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 encourage pregnant women to undertake smoking cessation programmes.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Smoking is the number one entirely preventable cause of ill-health, disability, and death in this country. It is responsible for 80,000 yearly deaths in the United Kingdom, and one in four of all UK cancer deaths. Smoking in pregnancy increases the risk of stillbirth, miscarriage, and sudden infant death.
As set out in Stopping the Start: our new plan to create a smokefree generation, we are establishing a financially incentivised 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.
The objective is to have all maternity trusts that wish to participate in the scheme signed up by the end of 2024, so that all pregnant women who smoke in participating areas will be offered the opportunity to join the incentive scheme by December 2024.
This financial incentive scheme builds upon the NHS Long Term Plan’s ambition to ensure that all pregnant smokers can access behavioural support to quit from within maternity services, as well as additional funding for mass marketing campaigns on stopping smoking.
Asked by: Kwasi Kwarteng (Conservative - Spelthorne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has had discussions with NHS England on ensuring that (a) reviews, (b) investigations and (c) complaints processes relating to maternity services include consideration of the (i) impact of ethnicity on the care received and (ii) potential role of (A) racism and (B) discrimination.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
NHS England, along with the devolved administrations and the Crown Dependencies, funds Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries to collate ethnicity data, in relation to all perinatal and maternal deaths across the United Kingdom. They publish annual surveillance reports which provide comparators of rates of mortality for women and babies from different ethnic groups. They also publish confidential enquiries, assessing care provision along the whole care pathway, to identify areas requiring improvement.
The Maternity and Newborn Safety Investigations programme provides independent, standardised, and family focused investigations to provide learning to the health system. This includes analysis of data to identify key trends, and collaboration with system partners to escalate safety concerns.
Asked by: Kwasi Kwarteng (Conservative - Spelthorne)
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 to ensure that maternity and neonatal complaints systems are (a) transparent and (b) compassionate for parents.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Anyone has the right to make a complaint about any aspect of National Health Service care, treatment, or service. The NHS Complaint Standards set out how organisations providing NHS services should approach complaint handling. They apply to NHS organisations in England, and independent healthcare providers that deliver NHS-funded care.
If complainants need assistance in making a complaint, officers from the Patient Advice and Liaison Service are available in most hospitals. Additionally, assistance can also be provided by the Independent NHS Complaints Advocacy Service.
Asked by: Kwasi Kwarteng (Conservative - Spelthorne)
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 to ensure that maternity services are reviewing (a) initiatives and (b) services based on the experiences of bereaved parents to ensure high standards of care for all patients in line with national and local guidelines.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnerships (MNVPs) provide a forum in all areas of England for engagement between maternity services and their users. In November 2023, NHS England published MNVP guidance, which made it clear that effective MNVPs will reach out to seldomly heard groups, including bereaved families. This engagement should be accessible and appropriate.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the report entitled A comparison of the care of Asian and White women who have experienced a stillbirth or neonatal death, published by the MBRRACE-UK Perinatal Confidential Enquiry on 14 December 2023, what recent discussions her Department has had with NHS England on ensuring that women (a) from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and (b) at risk of premature birth are offered the (i) tests and (ii) medication that are recommended by NHS guidelines.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Departmental and NHS England colleagues meet regularly to discuss initiatives to reduce disparities in maternity and neonatal outcomes, and pre-term births. NHS England has invested £6.8 million into their Equity and Equality guidance, which focuses on actions to reduce disparities for women and babies, including for those living in the most deprived areas. It sets out actions and expectations on Local Maternity and Neonatal Systems to consider complex social factors and adhere to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guidelines regarding maternity care.
All National Health Service trusts are now implementing the Saving Babies’ Lives Care Bundle (SBLCB), which provides up-to-date, evidence-based best practice regarding reducing perinatal mortality, including guidance around reducing preterm birth. The SBLCB recommends a universal risk assessment of all women for preterm birth at their antenatal booking appointment, with those at higher and intermediate risk being offered a care pathway designed to reduce the chances of preterm birth.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Any Hours and Any Speciality schemes used by Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust on (a) maternity staff retention rates and (b) career progression among midwives.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Any Hours is a programme that allows for more flexible working hours and patterns. Wherever there are shifts that are unfilled, Any Hours allows midwives to choose when, where, and the number of hours they want to work. Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust data shows that since the Any Hours Scheme was enacted, it has released, on average, 300 hours a month, equalling two whole time equivalent midwives’ released every month. The Any Hours programme is expected to be featured as a case study by NHS England.
Any Specialty is a programme to encourage all Band 6 midwives to spend 15 hours a month, or two days, in a different speciality of their choice. This allows colleagues to improve the competencies and skills needed to help their career progression, or even to directly apply to a specialist midwife role at the trust. To date, specialties have recruited nine midwives following Any Specialty contact at Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential benefits of introducing more flexible working arrangements for maternity staff in NHS services.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Flexible working arrangements, or We work flexibly, is one of the elements contained in the NHS People Promise, with a commitment to deliver for staff, including midwives, by 2024/25. NHS England has created and shared flexible working arrangement resources, and delivered bespoke webinars and workshops on the issue. They have also brought together midwifery leaders from across the system to share good practice, foster collaboration, and support the implementation of flexible working across maternity services.
In September 2021, contractual changes took effect for employees covered by the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook, which includes the right to request flexible working from day one, without the need to provide a justification.
