Written questions by Byrne.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure that all bereaved parents who need specialist psychological support following (a) pregnancy and (b) baby loss can access it (i) at any time and (ii) free of charge through the NHS.

Experiencing pregnancy or baby loss can be extremely difficult and traumatic. We are determined to make sure all bereaved parents, regardless of where they live, have access to specialist psychological support, free of charge through the National Health Service.Following the loss of a baby, all parents should receive timely, equitable, and culturally competent care. To support this, NHS England has provided funding to all integrated care boards to establish seven-day-a-week bereavement services across maternity settings in England, so that support is always available when families need it most. Currently, 38 out of 42 integrated care boards offer a seven day a week bereavement service, with coverage in 115 out of 120 trusts.Every trust in England has signed up to the National Bereavement Care Pathway. This pathway is designed to improve the quality and consistency of bereavement care for parents and families experiencing pregnancy or baby loss. NHS England is working closely with Sands to agree what steps are necessary to support faster and more consistent implementation of the pathway so that all parents, no matter where they are, receive the support they need at such a difficult time.As of July 2025, maternal mental health services are now available in all areas of England. These services provide specialist psychological support for women with moderate/severe or complex mental health difficulties arising from birth trauma or baby loss. More mothers than ever before, including those sadly affected by the loss of their baby or child, were able to access maternal mental health services or specialist community perinatal mental health services in the year to April 2025.Fathers and partners can receive evidence-based assessments and support through specialist perinatal mental health services, and some NHS trusts also work with Home Start UK’s Dad Matters project to support paternal mental health. Where mothers and partners may have a need for mental health support, but it is not a moderate or severe mental health condition, it is important they can be signposted to other forms of support through their general practitioner and NHS Talking Therapies.

What recent estimate he has made of the (a) the number and (b) the percentage of people over 60 presenting at A&E who waited over 12 hours to be (a) transferred, (b) admitted or (c) discharged in the last 12 months.

NHS England publishes data on the number of accident and emergency attendances and admissions by age. Data is also published on 12-hour accident and emergency attendances, although this is not available by age.

What estimate he has made of how many and what proportion of patients aged over 75 presenting at A&E in England were screened for delirium in the last 12 months.

The information requested is not available centrally.

What estimate he has made of how many and what proportion of patients aged over 75 presenting at A&E in England were screened to assess their risk of falling in the last 12 months.

The information requested is not available centrally.

What estimate he has made of how many and what proportion of patients aged over 75 presenting at A&E in England were screened for general frailty in the last 12 months.

The information requested is not available centrally.

What steps his Department is taking to improve diabetes (a) prevention, (b) care and (c) treatment.

Preventing diabetes is a complex task, and requires multi-faceted action. Prevention involves collaboration in order to tackle the underlying issues such obesity, poor diets, and lifestyle issues. We have several programmes in place to help reduce the prevalence of type 2 diabetes, such as the NHS Health Check, England’s flagship cardiovascular disease programme for those aged 40 to 74 years old, which aims to identify people at risk of developing type 2 diabetes as well as heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, and some cases of dementia, in order to signpost them to behavioural support such as weight management and clinical treatment if needed.Furthermore, those identified of being at risk of developing type 2 diabetes can be referred to the Healthier You NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme, a nine-month programme that supports people at risk of developing type 2 diabetes to reduce their risk through changing their behavior. The programme is highly effective, cutting the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 37% for people completing the programme, compared to those who do not attend.For those young adults, those aged 18 years old and over, who have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and who are overweight or obese, the NHS Type 2 Diabetes Path to Remission Programme is also available. The programme supports individuals to lose weight, improve their blood sugar levels, reduce diabetes-related medication, and put their diabetes into remission. 32% of patients who completed this programme had put their type 2 diabetes into remission following participation. Further information on the programme is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/diabetes/treatment-care/diabetes-remission/ For patients with established diabetes, NHS England achieved their long-term plan objective that 20% of all type 1 diabetes patients are in receipt of flash glucose monitoring as of April 2021. Progress continues to be made for patients with type 1 diabetes, with over 65% of people currently using flash glucose monitoring to help manage their condition. NHS England can confirm that over 200,000 eligible people living with diabetes benefit from real-time continuous glucose monitoring. Furthermore, following the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) recommendations on access to hybrid closed loop (HCL) technology last year, NICE and NHS England agreed on a phased implementation period for HCL over five-years, with roll-out commencing in April 2024.All adults with diabetes are recommended, as prescribed by NICE, to enroll in the eight annual health checks, which include: blood sugars (HbA1c); blood pressure; cholesterol; foot examination; kidney function; urinary albumin; body mass index; and smoking. Adherence to these checks have been associated with reduced emergency admissions, amputations, retinopathy, and mortality. The proportion of people with type 1 diabetes who are receiving all eight care processes had recovered back to 43.3% in 2023/24 and 62.3% for type 2 diabetes, compared to 27% and 37%, respectively, in 2020/21.

