Asked by: Ashley Dalton (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking with pharmaceutical companies to increase the supply of semaglutide.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has worked intensively with industry to seek commitments from them to address issues with the supply of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs), including semaglutide, to expedite deliveries and boost supplies. As a result, the overall supply position in the United Kingdom has improved. Guidance for healthcare professionals now allows for the initiation of new patients on Rybelsus tablets, an oral semaglutide, and provides advice on what to prescribe patients who are unable to obtain their existing GLP-1 RA treatment whilst there continue to be disruptions to the supply of some products, including semaglutide. These disruptions are affecting many countries around the world, and aren’t specific to the UK.
We continue to work with international partners, given the global nature of medical supply chains, collaborating to share best practice and manage and respond to common threats to supply, including on semaglutide and other GLP-1 RAs licensed for treating patients with type 2 diabetes.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the contract awarded by her Department to Ethypharm UK Ltd on 27 January 2022 for the storage and management of the Department's Naloxone buffer stock, how many packs of Naloxone were distributed from the buffer stock for use by patients in the UK in the (a) 2021-22, (b) 2022-23, and (c) 2023-24 financial year.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
No packs of naloxone were distributed from the buffer stock for use by patients, in the financial years 2021/22, 2022/23, or 2023/24. The buffer stock is maintained in case of an unprecedented demand for naloxone arising, that would exceed the capacity of business-as-usual stock, for instance due to an incident of unusually harmful opioids. Such an incident has not arisen to date. The Government remains committed to maintaining this vital precautionary measure, and would authorise the release of buffer stock supplies when needed.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help ensure that (a) young and (b) vulnerable people have access to free contraception.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Local authorities across England are responsible for commissioning comprehensive, openly accessible sexual and reproductive health services, which includes the provision of free contraception to meet local demand. Local authorities decide on commissioning arrangements based on an assessment of local need, including the needs of young and vulnerable people. Contraception is also widely available free of charge through general practices (GPs).
The Government is committed to improving access to contraception, and reducing reproductive health inequalities. The Women’s Health Strategy sets out our 10-year ambition and the actions we are taking to improve disparities in access to services, experiences of services, and outcomes for all women and girls.
As part of our work to deliver the Women’s Health Strategy we have launched a dedicated women’s health area on the National Health Service website as a first port of call for women’s health information, including contraception. We have also worked closely with NHS Digital to create a new YouTube series on contraception, which has been designed to help answer common questions often found in search engines, as well as more detailed information on the range of contraceptive methods available.
In 2023 we also introduced the NHS Pharmacy Contraception Service. This service offers greater choice in how people can access contraception services. It will also create additional capacity in GPs and sexual health clinics, to support meeting the demand for more complex assessments.
We are working with the Women’s Health Ambassador and others to provide health information to diverse groups of women, across their life course. We know that young people who receive effective relationships and sex education are more likely to use contraception and condoms, and less likely to have an unplanned pregnancy as a teenager, and in later life.
The 2020 roll-out of statutory relationships and sex education in all schools means that more young people receive support to prevent early unplanned pregnancy through learning about the full range of contraceptive choices and sexual health services available. The statutory guidance is available at the following link:
As set out in the Women's Health Strategy, the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Education are working to understand women’s health topics that teachers feel less confident in teaching, and we will work to improve provision of high-quality teaching resources.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether Northern Ireland will receive funding through the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia mission; and what her planned timetable for delivery of the mission is.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Spending and delivery plans for the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission are currently in development. The Dementia Mission Co-Chairs Hilary Evans and Professor Nadeem Sarwar have, and continue to, engage extensively across the sector to understand and develop the missions’ key aims, ensuring it addresses the challenges the sector faces and that patient voices are heard. This has informed the missions focus on three key pillars: biomarkers and experimental medicine; clinical trials infrastructure and innovation; and end-to-end implementation.
