Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential value for money of including GPs in the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Over a thousand newly qualified GPs will be recruited through changes to the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, as a result of additional funding to address GP unemployment over 24/25. The change will allow patients to get access to the care they need through increasing appointments.
The change follows extensive engagement and consideration of options to support employment of additional GPs who have been trained and can provide necessary clinical capacity in general practice. No explicit assessment has been made of the potential value for money of the change.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the GP-to-patient ratio in Broxbourne constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In July 2024, the median number of full time equivalent (FTE) doctors in general practice per 10,000 registered patients in the Broxbourne constituency was 5.5. This was more than the median in England, of 5.4.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
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 that hospices in (a) South Shropshire constituency and (b) the West Midlands receive (i) adequate and (ii) sustainable funding.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Palliative care services are included in the list of services that integrated care boards (ICBs), including those in Shropshire and the wider West Midlands, must commission. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.
Whilst the majority of palliative and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, also play in providing support to people, and their loved ones, at the end of life.
Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing NHS services. The amount of funding charitable hospices receive varies by ICB area, and will, in part, be dependent on the breadth and range of palliative and end of life care provision within their ICB footprint.
The Government is going to shift the focus of healthcare out of the hospital and into the community, and we recognise that it is vital to include palliative and end of life care, including hospices, in this shift.
We will continue to proactively engage with our stakeholders, including the voluntary sector and independent hospices, on an ongoing basis, in order to understand the issues they face.
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, how many mental health support teams there were in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire in each year since 2014.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the number of mental health support teams in South Holland and the Deepings constituency and Lincolnshire, broken down by district and the year in which they became operational, or are planned to become operational, since 2014:
District | Year the team became operational | Year the team is planned to become operational | |||||
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
Lincoln and West Lindsey |
| 2 |
|
|
|
|
|
Boston and East Lindsey |
|
| 2 |
|
|
|
|
South Hollands and the Deepings |
|
|
|
| 1 |
|
|
South and North Kesteven |
|
|
|
| 2 |
|
|
Lincoln South and North Kesteven |
|
|
|
|
| 1 |
|
East Lindsey |
|
|
|
|
|
| 1 |
Total operational mental health support teams | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
Source: NHS Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board.
By 2025, the NHS Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board expects there will be approximately 166 education settings with a mental health support team across Lincolnshire, covering 46% of all maintained or academy settings, and over 66,000 children and young people, or 60% of the total number on roll in Lincolnshire. Since 2021, mental health support teams in Lincolnshire have supported 6,985 pupils.
In addition, the Healthy Minds Lincolnshire service has been providing support to children, young people, and their families experiencing emotional wellbeing concerns that do not require specialist intervention from children and young people’s mental health services across the county, and including South Holland and the Deepings, since 2018.
Asked by: Josh Simons (Labour - Makerfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of people being removed from dentist registries due to (a) missing appointments and (b) failing to make timely appointments.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Patients in England are not registered with a National Health Service dental practice, although many NHS dental practices do tend to see patients regularly. NHS dental practices are contracted to deliver a course of treatment to an individual irrespective of where they live, allowing patients the choice of where they would like to receive care.
NHS dentists are required to keep their NHS.UK website profiles up to date, so that patients can find a dentist more easily. This includes information on whether they are accepting new patients. In circumstances where patients are unable to access an urgent dental appointment directly through an NHS dental practice, they should contact NHS 111.
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 he is taking to develop intervention strategies which tackle poor psychological wellbeing as a contributory factor to the development of dementia.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Depression and social isolation are risk factors for developing dementia. They can be caused by, or contribute to, poor psychological wellbeing. By tackling these factors, we will therefore support wellbeing and reduce the risk of developing dementia.
We deliver dementia research via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR invested £2.9 million to develop an app that will address identified risk factors for dementia, including depression and social isolation.
NHS Talking Therapies provide treatment to adults with common mental health conditions including depression. People can self-refer to NHS Talking Therapies Services or be referred by their general practitioner. We will recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers to reduce delays and provide faster treatment, easing pressure on busy mental health services.
Social prescribing is a key component of the National Health Service’s Universal Personalised Care. Social prescribing link workers take a holistic approach to people’s health and wellbeing. They connect people to community groups and statutory services for practical and emotional support.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the number of dentistry practices that are accepting NHS patients in Colne Valley constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As of 4 September 2024, there were nine National Health Service dentist practices in the Colne Valley constituency, and none of them were showing as ‘accepting new adult patients when availability allows’. This data is sourced from the Find a Dentist website and is matched to constituencies based on the postcode data shown on the website, which is available at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-Dentist
NHS dentists are required to update their NHS website profiles at least every 90 days, to ensure patients have up-to-date information on where they can access care.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to help fill staff vacancies in the hospice sector.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is going to shift the focus of healthcare out of the hospital and into the community, and we recognise that it is vital to include palliative and end of life care, including hospices, in this shift.
Whilst much palliative and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, including NHS hospices and community and hospital specialist palliative care, charitable hospices also provide significant support to people, and their families, at the end of life. Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing NHS services. As independent organisations, charitable hospices are responsible for their own recruitment and employment terms.
The NHS has been facing chronic workforce shortages for years, and we have to be honest that bringing in the staff we need will take time. We understand that this will also impact the voluntary sector, including hospices. We are committed to training the staff we need to get patients seen on time. The Government will make sure the NHS has the staff it needs to be there for all of us when we need it, including at the end of life. We will continue to proactively engage with our stakeholders, including the voluntary sector and independent hospices, on an ongoing basis, in order to understand the issues they face.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
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 mental health services in the Colne Valley constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
People with mental health issues in the Colne Valley constituency and across the country are not getting the support or care they deserve, which is why we will fix the broken system to ensure that mental health is given the same attention and focus as physical health, so that people can be confident in accessing high quality mental health support when they need it.
We will recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers to reduce delays and provide faster treatment, which will also help ease pressure on hospitals. By cutting mental health waiting lists and intervening earlier with more timely mental health support, we can get this country back to good health.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to reduce the waiting lists for NHS mental health services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
People with mental health issues across the country are not getting the support or care they deserve. This is why we will fix the broken system to ensure that mental health is given the same attention and focus as physical health, so that people can be confident in accessing high quality mental health support when they need it.
We will recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers to reduce delays and provide faster treatment, which will also help ease pressure on hospitals.