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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made by the Department of Health and Social Care.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the average waiting time for cataract surgery in England; what strategies they are employing to reduce the waiting time; whether they have discussed (1) strategies for reducing such waiting time, and (2) cross-border cooperation on reducing waiting lists, with the Welsh Government; and if so, what the outcome of those discussions were.
Answered by Lord Kamall
In January 2022, the median waiting time for admitted ophthalmology patients between referral to treatment was 12.45 weeks. While this includes waiting times for cataract surgery, it does not measure it separately.
The Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme is increasing the adoption of best practice in clinical pathways and supporting high flow cataract surgery to reduce waiting times. GIRFT and the Royal College of Ophthalmologists are advising providers and the National Health Service is increasing capacity through protected elective surgical hubs dedicated to planned procedures. There are currently over 40 elective surgical hubs in England, with further expansion planned in all regions supported by a further £1.5 billion in capital funding. GIRFT is also identifying where trusts with capacity can offer mutual aid to neighbouring providers with longer waiting lists. GIRFT is also supporting partnerships between the NHS and independent sector providers to increase capacity.
There have been no specific discussions on cross-border collaboration for reducing waiting lists for cataract surgery. However, cross border support is already being provided in specialist orthopaedics.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what facts would influence whether a charge of assault would be brought against a person working in a healthcare environment who knowingly was carrying COVID-19, with or without intention to transmit the virus to another person.
Answered by Lord Kamall
National Health Service organisations should consider the specific facts in a case-by-case basis and in accordance with their local disciplinary policy and procedures. Any investigation should establish whether the staff member intentionally, recklessly, carelessly, or negligently put patients and/or other members of staff at risk of infection. This may result in dismissal as the ultimate sanction.
If any internal investigation identifies a criminal offence has been committed, the employing organisation will need to make a referral to the relevant police force. Any charges of assault would be a matter for the police and Civil Court.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many, and what percentage of the total of, (1) care home residents, (2) care home staff, (3) frontline health workers, and (4) patients over 80, have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales, and (d) Northern Ireland.
Answered by Lord Bethell
NHS England releases weekly vaccination data which shows that as of 15 April:
- 94.2% eligible residents in older adult care homes in England have received at least their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine;
- 79.4% eligible staff in older adult resident care homes have received at least their first dose; and
- 95.2% of patients over 80 years old have received at least their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
The percentage of National Health Service trust health care workers who have received at least their first dose is not currently available, as NHS England’s data does not currently include all frontline health workers as a sub-group.
COVID-19 vaccination data for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is not collected centrally in the format requested as this is a devolved matter.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assurances AstraZeneca gave about its commitment to manufacture the Oxford vaccine prior to either (1) a successful testing programme, or (2) approval by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Assurances agreed between the Government and Oxford/AstraZeneca are bound by commercially confidential contracts.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people in total were vaccinated against COVID-19 in the UK using (1) the Oxford/AstraZeneca, and (2) the Pfizer/BioNTech, vaccine in each week since the beginning of 1 December 2020.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The information is not collected in the format requested.