Asked by: Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to reconsider the proposed closure of the Clover Health Centre in Greenwich which serves Nepalese and other minorities suffering from severe health problems and language difficulties; and what assessment they have made of whether other local health centres have the capacity to take on these patients.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has no plans to reconsider the closure of the Clover Health Centre in Greenwich, NHS England is assured there is capacity in local general practitioner (GP) surgeries to support patients registered at Clover Health Centre. NHS England is carefully managing the dispersal of the patient list to other local GP surgeries to ensure that patients receive continuity of care. NHS England is supporting all patients to register with an alternative GP surgery and is providing additional support, including translation and interpretation services, for those who need it. NHS England is also working with community representatives to ensure patients from minority groups receive the support they need.
Asked by: Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the £421 million they announced for drug and alcohol addiction treatment and recovery services on 16 February, how much will be allocated to support patients (1) dependent on, or (2) withdrawing from, prescribed drug dependencies.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Building a drug and alcohol treatment and recovery system is the key aim of the Government’s long-term drug strategy. On 16 February 2023, the Government announced that 151 local authorities across England are receiving £421 million funding through to 2025 to combat drug and alcohol misuse, with areas with the highest need prioritised.
Local authorities are responsible for assessing local need for alcohol and drug prevention and treatment in their area, and commissioning services to meet these needs. Local authorities therefore determine the level of funding that they may choose to allocate to support patients dependent on, or withdrawing from, prescribed drug dependencies.
Asked by: Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will fund a national helpline and website for people suffering from prescribed drug dependency, as recommended by Public Health England in 2019.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
This helpline recommendation formed part of a wider set of actions to improve the support available from the healthcare system to people who are dependent on prescription drugs. NHS England has been the facilitator of system partners in their work to deliver the review recommendations. In March 2023, NHS England published ‘Optimising personalised care for adults prescribed medicines associated with dependence or withdrawal symptoms: Framework for action for ICBs and primary care’. A copy is attached. This document includes five actions, resources and case studies that will help systems to develop plans that can support people who are taking medicines associated with dependence and withdrawal symptoms.
Asked by: Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to support the provision of tapering strips which enable patients to withdraw from prescribed drugs slowly and safely.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline 'Medicines associated with dependence or withdrawal symptoms: safe prescribing and withdrawal management for adults' includes information for both health professionals and patients on the safe withdrawal from medicines. As part of the evidence review for this guideline, tapering strips were considered for their potential use in decreasing patient doses and withdrawing from antidepressants but no evidence was identified.
A recommendation was made in the final guideline for further research on the effectiveness of equipment, technologies, practical aids and medicine formulations in supporting people to manage dose reductions, compared with usual practice. NICE keeps its guidance under review to ensure that it reflects any developments in the evidence base. A copy of this guidance is attached.
Asked by: Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many referrals have been made to Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services in the last six months; how many appointments have been made for Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services in the last six months; and how these figures compare to the same period last year.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) data requested are shown in the following table:
| IAPT Referrals | IAPT Appointments |
October 2019 – March 2020 | 834,978 | 3,543,965 |
October 2018 – March 2019 | 841,006 | 3,377,787 |
Source: Psychological Therapies: reports on the use of IAPT services, NHS Digital
Asked by: Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many prescriptions have been issued for (1) antidepressants, (2) anxiolytics, (3) sedatives and hypnotics, and (4) antipsychotics, in each month from April to June 2020; and how these figures compare with the same month last year.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The information requested is provided by the NHS Business Services Authority in the following tables.
| Number of items | |||
Month and Year | Antidepressants | Anxiolytics | Barbiturates and Hypnotics | Antipsychotics |
April 2019 | 6,035,028 | 518,035 | 679,445 | 1,010,050 |
May 2019 | 6,450,150 | 553,508 | 716,259 | 1,073,853 |
June 2019 | 6,017,455 | 511,088 | 661,151 | 1,002,933 |
| Number of items | |||
Month and Year | Antidepressants | Anxiolytics | Barbiturates and Hypnotics | Antipsychotics |
April 2020 | 6,481,166 | 521,162 | 692,160 | 1,119,597 |
May 2020 | 6,244,952 | 490,061 | 659,233 | 1,051,130 |
June 2020 | Not yet available | Not yet available | Not yet available | Not yet available |
Notes:
The time periods covered are April 2020 – May 2020 and April 2019 – June 2019 inclusive for comparison.
The term ‘items’ refers to the number of times a product appears on a prescription form, and not the quantity prescribed. The NHS Business Services Authority does not have enough information to determine if a prescription is ‘new’ for a particular patient.
