Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (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 4 July (HL8754), what was the breakdown of costs mentioned in the Answer for 2023–24 between products related to (1) colostomy, and (2) ileostomy.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Further to the previous answer of 4 July 2025 to Question HL8754, the breakdown of the total Net Ingredient Cost (NIC) figure is as follows:
These figures exclude a large number of other stoma appliances that could not be clearly identified as colostomy or ileostomy from their name, although some of these other appliances will be used as colostomy or ileostomy appliances.
The NIC is the basic price of a product excluding VAT. It does not take account of discounts, dispensing costs, fees and allowances paid to pharmacists and appliance contractors for the service they provide to the NHS, or prescription charge income received, where the single charge or Prescription Prepayment Certificate fee is paid, or foregone, where prescriptions are dispensed free of charge.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the total cost of providing free prescriptions of colostomy and ileostomy related products in 2023–24.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is not possible to estimate the total cost to the National Health Service of providing free prescriptions for colostomy and ileostomy related products. NHS patients pay a fixed charge for each prescription item dispensed in primary care, unless they are exempt from prescription charges or hold a valid pre-payment certificate (PPC).
In 2023/24, there was a total of 1,299,650 items with a total Net Ingredient Cost (NIC) of £239,280,020 dispensed to patients in the community in England, where the item prescribed was clearly named as colostomy or ileostomy appliances, for which no NHS charges were collected at the point of dispensing. This total includes items where no charge was collected due to a patient holding a valid PPC. This total excludes a large number of other stoma appliances that could not be clearly identified as colostomy or ileostomy from their name, although some of these other appliances will be used as colostomy or ileostomy appliances. The NIC is the basic price of a product excluding VAT. It does not take account of discounts, dispensing costs, fees, or allowances paid to pharmacists and appliance contractors for the services they provide to the NHS, or prescription charge income received, where the single charge or PPC fee is paid, or foregone where prescriptions are dispensed free of charge.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether private hospitals are required to provide information on costs for each patient treatment episode when seeking remuneration for the provision of NHS services.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The majority of services provided by independent sector hospitals are charged per individual treatment episode, according to the prices set out in the NHS Payment Scheme. There are some independent sector providers who are re-imbursed on the basis of local prices for treatment episodes, usually where no national price is available or, very occasionally, local pricing may be based on a block payment or total packages of care.
Independent sector providers of healthcare services to integrated care boards or NHS England are procured under the terms of the Provider Selection Regime Regulations and are contracted using the NHS Standard Contract.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government on what basis private hospitals are contracted to provide NHS services; and whether remuneration arrangements are based on the provision of services to individual patients.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The majority of services provided by independent sector hospitals are charged per individual treatment episode, according to the prices set out in the NHS Payment Scheme. There are some independent sector providers who are re-imbursed on the basis of local prices for treatment episodes, usually where no national price is available or, very occasionally, local pricing may be based on a block payment or total packages of care.
Independent sector providers of healthcare services to integrated care boards or NHS England are procured under the terms of the Provider Selection Regime Regulations and are contracted using the NHS Standard Contract.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government to what extent the scale and provision of NHS services are linked to individual treatment episodes in contracts for NHS services provided by private hospitals.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The majority of services provided by independent sector hospitals are charged per individual treatment episode, according to the prices set out in the NHS Payment Scheme. There are some independent sector providers who are re-imbursed on the basis of local prices for treatment episodes, usually where no national price is available or, very occasionally, local pricing may be based on a block payment or total packages of care.
Independent sector providers of healthcare services to integrated care boards or NHS England are procured under the terms of the Provider Selection Regime Regulations and are contracted using the NHS Standard Contract.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for reviewing the expiry dates of antibiotics, including in respect of savings for public expenditure.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the Government agency responsible for ensuring that medicines and medical devices work and are acceptably safe, has not made an assessment on the case for reviewing the expiry dates of antibiotics.
Medicine expiry dates, including for antibiotics, are necessary to ensure that the safety and effectiveness of a medicine is maintained over its long-term shelf life. The active ingredient in many medicines can degrade over time resulting in a loss of potency or the formation of impurities in the product. Physical changes to a medicine such as discolouration, may also occur upon prolonged storage. Medicine expiry dates are supported by stability studies completed by the pharmaceutical company, which demonstrate that a medicine remains safe and effective throughout its shelf life. Any change to the expiry date of a medicine requires an independent review of the stability data by the MHRA.
Companies can and often do extend the shelf life of their medicines once the product is on the market, and as additional stability data become available. It is not possible, however, to extend the expiry date of all medicines unilaterally in the absence of supporting stability data.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether comparative data is kept on the average height and/or weight of children aged 5 in the UK as compared to other countries.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The information requested is not held from other countries. Height and weight measurements are collected in England from approximately 500,000 children per year in reception year, aged four to five years old, as part of the National Child Measurement Programme. The collection started in 2006/07 and the latest available data is for 2021/22. Additionally, measured height and weight of children has been collected in the Health Survey for England for 1995 to 2019.
Data is collected in Scotland and Wales in both an annual child measurement programme and annual health survey, and in the health survey Northern Ireland. However, no data is published for height and weight that is comparable to the data published for England.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the national target time for (1) analysis, and (2) assessment, of biopsy results for patients being treated for cancer-related conditions; and what assessment they have made of whether the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading is meeting these.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
There is no national target time for analysis and assessment of biopsy results for patients being treated for cancer related conditions.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the causes and consequences of any delays in the (1) handling, and (2) supply, of histopathology test results supplied by testing centres from all locations providing services to the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department of Health and Social Care has made no assessment.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of a delay of seven weeks for the (1) analysis, and (2) assessment, of stage 3 cancer biopsy results on patients potentially under treatment for cancer.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
No assessment has been made by the Department of Health and Social Care.