Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that (1) patients in the UK benefit from a continued supply of radiopharmaceuticals that meet the CE-marking for technical and safety standards, and (2) UK companies continue to be able to get their own items and equipment CE-marked and sold in Europe, post-Brexit and the UK’s withdrawal from Euratom.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The safety and security of radioactive materials is a top priority for the Government. The United Kingdom already has robust domestic legislation in place to ensure that the keeping, movement and use of radioactive sources is tightly regulated, whether on nuclear sites or in hospitals. The UK’s regulatory regime is based on international regulatory requirements for sources informed by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The UK will continue to meet its international obligations in full and ensure that UK law and regulatory oversight continues to deliver the highest standards of safety, in line with the relevant international frameworks.
Radio pharmaceuticals are also subject to European medicines regulation which establishes a licensing regime and controls on the quality of materials, as well as manufacturing and distribution processes within Europe. In the UK, human medicines are subject to national human medicines legislation which transposes the requirements of the European regulatory regime. This regime is enforced by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and MHRA will continue to do so after our withdrawal from the European Union.
The Government's top priority for life sciences during the negotiations is to protect the safety of patients and ensure the integrity of cross-European public health systems. The Government will seek a mutually beneficial future partnership between the UK and EU that is in the interests of both sides, which builds on the convergence between our regulatory systems and gives business the maximum freedom to trade with and operate within European markets.
Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that patients in the UK continue to receive, post-Brexit, radiological examinations and radiotherapy procedures using equipment that meets European standards of technical capability and safety.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
New legislation implementing European Union patient safety standards for medical exposures in the United Kingdom comes into force on 6 February 2018. These regulations ensure that individuals are protected when exposed to ionising radiation from medical equipment for imaging or treatment purposes and include provisions relating to quality assurance, testing and use of medical radiological equipment.
The Department is working on ensuring the best outcome for the health and social care system following the UK’s exit from the EU. All relevant teams within the Department and other relevant Government departments and agencies are involved with this work and assessing the implications of the UK leaving the EU on their area. The UK expects to continue to be at the forefront of international activities in radiation protection through its activities with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that provision is made for the implementation of European technical and safety standards in relation to medical radiation equipment used in the UK post-Brexit and the UK’s withdrawal from Euratom.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
New legislation implementing European Union patient safety standards for medical exposures in the United Kingdom comes into force on 6 February 2018. These regulations ensure that individuals are protected when exposed to ionising radiation from medical equipment for imaging or treatment purposes and include provisions relating to quality assurance, testing and use of medical radiological equipment.
The Department is working on ensuring the best outcome for the health and social care system following the UK’s exit from the EU. All relevant teams within the Department and other relevant Government departments and agencies are involved with this work and assessing the implications of the UK leaving the EU on their area. The UK expects to continue to be at the forefront of international activities in radiation protection through its activities with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that patient radiation safety will not be compromised by less regulation of UK healthcare establishments providing patient care when compared to patients in Europe, once the UK has left Euratom.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
To ensure patient radiation safety in United Kingdom healthcare establishments, the Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations 2017 will come into force on 6 February 2018. These Regulations implement the medical exposure aspects of a European Directive (2013/59/Euratom) and provide regulation of medical exposures within the UK to the same standards as those of other European Union Member States. The Directive, and these Regulations, are not expected to be revised in the next 15 years.
The Government is fully aware of the importance of medical radioisotopes and the reliance on nuclear medicine for diagnostic procedures in the National Health Service. The UK’s ability to import medical isotopes from Europe and the rest of the world will not be affected by withdrawal from Euratom. It is in the interest of both the UK and EU to avoid disruption in the timely access of treatment to patients; and to ensure that cross-border trade with the EU is frictionless as possible. This will be part of the broader negotiations of the UK’s future relations with the EU.
Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure the future participation and collaboration of UK medical physicists in European medical radiation safety research projects, and to avoid the potential loss of UK scientific expertise in that area over time.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The United Kingdom is a world leader in nuclear research and development and the Government is committed to maintaining and building on our lead in this important field. The Government has indicated that that it wishes to continue collaboration in nuclear research with UK medical physicists and European Union partners. We welcome dialogue with the EU and Euratom on options for future collaboration in this field and look forward to those discussions beginning in due course.
Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are undertaking to safeguard the continued involvement and funding of UK medical physicists on existing European medical radiation protection projects after leaving Euratom.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The United Kingdom is a world leader in nuclear research and development and the Government is committed to maintaining and building on our lead in this important field. The Government has indicated that that it wishes to continue collaboration in nuclear research with UK medical physicists and European Union partners. We welcome dialogue with the EU and Euratom on options for future collaboration in this field and look forward to those discussions beginning in due course.
Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the UK radiopharmaceutical supply after leaving Euratom might be relied upon to not have an impact on patients, in terms of (1) timeliness of delivery, and (2) the quantity supplied of radiopharmaceutical supplies produced (a) in the EU, and (b) outside the EU.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Government is fully aware of the importance of medical radioisotopes and the reliance on nuclear medicine for diagnostic procedures in the National Health Service. The United Kingdom’s ability to import medical isotopes from Europe and the rest of the world will not be affected by withdrawal from Euratom. It is in the interest of both the UK and European Union to avoid disruption in the timely access of treatment to patients; and to ensure that cross-border trade with the EU is frictionless as possible. This will be part of the broader negotiations of the UK’s future relations with the EU.
Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (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 findings by the charity Together for Short Lives in its report Commissioning children’s palliative care in England: 2017 edition that (1) only 35 per cent of clinical commissioning groups are implementing HM Government’s guidance set out in Our Commitment to You for End of Life Care, and (2) that 46 per cent have no plans to do so; and whether they intend to conduct a review into how implementation levels can be improved and made consistent throughout England.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
In July 2016, the Government set out its commitment to everyone at the end of life in the Government response to the independent What’s important to me. A Review of Choice in End of Life Care. A copy of the Review is attached. Our Commitment to you for end of life care: The Government Response to the Review of Choice in End of Life Care (the Choice Commitment) set out what everyone should expect from their care at the end of life and the actions we are taking to make high quality and personalisation a reality for all, both adults and children, and to end variation in end of life care across the health system by 2020. A copy of the Government Response is attached. On 21 September 2017 we published One year on: the government response to the review of choice in end of life care setting out the good progress made in delivering this over the first year. A copy is attached.
Through the Mandate, we have asked NHS England to deliver the Choice Commitment, and working through NHS England’s National Programme Board for End of life Care with all key system partners and stakeholders, including Together for Short Lives (TFSL), a range of activity is ongoing to achieve this. It is right that clinical commissioning groups have autonomy to shape services locally, and it is important that, where needed, more is done to provide them with tools, evidence, support and guidance to demonstrate the benefits of delivering the Government’s vision for end of life care. NHS England, Public Health England and the Ambitions Partnership (comprising national organisations across the statutory and voluntary sectors, including TFSL) have provided a wealth of support over the first year, including: currencies to improve transparency in specialist palliative commissioning; new guidance on cost effective commissioning; data about end of life care to assist Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships (STP) as they develop their plans for services; and seven evaluations of different approaches to 24/7 models of care.
Early in 2017, NHS England will be holding workshops with a range of STP leads to provide practical advice and support on developing effective end of life care services and demonstrating the value they can bring. In addition, TFSL has been commissioned by NHS England to promote the adoption of best practice approaches to children’s that are recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, and report back on barriers to implementation locally.
Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to commission a review into the consistency of regional commissioning of services families with children in need of palliative care.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
In July 2016, the Government set out its commitment to everyone at the end of life in the Government response to the independent What’s important to me. A Review of Choice in End of Life Care. A copy of the Review is attached. Our Commitment to you for end of life care: The Government Response to the Review of Choice in End of Life Care (the Choice Commitment) set out what everyone should expect from their care at the end of life and the actions we are taking to make high quality and personalisation a reality for all, both adults and children, and to end variation in end of life care across the health system by 2020. A copy of the Government Response is attached. On 21 September 2017 we published One year on: the government response to the review of choice in end of life care setting out the good progress made in delivering this over the first year. A copy is attached.
Through the Mandate, we have asked NHS England to deliver the Choice Commitment, and working through NHS England’s National Programme Board for End of life Care with all key system partners and stakeholders, including Together for Short Lives (TFSL), a range of activity is ongoing to achieve this. It is right that clinical commissioning groups have autonomy to shape services locally, and it is important that, where needed, more is done to provide them with tools, evidence, support and guidance to demonstrate the benefits of delivering the Government’s vision for end of life care. NHS England, Public Health England and the Ambitions Partnership (comprising national organisations across the statutory and voluntary sectors, including TFSL) have provided a wealth of support over the first year, including: currencies to improve transparency in specialist palliative commissioning; new guidance on cost effective commissioning; data about end of life care to assist Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships (STP) as they develop their plans for services; and seven evaluations of different approaches to 24/7 models of care.
Early in 2017, NHS England will be holding workshops with a range of STP leads to provide practical advice and support on developing effective end of life care services and demonstrating the value they can bring. In addition, TFSL has been commissioned by NHS England to promote the adoption of best practice approaches to children’s that are recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, and report back on barriers to implementation locally.
Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the number of broken and unrepaired laptops in NHS hospitals and clinics; and whether they will take steps to ensure that NHS doctors and other clinicians have uninterrupted access to working laptops so far as is necessary for sound clinical practice.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Department does not collect data on the number of broken and unrepaired laptops in National Health Service trusts and clinics. The provision and servicing of information technology equipment in NHS trusts is a matter for individual trusts.