Written questions by Midgley.

What steps his Department is taking to improve care for people living with arthritis.

Services for those with musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions, including arthritis, are commissioned locally by integrated care boards (ICBs). The Department expects MSK services to be fully incorporated into integrated care system planning and decision-making.As announced in the Get Britain Working white paper, we are delivering the joint Department for Work and Pensions, the Department of Health and Social Care, and NHS England Getting It Right First-Time (GIRFT) MSK Community Delivery Programme. With a £3.5 million funding boost, the GIRFT teams will deploy their proven Further Faster model to work with ICB leaders to further reduce MSK community waiting times, including for those with arthritis, and improve data and metrics, and referral pathways to wider support services.We will deliver an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments per week during our first year in Government, as a first step in our commitment to ensuring patients can expect to be treated within 18 weeks. The Government announced £1.5 billion of new capital investment in the Autumn Budget, including investment for new diagnostic scanners and surgical hubs. This investment in scanners will build capacity for over 30,000 additional procedures and 1.25 million diagnostic tests as they come online.To support health and care professionals in the early diagnosis and management of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, and in the provision of services for people living with arthritis, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published expert guidance for rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, which are available, respectively, at the following two links:https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng100https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng226The Department funds research into MSK conditions, including arthritis, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Through that route, the Department spent approximately £26.3 million on MSK research in 2023/24 and £79.2 million since 2019/20. In particular, the Leeds Biomedical Research Centre aims to improve treatment for osteoarthritis. The NIHR, in collaboration with Versus Arthritis, also funds a dedicated UK Musculoskeletal Translational Research Collaboration, aligning investment in MSK translational research and creating a United Kingdom-wide ambition and focus to drive cutting edge research and improve outcomes for patients.

What recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of access to specialist speech and language therapy services for children in (a) Merseyside and (b) Knowsley constituency.

The Department regularly monitors waiting lists for community services, including speech and language therapy, and is committed to reducing long waits and improving timely access to community health services, including for speech and language therapy services for children. Community health services, including speech and language therapy, are locally commissioned to enable systems to best meet the needs of their communities.

What recent assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the level of health inequalities in Knowsley constituency.

The United Kingdom faces significant health inequalities, with life expectancy varying widely across and within communities. The Government is committed to building a fairer Britain by tackling the structural inequalities that contribute to poor health, particularly for disadvantaged groups.Existing initiatives to reduce inequalities in relation to health services in England include NHS England’s ‘Core 20 Plus 5’, which focuses on improving the five clinical areas at most need of accelerated improvement in the poorest 20 percent of the population, along with other underserved population groups identified at a local level, including groups that share protected characteristics, and socially excluded groups such as people experiencing homelessness.The Office of Health Improvement and Disparities’ North West Regional Team provides system leadership for population health and reducing health inequalities across the North West. Across Cheshire and Merseyside, partners are working together as part of the All Together Fairer collaborative to improve health equity and the social determinants of health through measurable actions for each place to create a fairer, more equitable society.Knowsley is one of 75 local authorities with high levels of deprivation receiving funding to improve outcomes for families with babies as part of the approximately £300 million Family Hubs and Start for Life Programme.

What steps his Department is taking to reduce health inequalities in Knowsley constituency.

The United Kingdom faces significant health inequalities, with life expectancy varying widely across and within communities. The Government is committed to building a fairer Britain by tackling the structural inequalities that contribute to poor health, particularly for disadvantaged groups.Existing initiatives to reduce inequalities in relation to health services in England include NHS England’s ‘Core 20 Plus 5’, which focuses on improving the five clinical areas at most need of accelerated improvement in the poorest 20 percent of the population, along with other underserved population groups identified at a local level, including groups that share protected characteristics, and socially excluded groups such as people experiencing homelessness.The Office of Health Improvement and Disparities’ North West Regional Team provides system leadership for population health and reducing health inequalities across the North West. Across Cheshire and Merseyside, partners are working together as part of the All Together Fairer collaborative to improve health equity and the social determinants of health through measurable actions for each place to create a fairer, more equitable society.Knowsley is one of 75 local authorities with high levels of deprivation receiving funding to improve outcomes for families with babies as part of the approximately £300 million Family Hubs and Start for Life Programme.

What recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of dentistry provision in Knowsley constituency for (a) children and (b) adults.

The Dental Statistics - England 2023-24, published by the NHS Business Services Authority on 22 August 2024, is available at the following link: https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/statistical-collections/dental-england/dental-statistics-england-202324 The data for...

How many people are living with (a) arthritis and (b) musculoskeletal conditions in Knowsley constituency.

In 2023/24, 1,261 people in Knowsley, or 0.9% of patients, aged 16 years old and over had rheumatoid arthritis recorded on the practice disease register. This data is from the Fingertips data collection and is based on Quality and Outcomes Framework, with...

What steps he is taking to increase the number of dental practices that accept new NHS patients in Knowsley constituency.

The Government will tackle the immediate crisis with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and to recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract, ...

How many (a) children and (b) adults are registered with an NHS dentist in Knowsley constituency.

Patients in England are not registered with a National Health Service dental practice, although many NHS dental practices do tend to see patients regularly. There is no geographical restriction on which practice a patient may attend. Some dental practices...

What estimate he has made of the number of people living with Alzheimer's in Knowsley constituency; and what plans his Department has to improve dementia (a) diagnosis and (b) care for those people

According to data from the Alzheimer’s Society, Knowsley’s prevalence of people living with dementia currently stands at 2,200, with a diagnosis rate of approximately 64%. There are thought to be 982,000 living with dementia in the United Kingdom.Those su...

What recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the NHS GP provision in the Knowsley constituency.

We know that patients are finding it harder than ever to see a general practitioner (GP) and we are committed to fixing the the crisis in GPs, to secure the long-term sustainability of the National Health Service.We will fix the front door to the NHS, ensuring that patients receive the care they deserve by increasing the proportion of funding for GPs and primary care, and shifting the focus of the NHS out of hospitals and into the community.We have committed to ending the 8:00am scramble for GP appointments by introducing a modern booking system. We will guarantee a face-to-face appointment for anyone that wants one, bring back the family doctor, and introduce Neighbourhood Health Centres to bring together vital health and care services, ensuring healthcare is closer to home.Additionally, we have committed to recruiting over 1,000 newly qualified GPs through an £82 million boost to the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, which will increase the number of GP appointments delivered, secure the future pipeline of GPs, and take pressure off those currently working in the system.

How many NHS sites have closed in Knowsley since May 2010; and what the (a) name and (b) postcode was of each site.

The information requested is not held centrally. The Department is not one that is land-owning but works closely with NHS England to ensure that National Health Service estates should first and foremost support and enable the NHS’s operational requirements.Integrated care systems are now developing comprehensive infrastructure strategies to inform the future pipeline of land and the overall approach to optimising the estate. When completed, these will inform our national approach.