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 and what proportion of people diagnosed with hypertension through the NHS Health Check programme were subsequently tested for chronic kidney disease in each of the last five years.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Blood pressure is one of seven risk factors for cardiovascular disease assessed in the NHS Health Check, and it is also a risk factor for chronic kidney disease. Individuals who have a high blood pressure reading during their NHS Health Check are referred to their general practice for further clinical investigation, and subsequent diagnosis of hypertension and management where appropriate.
Data is currently not collected on the number of individuals who, following their NHS Health Check, are diagnosed with hypertension and are subsequently tested for chronic kidney disease.
We are considering how to improve data collection and monitoring of the NHS Health Check following the National Audit Office report.
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 increase (a) referral to and (b) uptake of testing for chronic kidney disease among people diagnosed with hypertension through the NHS Health Check programme.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Individuals who have a high blood pressure reading during their NHS Health Check are referred to their general practice for further clinical investigation, and subsequent diagnosis of hypertension and management where appropriate.
In 2024, NHS England incorporated a new indicator into the CVDPREVENT audit to monitor the measurement of kidney function, a urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio test, in people with hypertension, as recommended in National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.
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 bring forward legislative proposals to ban advertising of unhealthy foods at sports events.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is taking bold action to tackle the childhood obesity crisis and raise the healthiest generation of children ever.
We are progressing with the implementation of the advertising restrictions for less healthy food or drink products on television and online, which evidence shows are the media that children engage with the most. The restrictions include a 9:00pm watershed on television and a 24-hour restriction on paid-for advertising online, and are expected to remove up to 7.2 billion calories from children’s diets per year.
We have no current plans to ban the sponsorship of sports events by food brands associated with less healthy food or drink products or ban the advertising of less healthy food or drink products at sports events. We continue to review the evidence of the impacts on children of less healthy food or drink product advertising, and will consider where further action is needed.
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 bring forward legislative proposals to ban sponsorship of sports events by unhealthy food brands.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is taking bold action to tackle the childhood obesity crisis and raise the healthiest generation of children ever.
We are progressing with the implementation of the advertising restrictions for less healthy food or drink products on television and online, which evidence shows are the media that children engage with the most. The restrictions include a 9:00pm watershed on television and a 24-hour restriction on paid-for advertising online, and are expected to remove up to 7.2 billion calories from children’s diets per year.
We have no current plans to ban the sponsorship of sports events by food brands associated with less healthy food or drink products or ban the advertising of less healthy food or drink products at sports events. We continue to review the evidence of the impacts on children of less healthy food or drink product advertising, and will consider where further action is needed.
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 reduce the occurrences of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
At a national level, there are a number of initiatives supporting service improvement and better care for patients with epilepsy, including the RightCare Epilepsy Toolkit, the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology, and the Neurology Transformation Programme.
One of the key focuses of the RightCare Epilepsy Toolkit is reducing epilepsy-related deaths, including Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP). The toolkit includes several recommendations regarding identifying those who are most at risk of an epilepsy-related death and preventing SUDEP.
In addition, the Royal College of General Practitioners aims to raise awareness of SUDEP amongst general practitioners and other primary care professionals, through its e-learning modules on SUDEP and seizure safety, which were developed in collaboration with SUDEP Action and last updated in December 2024.
Health Education England, now part of NHS England, has also developed an Epilepsy Programme in collaboration with SUDEP Action, which is designed to enable healthcare professionals, particularly those who are not specialists in epilepsy, to better understand SUDEP and how the risk of SUDEP can be reduced.
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance on epilepsy recommends that clinicians should discuss the risk of SUDEP with patients newly diagnosed with epilepsy and ensure their understanding of the risk.
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 increase awareness of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
At a national level, there are a number of initiatives supporting service improvement and better care for patients with epilepsy, including the RightCare Epilepsy Toolkit, the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology, and the Neurology Transformation Programme.
One of the key focuses of the RightCare Epilepsy Toolkit is reducing epilepsy-related deaths, including Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP). The toolkit includes several recommendations regarding identifying those who are most at risk of an epilepsy-related death and preventing SUDEP.
In addition, the Royal College of General Practitioners aims to raise awareness of SUDEP amongst general practitioners and other primary care professionals, through its e-learning modules on SUDEP and seizure safety, which were developed in collaboration with SUDEP Action and last updated in December 2024.
