Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the announcement made in the Women's Health Strategy published in July 2022, what assessment he has made of the impact on patients of the additional breast screening units his Department plans to fund in East Suffolk and North Essex NHS foundation trust.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust has benefited from the additional funding with new mammography equipment installed at Colchester Hospital, to replace an existing machine. This installation is expected to take place within the next few months.
Additionally, the trust’s mobile breast screening unit will be receiving a £12,000 technology upgrade as part of this programme. This upgrade will allow staff at the unit to send images back to the hospital digitally, improving efficiency.
These upgrades will benefit patients through efficiency upgrades allowing staff to spend more time in clinical settings.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
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 support people with eating disorders.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Under the NHS Long Term Plan, we will invest almost £1 billion extra in community mental health care for adults with severe mental illness by 2023/24. This will give 370,000 adults with severe mental illnesses, including eating disorders, greater choice and control over their care and support them to live well in their communities. As part of this we are expanding community eating disorder services capacity, including crisis care and intensive home treatment.
NHS England has also established 15 adult eating disorder provider collaboratives which cover the whole of England. These provider collaboratives are working to redesign the pathway for adults with eating disorders to bring care closer to home.
Since 2016, investment in children and young people's community eating disorder services has risen every year, with an extra £54 million per year from 2022/23. This extra funding will enhance the capacity of community eating disorder teams across the country.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
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 reduce waiting times at (a) East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust and (b) Ipswich Hospital.
Answered by Will Quince
It is the responsibility of East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT), of which Ipswich Hospital is a part of, to take the steps required to reduce waiting times at the trust. ESNEFT have established an admission avoidance programme, where only patients who need to be in hospital are admitted, following systematic triage by ambulance and community care services, reducing bed occupancy in the hospitals.
The trust now run extended clinics and operating lists throughout evenings and weekends to significantly increase the number of patients seen. This includes all services from consultations to diagnostic tests. The new established Community Diagnostic Centre at Clacton Hospital is providing a range of diagnostic services for outpatients and general practitioner referrals and are currently offer computerised tomography scans within just two weeks of referral. ESNEFT are reforming to provide more in the community, using virtual wards and establishing an effective discharge system.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
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 adequacy of NHS dental care provision in Ipswich constituency.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
No assessment has been made.
In September 2022, we announced ‘Our plan for patients’, which outlines how we will meet oral health needs and increase access to dental care, including in Ipswich. These will improve access to National Health Service dentistry by adults and children, whilst making the NHS dental contract more attractive to dental practices. We have implemented these changes, including through regulations that came into effect on 25 November 2022. NHS England is holding further discussions with the British Dental Association and other stakeholders for additional reforms of the NHS Dental System planned to take place in 2023
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase access to NHS dentistry in Ipswich constituency.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
In September 2022, we announced ‘Our plan for patients’, which outlines how we will meet oral health needs and increase access to dental care, including in Ipswich. These will improve access to National Health Service dentistry whilst making the NHS dental contract more attractive to dental practices. We have taken action to implement these changes, including through regulations that came into effect on 25 November 2022.
NHS England is holding further discussions with the British Dental Association and other stakeholders for additional reforms of the NHS Dental System planned to take place in 2023.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to prevent (a) ambulance and (b) nursing strikes in Suffolk.
Answered by Will Quince
The independent pay review body process (PRB) is the established mechanism for determining pay uplifts in the public sector, including for staff working in the National Health Service (NHS).
The PRBs are made up of industry experts who carefully consider evidence submitted to them from a range of stakeholders, including government and trade unions. They base their recommendations on several factors including the economic context, cost of living, recruitment and retention, morale, and motivation of NHS staff. We carefully consider their reports when we receive them. For the pay settlement in 2022-23, we accepted their recommendations in full.
Ministers have met unions several times over recent months and we are clear that it is important that we keep talking about how together we can make the NHS a better place to work. We are in regular communication with NHS England about how they can support this, and reduce the likelihood of strike action.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
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 ensure an adequate supply of antibiotics for children.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department is working urgently with manufacturers and wholesalers to explore what can be done to expedite deliveries and bring forward stock they have to help ensure it gets to where it is needed, to meet demand as quickly as possible and support access to these vital medicines, including antibiotics for children.
Serious Shortage Protocols have been issued across the United Kingdom for penicillin medicines, which will help mitigate local supply issues by allowing pharmacists to supply alternative forms of the medicine, or alternative antibiotics, if they do not have the product stated on the prescription.
The Department has well-established procedures to deal with medicine supply issues and works closely with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the pharmaceutical industry, NHS England and others within the supply chain to help prevent shortages and to ensure that the risks to patients are minimised when they do arise.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
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 reduce the number of missed GP appointments in (a) Ipswich constituency and (b) England.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
Local National Health Service organisations and general practitioner practices make their own arrangements for preventing and dealing with missed appointments. Innovative solutions to reduce rates of missed appointments are on the rise by using text message or email reminders, online cancellation forms, or offering remote appointments for those who do not need a physical examination.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve the (a) quality and (b) availability of mental health services in the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Trust.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
We are working with the NHS England, the Care Quality Commission and local partners to ensure high quality patient outcomes at the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust. Local partners are assessing how mental health services may operate in future, with options being developed for improving service delivery.
Ministers will be hosting a meeting with Hon. Members from across Norfolk and Suffolk and NHS system partners on 12 December to discuss the improvement work that is being taken to improve services at the Trust.