Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 18 November (HL2386), what lessons have been learned from the 2024 distribution of respiratory syncytial virus vaccines to primary care settings; and how these lessons will be applied to ensure early availability to all eligible patients from 1 September 2025.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The RSV vaccination programmes for pregnant women (to protect newborn babies) and older adults began in England on 1st September 2024. The national campaign is running year-round. It is not a seasonal programme.
UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) procure vaccines and manage UK buffer stocks for the RSV programmes. RSV vaccines are and will continue to remain available for primary care providers to order at any time throughout the year from UKHSA’s NHS facing vaccine ordering website.
While a small number of primary care providers experienced delays with rolling out the programmes from 1st September, there have been no major issues with distributing RSV vaccines from central supply stocks. UKHSA will continue to monitor vaccine distribution, to ensure supplies remain readily available to providers so they can deliver the programmes.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that NHS England provide the RSV vaccine to all relevant primary care practices by 1 September 2025 so that the vaccine can be delivered in advance of the peak transmission period of the virus.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) informed primary care practices on 24 June 2024 that respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccination would be included in the routine National Health Service-funded immunisations delivered as essential services under the GP Contract from 1 September 2024. The joint letter set out the availability and requirements for practices to order the vaccine through Immform from early August 2024. It made clear that practices are responsible for proactively inviting aged-based eligible patients for vaccination, and for providing the vaccine to eligible patients from 28 weeks of pregnancy, either opportunistically or on request. It was published and is available on the GOV.UK website, in an online only format. The UKHSA then made the RSV vaccine available for primary care practices to order through the Immform website, the usual site for ordering routine vaccine supplies, from 1 August 2024.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Baroness Merron on 15 October (HL1173 and HL1174), how many GP practices and primary care centres in Sheffield have not yet received an allocation of the respiratory syncytial virus vaccine.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board has had confirmation that all primary care practices in Sheffield have now ordered and received at least one delivery of respiratory syncytial virus vaccines.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government at what point in September the respiratory syncytial virus vaccine for infants and those aged 75 to 80 was made available in the South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board area.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccination programmes for pregnant women to protect newborns and adults aged between 75 and 79 years old began in England on 1 September 2024.
Supplies of RSV vaccines were available for all general practices (GPs) and maternity services in England to order, including those in the South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board area, from 1 August 2024, to allow pre-positioning of vaccine stock in the National Health Service in advance of the national programmes going live in September.
The South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board supported the national timelines and promoted the programmes extensively, with GPs and maternity services administering RSV vaccines to eligible groups from the 1 September. While a small number of GPs in Sheffield have experienced delays in starting the RSV programmes, all have now placed supply orders and are offering bookings for those who are eligible to get vaccinated.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of primary care practices in Sheffield did not have availability of the respiratory syncytial virus vaccine by 20 September.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccination programmes for pregnant women to protect newborns and adults aged between 75 and 79 years old began in England on 1 September 2024.
Supplies of RSV vaccines were available for all general practices (GPs) and maternity services in England to order, including those in the South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board area, from 1 August 2024, to allow pre-positioning of vaccine stock in the National Health Service in advance of the national programmes going live in September.
The South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board supported the national timelines and promoted the programmes extensively, with GPs and maternity services administering RSV vaccines to eligible groups from the 1 September. While a small number of GPs in Sheffield have experienced delays in starting the RSV programmes, all have now placed supply orders and are offering bookings for those who are eligible to get vaccinated.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the reasons for the variation between 2019 and 2023 in the time taken for new Clinical Trial Authorisation applications to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to be assessed.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
A combination of factors has resulted in extended timeframes in Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) assessment of clinical trial applications and amendments, in particular the loss of experienced staff and the need to recruit and train new staff. The MHRA understands the vital importance to patients and the public as well as researchers and developers of efficient clinical trials approvals, and over the summer it has taken urgent action to address delays to clinical trial approval.
Applicants will have seen increased rates of assessment in all key areas, as the MHRA focused considerable resources within the agency to deliver accelerated improvements to timescales for clinical trial assessments. The MHRA has made significant progress and most delayed applications have now been processed.
From 31 July to 1 September 2023, the MHRA assessed 1,185 applications for initial clinical trials and amendments. This demonstrates the significant effort that the MHRA has made to address backlogs and move back to assessment in statutory timescales. From 1 September 2023 all newly received fully compliant applications are being assessed within statutory timeframes.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of the population in each of the 10 largest cities in England are in receipt of prescription medication for high blood pressure.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the total NHS expenditure on outpatient paediatric ophthalmology services in 2021/22.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The table below sets out the cost to the National Health Service in England in financial year 2021/22 of providing General Ophthalmic Services. These figures are derived from draft accounts and will not be finalised until they are published on the NHS England website.
| £ million | Proportion |
NHS Sight Tests | 307 | 56.6% |
NHS Optical Vouchers incl. Repairs & Replacements | 222 | 41% |
Other General Ophthalmic Services contract costs | 13 | 2.4% |
The table below shows the cost for secondary care organisations submitted via the National Cost Collection for outpatients within Treatment Function Code ‘Paediatric Ophthalmology’, for the financial years 2019/20 and 2020/21, which is the latest available data.
| £ million |
2019/20 | 43.7 |
2020/21 | 50.5 |
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the total NHS expenditure on general ophthalmic services activity in 2021/22; and what proportion was on (1) NHS sight tests, and (2) NHS optical vouchers.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The table below sets out the cost to the National Health Service in England in financial year 2021/22 of providing General Ophthalmic Services. These figures are derived from draft accounts and will not be finalised until they are published on the NHS England website.
| £ million | Proportion |
NHS Sight Tests | 307 | 56.6% |
NHS Optical Vouchers incl. Repairs & Replacements | 222 | 41% |
Other General Ophthalmic Services contract costs | 13 | 2.4% |
The table below shows the cost for secondary care organisations submitted via the National Cost Collection for outpatients within Treatment Function Code ‘Paediatric Ophthalmology’, for the financial years 2019/20 and 2020/21, which is the latest available data.
| £ million |
2019/20 | 43.7 |
2020/21 | 50.5 |
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 1 December (HL3634), whether there remains a NHS Long Term Plan commitment to invest to ensure that children with learning disabilities have their needs met by eyesight services.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The NHS Long Term Plan commitment remains in place. NHS England’s current evaluation of its proof-of-concept will inform decisions on the scope, funding and delivery of any future sight testing model.