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Written Question
Drugs: Licensing
Tuesday 20th June 2023

Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency prioritises certain health conditions in assessing the potential merits of granting licences for medicines.

Answered by Will Quince

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) does not have a specific list of conditions to which it gives priority when reviewing applications for new medicine licenses. However, it does prioritise applications where there is a public health need, for instance a new medicine which offers a treatment which is not yet available or a generic medicine where there might otherwise be a risk to supply. When deciding whether to prioritise a medicine, the MHRA collaborates with the Department and National Health Service to make sure its decisions align with their priorities.


Written Question
Heart Diseases: Health Education
Tuesday 13th June 2023

Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of increasing societal awareness of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Automated External Defibrillator use to improve survival rates in response to cardiac arrest in (a) homes, (b) workplaces and (c) public spaces.

Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

No assessment has been made of the potential merits of improving access to Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation training and Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) in more deprived areas of the country where incidences of cardiac arrest are higher. Similarly, no assessment has been made of the potential merits of increasing societal awareness of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and AED use to improve survival rates in response to cardiac arrest in homes, workplaces and public spaces.

The Government has agreed to provide funding of £1 million to design a grant scheme for the expansion of AEDs that expands the number and accessibility of publicly supported access to defibrillators.


Written Question
Heart Diseases
Tuesday 13th June 2023

Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of improving access to Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation training and Automated External Defibrillators in more deprived areas of the country where incidences of cardiac arrest are higher.

Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

No assessment has been made of the potential merits of improving access to Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation training and Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) in more deprived areas of the country where incidences of cardiac arrest are higher. Similarly, no assessment has been made of the potential merits of increasing societal awareness of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and AED use to improve survival rates in response to cardiac arrest in homes, workplaces and public spaces.

The Government has agreed to provide funding of £1 million to design a grant scheme for the expansion of AEDs that expands the number and accessibility of publicly supported access to defibrillators.


Written Question
Prescription Drugs
Tuesday 30th May 2023

Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the number and proportion of medicines that were prescribed by doctors that were not available on local formularies in the last 12 months; and if he will make an assessment of the impact of medicine availability on prescriptions made by doctors.

Answered by Will Quince

No estimate has been made as the information requested is not held centrally. The purpose of a formulary is to guide prescribers to preferred products rather than mandating what they can and cannot prescribe. Prescribers are still able to prescribe medicines that are not listed on a formulary.


Written Question
Prescription Drugs
Thursday 25th May 2023

Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of products approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence did not appear on local formularies within 90 days of its approval in the last 12 months.

Answered by Will Quince

Information on the inclusion of products recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) on local formularies is not held centrally.


Written Question
Hormone Replacement Therapy
Wednesday 24th May 2023

Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has taken recent steps to reduce regional variations in the availability of hormone replacement therapies.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

Regional information is not held centrally, however, there are over 70 hormone replacement therapy (HRT) products available in the United Kingdom and the vast majority are in good supply. We are regularly engaging with individual suppliers to prevent and mitigate supply issues in the short and long term. The HRT supply position has improved considerably since last Spring.

Local or system level formularies have been established in some areas to support integrated care boards (ICBs) in making the best use of resources based on local population needs. Where they are in place, local formularies guide prescribers to preferred products rather than mandating what they can and cannot prescribe. Prescribers are still able to prescribe medicines that are not listed on a formulary.


Written Question
Hormone Replacement Therapy
Wednesday 24th May 2023

Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the average administrative time spent by healthcare professionals on updating local formularies to include hormone replacement therapies in the last 12 months.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

No estimate has been made as this information is not held centrally.

Local formularies guide prescribers to preferred products rather than mandating what they can and cannot prescribe. Prescribers are still able to prescribe medicines that are not listed on a formulary. Formularies do not always include medicines from all clinical areas, as they are tailored towards areas where support is felt to be helpful and or necessary for a local area.


Written Question
Hormone Replacement Therapy: Prescriptions
Thursday 11th May 2023

Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have bought an HRT pre-payment certificate since its introduction.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

From 1 to 30 April 2023 there were 130,623 successful applications for hormone replacement therapy (HRT) prescription pre-payment certificates. Information on the number of people who have bought prescription pre-payment certificates for HRT and who are accessing HRT for the first time is not held.


Written Question
Hormone Replacement Therapy: Prescriptions
Thursday 11th May 2023

Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people who have bought an HRT pre-payment certificate are accessing HRT for the first time.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

From 1 to 30 April 2023 there were 130,623 successful applications for hormone replacement therapy (HRT) prescription pre-payment certificates. Information on the number of people who have bought prescription pre-payment certificates for HRT and who are accessing HRT for the first time is not held.


Written Question
Dialysis Machines: Finance
Thursday 22nd September 2022

Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much and what proportion of the funding his Department provided for the provision of home dialysis to NHS trusts in England was passed on to patients in the last 12 months.

Answered by Will Quince

This information requested on funding in 2022 is not currently held centrally. However, in 2021/22, NHS England provided approximately £117 million to renal providers in England for the provision of home dialysis therapy. This is inclusive of haemodialysis and all modalities of peritoneal dialysis. The following table shows funding provided by NHS England to each specialist renal provider in England in 2021/22.

Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust £996,247

Barts Health NHS Trust £9,873,038

Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust £841,162

Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust £1,297,309

Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation

Trust £510,650

Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust £933,545

East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust £1,832,292

East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust £2,210,524

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust £919,822

Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust £3,800,712

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust £135,252

Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust £3,191,945

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust £1,344,022

Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust £6,704,239

King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust £5,583,181

Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust £2,356,531

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust £1,806,242

Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust £1,772,510

Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust £4,634,713

Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust £2,668,753

Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation

Trust £1,430,263

North Bristol NHS Trust £2,128,904

North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust £731,871

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust £3,111,524

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust £2,169,549

Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust £4,819,664

Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust £1,483,022

Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust £2,091,381

Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust £5,252,797

Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust £2,718,068

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust £3,413,902

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust £2,027,726

South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust £857,527

South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust £1,294,611

St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust £1,699,134

The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust £976,574

The Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust £1,843,691

The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust £2,340,870

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust £5,578,386

University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust £2,410,502

University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation

Trust £3,127,492

University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust £4,318,784

University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust £3,006,318

University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust £836,807

University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust £2,199,773

York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust £1,056,816

Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust £267,484

Total £116,606,127

The information requested on funding passed to patients is not held centrally as renal providers have local arrangements in place with patients to facilitate reimbursement.