Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his plans are for the (a) arrangement and (b) independence of a review into disputes relating to treatment of critically ill children as set out in the Health and Care Act 2022.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department has commissioned the Nuffield Council on Bioethics to undertake a review into disputes relating to treatment of critically ill children, which will commence on 12 December 2022. The Nuffield Council on Bioethics is an independent charitable body which will be responsible for the design, project management, activities and methods used in the review and its recommendations.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the 10 Year Cancer Plan will include specific plans for expanding the availability of radiotherapy for cancer patients.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Following the call for evidence for a ten year cancer plan earlier this year, we received over 5,000 submissions. We are currently reviewing these responses.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department will publish a 10-year Cancer Plan.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Following the call for evidence for a ten year cancer plan earlier this year, we received over 5,000 submissions. We are currently reviewing these responses.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department will take to increase cancer treatment capacity in the NHS.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’ sets out how the National Health Service will recover and expand elective services over the next three years, including cancer services. The plan states the ambition that the number of people waiting more than 62 days to start treatment following suspected cancer will return to pre-pandemic levels by March 2023. We have allocated more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25, in addition to the £2 billion Elective Recovery Fund and £700 million Targeted Investment Fund already made available in 2021/2022 to increase elective activity, including cancer services.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce waiting times for cancer treatment.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’ sets out how the National Health Service will recover and expand elective services over the next three years, including cancer services. The plan states the ambition that the number of people waiting more than 62 days to start treatment following suspected cancer will return to pre-pandemic levels by March 2023. We have allocated more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25, in addition to the £2 billion Elective Recovery Fund and £700 million Targeted Investment Fund already made available in 2021/2022 to increase elective activity, including cancer services.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on meeting his NHS Planning Guidance target of 25% of outpatient attendances being delivered remotely by telephone or video consultation.
Answered by Will Quince
NHS England is monitoring the use of virtual consultations as part of the Outpatients Transformation Programme. During 2021/22, there were 5.3 million first tele-consultations and 16.6 million subsequent tele-consultations, protecting access to services and reducing pressures on hospital outpatient clinics. In 2021/22, approximately 23% of all attendances were conducted by virtual consultation.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the effect of the EU Medical Devices Regulations assessment system on the availability medical device and health tech products in the UK; and what steps he is taking to provide patients in the UK with equal access to medical devices and health tech through the delivery of an effective UKCA marking system.
Answered by Will Quince
The future medical devices regime is an overhaul of the current regulatory framework, aimed at improving safety and incorporating measures to encourage innovation and offer alternative routes to market. This includes domestic assurance, which will allow an abridged assessment with the appropriate scrutiny and United Kingdom approved bodies can reject applications under the domestic assurance route if the evidence provided is insufficiently robust. A number of countries will be considered for the domestic assurance route, including the United States of America.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is working to build closer partnerships with global regulators and has established full membership of the International Medical Device Regulations Forum (IMDRF) and is an official observer of the Medical Devices Single Audit Programme (MDSAP), of which the US Food and Drug Administration is a member. The MHRA is engaging with the FDA within international fora and on a bilateral basis.
The transitional arrangements for medical devices are intended to minimise the risks to access for patients in the UK and facilitate the transition between the current and new regulatory framework whilst supporting the ongoing safe supply of essential medical devices. CE marked devices under the new European Union regulations will continue to be placed onto the UK market when the new regime comes into force for up to a period of five years, with a view to review this provision at the end of the five-year period. It is not anticipated that an extension of this provision will be required, as the intervening period will be used to support an increase in approved body capacity to ensure the UK has sufficient capacity to transition all medical devices to the UKCA marking system. The MHRA will work with international regulators to place the UKCA marking for medical devices on a global standing.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will take steps to help ensure that implementation of UK Conformity Assessed marking is aligned with other regulatory systems, including those of the US Food and Drug Administration and the EU’s Medical Devices Regulation, so that the UK is not geographically deprioritised through implementation of UKCA marking.
Answered by Will Quince
The future medical devices regime is an overhaul of the current regulatory framework, aimed at improving safety and incorporating measures to encourage innovation and offer alternative routes to market. This includes domestic assurance, which will allow an abridged assessment with the appropriate scrutiny and United Kingdom approved bodies can reject applications under the domestic assurance route if the evidence provided is insufficiently robust. A number of countries will be considered for the domestic assurance route, including the United States of America.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is working to build closer partnerships with global regulators and has established full membership of the International Medical Device Regulations Forum (IMDRF) and is an official observer of the Medical Devices Single Audit Programme (MDSAP), of which the US Food and Drug Administration is a member. The MHRA is engaging with the FDA within international fora and on a bilateral basis.
The transitional arrangements for medical devices are intended to minimise the risks to access for patients in the UK and facilitate the transition between the current and new regulatory framework whilst supporting the ongoing safe supply of essential medical devices. CE marked devices under the new European Union regulations will continue to be placed onto the UK market when the new regime comes into force for up to a period of five years, with a view to review this provision at the end of the five-year period. It is not anticipated that an extension of this provision will be required, as the intervening period will be used to support an increase in approved body capacity to ensure the UK has sufficient capacity to transition all medical devices to the UKCA marking system. The MHRA will work with international regulators to place the UKCA marking for medical devices on a global standing.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made (a) podiatry vacancy rates in the NHS in Gosport constituency and (b) the impact these vacancies will have on patient treatment for diabetic foot complications.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
No specific assessment has been made as this information is not collected centrally.