February 2025

Asked by: Simon Opher (Labour - Stroud)

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 deliver early diagnosis services for osteoporosis.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

On 6 January 2025, NHS England published a new Elective Reform Plan, which sets out a whole system approach to achieving the 18-week referral to treatment target by the end of this Parliament. The plan includes funding to boost bone density (DEXA) scanning capacity, support improvements in early diagnosis, and support improvements in bone health for conditions such as osteoporosis. We are investing in 14 high-tech DEXA scanners which are expected to provide 29,000 extra scans per year.

As announced in the Get Britain Working White Paper, the Department of Health and Social Care is delivering a joint programme with NHS England and the Department for Work and Pensions called the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) Musculoskeletal Community Delivery Programme. With a £3.5 million funding boost, the GIRFT will deploy a Further Faster model with integrated care boards (ICBs) to reduce musculoskeletal community waiting times, including for those with osteoporosis.

ICBs are responsible for commissioning services that meet the needs of their population, including for osteoporosis. The Government expects ICBs to take account of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines and other best practice in designing their local services.