Asked by: Baroness Merron (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government which groups have a lower-than-average rate of participation in home-kit bowel cancer screening; and what plans they have to increase participation.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The national IT system for the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme does not routinely collect data that could identify groups that have a lower-than-average uptake rate of the fecal immunochemical bowel cancer screening test.
Research has found that groups which are less likely to take part in bowel screening include men, people from ethnic minority backgrounds, and people in more deprived areas. Physical or mental health conditions can also make carrying out a home test more difficult.
NHS England has started work to improve its national screening IT systems through the Digital Transformation of Screening programme. This will enable screening providers to record protected characteristics, to more accurately identify groups with the lowest uptake, and target initiatives to improve uptake.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they will assess (1) wider productivity, and (2) economic benefits, when considering new immunisation programmes for infant respiratory syncytial virus.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The independent Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advises the Department on the approach to vaccination and immunisation. The JCVI evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) programme was based on the health benefits of an infant RSV programme and the potential healthcare cost savings from preventing cases and hospitalisations.
The Department did not ask the JCVI to complete an assessment of wider productivity and economic benefits of an immunisation programme, and the Department did not assess this separately for RSV.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the transmission of H5N1 bird flu to humans.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) works closely with partners to monitor, investigate, and periodically assess the risk to human health of avian influenza (influenza A(H5N1)). This includes monitoring human cases, patterns of transmission of influenza A(H5N1) in animals, surveillance of humans exposed to infected birds, and assessing how well circulating viruses are matched to vaccines.
Our assessment of the risks of A(H5N1) to the United Kingdom is kept under regular review and is revised when new evidence is identified. Updates to this work are published in the UKHSA’s avian influenza technical briefings. The UKHSA also contributes to the World Health Organization’s global assessments.
There continues to be sporadic human cases of A(H5N1) detected globally, including both mild and severe infections. The UK does not currently have outbreaks of influenza A(H5N1) in poultry or other captive birds, although sporadic detections continue in wild birds. The UK has self-declared zonal freedom from highly pathogenic avian influenza for Great Britain with effect from 29 March 2024.
Asked by: Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they plan to strengthen the privacy and dignity of female patients in NHS hospitals.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to upholding the rights of women and girls and ensuring they are properly represented in healthcare services, communications, and guidance.
That is why we are currently consulting on updates to the NHS Constitution for England to shape the principles and values of the National Health Service and ensure the privacy, dignity and safety of all patients, including women, are embedded in how it operates.
Our proposed changes to the NHS Constitution reinforce the NHS’s commitment to providing single-sex wards and will empower patients to request that intimate care is carried out by someone of the same biological sex, where reasonably possible.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data sets will flow into the Federated Data Platform; and what her planned timetable is for each of those data sets to be (a) visible and (b) in use on the Federated Data Platform by participating hospital trusts.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Andy Carter (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many additional NHS dental appointments have been made available for patients as a result of the Dental Recovery Plan in Warrington South constituency.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what her planned timescale is for ambulance service data to be active on the Federated Data Platform for use by participating hospital trusts.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
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 (a) mitigate potential future shortages of (i) Creon 25000 and (ii) other essential medicines and (b) ensure that people affected by medicine shortages have access to alternative options.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are aware of ongoing intermittent supply issues with Creon 25000 gastro-resistant capsules. These are due to manufacturing and active pharmaceutical ingredient constraints. The supplier has confirmed that stock of Creon 25000 gastro resistant capsules is now available, with further deliveries scheduled in May 2024. The Department has issued guidance to healthcare professionals regarding treatment of patients, while there was disruption to the supply of Creon 25000 gastro-resistant capsules. We continue to explore all management options to manage this issue. We have asked the supplier to continue confirming their future forecasts, and to inform us of any further gaps in supply of Creon 25000 gastro-resistant capsules.
Whilst we can’t always prevent supply issues, we have a range of well-established tools and processes to mitigate risks to patients. These include close and regular engagement with the suppliers, use of alternative strengths or forms of a medicine to allow patients to remain on the same product, expediting regulatory procedures, sourcing unlicensed imports from abroad, adding products to the restricted exports and hoarding list, use of Serious Shortage Protocols (SSPs), and issuing NHS communications to provide management advice and information on the issue to healthcare professionals, so they can advise and support their patients.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information her Department holds on the availability of Creon 25000 across the UK.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are aware of ongoing intermittent supply issues with Creon 25000 gastro-resistant capsules. These are due to manufacturing and active pharmaceutical ingredient constraints. The supplier has confirmed that stock of Creon 25000 gastro resistant capsules is now available, with further deliveries scheduled in May 2024. The Department has issued guidance to healthcare professionals regarding treatment of patients, while there was disruption to the supply of Creon 25000 gastro-resistant capsules. We continue to explore all management options to manage this issue. We have asked the supplier to continue confirming their future forecasts, and to inform us of any further gaps in supply of Creon 25000 gastro-resistant capsules.
Whilst we can’t always prevent supply issues, we have a range of well-established tools and processes to mitigate risks to patients. These include close and regular engagement with the suppliers, use of alternative strengths or forms of a medicine to allow patients to remain on the same product, expediting regulatory procedures, sourcing unlicensed imports from abroad, adding products to the restricted exports and hoarding list, use of Serious Shortage Protocols (SSPs), and issuing NHS communications to provide management advice and information on the issue to healthcare professionals, so they can advise and support their patients.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of issuing free parking passes to NHS community staff who are required to use their own vehicles for home visits.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have delivered on our commitment to provide free hospital car parking for in-need groups. All hospitals that charge for car parking have implemented this policy. Councils are responsible for setting their own local policy, and those interested in local parking concessions can check their local councils’ website for further details of any local schemes.