Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether capital funding has been allocated to South Western Ambulance Service for the modernisation of their estate.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning services to meet the needs of their local communities, including in the South West, as they are best placed to take those decisions. Integrated care systems in the South West have been provisionally allocated a combined total of £447.9 million in operational capital funding, including primary care business-as-usual capital, for 2025/26, to be prioritised according to local needs.
In addition to the system allocation, ICBs and providers in the South West region have been provisionally allocated £82.6 million from our £750 million Estates Safety Fund to deliver vital safety improvements, enhance patient and staff environments, and support National Health Service productivity in 2025/26. They have also been provisionally allocated £10 million from our Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund to support improvements in the primary care estate, boosting productivity and enabling practices to deliver more patient appointments.
The Dorset ICB and providers have been provisionally allocated £7.9 million from our Estates Safety Fund for 2025/26, of which the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust will receive £1.7 million. This will fund improvements at Taunton Ambulance Station, St James Ambulance Station, Derriford Ambulance Station, and the trust’s headquarters.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
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 increase funding into research on the (a) causes of and (b) treatments for Tourette’s syndrome.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department invests over £1.6 billion each year on research through its research delivery arm, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
The NIHR has funded a number of research projects on Tourette’s syndrome, including the live ORBIT-UK study, which aims to translate an evidence-based online behavioural therapy intervention for tics in young people into a patient-ready digital tool, deliverable at scale within the National Health Service.
The NIHR continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and social care, including Tourette’s syndrome. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality. Welcoming applications on Tourette’s syndrome to all NIHR programmes enables maximum flexibility both in terms of the amount of research funding a particular area can be awarded, and the type of research which can be funded.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to take steps to ensure that specialist medical services are accessible outside London.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Specialised services are typically delivered on a scale that allows for some concentration of clinical expertise and for the management of relatively small caseloads. As such, it is more likely that some patients may need to travel further to access high-quality services. Commissioners are required to review the geographic spread of patients and to reflect this in their commissioning strategies, which may include the use of remote appointments, shared care models, outreach, education and training, and support with travel and accommodation.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
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 introducing NICE guidance for (a) Tourette’s Syndrome and (b) other tic disorders.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has established a prioritisation board that takes decisions on which topics should be prioritised for the development of a clinical guideline, in line with the criteria set out in NICE’s published prioritisation framework, and through engagement with experts and other interested parties. The prioritisation board recently considered the development of a guideline on Tourette’s and tic disorders and concluded that many of the challenges relate to service provision, where NICE guidance is likely to have limited impact. It was, however, recognised that there could be value in developing a clinical knowledge summary on this topic, and NICE is exploring this possibility further.
NICE has produced guidance on suspected neurological conditions, which includes recommendations on treatment for tics and involuntary movements in adults and children. The guidance can be found at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng127/
On 7 May 2025, NICE published Early Value Assessment guidance on digital therapy for chronic tic disorders and Tourette syndrome. The guidance states that Online Remote Behavioural Intervention for Tics, created by the National Institute for Health and Care Research’s MindTech national research centre, can be used with standard care in the National Health Service during an evidence generation period as an option to treat chronic tic disorders and Tourette syndrome in children and young people nine to 17 years old. Further information on the digital therapy for chronic tic disorders and Tourette syndrome is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/hte25
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many civil servants in his Department are working on the (a) findings and (b) implementation of recommendations from the 2023 Learning from Lives and Deaths – People with a Learning Disability and Autistic People annual report.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise that the Learning from Lives and Deaths (LeDeR) programme as a crucial source of evidence that helps to identify the key improvements needed to tackle health disparities and to prevent the avoidable deaths of people with a learning disability and autistic people. There is no fixed number of people working on LeDeR within the Department, as the programme is run by NHS England, and the Department’s involvement varies depending on the programme’s requirements and findings from each year’s report.
Alongside the forthcoming publication of the next LeDeR report, NHS England will publish an Action from Learning report. This highlights the work across the country by integrated care boards to improve services for people with a learning disability and autism. The learning disability and autism programme within NHS England is responsible for commissioning the LeDeR report and continues to work with other NHS England programmes to ensure that they consider the needs of people with a learning disability and autistic people when looking at pathways of care and needs assessments.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department plans to publish the findings of the 2023-24 Learning from Lives and Deaths – People with a Learning Disability and Autistic People report.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England commissions Kings College London and its partners to analyse data from the Learning from Lives and Deaths - people with a learning disability and autistic people (LeDeR) reports. The annual LeDeR report is published by Kings College London, who are currently working on the next annual report, which NHS England advises will be published shortly. The last report was published in November 2023, and can be found at the following link:
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/ioppn/assets/fans-dept/leder-2022-v2.0.pdf
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to help tackle ageism in healthcare services.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme on 5 June 2025 to Question 54136.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department take steps with the (a) Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry and (b) Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to further digitise paper-based patient information leaflets through the UK Electronic Patient Information Task Force.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has worked with the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry through the UK Electronic Patient Information Task Force on the potential digitisation of the paper-based patient information leaflets.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is committed to continuing to engage with healthcare partners and patients to identify opportunities to enable better patient access to healthcare information that fulfils the needs of patients.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
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 (a) review and (b) improve NHS App accessibility for (i) people with visual impairment and (ii) other people.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are working to improve access to digital services, outcomes, and experiences for the widest range of people, based on their preferences. Patients unable to use digital channels can continue to access services via telephone and through traditional face to face services.
We conduct user research on an ongoing basis with users from diverse backgrounds to ensure our service works for everyone. This includes patients with a range of access needs and diverse groups, for instance ethnic minority groups, those with visual impairments, neurodiversity, and physical impairments. We have recruited users who are blind or partially sighted in community-based research, research with local National Health Service teams, and in remote research, either one to one or in groups. We use the findings of user research to plan and prioritise new work to improve accessibility.
Centrally built services, such as the NHS App and NHS website, are designed to meet international accessibility standards. We are modernising the mobile patient experience within the NHS App, ensuring information is clearly structured and easy to find and understand.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
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 implement the recommendations outlined in the Patient Safety Commissioner's report entitled The Safety Gap, published in March 2025.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We welcome the Patient Safety Commissioner’s (PSC) report, The Safety Gap – Safety and Accessibility of Medicines and Medical Devices for people with sensory impairment, highlighting the experiences of people with sensory impairment or loss when accessing and using medicines and medical devices safely. Officials in the Department, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, and NHS England are considering how to take forward the report’s recommendations, and will update the PSC at the earliest opportunity.