Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to issue revised guidance on the placement of people with Gender Recognition Certificates who have undergone surgery on hospital wards.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is currently reviewing its Delivering same-sex accommodation guidance and will ensure that it reflects the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland Ltd v. The Scottish Ministers ruling, and is aligned with the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s statutory Code of Practice (the Code) when that becomes available.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to provide an answer to Question 89730 on Chronic Illnesses: Diagnosis.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 27 November 2025 to Question 89730.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South and Walkden)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps is his Department taking to ensure people with suspected autoimmune or inflammatory conditions are referred to rheumatology services within 3 weeks.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to supporting people with long-term conditions and ensuring they receive the support that they need, including referral to specialist services as appropriate.
To support health and care professionals in the early diagnosis and management of rheumatoid autoimmune or inflammatory conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published expert guidance. This guidance states that people with suspected persistent synovitis, a condition closely associated with RA, should be assessed in a rheumatology service within three weeks of referral.
The Getting It Right First Time Programme for Rheumatology has published a report for healthcare professionals on the diagnosis and management of a range of rheumatic and musculoskeletal disorders, including autoimmune and inflammatory conditions. The report includes several recommendations designed to help reduce the number of unnecessary hospital visits and reduce waiting times for outpatient rheumatology services, including guidance on best approach for establishing patient initiated follow up, and specialist advice.
More widely, the Elective Reform Plan recognises that the traditional delivery of outpatient care, via a hospital appointment with a specialist, can be resource intensive and is often not the right model for clinicians, patients, or their carers. Digital solutions, updated financial flows, appropriate job planning, and time and investment will lead to meaningful reform to outpatient services, including rheumatology services.
The 10-Year Health Plan sets out further our vision for elective care by 2035, where most interactions no longer take place in a hospital building, instead happening virtually or via neighbourhood services. Planned care will be more efficient, timely, and effective and will put control in the hands of patients, including those with suspected autoimmune or inflammatory conditions.
We are also committed to transforming and expanding diagnostic services and speeding up waiting times for tests. This includes investment in new and expanded community diagnostic centres, which is supporting a key Government priority to shift care from the hospital to the community, and offer the tests needed to support diagnosis of suspected rheumatoid autoimmune or inflammatory conditions such as RA.
Asked by: Lizzi Collinge (Labour - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to review the duration of medical exemption certificates for people with (a) type 1 diabetes and (b) other lifelong conditions.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Medical exemption certificates allow people with certain medical conditions to obtain their NHS prescriptions without charge, although not all the qualifying conditions which provide exemption are necessarily life-long.
The five-year duration ensures that a patient’s continued eligibility is confirmed by a health professional, whilst minimising the burden on the patient and healthcare staff and creating a check point at least once every five years on the accuracy of patient details for verification of claims for exemption and for fraud detection purposes.
Therefore, there are currently no plans to review the duration of medical exemption certificates for people with type 1 diabetes and other lifelong conditions.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
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 improve survival rates of out of hospital cardiac arrests in the North West.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise that there is more to do to improve cardiac arrest survival, including in the North West. The 10-Year Health Plan sets out the reforms and radical shifts needed to improve National Health Services and deliver better patient outcomes and includes a focus on improving cardiovascular disease detection and prevention. Key initiatives include improving the early detection and treatment of high-risk conditions like atrial fibrillation, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol, known as 'the ABCs', to prevent heart attacks and strokes, which can lead to cardiac arrest.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
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 improve (a) diagnosis and (b) management of patients with (i) overlapping and (ii) co-existing chronic illnesses.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise the increasing prevalence of co-existing chronic illnesses and the importance of developing strategies to support people living with multiple co-morbidities. For that reason, we have appointed a dedicated National Specialty Advisor for Multi-Morbidity.
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, more tests and scans delivered in the community, better joint working between services, and greater use of technology will all support people to manage overlapping and co-existing chronic illnesses closer to home.
Neighbourhood health services will be organised around the needs of their patients and will take a joined-up, holistic approach with multi-disciplinary teams who can provide wrap-around support services to people with overlapping and co-existing chronic illnesses.
The NHS App will be enhanced to allow patients to manage appointments and medications, and view or create their own care plans. My Medicines will enable patients to manage their prescriptions, and My Health will enable patients to monitor their symptoms and bring all their data into one place. Patients will be able to self-refer to services where clinically appropriate through My Specialist on the NHS App. This will accelerate their access to treatment and support.
Our 10-Year Health Plan outlines our ambition for 95% of people with complex needs to have an agreed care plan by 2027. Care plans will be co-created with patients and cover their holistic needs. We will also expand the uptake of personal health budgets. By 2030, one million patients with long-term conditions will be offered Personal Health Budgets, which will enable them to use National Health Service resources and determine care that best suits their needs. It will provide patients with greater choice and control over their care, leading to better health outcomes and increased independence.
