Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many calls were responded to by mental health joint response cars in London in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The information requested is not routinely collected centrally. Ambulance performance data is published monthly by NHS England and is available at the following link:
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many mental health ambulances are in service in (a) London and (b) England.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Department does not routinely collect data on the numbers of mental health ambulances in service across England.
NHS England advises that London Ambulance Service (LAS) have no mental health ambulances in operation. However, six mental health joint response cars are in operation across London. LAS expect twelve mental health ambulances to be in operation next year.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many calls were responded to by mental health ambulances in London in each of the last 12 months for which data is available.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
No calls were responded to by mental health ambulances in London, as London Ambulance Service (LAS) does not currently have mental health ambulances in operation.
The LAS fleet includes six mental health joint response cars which are able to respond to mental health incidents, and LAS expect twelve mental health ambulances to be in operation next year.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 20 February 2023 to Question 143688 on Orthopaedics: Surgery, if she will make an assessment of the potential (a) economic impact of delays in orthopaedic surgery and (b) impact of such delays on people with arthritis.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The Government is taking steps with NHS England to support people waiting for appointments and surgery for long-term conditions, including in trauma and orthopaedics, by offering online support, increasing elective capacity, and encouraging personalised support.
As set out in its elective recovery delivery plan, the National Health Service is increasing elective capacity and improving patient pathways to reduce avoidable delays in care. This includes funding new surgical hubs and expanding those already in operation to increase elective capacity and improve treatment waiting times for patients with long-term conditions. Through improvements to patient pathways, there will be greater end-to-end support, including help to prevent patients sustaining secondary injuries.
In addition, NHS England is developing further guidance to support local health systems to provide personalised and targeted support for patients and their carers, to help them manage their symptoms, prevent deterioration, and recover effectively from treatment.
NHS England launched the My Planned Care platform in February 2022, giving patients advice and support to manage their health and avoid significant deterioration of symptoms whilst they wait for appointments. This online platform includes advice on movement, medication, and mental health.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support her Department provides to people who are waiting for (a) trauma, (b) joint replacement and (c) other orthopaedic treatment who are unable to live independently until they receive that treatment.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The Government is taking steps with NHS England to support people waiting for appointments and surgery for long-term conditions, including in trauma and orthopaedics, by offering online support, increasing elective capacity, and encouraging personalised support.
As set out in its elective recovery delivery plan, the National Health Service is increasing elective capacity and improving patient pathways to reduce avoidable delays in care. This includes funding new surgical hubs and expanding those already in operation to increase elective capacity and improve treatment waiting times for patients with long-term conditions. Through improvements to patient pathways, there will be greater end-to-end support, including help to prevent patients sustaining secondary injuries.
In addition, NHS England is developing further guidance to support local health systems to provide personalised and targeted support for patients and their carers, to help them manage their symptoms, prevent deterioration, and recover effectively from treatment.
NHS England launched the My Planned Care platform in February 2022, giving patients advice and support to manage their health and avoid significant deterioration of symptoms whilst they wait for appointments. This online platform includes advice on movement, medication, and mental health.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support her Department provides to people who are waiting for (a) trauma, (b) joint replacement and (c) other orthopaedic treatment who have to give up their jobs until they receive that treatment.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The Government is taking steps with NHS England to support people waiting for appointments and surgery for long-term conditions, including in trauma and orthopaedics, by offering online support, increasing elective capacity, and encouraging personalised support.
As set out in its elective recovery delivery plan, the National Health Service is increasing elective capacity and improving patient pathways to reduce avoidable delays in care. This includes funding new surgical hubs and expanding those already in operation to increase elective capacity and improve treatment waiting times for patients with long-term conditions. Through improvements to patient pathways, there will be greater end-to-end support, including help to prevent patients sustaining secondary injuries.
In addition, NHS England is developing further guidance to support local health systems to provide personalised and targeted support for patients and their carers, to help them manage their symptoms, prevent deterioration, and recover effectively from treatment.
NHS England launched the My Planned Care platform in February 2022, giving patients advice and support to manage their health and avoid significant deterioration of symptoms whilst they wait for appointments. This online platform includes advice on movement, medication, and mental health.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Elective recovery taskforce: implementation plan, published by her Department on 4 August 2023, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure elective recovery remains a key priority for those with (a) arthritis and (b) musculoskeletal conditions.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
Cutting waiting lists is one of the Government’s top priorities. The National Health Service is prioritising urgent and cancer care and will continue to do its best to maintain appointments and elective services wherever possible, including joint replacement surgery and musculoskeletal services. 18-month waits for trauma and orthopaedic services have been reduced by more than 92% since September 2021.
Additionally, we are transforming the way the NHS provides elective care by increasing activity through dedicated and protected surgical hubs. This is focused on providing high volume low complexity surgery in six high volume specialties, which includes trauma and orthopaedics including joint replacement surgery, as well as other elective treatment areas such as ophthalmology, general surgery, gynaecology, Ear Nose and Throat, and urology.
94 of these such hubs are open currently, and through capital investment announced at 2021 Spending Review, the NHS plans to have 132 such centres open by March 2025.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to prioritise elective recovery for people with (a) arthritis and (b) musculoskeletal conditions.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
Cutting waiting lists is one of the Government’s top priorities. The National Health Service is prioritising urgent and cancer care and will continue to do its best to maintain appointments and elective services wherever possible, including joint replacement surgery and musculoskeletal services. 18-month waits for trauma and orthopaedic services have been reduced by more than 92% since September 2021.
Additionally, we are transforming the way the NHS provides elective care by increasing activity through dedicated and protected surgical hubs. This is focused on providing high volume low complexity surgery in six high volume specialties, which includes trauma and orthopaedics including joint replacement surgery, as well as other elective treatment areas such as ophthalmology, general surgery, gynaecology, Ear Nose and Throat, and urology.
94 of these such hubs are open currently, and through capital investment announced at 2021 Spending Review, the NHS plans to have 132 such centres open by March 2025.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to tackle backlogs in joint replacement surgery.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
Cutting waiting lists is one of the Government’s top priorities. The National Health Service is prioritising urgent and cancer care and will continue to do its best to maintain appointments and elective services wherever possible, including joint replacement surgery and musculoskeletal services. 18-month waits for trauma and orthopaedic services have been reduced by more than 92% since September 2021.
Additionally, we are transforming the way the NHS provides elective care by increasing activity through dedicated and protected surgical hubs. This is focused on providing high volume low complexity surgery in six high volume specialties, which includes trauma and orthopaedics including joint replacement surgery, as well as other elective treatment areas such as ophthalmology, general surgery, gynaecology, Ear Nose and Throat, and urology.
94 of these such hubs are open currently, and through capital investment announced at 2021 Spending Review, the NHS plans to have 132 such centres open by March 2025.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to increase the number of social care workers.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Strangford on 30 November 2023 to Question 3222.