Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of performance against the 62-day referral to treatment cancer standard in England.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In February 2024, 63.9% of patients, against the standard of 85%, received treatment within 62 days of an urgent suspected cancer or breast symptomatic referral or consultant upgrade, to a first definitive treatment for cancer. This is 1.6% higher than performance in January 2024, and 1.4% higher than the same time last year.
The pandemic and recent industrial action placed significant pressure on elective services, including cancer care. We are seeing record levels of referrals, with over 12,000 urgent referrals seen for suspected cancer per working day in February 2024.
As outlined in the 2024/25 NHS England Planning Guidance, NHS England is providing over £266 million in cancer service development funding to Cancer Alliances to support delivery of the operational priorities for cancer, which includes increasing and prioritising diagnostic and treatment capacity. The Government remains committed to continuing its recovery from the pandemic, and specifically, to reduce local and national waiting times for cancer treatment.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of the NHS using hydrotreated vegetable oil as an alternative to fossil fuels.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Supply Chain has trialled hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) in its vehicles, and continues to assess HVO’s long-term viability as a fuel source for its network. A 2023 trial showed a 90% reduction in carbon emissions, though not other greenhouse gases, offered by HVO, although it also identified a 62% uplift in fuel costs. Whilst the National Health Service is committed to reducing reliance on fossil fuels across its operations, it will only roll out new measures where they are both fit-for-purpose and cost effective.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool, West Derby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of adapting HTM 01-04: Decontamination of linen for health and social care guidance to include plastics and linen substitutes.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made of the potential merits of adapting HTM 01-04: Decontamination of linen for health and social care guidance, to include plastics and linen substitutes.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
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 ensure (a) transparency and (b) parental consent in clinical trials involving children.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are legal measures in place to ensure informed consent in clinical trials, through the Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations 2004. Parental consent for clinical trials investigating medicines which involve children is also legislated for via the same Regulations.
Promoting and ensuring transparency is central to the role of the Health Research Authority to facilitate safe and ethical research as defined in the Care Act 2014. This includes clinical trials involving children.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what measures are in place to ensure informed consent in clinical trials.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are legal measures in place to ensure informed consent in clinical trials, through the Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations 2004. Parental consent for clinical trials investigating medicines which involve children is also legislated for via the same Regulations.
Promoting and ensuring transparency is central to the role of the Health Research Authority to facilitate safe and ethical research as defined in the Care Act 2014. This includes clinical trials involving children.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
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 ensure that there are sufficient numbers of Parkinson’s specialist nurses.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, backed by more than £2.4 billion over the next five years, the National Health Service will focus on expanding the number of clinicians, including nurses, who train to take up enhanced and advanced roles, and work as part of multidisciplinary teams with the right skills to meet the changing needs of patients. The ambition is to train at least 3,000 advanced practitioners in 2024 and 2025 across all specialties, and to increase the number in training to 5,000 a year by 2029. The Long Term Workforce Plan also sets out actions and reforms needed to improve workforce supply and retention.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
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 ensure that Parkinson’s specialist nurses are retained in the profession.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, backed by more than £2.4 billion over the next five years, the National Health Service will focus on expanding the number of clinicians, including nurses, who train to take up enhanced and advanced roles, and work as part of multidisciplinary teams with the right skills to meet the changing needs of patients. The ambition is to train at least 3,000 advanced practitioners in 2024 and 2025 across all specialties, and to increase the number in training to 5,000 a year by 2029. The Long Term Workforce Plan also sets out actions and reforms needed to improve workforce supply and retention.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she will make an assessment of the potential merits of taking legislative steps to stop private clinics prescribing puberty-blockers to children.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Following the publication of Dr Cass’ Final Report, my Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has made a commitment to look closely at what can be done to curtail any loopholes in prescribing practices for children with gender dysphoria, including legislative options.
The Care Quality Commission will expect registered providers to take into account the recommendations of the Cass Review. If a private organisation registered with the Care Quality Commission fails to meet the conditions of its registration, then the regulator can take enforcement action.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many nurses have worked in NHS community health services on average in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England publishes Hospital and Community Health Services workforce statistics for England. These include staff working for hospital trusts and integrated care boards, but excludes staff working for other providers such as in primary care, general practice or social care. This data is drawn from the Electronic Staff Record, the human resources system for the National Health Service.
The latest statistics on NHS nursing workforce by area of nursing and care setting can be found in the link below within the ‘Nurses by Setting’ worksheet:
Within this data there are nurses working in community settings within several staff groups including community health nurses, community learning disability nurses, community mental health nurses, and as health visitors.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will have discussions with NHS England on the effectiveness of its Commercial Framework in tackling challenges presented by the appraisal and reimbursement system when applied to combination medicines and medicines with multiple indications.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of the 2024 voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing, access, and growth, NHS England has committed to undertake two consultations on its Commercial Framework for New Medicines. The first of these will be launched in summer 2024 and will align with the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) statement on combination medicines. In addition, it will be more explicit about the approach taken for assessing the eligibility of medicines treating multiple indications to qualify for indication specific pricing mechanisms.
Following the first consultation, a revised framework will be published by the end of 2024, and engagement with pharmaceutical companies and patient groups on these issues is already taking place.