Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether General Practitioners are no longer able to perform routine procedures such as syringing of ears and treatment of minor injuries; and if not, who took the decisions to remove these procedures from general practice; and when these decisions were taken.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) issued guidance in 2018 no longer advising manual ear syringing due to risks associated, such as trauma to the ear drum or infection. NICE guidance suggests alternative arrangements for treatment of excessive ear wax, such as considering ear irrigation using an electronic irrigator, micro suction, or manual removal using a probe. General practitioners follow this guidance and are increasingly recommending self-care methods as the primary means to support the safe removal of ear wax, such as in cases of deafness.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will ensure every GP in England is able to offer an earwax removal service as a routine procedure.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has issued guidance no longer advising manual ear syringing due to risks associated, such as trauma to their ear drum or infection. NICE guidance suggests alternative arrangements for treatment of excessive ear wax, such as considering ear irrigation using an electronic irrigator, micro suction, or another method of earwax removal (such as manual removal using a probe).
General practitioner services follow this guidance and are increasingly recommending self-care methods as the primary means to support the safe removal of ear wax, such as in cases of deafness.
Commissioners should ensure that there is appropriate access to ear wax removal services which are free at the point of use, where these are necessary and clinically appropriate for a patient.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
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 updating guidance ear wax removal services, to allow the service to be made available at GPs.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has issued guidance no longer advising manual ear syringing due to risks associated, such as trauma to their ear drum or infection. NICE guidance suggests alternative arrangements for treatment of excessive ear wax, such as considering ear irrigation using an electronic irrigator, micro suction, or another method of earwax removal such as manual removal using a probe.
General practitioner services follow this guidance and are increasingly recommending self-care methods as the primary means to support the safe removal of ear wax, such as in cases of deafness.
Commissioners should ensure that there is appropriate access to ear wax removal services which are free at the point of use, where these are necessary and clinically appropriate for a patient.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to remove the recommendation that care home staff wear face masks; and what recent assessment he has made of the impact of that recommendation on communication with residents with dementia and deafness.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
In adult social care, the guidance continues to recommend that all care home staff and visitors wear masks to provide protection for residents from COVID-19. The guidance allows for masks to not be used if, as part of a risk assessment, its use is considered particularly challenging for the resident, such as for residents with dementia and deafness.
The Department has commissioned a review of this guidance to ensure it reflects the latest available evidence and safe and proportionate infection prevention and control principles.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department has issued to GP services in England about the treatment of excessive ear wax which has led to deafness.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) no longer advises manual ear syringing due to the associated risks, such as trauma to the ear drum or infection. NICE suggests alternative arrangements for treatment of excessive ear wax, such as ear irrigation using an electronic irrigator, micro-suction or another method of earwax removal. General practitioner services are increasingly recommending self-care methods as the primary means to support the safe removal of ear wax, such as in cases of deafness. Commissioners should ensure that there is appropriate access to ear wax removal services where it is clinically appropriate for the patient.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when his Department will publish an (a) braille and (b) easy read version of the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities review; and what steps he is taking to help ensure that the open consultation on that review is fully accessible.
Answered by Will Quince
The department is committed to making its consultation on the SEND and AP green paper fully accessible to all. This enables anyone to have a say on the proposals in the SEND and AP system.
The department will be publishing an easy read and British Sign Language version of the green paper alongside our other accessible versions in April 2022. This is to further support those with vision, motor, cognitive, or learning difficulties and deafness or impaired hearing to engage fully in the consultation. A braille version of the green paper is also available by contacting: SENDreview.consultation@education.gov.uk.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
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 ensure equal levels of access to audiology services across the UK.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
The ‘Joint Strategic Needs Assessment Guidance’, the ‘Action Plan on Hearing Loss’ and the ‘Commissioning Services for People with Hearing Loss: A framework for clinical commissioning groups’ support local authorities and National Health Service commissioners to meet statutory duties. These include the assessment of the needs of local populations, to take account of health inequalities and commission high-quality services to meet local hearing needs and improve public health. The Chief Scientific Officer for England and Senior Responsible Officer for audiology, Professor Dame Sue Hill, is working with the Hearing Loss and Deafness Alliance to refresh current guidance in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
We have also announced £2.3 billion to launch up to 160 community diagnostic centres (CDCs) by March 2025. The location and configuration of CDCs is being designed with local systems to support more equal access to diagnostic services, including audiology. The National Health Service is also working with the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme to implement the recommendations from its ear, nose and throat surgery report to reduce unwarranted variation in audiology services.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will increase the funding for research into tinnitus.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including tinnitus, it is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.
The NIHR’s support for tinnitus research was over £1.5 million between 2016/17 and 2021/22. This included funding for research projects and funding for NIHR managed infrastructure to support tinnitus research. Current NIHR funding includes £15 million over five years from April 2017 to support deafness and hearing loss research in NIHR’s Manchester, University College London and Nottingham Biomedical Research Centres (BRCs). The Nottingham BRC has a core research theme on tinnitus and noise sensitivity.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to Part One of the National Disability Strategy, published July 2021, what recent steps his Department has taken to (a) encourage and support workplace disability networks, (b) achieve and maintain the highest level of Disability Confident accreditation, (c) ensure responsive and timely support to meet workplace adjustment needs and (d) develop and embed flexible working.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
DfT has undertaken multiple recent steps to address the points raised.
In reference to point a) encouraging and supporting workplace disability networks:
There are a number of staff networks across DfT and arm’s length bodies covering disability. Some cover disability generally. More specific subgroups cover neurodiversity, mental health conditions and d/Deafness and hearing loss. A Board Level Champion for disability is active and engaged in this agenda. A senior director sponsors DfT’s central disability network, Ability.
Regarding work done to b) achieve and maintain the highest level of disability confident accreditation, the following recent steps have been taken:
In response to subsection c), actions taken to ensure response and timely support to meet workplace adjustment needs include
Finally, regarding DfT’s work to d) develop and embed flexible working:
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has for engaging the parents and carers of children and young people with a vision impairment in the upcoming SEND Review.
Answered by Will Quince
Throughout the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Review, we have engaged extensively with children and young people with a range of SEND, and their parents, to ensure we have heard their views directly about how the system needs to improve, including for those with a visual impairment
The outcome of the Review will be published in the first three months of this year as a Green Paper for full public consultation. We will ensure that our subsequent public consultation is accessible to a wide audience and provide a range of alternative formats to support those with vision, motor, cognitive or learning difficulties and deafness or impaired hearing engage fully in the consultation.