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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-10-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had with key health stakeholders on providing guidance for GPs on extending the length of appointment slots and increasing the number of appointments bookable for each GP each day.

David Mowat

General practitioners (GPs) are required to provide essential services to meet the reasonable needs of their patients within core hours. Length of appointment slots and number of bookable appointments is determined by individual GP practices. The Department has not had discussions with key health stakeholders on providing guidance for GPs on these matters.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-10-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to reduce the number of (a) obese and (b) overweight children under the age of 11; and if he will take steps to cooperate with (a) his counterparts in the devolved administrations, (b) GPs, (c) teachers and (d) parents to help reduce that number.

Nicola Blackwood

We launched Childhood Obesity: A Plan for Action on 18 August. Our plan focuses on actions that are likely to have the biggest impact on reducing childhood obesity and maintaining a healthy weight. It presents a bold package of policy proposals, informed by the available evidence. We will work with the devolved administrations, general practitioners and other healthcare professionals, teachers and parents to improve the health and wellbeing of children across the United Kingdom.

We are confident that the measures announced will make a real difference and estimate that they could reduce childhood obesity rates by around a fifth (330,000) over the next 10 years.

A copy of Childhood Obesity: A Plan for Action is attached and is available at:

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/546588/Childhood_obesity_2016__2__acc.pdf

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-10-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will take steps to encourage people not to eat too soon before they plan to sleep in order to avoid increased risk of heart attacks.

Nicola Blackwood

Government advice to prevent heart disease is to eat a diet consistent with the Eatwell Guide and in particular choose a diet lower in energy, saturated fat, salt and sugar and higher in fruit, vegetables, oily fish and fibre than current diets, alongside being more active.

NHS Choices currently advises people not to eat big meals just before bed to improve sleep. This advice can be found at:

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/insomnia/Pages/insomniatips.aspx

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-10-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to help prevent the Zika virus from entering the UK.

Nicola Blackwood

The female mosquitoes responsible for Zika virus transmission are not native to the United Kingdom and it is considered highly unlikely they could survive the current UK climatic conditions long enough to become established. The risk to public health posed by Zika virus is, therefore, very low and no greater than the risks posed by other mosquito-borne infections, such as malaria, for example.

Public Health England monitors various insect vectors (in particular, mosquitoes) in the UK through surveillance projects that it runs in collaboration with a range of organisations across the UK. In England, detection of an invasive species considered to pose a threat to the UK would trigger the use of appropriate control measures.

In addition, the Government is ensuring UK residents travelling to countries with active Zika transmission are encouraged to take measures to minimise the risk of being bitten by mosquitoes, for example through the use of insect repellent.

Up-to-date travel advice is in place, and clinical advice is available to UK medical professionals. More information can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/zika-virus-zikv-clinical-and-travel-guidance

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-10-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve early diagnosis of childhood cancers; and if he will make available additional funding to improve such early diagnosis.

David Mowat

Improving early diagnosis of cancer is a priority for this Government, and was clearly highlighted in the report Achieving World-Class Cancer Outcomes published last year by the Independent Cancer Taskforce. Earlier diagnosis makes it more likely that patients, including children with cancer, will receive effective treatments. We have committed to implementing all the recommendations of the Taskforce including that, by 2020, everyone referred with a suspicion of cancer will receive either a definitive diagnosis or the all-clear within four weeks (28 days).

NHS England has the funds necessary to improve cancer services over the next five years, including up to £300 million by 2020 to support earlier diagnosis of cancer and the £10 billion of real terms increase in National Health Service funding by 2020-21. The recommendations in the Taskforce report give direction as to where these funds should be targeted.

In order to continue to support general practitioners (GPs) to identify patients whose symptoms may indicate cancer and urgently refer them as appropriate, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published an updated suspected cancer referral guideline in June 2015. The guideline ‘Suspected cancer: recognition and referral’ includes new recommendations for childhood cancers.

NICE also addressed generally, non-site specific symptoms of concern in children and young people, recommending that GPs should take into account the insight and knowledge of parents and carers when considering making a referral for suspected cancer. NICE noted that more lives could be saved each year in England if GPs followed the new guideline, which encourages GPs to think of cancer sooner and lower the referral threshold.