Asked by: Baroness Masham of Ilton (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that those harmed by sodium valproate in pregnancy are supported by adequate health services following the recommendations by the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review, published on 8 July 2020.
Answered by Lord Kamall
If there is a need for those of childbearing age to take sodium valproate, their doctor will include them on the valproate pregnancy prevention programme. This is designed to make sure patients are fully aware of the risks and the need to avoid becoming pregnant.
The National Health Service has commissioned the Paediatric Neurosciences Clinical Reference Group to support the development of pathways of care service specification to support improvements for patient support and co-ordination, ensuring vital targeted follow-up of infants at risk.
A multi-disciplinary expert clinical group with experience in responding to and managing teratogen exposure has been established and will report its recommendations to NHS England and NHS Improvement in March 2022.
Asked by: Baroness Masham of Ilton (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effect of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s proposed severity modifier being introduced in an “opportunity cost neutral” package.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent body and is responsible for determining the methods and processes used in the development of its recommendations. Therefore, the Department has made no such assessment.
NICE’s recent consultation, Review of methods for health technology evaluation programmes: proposals for change, issued as part of the ongoing review of its methods and processes for health technology assessments, states that the proposed severity modifier is intended to “to put more weight on treatments for people with severe diseases across all types of disease” reflecting evidence “that society values health gains from treatments for very severe diseases over other treatments”. The consultation also states that: “With the proposed approach, there are very few topics … which met the end-of-life criteria previously, but which would not receive an additional weighting with the severity modifier.” A copy of Review of methods for health technology evaluation programmes: proposals for change is attached.
NICE will consider the consultation responses in developing the final changes to its methods.
Asked by: Baroness Masham of Ilton (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce an action plan on cancer (1) diagnosis, and (2) treatment; and if they have such plans, when they will be introduced.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The Government is committed to the National Health Service (NHS) Long Term Plan which has set out ambitions that, by 2028; the proportion of cancers diagnosed at stages one and two will rise from around 54% now, to 75% of cancer patients; and 55,000 more people each year will survive their cancer for at least five years after diagnosis. It also sets out a series of actions, concerning diagnosis and treatment, for achieving these ambitions.
In March 2021, the NHS published the 2021-22 priorities and operational planning guidance. This sets out the priorities for the NHS, including addressing the shortfall in the number of first cancer treatments, reducing the number of people waiting longer than 62 days for diagnosis and/or treatment and continuing to make progress on Long Term Plan priorities.
Asked by: Baroness Masham of Ilton (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reported shortage of seasonal labour in the ornamental horticulture production industry; and whether they will publish the findings of any such assessment.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Defra is considering the latest data and working with the ornamental horticulture production industry to understand labour demand and supply, including both permanent and seasonal workforce requirements. We will continue to monitor the labour needs of the ornamental horticulture sector and help to ensure that these are met.
In December 2020, a Defra-led review into automation in horticulture was also announced alongside a review of the Seasonal Workers Pilot. The review will report on ways to increase automation in both the edible and ornamental horticulture sectors and meet the Government’s aim of reducing the need for migrant seasonal labour.
The Government has announced that the seasonal worker visa route will be extended to 2024 to allow overseas workers to come to the UK for up to six months to harvest both edible and ornamental crops. 30,000 visas will be available. This will be kept under review with the potential to increase by 10,000 visas if necessary.
Asked by: Baroness Masham of Ilton (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they plan to announce a new seasonal agricultural workers scheme for 2022; and what plans they have to include the ornamental horticulture production industry in that scheme.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Defra is working closely with the Home Office to ensure there is a long-term strategy for the food and farming workforce beyond 2021.
The Government has announced that the seasonal worker visa route will be extended to 2024 to allow overseas workers to come to the UK for up to six months to harvest both edible and ornamental crops. 30,000 visas will be available. This will be kept under review with the potential to increase by 10,000 visas if necessary.
Asked by: Baroness Masham of Ilton (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what training on Overactive Bladder care is provided to General Practitioners to help patient (1) diagnosis, and (2) referral to secondary care settings.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Each medical school in England sets its own undergraduate curriculum which must meet the standards set by the General Medical Council (GMC). The GMC would expect that, in fulfilling these standards, newly qualified doctors are able to identify, treat and manage any care needs a person has, including bladder conditions. General practitioners (GPs) use their clinical judgement, aligned with clinical evidence, to assess when it is appropriate to seek specialist expertise and refer the patient. GPs will first try resolve the issue in primary care and then refer to clinics for specialist assessment in secondary care.
The training curricula for postgraduate trainee doctors is set by the relevant Royal College and must also meet the standards set by the General Medical Council. The Royal College of General Practitioners’ curriculum is designed to integrate with the GMC’s generic professional capabilities framework, including clinical management and referrals to other care settings. Overactive bladder syndrome is listed in the clinical topic guides that supplement the curriculum.
Asked by: Baroness Masham of Ilton (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to produce a revised version of the Excellence in Continence Care Guidelines, published on 23 July 2018; and what stakeholders they have consulted on this.
Answered by Lord Kamall
NHS England currently has no plans to produce a revised version of Excellence in Continence Care.
Asked by: Baroness Masham of Ilton (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many community diagnostic hubs per million people they intend to introduce; and how they intend to ensure that respiratory diagnostic tests will be a core part of their function in all instances.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The National Health Service is planning at least 100 community diagnostic centres (CDC) in the next three years, or approximately 1.8 per million population. This is based on the recommendation of Professor Sir Mike Richards’ review to establish 165 CDCs or three per million in England.
The core specification for CDCs includes a range of respiratory diagnostics, including lung function testing. In addition, local integrated care systems will be able to supplement these with additional services for respiratory patients according to local need.
Asked by: Baroness Masham of Ilton (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of Overactive Bladder on the UK economy.
Answered by Lord Kamall
No assessment has been made.
Asked by: Baroness Masham of Ilton (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve the management of urinary catheters in (1) NHS hospitals, and (2) community care facilities.
Answered by Lord Kamall
In 2019, the National Health Service developed urinary catheter tools for hospitals, integrated care systems and community settings as part of the Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) programme to ensure the effective and safe management of urinary catheters.
In addition, the AMR programme for 2021/2022 includes work to support integrated care systems to use RightCare data packs to plan and implement appropriate interventions. Developed in collaboration with the AMR programme, Public Health England and the NHS Business Services Authority, RightCare urinary tract infection data packs are personalised for each clinical commissioning group. The packs provide an opportunity for integrated care systems and trusts to assess and benchmark current systems to find opportunities to improve the management of urinary catheters in the relevant settings.