Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford and Kevin Hollinrake

Tuesday 20th December 2016 Commons Chamber

[Nicola Blackwood]

The hon. Gentleman is a great advocate of evidence-based medicine and I am pleased to hear about his support for it. He will be pleased that the national leadership programme is one of the evidence-based programmes that we are rolling out to improve the leadership of the NHS across the country.

[Kevin Hollinrake (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

3. How the Government plan to show global leadership in tackling antimicrobial resistance.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Nicola Blackwood)]

The UK is already a global leader in the fight against AMR. This Government’s leadership has secured a UN declaration on AMR and a commitment from the G20 to drive the development of new antimicrobials. We will continue to deliver international programmes to tackle AMR, including the Fleming fund and the Global AMR innovation fund, which represent more than £300 million of investment over the next five years.

[Kevin Hollinrake]

One of the 10 key recommendations of the O’Neill review was to improve the data and surveillance underlying antimicrobial resistance. What plans does the Minister have to routinely test all NHS patients for antibiotic resistance?

[Nicola Blackwood]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right that it is essential that we improve diagnostics if we are to tackle this national threat. A routine part of the clinical management of patients showing symptoms of infections is to take a blood sample. When an infection is identified, those samples are indeed tested for resistance. Part of our AMR strategy is to improve diagnostics and to fund innovation in this area.