Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions she has had with community pharmacists on supporting people with (a) smoking and (b) vaping (i) addiction and (ii) dependency.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Quitting smoking is the best thing a smoker can do for their health and smokers are three times as likely to succeed with stop smoking services (SSS) when compared to an unsupported quit attempt. As announced in Stopping the start: our new plan to create a smokefree generation, published in October 2023, the Government is investing an additional £70 million per year for five years to support local authority-led SSS, around doubling current spend and supporting 360,000 people to set a quit date each year. Local authorities commission a variety of settings, including community pharmacy, to deliver SSS. In 2022/23, 12,165 of the 176,566 quit dates set through SSS were in a pharmacy setting. Since March 2022, hospitals have been referring patients to community pharmacy to continue the stop smoking journey they started in hospital as part of the NHS Smoking Cessation Service in community pharmacies agreed by the Department, NHS England and Community Pharmacy England. Across the country, 4841 community pharmacies have signed up to deliver the service.
In addition, we are establishing a financial incentives scheme to help pregnant smokers and their partners to quit smoking, with smoking cessation support. This evidence-based intervention will encourage pregnant women to give up smoking, and remain smokefree throughout pregnancy and beyond, helping to improve the health and wellbeing of both mother and baby.
Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 23 April 2024 to Question 22526 on Food Advertising, what her planned timetable is for (a) publishing finalised guidance and (b) laying regulations before Parliament.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 1 October 2025, the Government will introduce a United Kingdom-wide 9:00pm television watershed for the advertising of less healthy products, and a restriction of paid-for advertising of these products online. The Government has published and consulted on the draft secondary legislation needed to underpin this policy. The Government will publish its response to the consultation on the draft secondary legislation shortly, and set out the next steps in implementing the regulations.
Asked by: Baroness Merron (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what practical assistance is available for those with a physical or mental condition which prevents them from doing medical tests at home, such as bowel cancer screening, unaided.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are aware of the issues faced by some people with physical or mental health conditions that can make attending a screening appointment, or carrying out a home test, more difficult. Currently, national screening IT systems do not have the facilities to flag conditions for individuals which could make it more difficult to carry out the bowel cancer screening, fecal immunochemical test (FIT) at home. It is therefore recommended that individuals contact their general practice (GP) in these situations, so that GPs can work with the screening provider to arrange further support. For example, carrying out a FIT test at the GP or at home, with the support of a family member or community nurse.
NHS England has started work to improve its national screening IT systems through the Digital Transformation of Screening programme. This will enable screening providers to flag heath issues that may make carrying out a FIT test at home more difficult, and to offer any appropriate support.
Asked by: Baroness Merron (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government which groups have a lower-than-average rate of participation in home-kit bowel cancer screening; and what plans they have to increase participation.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The national IT system for the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme does not routinely collect data that could identify groups that have a lower-than-average uptake rate of the fecal immunochemical bowel cancer screening test.
Research has found that groups which are less likely to take part in bowel screening include men, people from ethnic minority backgrounds, and people in more deprived areas. Physical or mental health conditions can also make carrying out a home test more difficult.
NHS England has started work to improve its national screening IT systems through the Digital Transformation of Screening programme. This will enable screening providers to record protected characteristics, to more accurately identify groups with the lowest uptake, and target initiatives to improve uptake.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they will assess (1) wider productivity, and (2) economic benefits, when considering new immunisation programmes for infant respiratory syncytial virus.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The independent Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advises the Department on the approach to vaccination and immunisation. The JCVI evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) programme was based on the health benefits of an infant RSV programme and the potential healthcare cost savings from preventing cases and hospitalisations.
The Department did not ask the JCVI to complete an assessment of wider productivity and economic benefits of an immunisation programme, and the Department did not assess this separately for RSV.
Asked by: Lord Swire (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the cost to the NHS of missed appointments at (1) hospitals, and (2) GP surgeries, in each of the past five years.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is not possible to produce an estimate of the true cost to the National Health Service of these missed appointments, as this will depend on whether NHS staff were still able to use the time productively, for example by seeing other patients instead, or doing other work. NHS England advises local NHS organisations, general practices and trusts to plan for preventing and dealing with missed appointments. These include ensuring patients can cancel appointments in convenient ways, such as by text message or through online cancellation forms and offering telephone consultations if these better suit the patients’ requirements.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
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 ensure Integrated Care Schemes are able to support staff retention schemes.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan sets out how to improve culture and leadership, to ensure that up to 130,000 fewer staff leave the National Health Service over the next 15 years. Key to this is the National Retention Programme. The programme builds on the NHS People Promise, and supports integrated care systems (ICSs), regions, NHS trusts, and organisations to improve employee experience to retain their people, and therefore reduce NHS staff leaver rates.
The National Retention Programme provides a suite of evidence-based, targeted, organisational-level interventions, to improve staff engagement and experience, in line with the NHS People Promise. The programme builds on the fundamentals that every organisation should be developing to support a good working environment, providing practical advice and support. It targets activities at the key career points at which staff are most likely to leave, to help improve retention.
Support for organisations and ICSs can be accessed via the Retention Hub, which outlines initiatives mapped against the NHS People Promise, access to tools, guides, and case studies, to enable improvements and contact details for regional colleagues support the retention agenda in each of the seven regions. Further information on the Retention Hub is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/looking-after-our-people/the-programme-and-resources/
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she plans to develop waiting time targets for receiving treatment in the eight new children and young people's gender services regional centres.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
There are no plans to develop tailored waiting time targets for receiving treatment in children and young people's gender services regional centres. NHS England has made significant progress on its overhaul of children’s gender identity services. NHS England closed the Tavistock Gender Clinic last month and opened two new, regional services operating under a fundamentally differing service model earlier this month. A third clinic is set to open in Bristol this Autumn, and NHS England has committed to a further three services by 2026. These new services will increase service capacity and reduce waiting lists.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much the administration of the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme cost the NHS Business Services Authority in (a) 2021, (b) 2022 and (c) 2023.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) administers the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme, on behalf of the Department. Administration costs for the scheme were £600,000, £8.8 million, and £16.1 million for April 2021 to March 2022, April 2022 to March 2023, and April 2023 to March 2024, respectively. Payments made by the NHSBSA for the provision of medical records totalled £1,200, £72,000, and £73,100, for the same periods. The figures are provided to the nearest decimal place.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many adult mental health patients have been held in inappropriate out of area placements since March 2021.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
12,960 inappropriate out of area placements were started between April 2021 and 31 December 2023, although some patients may have had more than one placement within the reporting period.