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.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 19 May 2022 to Question 1489 on Dementia: Diagnosis, whether he has had discussions with NHS England on whether the additional funding allocated to support general practitioners to pilot diagnostic approaches is likely to increase the number of dementia diagnoses in 2022-23.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
We have had no specific discussions. However, NHS England and NHS Improvement are funding a project to fund two trusts in each region to pilot the Diagnosing Advanced Dementia Mandate tool to improve diagnosis of dementia in care homes. NHS England and NHS Improvement are holding a webinar in June 2022 on using this resource.
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 he has made an assessment of the impact of the funding his Department provided for tackling dementia waiting lists and increasing dementia diagnoses in 2021-22 on the national dementia diagnosis rate in the most recent period for which data is available.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
No formal assessment has yet been made. NHS England and NHS Improvement continue to monitor the monthly diagnosis rate and are analysing trends at regional and sustainability and transformation partnership level to aid targeted recovery efforts. We will set out plans for dementia in England for the next 10 years later this year, including the specific health and care needs of people living with dementia and their carers and dementia diagnoses.