Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what action her Department is taking to reduce health inequalities among (a) regions, (b) gender and (c) race and ethnicity.
Answered by Caroline Johnson - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
‘Our plan for patients’, published on 22 September, sets out the immediate priorities to support individuals to live healthier lives, including improving access to health and care services in all areas and preventing ill-health. Further information on measures to address health disparities will be available in due course.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley South)
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 tackle GP shortages in deprived areas.
Answered by Will Quince
We launched the Targeted Enhanced Recruitment Scheme in 2016, which has attracted doctors to train in hard to recruit locations by providing a one-off financial incentive of £20,000. In 2021, there were 550 places were available and through additional investment, there are 800 places in 2022.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department is meetings its two-week wait target for breast cancer referrals.
Answered by Will Quince
The cancer waiting times statistics published by NHS England for August 2022 show that 76.43% of urgent general practitioner referrals for suspected breast cancer meet the current two-week wait target, against an operational standard of 93%.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what specific support his Department provides to charities providing end of life care for children.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
No recent assessment has been made as the majority of hospices are independent charities which receive some statutory funding from integrated care boards (ICBs). ICBs are responsible for commissioning appropriate palliative and end of life care (PEoLC) services for children based on the needs of the local population.
NHS England has committed to increase its investment in local children’s PEoLC services, including hospices. NHS England has matched the investment made by clinical commissioning groups for children’s PEoLC, providing more than £7 million since 2020/21. This is in addition to £21 million being invested through the Children’s Hospice Grant by March 2023, to provide care closer to home. NHS England is also reviewing current models of care, commissioning pathways and financial formulas to ensure the sector supports children, young people, their families and loved ones. We will continue to engage with the sector to understand the issues it faces.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the level of funding support for hospices and end of life care for children.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
No recent assessment has been made as the majority of hospices are independent charities which receive some statutory funding from integrated care boards (ICBs). ICBs are responsible for commissioning appropriate palliative and end of life care (PEoLC) services for children based on the needs of the local population.
NHS England has committed to increase its investment in local children’s PEoLC services, including hospices. NHS England has matched the investment made by clinical commissioning groups for children’s PEoLC, providing more than £7 million since 2020/21. This is in addition to £21 million being invested through the Children’s Hospice Grant by March 2023, to provide care closer to home. NHS England is also reviewing current models of care, commissioning pathways and financial formulas to ensure the sector supports children, young people, their families and loved ones. We will continue to engage with the sector to understand the issues it faces.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when hospices will be informed whether the central NHS England Grant for children’s hospices will continue as a ringfenced funding stream beyond 2023-24.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
NHS England determines the best use of its financial settlement to deliver services. The Children’s Hospice Grant provides funding directly to hospices from NHS England, reviewed through the annual grant application process. The NHS Long Term Plan commits to increase the contribution to the Children’s Hospice Grant by up to £25 million a year by 2023/24. Funding arrangements beyond 2023/24 have not yet been agreed.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether support is available for clinical commissioning groups to help ensure that decisions on funding end of life care for children meet local needs.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
NHS England has established seven palliative and end of life care (PEoLC) strategic clinical networks to improve access to and the quality and sustainability of services. These networks support commissioners to deliver clinical and personalised care for people with PEoLC needs, including for children and young people.
NHS England works with national and regional partners to review current models of care, commissioning pathways and financial formulas to support commissioners on funding decisions. NHS England has also committed to increasing its contribution to children’s PEoLC by matching the funding of clinical commissioning groups which commit to increase their investment in local children’s PEoLC services, including children’s hospices. This aims to increase National Health Service funding from £11 million to a combined £25 million a year by 2023/24.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average ambulance response time was in (a) Barnsley, (b) South Yorkshire and (c) Yorkshire Ambulance Service Area in each year since 2010.
Answered by Edward Argar
Ambulance response times in Barnsley and South Yorkshire are not held centrally, as data is collected at regional ambulance trust level.
The following table shows the mean average ambulance response time in hours, minutes and seconds for Yorkshire Ambulance Service from the introduction of the national response time standard in September 2017 to May 2022 in each incident category. Average ambulance response times were not collected under the previous ‘Category A’ national response time standards.
Category 1 | Category 2 | Category 3 | Category 4 | |
September 2017 to March 2018 | 0:07:48 | 0:23:57 | 0:55:04 | 1:20:41 |
2018/19 | 0:07:21 | 0:20:26 | 0:50:28 | 1:08:59 |
2019/20 | 0:07:12 | 0:20:34 | 0:48:09 | 0:52:33 |
2020/21 | 0:07:38 | 0:20:36 | 0:47:23 | 1:04:06 |
2021/22 | 0:09:16 | 0:36:06 | 1:47:39 | 2:24:48 |
April to May 2022 | 0:09:35 | 0:42:03 | 1:59:08 | 2:26:57 |
Source: NHS Ambulance Quality Indicators.