What estimate he has made of the number of NHS Ophthalmology departments that do not have enough consultants to provide a full service.

The Department does not hold information on shortages of ophthalmology consultants. Appropriate levels of staffing will be decided by local system workforce planning.NHS England publishes quarterly National Health Service hospital trust vacancy and job advert data. The publication sets out vacancy rates for total NHS staff and, separately, for registered nurses and doctors at a national and regional level. The latest data for December 2024 shows the vacancy rate for doctors was 5.2%. The data is not detailed enough to identify vacancy rates for ophthalmology consultants.

What estimate he has made of the number of NHS Ophthalmology departments that do not have enough consultants to provide a full service for patients needing treatment for (a) glaucoma and (b) wet macular degeneration.

The Department does not hold information on shortages of ophthalmology consultants. Appropriate levels of staffing will be decided by local system workforce planning.NHS England publishes quarterly National Health Service hospital trust vacancy and job advert data. The publication sets out vacancy rates for total NHS staff and, separately, for registered nurses and doctors at a national and regional level. The latest data for December 2024 shows the vacancy rate for doctors was 5.2%. The data is not detailed enough to identify vacancy rates for ophthalmology consultants.

What estimate he has made of the number and proportion of patients who have received NHS cataract surgery in private clinics and have then been re-admitted post-surgery to NHS providers in each of the last six years.

A table showing the number and proportion of patients who received National Health Service cataract surgery in private clinics, who were then re-admitted post-surgery to NHS providers in each of the last six years, is attached.

What assessment he has made of the quality of lenses used by private providers of NHS cataract surgery.

No assessment has been made of the quality of lenses used by private providers of National Health Service cataract surgery.The safety of all patients, whether they are treated in the NHS or the independent sector, is a top priority for the Government. All providers of healthcare are regulated by the Care Quality Commission and follow a set of fundamental standards of safety and quality, below which care should never fall.

What recent estimate he has made of the number of people waiting longer than 18 weeks for treatment for (a) wet macular degeneration and (b) glaucoma in (i) England, (ii) Merseyside and (iii) Liverpool.

The classification codes required to identify pathways where patients may have glaucoma or macular degeneration do not allow for distinction between the two conditions. The following table provides an estimate of the number of patients who have been waiting longer than 18 weeks for treatment specifically for wet macular degeneration and glaucoma in England, Merseyside, and Liverpool, via the latter’s integrated care boards (ICBs), as a snapshot for the week ending 27 April 2025, extracted on 8 May 2025:ConditionEnglandCheshire and Merseyside ICBNHS Liverpool Sub ICBGlaucoma or macular degeneration782412Source: Waiting List Minimum Data Set, NHS England.However, these figures may include patients that also have other conditions, as full coding for glaucoma and macular degeneration procedures requires diagnostic codes that are not available in the Waiting List Minimum Data Set.

What estimate he has made of the number and proportion of NHS hospital trusts unable to deliver comprehensive eyecare services to (a) adults and (b) children.

Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning secondary eye care services to meet local population need. Appropriate levels of staffing are decided by local system workforce planning.We recognise the challenges facing secondary eye care services. NHS England has been testing how IT connectivity can improve the triage and referral of patients between primary and secondary care, and how to allow more patients to be managed in the community, increasing secondary eye care capacity.

Whether he plans to extend the Nursery Milk Scheme entitlement to the end of the academic year in which a child turns five.

The Nursery Milk Scheme is a statutory scheme which allows early years childcare settings to reclaim the cost of providing one-third of a pint of milk per day to children under the age of five who attend a setting for two or more hours per day. Schools can claim reimbursement from the scheme in respect of their pupils aged under five years old.There are no plans to extend eligibility for the Nursery Milk Scheme to cover children until the end of the academic year, during which they reach their fifth birthday. Separate legislation allows pupils from lower-income families, and who are eligible for free school meals, to continue to receive free milk at school after the age of five years old.

