Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the guidance by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) entitled Endometriosis: diagnosis and management, NG73, published on 6 September 2017, if he will hold discussions with NICE on (a) reviewing and (b) updating that guidance to help improve (i) the (A) pharmacological and (B) non-pharmacological approaches for pain management, (ii) care pathways for endometriosis outside the pelvic cavity and (iii) mental health support.
Answered by Caroline Johnson - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent body responsible for its published guidelines. NICE’s guideline on the diagnosis and management of endometriosis includes recommendations on pharmacological pain management and organisation of care. It also states that women with suspected or confirmed endometriosis should be provided with information and support that takes into account their psychosexual and emotional needs.
NICE updated this guideline in 2021 to highlight that people 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 currently reviewing its guideline to determine whether it should be updated.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what her policy is on providing specialist NHS help to every mother following a miscarriage.
Answered by Caroline Johnson - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
It is our ambition that every maternity service should have a bereavement specialist midwife. Mental health services in England have been expanded to include new mental health ‘hubs’ for new, expectant or bereaved mothers. The hubs will offer treatment for a range of mental health issues, such as post-traumatic stress disorder after miscarrying or giving birth and fear of childbirth, to approximately 6,000 women in the first year.
We plan to introduce a pregnancy loss certificate in England, as recommended by the interim update of the independent Pregnancy Loss Review. This will allow a non-statutory, voluntary scheme to enable parents who have experienced a loss before 24 weeks of pregnancy to record and receive a certificate to provide recognition of their loss.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will (a) provide an above inflation pay rise to NHS workers in 2022 and (b) ensure that that pay rise takes into account real term changes in NHS workers' pay since 2010; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of a below inflation pay rise on NHS staff (i) retention, (ii) vacancies and (iii) recruitment.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The Government has accepted the recommendations made by the independent Pay Review Bodies (PRBs) for National Health Service staff. The majority of NHS staff, including nurses, paramedics and midwives, will receive an increase in basic pay of at least 4% to 9.3%. The PRBs’ recommendations are based on an assessment of evidence from a range of stakeholders, including NHS system partners, trades unions and the Government, which consider recruitment, retention and staff motivation.
The NHS People Plan focuses on retaining staff by improving the experience of working in the NHS, including measures which address health and wellbeing. The NHS Retention Programme also targets interventions to support staff to remain in the NHS and understand the reasons why staff leave.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
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 in response to the report entitled Recovering diabetes care: preventing the mounting crisis, published by Diabetes UK; and what estimate he has made of when the standard and speed of healthcare for people received with diabetes will return to pre covid-19 pandemic levels.
Answered by James Morris
We are aware of the recent Diabetes UK report. NHS England’s Diabetes Programme continues to work with systems on the restoration of routine care provision and to address health inequalities.
The ‘2022/23 priorities and operational planning guidance’ asks that processes within diabetes care are restored to pre-pandemic levels by the end of March 2023. In 2022/23, we have allocated £36 million to integrated care systems (ICS), weighted by local levels of economic deprivation, to support the recovery of routine diabetes care. Each ICS is finalising operational plans for prioritised activities to support recovery.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
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 teaching on eating disorders in medical schools; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure doctors have the training, knowledge and skills required to identify and support people with an eating disorder.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
No specific assessment has been made. However, the Department has engaged with partners through the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s Delivery Group, led by NHS England and NHS Improvement, to improve adult eating disorder services.
NHS England and NHS Improvement are working with Health Education England to develop and increase the specialist eating disorder workforce and improve the skills of staff in other health settings. This includes working with the General Medical Council to ensure eating disorders are included among outcome measures for newly qualified clinicians and with the Medical Schools Council to increase the coverage of eating disorders in undergraduate study. NHS England and NHS Improvement are also working with the Royal College of Psychiatrists to support the implementation of new guidance on medical emergencies in eating disorders to support healthcare professionals in a range of settings.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
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 impact of the decision to end free access to lateral flow tests on the rates of covid-19 (a) infection, (b) severe illness and (c) death for people who are (i) at highest risk of developing severe covid-19 and (ii) clinically vulnerable to covid-19; and if the Government will reinstate the provision of free lateral flow covid-19 tests.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The most recent data indicates that rates of infection, hospitalisation and deaths in England have declined in the last month. We will continue to monitor prevalence and other factors to determine whether additional testing may be required.
For those who are immunosuppressed, testing to support effective COVID-19 treatments remains available. We will keep data on rates of infection, severe illness and death among all groups under review, including those whose immune systems mean they are at higher risk from COVID-19.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of his policy to end free access to lateral flow tests for visiting people in care homes on (a) the distributional impact of the costs of such tests for those visiting loved ones and (b) the rates of covid-19 (i) infection, (ii) illness and (iii) death among care home residents; and whether the Government will consider revising this policy.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
We keep the testing policies under review. Current data shows that rates of infection, illness and death among care home residents continue to decline. However, symptomatic testing continues to be available for those in social care settings. While the guidance no longer requires most visitors to test before entering care settings in England, for those who wish to do so a range of tests are available from providers such as high street pharmacies at various price points. For those residents who require support with personal care, these visitors should test in line with the Government’s guidance for care staff using free lateral flow device tests provided by the care setting.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
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 ensure universal access to fracture liaison services; and what recent assessment his Department has made of the impact of the absence of universal service availability on the health of those with osteoporosis and bone health conditions.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
We are currently assessing the accessibility of fracture liaison services (FLS) through data collected in the national Falls and Fragility Fracture Audit Programme. This aims to identify any inequitable provision and improve services.
Services for those with osteoporosis and bone health conditions are commissioned locally. The Department expects musculoskeletal, fragility fracture and fall services to be fully incorporated into integrated care systems’ planning and decision-making. This will allow greater collaboration, improve the coverage and sustainability of services and development of regional bone health clinical networks to support clinicians working in FLS.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of the proposals of the Rights for Residents campaign to strengthen the visitation rights of care home residents.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
We currently are considering options to ensure visits can take place in all circumstances, which includes legislative routes.