Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she will take steps to promote the recruitment of dentists from overseas by the NHS.
Answered by Will Quince
There are no plans to promote the recruitment of dentists from overseas by the National Health Service.
The Government is currently making changes to the General Dental Council’s (GDC) international registration legislation which will allow the GDC greater flexibility to improve its existing international registration process and introduce alternative routes to registration for international applicants whilst maintaining its focus on robust public protection. We are aiming to introduce these changes by the end of 2022, subject to the Parliamentary process and time.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the average units of dental activity delivered by each NHS dentist in each Parliamentary constituency in each of the last five years.
Answered by Will Quince
This information is not collected in the format requested.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the number of whole time equivalent dentists providing NHS dentistry in England by Parliamentary constituency.
Answered by Will Quince
The information requested is not held at constituency level.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what her policy is on allowing local NHS commissioners to use flexible commissioning to improve the training of dentists, including clinicians from outside the UK.
Answered by Will Quince
NHS England is able to use flexible commissioning to convert units of dental activity to activity which focuses on priority areas, such as improving access to urgent care or targeting high risk patient groups. On 29 March 2021, NHS England released a flexible commissioning toolkit for regional commissioners to provide good practice which can be implemented locally. NHS England is monitoring the use of these measures.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS dental contracts have been handed back in each NHS region in of the last five financial years.
Answered by Will Quince
Information on the number of contract terminations at the request of the contractor in each region in England in 2021/22 and 2022/23 is attached. Information prior to 2021/22 is not held centrally.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
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 national guidelines for the prescription of Evusheld.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Government has decided not to procure Evusheld for prevention through emergency routes at this time. This is a decision based on independent clinical advice by the multi-agency RAPID C-19 and a United Kingdom national expert policy working group. These groups considered a range of evidence, including clinical trial data, in vitro analysis and emerging observational studies and concluded there is currently insufficient evidence of benefit to recommend deployment. The Chief Medical Officer for England is content that the correct process for providing clinical advice has been followed and it should be referred to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence for further evaluation.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many cancer patients waited more than two weeks from initial diagnosis to beginning their 62-day treatment pathway in Q4 2021-22.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The information requested is not currently held centrally.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what role he is planning for community pharmacies in delivering the Government’s levelling up commitments.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework 2019/24 sets out the role of community pharmacy in improving public health and prevention. All community pharmacies are now Healthy Living Pharmacies, providing healthy living advice and health promotion locally.
While we have had no specific discussions, community pharmacies are approximately two to three times more common in areas of deprivation. National prevention services, such as blood pressure checks, smoking cessation services following hospital discharge, treatment and advice for minor illnesses and medication support have been commissioned from community pharmacy in the last three years to improve health outcomes. Community pharmacies can be commissioned locally to deliver a range of health and prevention services, such as COVID-19 vaccinations.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential impact of community pharmacies on equality of healthcare outcomes in England.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework 2019/24 sets out the role of community pharmacy in improving public health and prevention. All community pharmacies are now Healthy Living Pharmacies, providing healthy living advice and health promotion locally.
While we have had no specific discussions, community pharmacies are approximately two to three times more common in areas of deprivation. National prevention services, such as blood pressure checks, smoking cessation services following hospital discharge, treatment and advice for minor illnesses and medication support have been commissioned from community pharmacy in the last three years to improve health outcomes. Community pharmacies can be commissioned locally to deliver a range of health and prevention services, such as COVID-19 vaccinations.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
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 cancer patients diagnosed by secondary care in Quarter 4 of 2021-22 had been seen and not diagnosed by another secondary care practitioner within the previous six months.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
This information is not collected in the format requested.