Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data her Department holds on the number of deaths as a result of (a) nitazenes and (b) fentanyl poisonings in 2023.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data on drug-related deaths registered in England and Wales are collected and reported on annually by the Office for National Statistics with the latest published data covering deaths registered in 2022. However, for surveillance purposes, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) has been tracking deaths reported to it via its networks that have been confirmed to involve nitazenes or fentanyls in England since 1 June 2023. OHID has logged 64 deaths involving nitazenes and no deaths involving fentanyls between June and December 2023.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information her Department holds on the number of NHS blood donation appointments that have been cancelled due to staff shortages in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the number appointments booked, the number of appointments cancelled due to staff shortages, and those cancellations as a percentage of all appointments, from January 2023 to December 2023:
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| January | February | March | April | May | June | ||
Booked Appointments | 176,421 | 163,349 | 186,571 | 162,949 | 179,578 | 181,374 | ||
Cancelled due to Staff Shortage | 3,538 | 5,060 | 7,583 | 3,454 | 3,579 | 6,674 | ||
Staff Shortage Related Cancellations as % of Booked Appointments | 2.01 | 3.09 | 4.06 | 2.12 | 1.99 | 3.68 |
| July | August | September | October | November | December |
Booked Appointments | 177,043 | 181,102 | 166,774 | 172,679 | 172,879 | 158,467 |
Cancelled due to Staff Shortage | 6,078 | 5,546 | 6,762 | 7,059 | 3,980 | 4,608 |
Staff Shortage Related Cancellations as % of Booked Appointments | 3.43 | 3.06 | 4.05 | 4.09 | 2.30 | 2.91 |
Source: NHS Blood and Transplant, January 2024.
Note: Cancellation numbers are taken from routine cancellation reporting, cancellation reasons are taken from cancellation request form and proportions have been applied to cancellation numbers
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of focussing opportunistic chlamydia screening only on young women on diagnosis levels since 2021.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The trend in chlamydia diagnoses is affected by multiple factors. The UK Health Security Agency routinely monitors chlamydia testing and diagnoses through sexually transmitted infection surveillance datasets. In 2022, there were 68,882 chlamydia diagnoses among females aged between 15 and 24 years old, a 22% increase compared to the 2021 figure of 56,562. There were 37,404 diagnoses in males aged between 15 and 24 years old in 2022, a 28% increase compared to the 2021 figure of 29,317.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much has been spent on the national chlamydia screening programme in each year since 2015.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Local authorities are responsible for commissioning chlamydia screening for their local population as part of their public health responsibilities, funded by the Public Health Grant. The Department publishes annual reports on local authority public health spending.
The following table shows the spend on sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing and treatment via the Public Health Grant, including chlamydia, between 2015/16 and 2021/22:
Financial Year | STI testing and treatment (cash prices), £ | STI testing and treatment (real prices), £ |
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2015/16 | 369,375 | 447,950 | |
2016/17 | 374,241 | 443,755 | |
2017/18 | 363,757 | 424,672 | |
2018/19 | 339,111 | 387,724 | |
2019/20 | 324,400 | 362,349 | |
2020/21 | 308,204 | 326,477 | |
2021/22 | 326,564 | 348,785 | |
Source: Office for Health Improvement and Disparities
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
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 people are prevented from working due to (a) illness and (b) injury and are also on an NHS waiting list.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The data is not held in the format requested, as waiting list data does not capture whether someone is unable to work due to their condition.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) plans to link National Health Service waiting times data to other data sources to analyse the relationship between waiting time duration and labour market outcomes in England. Due to dependencies and unknowns, ONS are not able to confirm when the analysis will be available.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the number of UK-born clinicians that have left the NHS in the last 12 months; and whether she holds information on the number that have moved abroad for work.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The numbers of leavers from the National Health Service, for staff employed in NHS trusts and other core organisation in England are published quarterly by NHS England as part of its NHS Workforce Statistics Collection. The data for the annual period to the end of June 2023 is attached.
Leavers data is presented for staff groups by the self-reported nationality of staff. This will not necessarily be the same as the place of birth of a member of staff but may a useful proxy. The data shows that in the 12 months to June 2023, there were 27,813 nurses and health visitors and 13,574 doctors who left service in NHS trusts and other core organisations who had a United Kingdom nationality. Other staffing groups can be access through the data linked.