In March 2024, the Government hosted a roundtable and reception where charities, academics, investors, business leaders, and people with lived experience came together to further accelerate efforts to tackle this devastating illness, and to thank all those involved in supporting dementia research, including charities across the United Kingdom. This event made a series announcements, including: awarding a share of the £6 million of funding to 10 projects through Innovate UK’s Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) dementia biomarker tools competition; the appointment of Scott Mitchell as the People’s Champion for the Dementia Mission; the appointment of Dr Ruth McKernan CBE as Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Neurodegeneration Initiative, which will be a public-private partnership delivering the mission's objectives around biomarkers, boosting the number and speed of clinical trials in dementia and neurodegeneration, and working with regulatory bodies around the implementation of new treatments; and the appointment of the Medicines Discovery Catapult as the delivery partner for the establishment of the Neurodegeneration Initiative. The Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission continues to develop its deliverables, and will announce further plans for their delivery in due course.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
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 improve access to breast screening for people with physical disabilities that prevent them from holding the required position for sufficient time to complete the screening.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is committed to improving the accessibility of the screening programmes it commissions under the Public Health Services (S7a) agreement, particularly for under-served groups in society. Contractually, providers of National Health Service screening services are required to make reasonable adjustments to ensure that their services are accessible for people with disabilities. For example, the NHS breast screening service offers longer appointments at accessible sites to support women with physical disabilities.
Services make reasonable adjustments within the constraints of mammography equipment, to ensure that people with disabilities are offered the opportunity to have screening. However, there may be situations where this is not possible. Providers will deal with these on a case by case basis, and offer an alternative approach as necessary. For example, for women who are unable to have a mammogram, they may be offered a referral to a symptomatic breast clinic for a physical check.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
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 tackle the shortage of children’s nurses in hospices across the UK.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is seeking to address shortages in the workforce, and particularly in community care, through the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan (LTWP). The LTWP, published in 2023, sets out the steps the National Health Service and its partners need to take to grow the workforce, and deliver a workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. It will put the workforce on a sustainable footing for the long term. The LTWP aims to grow the number and proportion of NHS staff working in mental health, and primary and community care, and sets out an ambition to grow these roles by 73%, by 2036/37.
The Department has delivered on the Government’s commitment of 50,000 additional nurses, with over 363,000 nurses working across the NHS, which is over 62,000, or 20.7% more than September 2019. More widely, data for September 2023 from the Nursing and Midwifery Council shows there are over 58,300 registered children’s nurses across the United Kingdom. This is over 6,500, or 12.7%, more than in 2019.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to ensure that patients at high risk of developing breast cancer are recalled for MRI screening.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Women at very high risk (VHR) of breast cancer are eligible to be screened from the age of 25 years old upwards, and should be invited every year. The screening includes mammography or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), depending on age and risk criteria.
In March, NHS England wrote to a small number of VHR women who had not been referred for annual MRI surveillance, and the National Health Service has been working hard to ensure these women are checked as a matter of urgency, as described in their individual letters. To support screening of VHR women, a new central database is planned to ensure all referrals reach NHS breast screening services.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Any Hours and Any Speciality schemes used by Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust on (a) maternity staff retention rates and (b) career progression among midwives.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Any Hours is a programme that allows for more flexible working hours and patterns. Wherever there are shifts that are unfilled, Any Hours allows midwives to choose when, where, and the number of hours they want to work. Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust data shows that since the Any Hours Scheme was enacted, it has released, on average, 300 hours a month, equalling two whole time equivalent midwives’ released every month. The Any Hours programme is expected to be featured as a case study by NHS England.
Any Specialty is a programme to encourage all Band 6 midwives to spend 15 hours a month, or two days, in a different speciality of their choice. This allows colleagues to improve the competencies and skills needed to help their career progression, or even to directly apply to a specialist midwife role at the trust. To date, specialties have recruited nine midwives following Any Specialty contact at Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on the £100 million AI Life Sciences Accelerator Mission.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Prime Minister announced a new artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare fund, backed by £100 million, at the AI Safety Summit. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is responsible for this fund, and the Department of Health and Social Care is working closely with them to identify areas where rapid deployment of AI could create transformational breakthroughs in healthcare. We are particularly focused on innovations in Life Sciences, which could accelerate our fight against devastating conditions like cancer and chronic mental ill-health, aiming to diagnose these conditions earlier and improve treatments. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology will provide an update on our progress later in Spring.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of NHS speak up guardians in (a) primary and (b) secondary care settings.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Freedom to Speak Up Guardians are a valued channel through which concerns can be raised, and have handled over 100,000 cases since the National Guardian’s Office first started collecting data in 2017. This represents over 100,000 opportunities for learning and improvement. In 2022/23 alone over 25,000 cases were raised with Freedom to Speak Up Guardians and over four-fifths, or 82.2% of those who gave feedback to their Freedom to Speak Up Guardian, said they would speak up again.