What estimate he has made of the number of patients to have undergone NHS cataract surgery in private clinics in each of the last six years.

The following table shows the number of patients who have undergone National Health Service cataract surgery in private clinics in each of the last six years:YearIndependent provider totalDifferenceAdmissionsPatientsAdmissionsPatients2017/1875,09657,676--2018/19101,60977,65226,51319,9762019/20132,980100,81531,37123,1632020/2199,18577,98233,79522,8332021/22230,717175,985131,53298,0032022/23373,252276,175142,535100,1902023/24457,714327,12184,46250,9462024/25377,265267,01180,44960,110Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS England. Note: the data for 2024/25 is provisional as counts produced from provisional data are likely to be lower than those generated for the same period in the final data set.

What estimate he has made of the the amount of money that has been paid to private clinics for delivering NHS cataract surgery in each of the last six years; and how much of the amount identified represented profit for the companies involved.

Independent providers play an important role supporting the National Health Service to deliver eyecare services, ensuring patients receive the treatment and care they need.The data is not held in the format requested.

How much his Department spent on the Healthy Start Scheme in the (a) 2023-24 and (b) 2024-25 financial year.

The Department spent £86,382,173 on the Healthy Start scheme in 2023/24. Audited data on the Department’s spend on the Healthy Start scheme for the 2024/25 financial year is not yet available.

What steps he is taking to help improve access to early prostate cancer (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment in deprived communities.

The Government understands that more needs to be done to improve outcomes for all people with prostate cancer. To achieve this, we have delivered an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week during our first year in Government, as the first step to ensuring early diagnosis and faster treatment.To address disparities and find ways to better detect prostate cancer earlier, we have invested £16 million in the United Kingdom-wide TRANSFORM trial, aimed at helping find the best ways of detecting prostate cancer in men, even if they are not displaying any symptoms. This research will aim to address some of the inequalities that exist in prostate cancer diagnosis by targeting black men in trial recruitment, ensuring that one in ten participants are black men. We have also asked the National Screening Committee to review the evidence for prostate cancer screening, including for high-risk groups.The NHS England Cancer Programme also commissions clinical cancer audits, which 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 treatment and outcomes for patients, including those with prostate cancer.

Whether his Department plans to bring forward legislative proposals to ensure that only registered nurses can legally use the title nurse.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for Ashfield on 27 March 2025 to Question 40615.

What recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of treatment for lung conditions in the NHS: and what steps his Department is taking to include this treatment in the NHS 10-year plan.

In collaboration with a number of partners, the National Health Service has developed a package for systems containing the information and support required to help increase the number of people receiving early and accurate diagnosis for respiratory disease. Following a significant drop in the volume of respiratory specific diagnostic tests, such as spirometry, during the pandemic, NHS England has managed to bring these numbers to above pre-pandemic levels.In alignment with the Neighbourhood Health Service model, NHS England is leading on the development of an approach for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) management to support proactive identification and management of rising risk patients in winter to reduce demand on primary and secondary care by identifying at risk patients, optimizing care, and strengthened support.Furthermore, Core20PLUS5 identifies COPD as one of the five clinical areas of focus requiring accelerated improvement to help tackle healthcare inequalities. Focusing on respiratory health to increase vaccination uptake, namely for COVID-19, flu, and pneumovax, in people with COPD will avoid exacerbations leading to emergency treatment in hospital and inpatient care.The 10-Year Health Plan will deliver the three big shifts our NHS needs to be fit for the future: from hospital to community; from analogue to digital; and from sickness to prevention. All of these are relevant to improving respiratory health in all parts of the county. More tests and scans delivered in the community to allow for earlier diagnosis, better joint working between services, and greater use of apps and wearable technology will all help people manage their long-term conditions, including respiratory conditions, closer to home. Earlier diagnosis of conditions will help people manage their conditions, prevent deterioration, and improve survival rates. Taking action to reduce the causes of the biggest killers, such as enabling a smoke free generation, can further help prevent lung conditions.

Whether his Department is taking steps to provide redress to patients affected by pelvic mesh implants.

The Government is carefully considering the valuable work done by the Patient Safety Commissioner and the resulting Hughes Report, which set out options for redress for those harmed by valproate and pelvic mesh. This is a complex area of work, involving several Government departments, and it is important that we get this right. We will be providing an update to the Patient Safety Commissioner’s Report at the earliest opportunity.