Health Education England, now part of NHS England, has also developed an Epilepsy Programme in collaboration with SUDEP Action, which is designed to enable healthcare professionals, particularly those who are not specialists in epilepsy, to better understand SUDEP and how the risk of SUDEP can be reduced.
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance on epilepsy recommends that clinicians should discuss the risk of SUDEP with patients newly diagnosed with epilepsy and ensure their understanding of the risk.
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 assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of self-care on demand on NHS services; and whether this will be reflected in the 10-Year Health Plan.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Support for self-care is an essential service that all pharmacies must provide, and can include provision of advice, information, and where appropriate, the sale of over-the counter-medicines to patients, carers, and the general public, to support their self-care for minor ailments. This gives patients easy access to advice from highly trained and skilled healthcare professionals in the community and relieves pressure on other areas of the National Health Service.
Under Pharmacy First, NHS 111, general practitioners, and accident and emergency departments can refer patients to see a pharmacist for advice on a minor illness, which may include the sale of over-the-counter medicines. They can also refer patients to one of the Pharmacy First seven clinical pathways, as part of which pharmacies can supply prescription-only medicines to patients. Patients can also walk into a pharmacy for treatment as part of the seven clinical pathways.
The 10-Year Health Plan will describe a shared vision for the health and care system in 2035, drawing directly from the extensive engagement that has been undertaken with the public, patients, and staff. The plan will include how care models and pathways will need to change or evolve to better meet their needs, and the cultural and behavioural changes we want to see.
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 reduce the neurodiverse assessment waiting list.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Lord Darzi’s independent review of the National Health Service, published September 2024, highlighted the severe delays in accessing autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) assessments, and that demand for assessments for ADHD and autism has grown significantly in recent years.
It is the responsibility of integrated care board (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including autism and ADHD assessments, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.
On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance to help ICBs and the NHS to deliver improved outcomes for children, young people, and adults referred to an autism assessment service. Since publication, NHS England has been supporting systems and services to identify where there are challenges for implementation and how they might overcome these.
NHS England is also working with research organisations to explore evidence-based models that support improved outcomes for those people waiting for an autism assessment.
NHS England has established an ADHD taskforce which is working to bring together those with lived experience with experts from the NHS, education, charity, and justice sectors. The taskforce is working to get a better understanding of the challenges affecting those with ADHD, including timely and equitable access to services and support, with the final report expected in the summer. In conjunction with the taskforce, NHS England has carried out detailed work to develop an ADHD data improvement plan to inform future service planning.
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 assessment he has made of the potential merits of publishing year-round data on the number of patients being treated in temporary care environments.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We continue to keep the data available and published to support improvements to urgent and emergency care services under review.
NHS England has been working with trusts since last year to put in place new reporting arrangements related to the use of temporary escalation spaces, to drive improvement. Subject to a review of data quality this information will be published later in 2025 and we will consider how this data could be published on a more regular basis.
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 support people with lung conditions.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In collaboration with a number of partners, the National Health Service has developed a package for local systems containing the information and support required to help increase the number of people receiving an early and accurate diagnosis for respiratory disease.
Following a significant drop in the volume of respiratory specific diagnostic tests, such as spirometry, during the pandemic, NHS England has managed to bring these numbers to above pre-pandemic levels.
The Government is committed to a preventative approach to the public’s health and is determined to improve air quality for everyone and address inequalities by working across Government to tackle these issues, including by supporting the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to deliver their comprehensive and ambitious Clean Air Strategy, which will include a series of interventions to reduce emissions so that everyone’s exposure to air pollution is reduced.
In alignment with the Neighbourhood Health Service model, NHS England is leading on the development of an approach for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) management, to support proactive identification and management of rising risk patients in winter, thereby reducing demand on primary and secondary care by identifying at risk patients, optimizing care, and strengthened support. Core20PLUS5 identifies COPD as one of the five clinical areas of focus requiring accelerated improvement to help tackle healthcare inequalities, and plans to improve this area by increasing vaccination uptake, namely for COVID-19, flu, and pneumovax, in people with COPD, and by avoiding exacerbations that could lead to emergency treatment in hospital and inpatient care.