Topical Questions

Answer from Steve Barclay

We know that women can benefit from more personalised care, especially in pregnancy. The Tommy's app is a new clinical decision tool for the NHS and for women, another example of how we are using artificial intelligence to improve our maternity system. That will help to end some of the variation in maternity care from hospital to hospital. I am pleased to tell hon. Members, particularly my hon. Friend the Member for Rutland and Melton (Alicia Kearns), who is a great champion of improved mental health, that today my Department, through our National Institute for Health and Care Research, has agreed to provide the funding needed for the next stage of the app's development.

Answer from Steve Barclay

The hon. Lady raises an important issue that is of concern across the House, as we have already seen in the exchanges the Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, my hon. Friend the Member for Harborough (Neil O'Brien) answered. That in part was why, during the pandemic, we used £1.7 billion of funding to protect dentistry and why we got a commitment through the £3 billion a year funding of dentistry, but we are looking at how we localise that commissioning to get better value out of the contract.

Answer from Neil O'Brien

My hon. Friend is so right. I praise her work with the APPG and I know many colleagues will want to attend. Whistleblowers can save lives and improve healthcare, as I have seen in my own constituency, and she is right to be pressing on this matter.

Answer from Steve Barclay

I have seen the hon. Gentleman make that claim across the media a number of times. Just to reassure him, my door is open and I have been clear with the trade unions that I am available; I am available to them this afternoon or tomorrow.

Answer from Steve Barclay

First, it is a bit bizarre that, at departmental questions, the best the hon. Gentleman can manage is “a Government source”. Secondly, the revelation from that Government source is that this will affect “a lot of people”. I do not think that comes as any surprise. That is why we regret the action and are very open to having talks.

Answer from Neil O'Brien

Whatever format our next steps forward are set out in, we will be pushing forward very quickly and aggressively on this. This year, we are putting £35 million into the NHS to support our services for everyone who goes in to stop smoking.

Answer from Steve Barclay

I can reassure the hon. Gentleman on that. I would have thought that he would also welcome the commitment to a £15 billion to £20 billion increase in R&D investment, the championing of life sciences that the Minister for Health, my hon. Friend the Member for Colchester (Will Quince), has been leading on, and the opportunity we have to address greater variation within the NHS by bringing forward the innovations from our life industry and applying them much more quickly.

Answer from Neil O'Brien

That is something that we are working on very actively. As well as financially supporting GPs to roll out new and better ways of managing their appointments, we are looking at what criteria we expect from GPs.

Answer from Steve Barclay

The data is very clear; in fact, it is very stark on the extent to which the backlog is driven predominantly by the pandemic. That is why we have a programme, through the extra investment in the autumn statement: the £6.6 billion over the next two years going into the NHS, but also the £2.8 billion next year and £4.7 billion the year after into social care, and £8 billion in 2024.

Answer from Helen Whately

The NHS is strongly encouraging local vaccination teams to vaccinate staff, as well as residents when they visit care homes. That should be normal practice.

Answer from Maria Caulfield

We held a cross-party briefing last night on strep A. We want to reassure parents, and if their children have symptoms and they are concerned, please seek help. GPs are ready and A&E departments are ready.

Answer from Will Quince

My hon. Friend is a strong champion for Burnley, and I congratulate Burnley General Teaching Hospital on the incredible innovative work it is doing.

Answer from Steve Barclay

I simply direct the hon. Member to the Barnett consequentials.

Answer from Steve Barclay

My hon. Friend raises an extremely important case.

Answer from Steve Barclay

We are absolutely committed to addressing health inequalities. Rather than simply looking at 10 years' time, we are looking at the immediate actions we can take, because what matters is immediate delivery—what we can be doing now.

Answer from Maria Caulfield

I thank my right hon. Friend and pay tribute to him for all his work in this area; he has driven this agenda forward. I want to reassure him that we are looking at that.

Answer from Neil O'Brien

The total activity done by GPs was about 7% up in October compared with the previous year. We are actively looking at the way that capital works and the contributions of section 106 and the local integrated care board, to ensure that, as well as having those 2,300 extra doctors and 21,000 extra staff, GPs also have good facilities to work in.

Answer from Neil O'Brien

I have mentioned the fact that the number of NHS dentists was up 2% to 2.3% last year, as well as the extra £50 million and the reforms we have made to the contract, but we will go further. We want to address those areas, and particularly rural areas, where more provision is urgently needed.

Answer from Steve Barclay

I refer the hon. Lady to the autumn statement, in which my right hon. Friend the Chancellor set out a wide range of support packages to help with the cost of living across the United Kingdom, including the cost of energy.

Answer from Steve Barclay

This is a good illustration of the challenge the country faces with backlogs that are very much driven by the pandemic. We are working with senior figures such as Jim Mackey and Professor Tim Briggs and the Getting It Right First Time programme to look at patient pathways, how we use our diagnostics and our surgical hubs and streamlining the way we get services to patients where backlogs have built up.

Answer from Maria Caulfield

I am very sorry to hear about that tragic case in Northern Ireland. We want to reassure people that, while there is a slightly higher number of cases than usual for this time of year, the UK Health Security Agency is on top of this and is not concerned that there is a wider outbreak than would be expected.

Answer from Helen Whately

I thank my hon. Friend; it is good to hear that she has visited a local care home. I have also heard what she heard from staff. Although face masks are important for infection control, we know that they have downsides, such as making communication harder. I have asked for updated public health advice on the use of masks in care homes and I look forward to updating hon. Members and the social care sector on the guidance about that shortly.

Answer from Maria Caulfield

I thank the hon. Lady for her campaigning on this serious issue. I am happy to meet her and I suggest that we also meet the patient safety commissioner, Henrietta Hughes, to discuss it further.

Answer from Steve Barclay

I am not aware of any proposal on those lines. On my hon. Friend's earlier point, as I said, I am happy to meet him to discuss the issue of step-down care and I am sure that there will be an opportunity to discuss any other concerns that he has at the same time.

Answer from Helen Whately

I point the hon. Member to the answer that I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Southend West (Anna Firth) a moment ago specifically about face masks. I have asked for updated guidance for the social care sector on the use of face masks. I recognise the difficulties they cause—for instance, in communication—and I am looking forward to being able to give an update to hon. Members and the sector on that shortly.

Answer from Steve Barclay

It is a brilliant question on which to close, because one of the things that all hon. Members should be hugely interested in is how we are adopting innovation more quickly and industrialising that innovation across the NHS as a whole, as opposed to in silos. That is something that we are focused on in the Department and it is a key priority. I am happy to speak to the Scottish Government and others about how we can work together on that.