Any secondary indications or unlicensed uses of any of these medicines will not be apparent from the data.
The data provided is for prescriptions prescribed and dispensed in England only.
The data provided is based on English dispensed prescription that were processed by the NHS Business Services Authority; excluding items ‘not dispensed’, ‘disallowed’ and ‘items referred back to the contractor for further clarification’. Items prescribed but not presented for dispensing or not submitted to NHS Business Services Authority by the dispenser are also excluded.
Asked by: Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many prescriptions have been issued for (1) antidepressants, (2) anxiolytics, (3) sedatives and hypnotics, and (4) antipsychotics, in the last six months; how many prescriptions in each of these categories were new prescriptions; and how these figures compare with the same period last year.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The information requested is provided in the following tables by the NHS Business Services Authority:
| Number of items | |||
Month and Year | Antidepressants | Anxiolytics | Barbiturates and Hypnotics | Antipsychotics |
October 2018 | 6,242,966 | 559,541 | 738,497 | 1,059,542 |
November 2018 | 6,105,746 | 538,508 | 715,005 | 1,030,777 |
December 2018 | 6,043,242 | 527,892 | 704,835 | 1,022,515 |
January 2019 | 6,279,989 | 547,545 | 743,385 | 1,052,933 |
February 2019 | 5,680,329 | 492,331 | 656,344 | 955,569 |
March 2019 | 6,153,299 | 527,789 | 699,736 | 1,021,958 |
| Number of items | |||
Month and Year | Antidepressants | Anxiolytics | Barbiturates and Hypnotics | Antipsychotics |
October 2019 | 6,574,909 | 547,721 | 720,362 | 1,091,403 |
November 2019 | 6,324,255 | 515,711 | 683,198 | 1,045,301 |
December 2019 | 6,428,992 | 525,749 | 698,338 | 1,067,155 |
January 2020 | 6,701,671 | 539,735 | 733,003 | 1,098,917 |
February 2020 | 6,097,134 | 490,517 | 653,315 | 997,909 |
March 2020 | 6,828,732 | 529,601 | 704,071 | 1,080,136 |
The data provided is for prescriptions prescribed and dispensed in England only. The time periods covered are October 2019 – March 2020 inclusive and also October 2018 – March 2019 for comparison. March 2020 is the most recent dataset available.
The term ‘items’ refers to the number of times a product appears on a prescription form, and not the quantity prescribed. Any secondary indications or unlicensed uses of any of these medicines will not be apparent from the data.
The NHS Business Services Authority does not have enough information to determine if a prescription is ‘new’ for a particular patient.
Asked by: Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether garden centres, gardens and public spaces are important for mental health, and whether they plan to prioritise the re-opening of such spaces when restrictions in place to address COVID-19 are being lifted.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The benefits of being outside are noted in the Government’s Guidance for the public on mental health and wellbeing aspects of coronavirus (COVID-19) which is available in an online only format on GOV.UK. On 18 April, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Rt. Hon. Robert Jenrick MP) said in his statement on COVID-19 that parks must remain open and people should be able to safely enjoy fresh air and green space.
On 13 May, we confirmed that garden centres could reopen. Our decision to reopen garden centres and nurseries in a safe way, will allow businesses to sell their products directly to the public and in doing so bringing about wider benefits to consumers, especially for physical and mental wellbeing, which gardening can bring.
Asked by: Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the UK has continued membership of the EU’s Early Warning and Response System for pandemics.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Infectious diseases such as COVID-19 do not respect borders and we are working closely with the European Union, European countries and global partners to tackle this global pandemic.
The United Kingdom continues to access all EU health security alerting systems, databases and networks during the transition period, including the EU’s Early Warning and Response System (EWRS). We continue to use the EWRS system as part of our response to the pandemic, to share information with the EU and Member States relating to COVID-19.
Our responses will continue to benefit from this international cooperation, and we are committed to continuing to work with countries and partners from all across the world, as we move into future stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Asked by: Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to develop and launch a national helpline which is open 24 hours every day to support those affected by prescribed drug dependence; and whether such a service will be developed with the input of relevant charities and patient groups.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
In September 2019, Public Health England published an evidence review on the problems of dependence and withdrawal associated with some prescribed medicines. The review recommended the Department considers supporting the development of a time-limited national helpline and associated website. NHS England and NHS Improvement are considering the recommendations from the review, including the recommendation for a helpline, and other evidence to develop a set of actions to reduce and treat prescription medicine dependency.