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, what steps she is taking to (a) increase the capacity of interstitial lung disease services and (b) reduce the time between diagnosis and access to treatment for that disease.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to improving the detection and diagnosis of all respiratory conditions. Community diagnostic centres (CDCs) are the primary intervention being pursued to increase diagnostic capacity quickly in the National Health Service. As of January 2024, 153 CDC sites are operational, and the programme has delivered over 5 million tests since July 2021.
Furthermore, the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan sets out the steps the NHS and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. It will put the workforce on a sustainable footing for the long term. As of September 2023, there are currently over 3,400 full-time equivalent (FTE) doctors working in the specialty of respiratory medicine in NHS trusts and other core organisations in England. This is over 690, or 25.5%, more than in 2019 and over 1,600, or 95.7%, more than in 2010. This includes almost 1,400 FTE consultants, which is over 260, or 23.2%, more than in 2019 and over 730, or 111.7%, more than in 2010.
On the delegation of specialised commissioning, NHS England approved plans in December to fully delegate the commissioning of 59 specialised services to integrated care boards (ICBs) in the East, Midlands and the North West regions of England from April 2024. NHS England has also approved plans to continue to jointly commission appropriate specialised services with ICBs in the South West, South East, London and the North East, and Yorkshire regions of England for a further year. This approach will help support a smooth transition of commissioning responsibility by April 2025. Moving to ICB-led commissioning will support a new focus on integration and population health management across whole pathways of care. This presents the opportunity to improve the quality of services, tackle health inequalities and deliver best value. Overall, the delivery of the Government’s plans on diagnostic centres, workforce, and the delegation of commissioning will help improve patient outcomes for respiratory diseases.
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 recent assessment her Department has made of the impact of the introduction of the physician associate role on patient (a) care and (b) outcomes in the NHS.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Health Education England, now NHS England, has previously explored the value and potential of physician associates (PAs) as members of a multidisciplinary medical team through impact case studies, which are available at the following link:
There is ongoing work around the integration of medical associate profession roles, which include PAs and also anaesthesia associates and surgical care practitioners, as part of a Career Development Framework to support the overall objectives of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan for these roles.
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan commits to expanding the PA role further whilst upholding the highest levels of patient safety and welfare. NHS England will continue to seek feedback from employers, regulators, royal colleges and professional bodies regarding the PA role and will work to develop and implement any recommendations.
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 recent guidance her Department has issued to NHS Trusts on the integration of physician associates into healthcare teams.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has worked with royal colleges and the General Medical Council (GMC) to develop appropriate curricula, core capability and career frameworks, standards for continued professional development, assessment and appraisal and supervision guidance for the physician associate (PA) role.
NHS England continues to work with partners, including the GMC and medical royal colleges, to ensure that PAs can be effectively trained and integrated into teams across a range of specialties through the ongoing development of national standards, a defined scope of practice, and assessment of educational capacity.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
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 barriers to the integration of physician associates into primary care teams.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In implementing the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, NHS England is working with the relevant professional colleges and regulators, to ensure the physician associate (PA) role is expanded safely and effectively. In addition, NHS England has produced patient-facing materials that have been shared widely with general practices to support patient awareness and understanding of the role.
The introduction of regulation by the GMC will provide a standardised framework of governance and assurance for the clinical practice and professional conduct of PAs and make it easier for employers, patients, and the public to understand the relationship between this role and that of doctors.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how the additional £1 billion per year for community mental health services has been spent; and if she will make an assessment of the impact of that funding on care pathways for people living with bipolar disorder.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The NHS Long Term Plan set out a minimum £2.3 billion real terms growth per year for expanding and transforming mental health services in England by 2023/24. This includes £1 billion for community mental health services for people with serious mental illness. However, the amount and proportion of this funding which has been distributed is not separately identifiable from the overall amount spent on mental health services. Neither is the impact of that funding on care pathways for people living with bipolar disorder separately identifiable.
The funding aims to increase access to high quality care and transform care pathways for people with severe mental illness, including bipolar disorder, through: greater integration of primary and community services to provide care in the community driven by the needs of individuals, rather than based solely on diagnoses; physical health checks; and Individual Placement and Support schemes and Early Intervention in Psychosis services.
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 steps she is taking to support research into dementia care.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is strongly committed to supporting research into dementia. In 2019, we committed to double funding for dementia research to £160 million per year by 2024/25. This will span all areas of research, including dementia care to enable the best possible care and quality of life for people with dementia. The Department funds dementia research via the National Institute for Health & Care Research (NIHR).
