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, when the Health Mission Delivery Board will next meet.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care chairs a cross-Government Health Mission Board to oversee and drive delivery of the Health Mission. The current membership of the Health Mission Board includes the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster as the Deputy Chair. Other ministers will be invited to meetings according to the agenda.
Mission Boards are Cabinet Committees. It is a long-established precedent that information about the proceedings of the Cabinet, or of any committee of the Cabinet, is not normally shared publicly, and this includes mission boards.
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, when the Health Mission Delivery Board last met.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care chairs a cross-Government Health Mission Board to oversee and drive delivery of the Health Mission. The current membership of the Health Mission Board includes the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster as the Deputy Chair. Other ministers will be invited to meetings according to the agenda.
Mission Boards are Cabinet Committees. It is a long-established precedent that information about the proceedings of the Cabinet, or of any committee of the Cabinet, is not normally shared publicly, and this includes mission boards.
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 plans to take to contribute to the target of halving violence against women and girls in ten years.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The Government is committed to halving violence against women and girls in a decade. My Department is working closely with NHS England, the Home Office, and others on a coordinated approach to achieve this goal and improve the health response to victims and perpetrators.
NHS England has launched a national campaign to raise awareness of sexual assault referral centres and encourage survivors of sexual assault and abuse to seek help. These specialist services offer dedicated care and support to anyone who has been raped, sexually assaulted, or abused.
All integrated care boards have now appointed Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence leads to review their policies, training, and support systems for patients and staff. NHS England has also introduced a comprehensive package of measures to tackle sexual misconduct in the workplace.
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 his Department plans to engage with (a) parliamentarians and (b) healthcare stakeholders on steps to improve health inequalities.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
Our Health Mission in England focuses on addressing the social determinants of health, with the goal of halving the gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest regions.
We will work across Government and with a wide range of healthcare stakeholders to address the root causes of health inequalities. We will prioritise prevention, shift more care into the community, and intervene earlier in life to raise the healthiest generation of children in our history.
As part of the Government’s five long-term missions, and informed by the Darzi Review, the Government has launched a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the National Health Service and make it fit for the future.
Existing initiatives to reduce inequalities in relation to health services, in England, include NHS England’s Core20PLUS5, which focuses on improving the five clinical areas at most need of accelerated improvement in the poorest 20% of the population, along with other underserved population groups identified at a local level, including groups that share protected characteristics, and socially excluded groups such as people experiencing homelessness.
Future spending will be subject to the outcome of the Spending Review announced by my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
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, if he will take steps to deliver a fully funded cross-government strategy to reduce health inequalities which (a) takes into account the wider determinants of health and (b) includes measurable goals.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
Our Health Mission in England focuses on addressing the social determinants of health, with the goal of halving the gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest regions.
We will work across Government and with a wide range of healthcare stakeholders to address the root causes of health inequalities. We will prioritise prevention, shift more care into the community, and intervene earlier in life to raise the healthiest generation of children in our history.
As part of the Government’s five long-term missions, and informed by the Darzi Review, the Government has launched a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the National Health Service and make it fit for the future.
Existing initiatives to reduce inequalities in relation to health services, in England, include NHS England’s Core20PLUS5, which focuses on improving the five clinical areas at most need of accelerated improvement in the poorest 20% of the population, along with other underserved population groups identified at a local level, including groups that share protected characteristics, and socially excluded groups such as people experiencing homelessness.
Future spending will be subject to the outcome of the Spending Review announced by my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
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 the (a) structure and (b) scope is of the cross-Government Health Mission Board.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care chairs a cross-Government Health Mission Board to oversee and drive delivery of the Health Mission to build a health and social care system fit for the future. Mission Boards are Cabinet Committees.
The current membership of the Health Mission Board includes the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster as the Deputy Chair. Other ministers will be invited to meetings according to the agenda.
The Terms of Reference of the Health Mission Board are to oversee and drive delivery of the Health Mission.
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, with reference to the document entitled Reforming elective care for patients, published on 6 January 2025, which groups of patients will be offered the prehabilitation services outlined in that plan; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending those services to all patients referred for surgery.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Elective Care Reform Plan identifies the importance of supporting all patients to take control of their health, for example through smoking cessation and weight loss programmes, as they prepare for their surgery. As well as improving patient outcomes, this can also enable patients to be treated in lower acuity settings, for example in day case settings enabling patients to go home the same day.
The plan states that NHS England will work through Cancer Alliances to support improvements in prehabilitation for people about to undergo cancer treatment. The approach to this will be informed by the Macmillan Cancer Support/National Institute of Health and Care Research guidance for healthcare professionals, which is available at the following link:
An update on this guidance is expected in spring 2025, alongside existing good practice examples.
Current NHS England guidance requires acute trusts in England to adopt earlier screening, risk assessment and health optimisation for adult patients waiting for inpatient surgery, with more information available at the following link:
NHS England will continue to identify and work with areas of England that have programmes in place for different groups of patients waiting for surgery, including prehabilitation programmes to support patients having major surgery and waiting well programmes to support patients having all types of surgery, to learn from and share best practice.
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 (a) barriers and (b) costs for NHS trusts in implementing the perioperative care measures outlined in the document entitled Reforming elective care for patients, published on 6 January 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The perioperative care measures outlined in the Elective Care Reform plan build on existing NHS England led work to improve perioperative care including guidance on Earlier screening, risk assessment and health optimisation for adult patients due to have inpatient care. The guidance is available at the following link:
NHS England has worked closely with systems and providers including through onsite visits and system level engagement to understand the key barriers to implementing the perioperative care measures outlined in the Elective Reform Plan.
Whilst costings will vary between organisations, measures from this work alongside supporting improved patient experience and outcomes, will support the delivery of sustainable clinical pathways. This will lead to reduced waste in the National Health Service, for example by ensuring productivity in theatres is maximised.
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 the age profile is of the NHS midwifery workforce in (a) the most recent month for which figures are available and (b) the same month in each year since 2015.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The tables attached show the age profile of the National Health Service midwifery workforce in the most recent month for which figures are available, and in the same month in each year since 2015.
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 the age profile is of the NHS midwifery workforce for each Agenda for Change pay band in each region of England in the most recent month for which figures are available.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The table attached shows the age profile of the National Health Service midwifery workforce for each Agenda for Change pay band, in each region of England.