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Written Question
Disease Control: Staff
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many full-time equivalent members of staff work on pandemic preparedness in (a) her Department and (b) the UK Health Security Agency.

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

The Government continues to plan and prepare for a range of pandemic and emerging infectious disease scenarios, including those caused by respiratory contact, both influenza and non-influenza, and vector-borne pathogens, building on lessons learned from exercises and incidents, including the COVID-19 pandemic. There are currently 21.35 full time equivalent (FTE) staff working on pandemic preparedness within the Global and Public Health Group of the Department.

Every team across the United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is playing a critical role in the nation’s pandemic preparedness and is committing significant resource and effort to meet our remit. As a result, it is not possible to provide an FTE figure of all staff whose work forms part of pandemic preparedness. The UKHSA’s Centre for Pandemic Preparedness (CPP) holds some members of staff who are focused primarily on pandemic preparedness policy and coordination. There currently are 18.4 FTEs working in CPP.


Written Question
Oesophageal Cancer: Screening
Monday 18th March 2024

Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the use of the capsule sponge test to detect oesophageal cancer.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England commissioned an evaluation to assess the impact of the capsule sponge test in secondary care, for patients on a routine reflux pathway. The evaluation report was completed in September 2023 and the national pilot will conclude in March 2024.

On 26 February 2024, NHS England published the results of the capsule sponge test pilot for secondary care routine reflux and Barrett’s surveillance cohort, which began in January 2021, and launched at 30 hospitals across England. The pilot tested over 8,500 patients with the capsule sponge test. Evaluation of a cohort of patients showed almost eight out of 10 patients, who completed a test, were discharged without the need for further testing, freeing up endoscopy capacity for higher risk patients and those referred for urgent tests for oesophageal cancer. Patients with positive results from the capsule sponge test who were referred on for an endoscopy had the highest prevalence of Barrett’s oesophagus, at 27.2%, compared to zero patients with negative results who completed an endoscopy.

NHS England has not committed to national uptake of capsule sponge, but will continue to support integrated care boards (ICBs) and local systems to deliver in their area. The evaluation report was published and shared with local National Health Service systems including Cancer Alliances, NHS providers, and ICBs to support with local service provision. The evaluation findings should be interpreted and used locally, based on need.

NHS England is continuing to explore other capsule sponge use cases, including in primary and community care settings jointly funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research and Cancer Research UK. Separately to this, the CYTOPRIME2 project is funded through the NHS Cancer Programme’s Innovation Open Call and is assessing the feasibility and safety of using capsule sponge in a primary care setting, and evaluating key outcome metrics.


Written Question
Disease Control: Drugs and Vaccination
Thursday 14th March 2024

Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to ensure adequate manufacturing capabilities for new (a) vaccines and (b) drugs in a pandemic.

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

An established clinical countermeasures programme is a core component of our pandemic preparedness and response capability, including vaccines and therapeutics. The UK Biological Security Strategy, published in June 2023, reaffirms our ambition to scale up discovery, development, and manufacturing of therapeutics and vaccines within 100 days.

In the Autumn Statement 2023, the Chancellor announced £520 million for Life Sciences manufacturing to build resilience for future health emergencies and capitalise on the United Kingdom’s world-leading research and development. This follows previous investment through the Biomanufacturing Fund, to incentivise the manufacture of vaccines and therapeutics, to improve the UK’s health resilience to future pandemics.

In September 2023, the UK Health Security Agency agreed a deal for millions of life-saving vaccines to be produced, with end-to-end manufacturing in the UK, if a future influenza pandemic is ever declared. The advance purchase agreement means healthcare company CSL Seqirus will be on standby to produce over 100 million pandemic influenza vaccines from their manufacturing plant in Liverpool.

In December 2022, the Government and Moderna entered a strategic partnership to set up mRNA research, development, and manufacturing facilities in the UK. Under the partnership, Moderna will build a new Innovation and Technology Centre in the UK, with the capacity to produce up to 250 million vaccines per year, in the event of a pandemic.


Written Question
NHS: Artificial Intelligence
Tuesday 12th March 2024

Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to attract and retain workers with skills in artificial intelligence into the NHS workforce.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

We provide targeted upskilling and training for clinical staff through the Fellows in Clinical AI programme, and are developing specialised roles within our Digital, Data, and Technology workforce. Furthermore, the AI and Digital Healthcare Technologies Capability framework outlines the necessary capabilities for artificial intelligence (AI) across the National Health Service workforce.