Flexible working is one of the key pillars of improving staff experience and retention, as set out in the Long Term Workforce Plan. It will contribute to the aim of retaining up to 130,000 more staff over the course of the plan. However, no assessment of the benefits of introducing more flexible working arrangements specifically for maternity staff has been made.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent 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 help ensure the Major Conditions Strategy improves breast cancer outcomes for ethnic minority women.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Reducing inequalities and improving breast cancer outcomes for ethnic minority women, including black women, is a priority for the Government. To support this work, NHS England has commissioned six new cancer clinical audits, which will provide timely evidence for cancer service providers of where patterns of care in England may vary, increase the consistency of access to treatments, and help stimulate improvements in cancer treatments and outcomes for patients, including metastatic breast cancer. The Royal College of Surgeons began work on this audit in October 2022, and the first outcomes are expected in September 2024.
NHS England is also leading a programme of work to tackle healthcare inequalities centred around five clear priorities, which are set out in operational planning guidance for the health system. The Core20PLUS5 approach for adults has been rolled out as an NHS England framework to focus action on reducing inequalities on issues within the National Health Services’ direct influence, which are major contributors to inequalities in life expectancy through major conditions like cancer, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, and others, or Long-Term Plan priorities where stark inequalities are evident, such as maternity or severe mental illness.
The key actions for systems as highlighted in NHS England’s planning guidance for 2024/25 is to continue to deliver against the five strategic priorities for tackling health inequalities. Additionally, by the end of June 2024, NHS England aims to publish joined-up action plans to address health inequalities, and implement the Core20PLUS5 approach.
Improving earlier diagnosis of cancers, including breast cancer, is also a priority for the Government. The NHS has an ambition to diagnose 75% of cancers at stage 1 or 2 by 2028, which will help tens of thousands of people live for longer. Additionally, the new cancer standards developed and supported by cancer doctors and implemented in October 2023, will ensure patients are diagnosed faster, and that treatment starts earlier. In the 2023/24 Operational Planning Guidance, NHS England announced that it is providing over £390 million in cancer service development funding to Cancer Alliances in each of the next two years, to support the delivery of the strategy and the operational priorities for cancer, which includes increasing and prioritising diagnostic and treatment capacity.
Whilst the Major Conditions Strategy does not seek to describe everything that is being done, or could be done, to meet the challenges of individual conditions in silo, it instead focuses on the changes likely to make the most difference across the six groups of major conditions, including cancer.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
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 to improve breast cancer outcomes amongst Black women.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Reducing inequalities and improving breast cancer outcomes for ethnic minority women, including black women, is a priority for the Government. To support this work, NHS England has commissioned six new cancer clinical audits, which will provide timely evidence for cancer service providers of where patterns of care in England may vary, increase the consistency of access to treatments, and help stimulate improvements in cancer treatments and outcomes for patients, including metastatic breast cancer. The Royal College of Surgeons began work on this audit in October 2022, and the first outcomes are expected in September 2024.
NHS England is also leading a programme of work to tackle healthcare inequalities centred around five clear priorities, which are set out in operational planning guidance for the health system. The Core20PLUS5 approach for adults has been rolled out as an NHS England framework to focus action on reducing inequalities on issues within the National Health Services’ direct influence, which are major contributors to inequalities in life expectancy through major conditions like cancer, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, and others, or Long-Term Plan priorities where stark inequalities are evident, such as maternity or severe mental illness.
The key actions for systems as highlighted in NHS England’s planning guidance for 2024/25 is to continue to deliver against the five strategic priorities for tackling health inequalities. Additionally, by the end of June 2024, NHS England aims to publish joined-up action plans to address health inequalities, and implement the Core20PLUS5 approach.
Improving earlier diagnosis of cancers, including breast cancer, is also a priority for the Government. The NHS has an ambition to diagnose 75% of cancers at stage 1 or 2 by 2028, which will help tens of thousands of people live for longer. Additionally, the new cancer standards developed and supported by cancer doctors and implemented in October 2023, will ensure patients are diagnosed faster, and that treatment starts earlier. In the 2023/24 Operational Planning Guidance, NHS England announced that it is providing over £390 million in cancer service development funding to Cancer Alliances in each of the next two years, to support the delivery of the strategy and the operational priorities for cancer, which includes increasing and prioritising diagnostic and treatment capacity.
Whilst the Major Conditions Strategy does not seek to describe everything that is being done, or could be done, to meet the challenges of individual conditions in silo, it instead focuses on the changes likely to make the most difference across the six groups of major conditions, including cancer.
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 births took place in the Maternity Unit at Pilgrim Hospital in Boston in each year since 2000.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department does not hold information on the number of births between 2000 and 2004 in the maternity unit at Pilgrim Hospital in Boston. The following table shows the number of births for each year since 2004 in the maternity unit at Pilgrim Hospital in Boston:
Year | Number of births |
2004 | 1,841 |
2005 | 1,918 |
2006 | 1,887 |
2007 | 1,987 |
2008 | 2,208 |
2009 | 2,227 |
2010 | 2,275 |
2011 | 2,184 |
2012 | 2,250 |
2013 | 2,065 |
2014 | 2,076 |
2015/16 | 2,002 |
2016/17 | 1,785 |
2017/18 | 1,941 |
2018/19 | 1,738 |
2019/20 | 1,767 |
2020/21 | 1,619 |
2021/22 | 1,803 |
2022/23 | 1,716 |
2023/24 | 1,657 |
Note: due to a change in reporting systems, the years up to 2015 were recorded as calendar years, with 2015 onward being recorded as financial years.