The Department, via the NIHR, is taking steps to increase research on dementia care, such as commissioning a Dementia and Neurodegeneration Policy Research Unit (PRU) worth £6 million to further boost evidence for policymaking. The PRU’s remit will cover research seeking to further understanding around how to improve post-diagnostic care and support offered to people living with dementia and other neurodegenerative conditions, and their carers. The NIHR is investing £9 million to continue funding the Three Schools Dementia Programme which links public health, primary care and social care via our NIHR research schools, namely Schools for Social Care, Public Health and Primary Care Research. The Programme seeks to fund research to address key evidence gaps, including around how we can most effectively support and care for people living with dementia. For example, the Programme has supported several projects relating to dementia care such as the Pall-Dem care study which explores the integration of palliative care into dementia care to improve outcomes and experiences of people living with advanced dementia and their family caregivers.
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, against what criteria the potential provider of the Federated Data Platform will be assessed to ensure it has the capabilities to deliver the project.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the evaluation criteria for the Federated Data Platform and Associated Services procurement which was published as part of the procurement documentation on NHS England’s e-tendering system:
| Quality (Technical) | |||||
| 1a) Requirements | No weighting or scoring |
| |||
1b) Data Platform Functionality | 6% |
| ||||
1c) Data Processing | 4% |
| ||||
1d) Analytical Solutions | 4% |
| ||||
1e) Platform Scenario | 5% |
| ||||
| 2a) Service Management | 3% |
| |||
2b) Third-party Integration, Development, and Publication | 5% |
| ||||
| 3a) Customer management | 3% |
| |||
| 4a) Integration | 5% |
| |||
4b) Security and Information Governance | 5% |
| ||||
|
| 5a) Delivery at Pace | 5% | |||
| 5b) Business Change | 5% | ||||
|
| 6a) Ways of Working | 5% | |||
| 6b) Innovation | 3% | ||||
| 6c) Continuous improvement | 2% | ||||
| Quality (Social Value) | |||||
|
| 7a) Fighting climate change | 5% | |||
| 7b) Equal opportunity | 5% | ||||
| Commercial | |||||
|
| 8a) Rate Card | 5% | |||
| 8b) Implementation (transition) | 2.5% | ||||
| 8c) Use Case Development | 5% | ||||
| 8d) Run | 17.5% | ||||
Note: The evaluation criteria comprised 60% quality, 10% social value and 30% commercial.
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, if she will make a comparative assessment of the potential merits of (a) allowing pharmacists to undertake wider health assessments and (b) using a multi-disciplinary scheme.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
An increasing number of pharmacists are already performing wider health assessments as part of a multidisciplinary team in general practice. Many of these pharmacists are also independent prescribers.
In community pharmacy, pharmacists continue to undertake health assessments, for example for minor illnesses, blood pressure checks and oral contraception and from early next year as part of Pharmacy First.
We are building on this growing role with pilots led by NHS England and integrated care boards that test how independent prescribing could work in community pharmacy to inform further expansion of clinical services in community pharmacy.
We are also working to provide community pharmacies, from early next year, with additional access to relevant clinical information from the general practice’s (GP) record and share structured updates quickly and efficiently following a pharmacy consultation back into the GP patient record. This will support further integration of pharmaceutical services across settings.
Asked by: Damian Green (Conservative - Ashford)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she plans to include the proliferation of AI-generated child abuse imagery on the agenda for the AI Safety Summit.
Answered by Paul Scully
The UK believes that the global risks posed by frontier AI are increasingly urgent, including risks to online safety. That is why the summit programme, published October 16, includes a roundtable discussion on risks from the integration of frontier AI into society.
This issue is also being considered through wider government action. Under the Online Safety Bill, AI-generated content shared by users on social media will be regulated to limit the spread of illegal materials including child sexual abuse.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he expects the integration of the My Planned Care platform with the NHS app to be delivered.
Answered by Will Quince
My Planned Care is a web-based platform that provides waiting time data by speciality and National Health Service trust, for both first outpatient appointment and treatment. It is available to all, including patients, carers, voluntary sector organisations, patient organisations, Patient Advice and Liaison Service hospital teams and general practices.
The NHS App provides secure access to a range of NHS services including a user’s medical record, the ability to order repeat prescriptions and to book or manage appointments.