The data includes staff employed by NHS trusts and integrated care boards but excludes staff directly employed by general practitioner surgeries, local authorities, and other providers such as community interest companies and private providers. The count of “leavers” includes staff leaving to work in primary care, to local authorities and to private providers. Each year there is flows of staff going each way between NHS trusts and other health providers. This is particularly important to note for doctors as data on leavers will include junior doctors moving on planned rotations and placements into primary care or other settings.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions her Department has had with (a) pharmaceutical groups and (b) mental health (i) charities and (ii) campaigners on the supply of ADHD medication.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Information on the number of people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) unable to access medication is not held centrally.
Disruptions to the supply of medicines used for the management of ADHD have been primarily driven by issues which have resulted in capacity constraints at key manufacturing sites. The Department has been working closely with the respective manufacturers and some issues have now been resolved. However, we know that there continue to be disruptions to the supply of some other medicines, which should resolve by April 2024.
We have well-established processes to manage supply issues and continue to work with the respective manufacturers and all relevant stakeholders to ensure that the supply disruptions are resolved as soon as possible.
We understand how frustrating and distressing medicine shortages can be and we want to assure patients that we are working with the respective manufacturers to resolve the issues with ADHD medicine supply in the United Kingdom as soon as possible and to help ensure patients are able to access these medicines in the short and long term.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people with ADHD have been unable to access medication since 27 September 2023.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Information on the number of people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) unable to access medication is not held centrally.
Disruptions to the supply of medicines used for the management of ADHD have been primarily driven by issues which have resulted in capacity constraints at key manufacturing sites. The Department has been working closely with the respective manufacturers and some issues have now been resolved. However, we know that there continue to be disruptions to the supply of some other medicines, which should resolve by April 2024.
We have well-established processes to manage supply issues and continue to work with the respective manufacturers and all relevant stakeholders to ensure that the supply disruptions are resolved as soon as possible.
We understand how frustrating and distressing medicine shortages can be and we want to assure patients that we are working with the respective manufacturers to resolve the issues with ADHD medicine supply in the United Kingdom as soon as possible and to help ensure patients are able to access these medicines in the short and long term.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress her Department has made on implementing recommendation (a) five, (b) six and (c) seven in the report by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs entitled Review of the UK Naloxone Implementation: Availability and Use of Naloxone to Prevent Opioid-Related Deaths, published on 17 June 2022.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has responded to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) and agrees with recommendations five, six and seven in the report entitled Review of the UK Naloxone Implementation. As part of the Government’s ambition to reduce drug-related deaths, we recognise the benefits of more services and professionals being able to supply naloxone without a prescription. The Department in partnership with the devolved administrations consulted on this issue in 2021. Following this, the Department is working closely with the devolved administrations on options to increase availability of naloxone without a prescription. This includes possible amendments to the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 to enable more services and professionals to be able to supply take-home naloxone, under powers in the Medicines and Medical Devices Act 2021. The department will provide a full response to the consultation in due course.
The Department cannot make an estimate of the number and proportion of overdoses that were successfully and unsuccessfully reversed with Naloxone in each year since 2010 as this data is not held centrally. There are currently no plans to make an assessment of the cost-effectiveness of supplying Naloxone to the National Health Service.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an estimate of the number and proportion of overdoses that were (a) successfully and (b) unsuccessfully reversed with Naloxone in each year since 2010.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has responded to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) and agrees with recommendations five, six and seven in the report entitled Review of the UK Naloxone Implementation. As part of the Government’s ambition to reduce drug-related deaths, we recognise the benefits of more services and professionals being able to supply naloxone without a prescription. The Department in partnership with the devolved administrations consulted on this issue in 2021. Following this, the Department is working closely with the devolved administrations on options to increase availability of naloxone without a prescription. This includes possible amendments to the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 to enable more services and professionals to be able to supply take-home naloxone, under powers in the Medicines and Medical Devices Act 2021. The department will provide a full response to the consultation in due course.
The Department cannot make an estimate of the number and proportion of overdoses that were successfully and unsuccessfully reversed with Naloxone in each year since 2010 as this data is not held centrally. There are currently no plans to make an assessment of the cost-effectiveness of supplying Naloxone to the National Health Service.