We will also introduce a new Single Patient Record across the NHS, which will bring together a patient’s medical records all into one place. It will mean that no matter where a patient is accessing care, in the community or in a hospital, the care provider will have a comprehensive understanding of their medical history.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
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 timely access to chemosaturation for patients with metastatic ocular (uveal) melanoma.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department remains committed to ensuring that cancer patients, including those with metastatic ocular melanoma, have timely access to treatment and tailored medical support.
In 2016, NHS England concluded that there was insufficient evidence to make chemosaturation treatment available to patients on the National Health Service. NHS England is currently in the early stages of policy development for chemosaturation to treat metastatic uveal melanoma where surgery to remove or destroy affected cells and tissue in the liver is not feasible.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published an Interventional Procedure Guidance for this treatment, and while this does allow NHS trusts to offer the treatment locally, they can only do so if they put in place special arrangements for clinical governance, consent, audit, or research, because further evidence of benefit and safety is needed. The 2016 NHS England Clinical Commissioning policy is currently under review, and we expect that a new draft policy will be shared with stakeholders over the coming months. If NHS England’s clinical panel makes the treatment routinely available across the NHS in England it will require further consideration through relative prioritisation and investment before full roll out.
The development of a Clinical Commissioning policy will determine both if the evidence is now sufficient to enable making the treatment routinely available and, if it is, whether to allocate service development funding to implement it across the NHS in England.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department have made on the impact of participation in (a) gyms, (b) swimming pools, and (c) leisure centres on men’s (i) mental and (ii) physical health.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government knows that addressing physical inactivity and getting people moving more is important for improving health outcomes, well-being, reducing demand on the National Health Service, and supporting economic growth.
Our 10-Year Health Plan sets out our ambition to break down barriers and take a cross-sector approach to building movement back into everyday lives. This requires a collective effort and there is an important role for the leisure and fitness sector through providing facilities and opportunities to get people active and reap the associated health benefits.
On 19 November, to coincide with International Men’s Day, we published England’s first ever Men’s Health Strategy. The strategy includes actions to improve access to healthcare, provide the right support to enable men to make healthier choices, develop healthy living and working conditions, foster strong social, community, and family networks, address societal norms, and tackle the biggest health problems affecting men. The strategy recognises the importance of meeting men where they are and includes investment in community-based health and suicide prevention programmes and a new partnership with the Premier League to ensure men know where to go for mental health support.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will extent the eligibility for free Covid vaccines to people with other medical conditions in West Dorset.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to protecting those most vulnerable to COVID-19 through vaccination, as guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The primary aim of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme remains the prevention of serious illness, resulting in hospitalisations and deaths, arising from COVID-19.
The JCVI has advised that population immunity to COVID-19 has been increasing due to a combination of naturally acquired immunity following recovery from infection and vaccine-derived immunity. COVID-19 is now a relatively mild disease for most people, though it can still be unpleasant, with rates of hospitalisation and death from COVID-19 having reduced significantly since COVID-19 first emerged.
The focus of the JCVI advised programme has therefore moved towards targeted vaccination of the two groups who continue to be at higher risk of serious disease, including mortality. These are the oldest adults and individuals who are immunosuppressed. The Government has accepted the JCVI’s advice for autumn 2025 and in line with the advice, a COVID-19 vaccination is being offered to the following groups:
- adults aged 75 years old and over;
- residents in care homes for older adults; and
- individuals aged six months and over who are immunosuppressed.
As for all vaccines, the JCVI keeps the evidence under regular review.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will extend eligibility for free Covid vaccines to people with heart conditions in West Dorset.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to protecting those most vulnerable to COVID-19 through vaccination, as guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The primary aim of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme remains the prevention of serious illness, resulting in hospitalisations and deaths, arising from COVID-19.
The JCVI has advised that population immunity to COVID-19 has been increasing due to a combination of naturally acquired immunity following recovery from infection and vaccine-derived immunity. COVID-19 is now a relatively mild disease for most people, though it can still be unpleasant, with rates of hospitalisation and death from COVID-19 having reduced significantly since COVID-19 first emerged.
The focus of the JCVI advised programme has therefore moved towards targeted vaccination of the two groups who continue to be at higher risk of serious disease, including mortality. These are the oldest adults and individuals who are immunosuppressed. The Government has accepted the JCVI’s advice for autumn 2025 and in line with the advice, a COVID-19 vaccination is being offered to the following groups:
- adults aged 75 years old and over;
- residents in care homes for older adults; and
- individuals aged six months and over who are immunosuppressed.
As for all vaccines, the JCVI keeps the evidence under regular review.