Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
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 prevent unregulated psychologists from giving reunification therapy to parents and children.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Ministry of Justice and the HM Courts and Tribunals Service set any criteria that a professional must satisfy, in order to be a psychological expert, providing evidence in a family court setting. The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) is the independent regulator responsible for regulating practitioner psychologists. The HCPC does not regulate practitioner psychologists according to job role, although its legislation protects nine designated psychologist professional titles in law.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to paragraph 5.1.2 of the NHS Vaccination Strategy, last updated on 4 January, 2024, which Integrated Care Systems have been identified as demonstrator systems to test (a) new models of vaccine delivery and (b) innovative commissioning models.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Regional National Health Service teams are working with several integrated care boards to explore how they are planning to implement different aspects of the NHS Vaccination Strategy. These demonstrator systems are:
- Suffolk and North East Essex;
- North West London;
- South West London;
- Birmingham and Solihull;
- Humber and North Yorkshire;
- North East and North Cumbria;
- Lancashire and South Cumbria;
- Cheshire and Merseyside;
- Surrey Heartlands;
- Kent and Medway;
- Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire; and
- Gloucestershire.
The demonstrator systems are currently identifying the elements of the vaccination strategy on which they would like to focus. These include delivering innovative outreach services to target underserved communities, and exploring the expansion of successful flexible seasonal workforce management systems across all immunisations delivered by the NHS. As each demonstrator system develops and finalises its plans, we will support the system in evaluating the impact of its activities, and share the learning across other systems.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps each demonstrator system is taking to help deliver the NHS Vaccination Strategy.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Regional National Health Service teams are working with several integrated care boards to explore how they are planning to implement different aspects of the NHS Vaccination Strategy. These demonstrator systems are:
- Suffolk and North East Essex;
- North West London;
- South West London;
- Birmingham and Solihull;
- Humber and North Yorkshire;
- North East and North Cumbria;
- Lancashire and South Cumbria;
- Cheshire and Merseyside;
- Surrey Heartlands;
- Kent and Medway;
- Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire; and
- Gloucestershire.
The demonstrator systems are currently identifying the elements of the vaccination strategy on which they would like to focus. These include delivering innovative outreach services to target underserved communities, and exploring the expansion of successful flexible seasonal workforce management systems across all immunisations delivered by the NHS. As each demonstrator system develops and finalises its plans, we will support the system in evaluating the impact of its activities, and share the learning across other systems.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to improve pancreatic cancer outcomes in East Ham constituency.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is delivering a range of interventions that are expected to increase early diagnosis and improve outcomes for those with pancreatic cancer across England, including the East Ham constituency. This includes: providing a route into pancreatic cancer surveillance for those at inherited high-risk to identify lesions before they develop into cancer and diagnose cancers sooner; creating new pathways to support faster referral routes for people with non-specific symptoms that could be linked to a range of cancer types; and increasing direct access for general practitioners to diagnostic tests.
To increase early diagnosis, NHS England are implementing non-symptom specific pathways (NSS) for patients who present with non-specific symptoms, or combinations of non-specific symptoms, to receive the right tests at the right time. There are currently 113 NSS pathways live with the aim to have full national coverage by 2025.
NHS England is also funding a new audit into pancreatic cancer, the aim of which is to provide regular and timely evidence to cancer service providers of where patterns of care in England may vary, to increase the consistency of access to treatments and to stimulate improvements in cancer treatment and outcomes for patients. The Royal College of Surgeons began work on this audit in October 2022 and a scoping exercise in consultation with key stakeholders has taken place to shape the direction of the audit. The first report is expected in October 2024.
In addition, the Getting It Right First Time team in NHS England is undertaking a deep dive into pancreatic cancer, which will highlight actions National Health Service providers need to take to improve services, as well as gathering examples of good practice to share.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on social security support for people with a mental health care plan.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Ministers hold discussions with other ministerial colleagues regularly on a range of issues. Entitlement to social security support through welfare benefits is a matter for the Department for Work and Pensions and is based on an individual’s circumstances. We are currently working with stakeholders to develop a tool which will potentially better support policymakers across Whitehall to examine the impact of their proposals on people’s mental health.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to ensure that the Major Conditions Strategy provides a care and treatment pathway for patients living with (a) complex conditions and (b) dementia.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In the development of the Major Conditions Strategy, we are considering how we improve outcomes for a population increasingly living with multiple conditions.
Alignment of work across the six major groups of conditions, including dementia, was announced as part of a Major Conditions Strategy and will allow us to focus on where there are similarities in approach and ensure care is better centred around the patient, maximising existing resources both within patient pathways and in integrating between pathways.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
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 help ensure that patients with eye conditions from historically underserved communities can access new treatments as they become available.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning secondary eye care services to meet local needs and have a duty under the Health and Care Act 2022 to reduce inequalities. Where a National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) technology appraisal recommends a medicine or treatment, the National Health Service is legally required to fund them and where NICE guidance is not available, we would expect commissioners to have regard to clinical advice and available evidence.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to ensure people with dementia will benefit from the forthcoming Major Conditions Strategy.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 24 January 2023, the Government announced that it will publish a Major Conditions Strategy covering six conditions including dementia. Our Major Conditions Strategy will consider prevention, early diagnosis, treatment, and long-term care to support people to stay in good health for longer.
We published our initial report Major Conditions Strategy: Case for change and our strategic framework on 14 August 2023. It sets out what we have learned so far, and shares what we plan to focus on next to develop the final strategy. Following publication of the Strategic Framework, we will continue to develop the strategy, informed by the Call for Evidence and ongoing engagement, including with those with lived experience. Our intention is to publish the Major Conditions Strategy this year.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what her planned timescale is for the delivery of the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission, is currently developing the delivery plans for its pillars of work, which will focus on biomarkers and experimental medicine, clinical trials, and end-to-end implementation. A timescale for delivery has not yet been finalised.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the World Health Organisation’s Global Action Plan on the Public Health Response to dementia Health Ministers and the Health Ministers communiqué from Japan’s presidency of the G7, if he will write to the WHO secretariat to support calls for a 10-year extension to the Global Action Plan on dementia.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As outlined in the G7 Nagasaki Health Ministers Communique held on 13 and 14 May 2023, the G7 Health Ministers encourage member states to develop and implement strategies and action plans, adopting integrated approaches on dementia in line with the WHO’s Global Action Plan on Dementia. In terms of any extension to the Global Action Plan, this is still under consideration.
On 24 January 2023, the Government announced that it will publish a Major Conditions Strategy covering six conditions including dementia. Our Major Conditions Strategy will consider prevention, early diagnosis, treatment, and long-term care to support people to stay in good health for longer.
We published our initial report Major Conditions Strategy: Case for change and our strategic framework on 14 August 2023. It sets out what we have learned so far, and shares what we plan to focus on next to develop the final strategy. Following publication of the Strategic Framework, we will continue to develop the strategy, informed by the Call for Evidence and ongoing engagement. Our intention is to publish the Major Conditions Strategy in early 2024.