Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will publish the revised Mental Capacity Act Code of Practice before the end of this parliament.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are continuing to discuss revisions to the Mental Capacity Act Code of Practice, consulted on in 2022, with the Ministry of Justice. Further details on next steps will be shared with the sector in due course.
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 assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of trends in the number of warnings from drugs companies on impending supply problems for certain products; and what steps her Department is taking to help ensure stability of supply for essential medications.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are approximately 14,000 medicines licensed for supply in the United Kingdom, and the overwhelming majority are in good supply. The medicine supply chain is complex, global, and highly regulated, and supply issues can be caused by a range of factors. For example, suppliers can encounter manufacturing problems, difficulty accessing raw materials, and surges in demand. These are commonly cited as the drivers of recent supply issues, which have affected many countries, not just the UK.
The number of supply issue notifications received by the Department has remained relatively stable through 2022 and 2023. This followed an initial increase in 2021 following the introduction of a new reporting portal for manufacturers, in October 2020, which is used to notify the Department of potential issues, shortages, and discontinuations.
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 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 National Health Service communications to provide management advice and information on the issue to healthcare professionals, so they can advise and support their patients.