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 patients with a high body mass index are able to access joint replacement surgery in line with NICE guidelines.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department has made no specific assessment of this criterion alone.

As with all surgery, body mass index would be considered as part of a holistic, personalised, perioperative evaluation of the risks versus the clinical need for joint replacement surgery of an individual patient. However, body mass index should not be considered in isolation and in and of itself should not act as a barrier to surgery.

For example, blanket body mass index thresholds for surgery should not be in place or used as a means of determining eligibility for surgery.

As part of the NHS Elective Reform Plan there is a commitment to expand access to the NHS Digital Weight Management Programme for patients waiting for hip and knee surgery.

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 effectiveness of the use of body mass index criteria as a means to accessing treatment such as joint replacement surgery.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department has made no specific assessment of this criterion alone.

As with all surgery, body mass index would be considered as part of a holistic, personalised, perioperative evaluation of the risks versus the clinical need for joint replacement surgery of an individual patient. However, body mass index should not be considered in isolation and in and of itself should not act as a barrier to surgery.

For example, blanket body mass index thresholds for surgery should not be in place or used as a means of determining eligibility for surgery.

As part of the NHS Elective Reform Plan there is a commitment to expand access to the NHS Digital Weight Management Programme for patients waiting for hip and knee surgery.

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 new Neighbourhood Health Services support people living with (a) arthritis and (b) other musculoskeletal conditions.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Improving health and work outcomes of people with arthritis and musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions will help deliver the Government’s missions to build a National Health Service fit for the future and kickstart economic growth.

The 10-Year Health plan sets out our vision for a neighbourhood health service. Neighbourhood teams will bring together professionals, including nurses, doctors, social care staff, pharmacists and health visitors, to provide comprehensive care that fits around people’s lives. Neighbourhood health approaches can help ensure that people with MSK conditions receive more personalised and coordinated support, reducing unnecessary hospital visits and enabling earlier, community-based interventions. We expect neighbourhood teams and services to be designed in a way that reflects the specific needs of local populations, and involve NHS, local authority and voluntary sector services.

People with MSK conditions will also soon be able to bypass their general practitioners (GPs) and directly access community services, including physiotherapy, pain management and orthopaedics, in the NHS App. The landmark change will deliver faster treatment for the flare up of existing conditions including arthritis, backpain and joint pain, while enabling GPs to focus on more complex cases, reducing pressure on hospitals and freeing up general practices.

We have launched the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme, which will support systems across the country by driving innovation and integration at a local level, to accelerate improvements in outcomes, satisfaction and experience for people by ensuring that care is more joined up, accessible and responsive to community needs.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how the upcoming NHS Workforce plan will ensure recruitment and retention of the rheumatology workforce.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure that the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it. To support this, the Department and NHS England will be engaging with key stakeholders to ensure that the particular needs of different patient groups and relevant health professionals are reflected in this work.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to include people with arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions in the development of employment support programmes.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Good work is generally good for health and wellbeing, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. Backed by £240 million of investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched last November and will drive forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity and work toward the long-term ambition of an 80% employment rate.

Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group, so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key. The Government is committed to supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, including arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions, with their employment journey. We therefore have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems.

Measures include support from work coaches and disability employment advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through employment advisors in NHS Talking Therapies, individual placement and support in primary care, and WorkWell.

Job reductions at news publisher Reach plc

High street gambling reform

Armed Forces Training Contract and Elbit Systems

Found: forward, even though we have plenty of progress to make, including Rosie Cooper, Maria Eagle and Vicky Foxcroft

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