Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the policy paper entitled Women’s Health Strategy for England, published 30 August 2022, CP 736, what recent progress he has made on relieving (a) financial and (b) other practical burdens to gain access to IVF for female same-sex couples.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The Women’s Health Strategy contained a number of important changes and future ambitions to improve the variations in access to National Health Service (NHS) funded fertility services.
The Strategy sets out our commitment to remove financial burdens on female sex couples being able to access NHS funded treatment. The Department is currently working with NHS England to implement this through local Integrated Care Board, with the intention that this change is made from April 2023.
The Government supports transgender people receiving the healthcare and support they require. We expect fertility services to be commissioned in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines, ensuring equal access to fertility treatment and preservation across England. Partners who are transgender men, or non-binary people assigned female at birth, fall within the NICE definition of same-sex couples, as they require Intrauterine Insemination as a first line of treatment.
In addition, NICE is currently reviewing its fertility guidelines and will consider whether the current recommendations for access to NHS funded treatment and preservation are still appropriate. We expect that this review will be published in 2024.
Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)
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 ensure that specialist medical services are accessible in all regions of England.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
NHS England and integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning and ensuring healthcare needs of local communities are met. Specialised services may be located in specialised hospitals because they are capable of recruiting a team of staff with the appropriate expertise to perform the required treatments.
Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has plans to increase the number of specialist practitioners (a) researching and (b) treating Tourette Syndrome.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Patients with Tourette’s syndrome can require support from a range of professionals, including clinical psychologists and neurologists. Health Education England has supported an 85 percent expansion in the clinical psychology training intake over the past three years. This expansion model is expected to achieve a growth of 2,520 additional psychologists in the National Health Service workforce by 2025. The number of postgraduate neurology training posts in England will also increase by 5 from August 2023.
There are no specific plans to increase the number of specialist practitioners researching Tourette’s syndrome.
Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)
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 take steps to improve the quality of training on (a) Tourette’s syndrome and (b) other tic disorders for service providers.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Individual employers are responsible for ensuring that staff are trained, competent and have the necessary skills to safely and effectively treat patients in their care, including those with Tourette’s syndrome and other neurological disorders.
A new curriculum for dual training in neurology and internal medicine produced by the Joint Royal Colleges of Physicians Training Board is being implemented to manage the growth in people with neurological disorders who can be treated and require long-term management, and those who present acutely to neurology, stroke and general medical services. Health Education England’s e-learning for healthcare also offers training packages including content on Tourette’s syndrome.
Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has plans to increase the level of funding for research into the (a) causes of and (b) treatments for Tourette syndrome.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The Department, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has funded or supported studies into the causes and treatments for Tourette’s syndrome. This includes a study on deep brain stimulation in people with Tourette’s syndrome and a digital behavioural intervention for tics in children and adolescents.
In 2021/22, the NIHR spent £120 million on mental health research, which is a significant year on year increase in investment and we expect this funding to continue in the future. NIHR funding for research into the causes and treatments for Tourette's syndrome is available through open competition and we encourage researchers to submit applications in these areas.
Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to provide guidance on (a) Tourette Syndrome and (b) other tic disorders.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Clinical guideline topics are formally referred to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) by NHS England and take into account factors such as available evidence and clinical need.
In line with its process for considering requests for new guidelines, NICE has considered the possible development of a guideline on Tourette syndrome, which was discussed at a meeting of the cross-agency topic prioritisation group in November 2022. The group did not consider this topic to be a national priority at this time and therefore decided not to prioritise development of a NICE guideline on Tourette syndrome.
Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time for breast reconstruction was in each hospital trust in each financial year since 2017.
Answered by Will Quince
A table showing a count of elective finished admission episodes with a main operative procedure of breast reconstruction by hospital provider, and the mean and median waiting time to admission for each year from 2017/18 to 2021/22 is attached.
Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she expects NICE to update its guidelines on endometriosis care and research.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent body responsible for whether its published guidelines should be updated in light of new evidence or emerging issues not in the scope of the original guideline. NICE maintains surveillance of new evidence which may affect its published guidance and would consult on proposed changes with a wide range of stakeholders if significant new evidence were to emerge.
NICE carried out a review of its endometriosis guideline in 2021 which was amended to highlight that those patients with endometriosis outside the pelvic cavity should be referred to a specialist endometriosis centre. In light of the continued interest in this topic, NICE is now undertaking a further review of its guideline.