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, if his Department will allocate funding to ensure that every patient at the Royal Preston Hospital who requires radiotherapy treatment is able to access it.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Decisions about funding for radiotherapy treatment are taken at a local National Health Service level, rather than by the Department, and there are no plans to change this.
All cancer patients have access to radiotherapy treatment. Decisions about cancer treatment are typically made by clinicians and multidisciplinary teams of healthcare professionals.
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 plans to allocate additional funding to radiotherapy treatment in the North West of England.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Decisions about funding for radiotherapy treatment are taken at a local National Health Service level, rather than by the Department, and there are no plans to change this.
All cancer patients have access to radiotherapy treatment. Decisions about cancer treatment are typically made by clinicians and multidisciplinary teams of healthcare professionals.
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 patients resident in the postcode district (a) LA2, (b) LA5, (c) LA6, (d) LA7, (e) LA8, (f) LA9, (g) LA10, (h) LA11, (i) LA12, (j) LA13, (k) LA14, (l) LA15, (m) LA16, (n) LA17, (o) LA18, (p) LA19, (q) LA20, (r) LA21, (s) LA22 and (t) LA23 received radiotherapy treatment at the Rosemere Cancer Centre, Royal Preston Hospital in each of the last five years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The attached table shows the number of patients who received radiotherapy treatment at the Rosemere Cancer Centre, Royal Preston Hospital each year between 2019 and 2024 for the postcode districts 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 he has made of the average travel distance for cancer patients from South Cumbria and North Lancashire required to attend Royal Preston Hospital for radiotherapy.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England and the integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning and ensuring healthcare needs of local communities in England are met. For the Royal Preston Hospital, this is the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board.
The National Health Service in England runs schemes to provide financial assistance for travel to a hospital or other NHS premises for specialist NHS treatment or diagnostics tests, when referred by a doctor or other primary healthcare professional. The NHS Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme provides financial assistance to patients who do not have a medical need for transport, but who require assistance with the costs of travelling to receive certain NHS services.
The Department has not made any assessment of average travel distances in the South Cumbria and North Lancashire area.
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 steps his Department has taken to increase availability of Megestrol 160mg tablets for surgery based pharmacies.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are aware of supply issues affecting Megestrol Acetate 160 milligram tablets, for which we issued comprehensive management guidance to the National Health Service. This supply issue should start being resolved the week commencing 14 July 2025. We continue to work with the supplier to ensure full resolution.
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 assessment his Department has made of the potential reasons for the level of availability of Megestrol 160mg tablets.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are aware of supply issues affecting Megestrol Acetate 160 milligram tablets, for which we issued comprehensive management guidance to the National Health Service. This supply issue should start being resolved the week commencing 14 July 2025. We continue to work with the supplier to ensure full resolution.
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 assessment he has made of the potential merits of increased regulation on the nutritional value of baby food.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Children’s early years provide an important foundation for their future health and strongly influences many aspects of wellbeing in later life.
It is vital that we maintain the highest standards for foods consumed by babies and infants, which is why we have regulations in place that set nutritional and compositional standards for commercial baby food. The regulations also set labelling standards to ensure consumers have clear and accurate information about the products they buy. We continue to keep these regulations under review to ensure they reflect the latest scientific and dietary guidelines.
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 availability of dental appointments for women.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are aware of the challenges faced in accessing a dentist and are committed to reducing health inequalities.
The Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access National Health Service dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the sector, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.
The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the integrated care boards across England.
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, if his Department will publish all correspondence between the NHS, his Department and Ministers on AI auto contouring funding in 2024.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not plan to publish correspondence between the National Health Service and Ministers on this topic from 2024.
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, for what reason the NHS was preparing for AI auto contouring funding in September 2024; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of not providing this funding on planning by radiotherapy departments.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to transforming diagnostic services, and will support the National Health Service to increase capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment in new capacity, including magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners. While no assessment has been made, we will continue to monitor developments and any potential impacts on waiting times.
All future spending commitments beyond 2025/26, including this one, will be determined through the next phase of the Spending Review process, which will conclude in June.
We will be spending £70 million on new radiotherapy machines, to ensure the most advanced treatment is available to patients who need it.
The Department will continue to look at opportunities to utilise artificial intelligence to diagnostic performance and ultimately bring down waiting times.