We have also set out core foundations to drive AI-related education training in two published reports that focus on understanding and developing the healthcare workforce’s confidence in AI. These include developing fundamentals for the full workforce and advanced training, where it is required. The reports on understanding and developing confidence in AI are available, respectively, at the following links:

https://digital-transformation.hee.nhs.uk/binaries/content/assets/digital-transformation/dart-ed/understandingconfidenceinai-may22.pdf

https://digital-transformation.hee.nhs.uk/binaries/content/assets/digital-transformation/dart-ed/developingconfidenceinai-oct2022.pdf


Written Question
NHS: Standards
Tuesday 23rd January 2024

Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 11 December 2023 to Question 5383 on NHS: Standards, what steps her Department is taking to to ensure quality improvement across (a) NHS England, (b) Integrated Health and Care Boards and (c) NHS Hospital Trusts.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS Improving Patient Care Together is the single improvement approach to support all National Health Service organisations, systems, and providers at every level, including NHS England, to have the skills and techniques to deliver continuous improvement. Information and resources are available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/nhsimpact/about-nhs-impact/

The performance of integrated care boards (ICBs) in the exercise of their functions is assessed, annually, by NHS England. The NHS Oversight Framework describes NHS England’s approach to the oversight of ICBs, and is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/nhs-oversight-framework/


Written Question
Cystic Fibrosis: Medical Treatments
Tuesday 23rd January 2024

Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NICE’s assessment of the costs and benefits of funding a medication takes into account the size of the community affected; and what discussions NICE has had with patients on the use of Kaftrio for the treatment of cystic fibrosis.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) does not take the size of the affected community into account when making recommendation on the clinical and cost effectiveness of medicines.

In 2017, a Budget Impact Test was introduced to mitigate the affordability challenge that higher cost medicines for large patient populations can present to the National Health Service, even at a cost-effective price. If the estimated budget impact of a medicine exceeds £20 million in any of the first three years of its use, NHS England may engage in commercial discussions with the company to mitigate the impact that funding the medicine would have on the rest of the NHS.

NICE is currently developing guidance for the NHS on the clinical and cost effectiveness of Kaftrio and other cystic fibrosis medicines and is engaging with patient groups as part of the appraisal process. NICE recently consulted on its draft recommendations and is now engaging with key stakeholders to determine the most appropriate next steps. This includes exploring potential commercial solutions.


Written Question
Medicine: Research
Tuesday 23rd January 2024

Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to support the research and development of medical technologies in the UK.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department-funded National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funds research to develop medical technologies through its research programmes, primarily the invention for innovation programme. This programme provides funding to industry and researchers to develop innovative healthcare technologies, including medical devices, which address existing or emerging health and social care needs. The NIHR also supports the development of medical technologies through its research infrastructure, primarily the Medtech and In Vitro Diagnostic Co-operatives, which will be replaced with the NIHR HealthTech Research Centres (HRCs) from 1 April 2024. The 14 NIHR HRCs will work with industry and researchers to support the whole pathway from development of medical devices, diagnostics and digital technologies, through to adoption in the health and care system.


Written Question
Medical Treatments: Innovation
Monday 22nd January 2024

Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to improve the (a) adoption and (b) spread of medical technologies across the NHS.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

In February 2023, the Government published its first ever strategy for MedTech, outlining our priorities for improving the adoption and spread of safe, effective and innovative medical technologies across the National Health Service.

As part of this effort, we are implementing solutions to streamline the innovation adoption pathway. We are focusing on clarifying signals to industry on what innovation the NHS needs, reforming regulation, providing product assessments based on real world evidence, and improving procurement processes.

We recently launched the Innovative Devices Access Pathway pilot in September 2023. The pilot will test a pre-regulatory, access pathway for eight pilot technologies that meet a clinical unmet need in the NHS. This accelerated pathway will support the adoption of transformative technologies into the NHS and to patients.

The Government is investing £30 million in the Health Tech Adoption and Acceleration Fund. Funding has been disseminated to all 42 integrated care systems to invest in proven technology that will help cut waiting lists, speed up diagnosis and deliver new and improved ways to treat patients.

The Department has partnered with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to develop and pilot a process for evaluations that compare similar MedTech products in use across the NHS. These evaluations will improve NHS decision makers ability to identify which products offer value for money and are worth adopting more widely.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is updating the medical device regulatory framework. The new framework is designed to protect patient safety, support innovation within the United Kingdom’s life sciences sector and improve access to innovative medical devices.


Written Question
Medical Equipment: Regulation
Monday 22nd January 2024

Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to improve the regulatory environment for medical devices and technology.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is progressing reforms to the Medical Devices Regulations 2002. These are outlined in the Government response to the consultation on the future regulation of medical devices in the United Kingdom published in June 2022.

On 9 January, the MHRA published a roadmap, which sets out a clear path for the development of new and robust regulations for medical devices over 2024 and 2025. The new regulations will put patient safety first, whilst enhancing the United Kingdom’s position as a world-leading environment for medical technology innovators.

In September 2023, the Department, in partnership with the MHRA, the National Institute of Care Excellence, NHS England, Health Technology Wales and Scottish Health Technology Group, launched the Innovative Devices Access Pathway pilot. The pilot provides an accelerated pathway for innovative technologies that meet an unmet need in the National Health Service, including regulatory and support to streamline their adoption into the NHS.


Written Question
Elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor
Friday 19th January 2024

Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)

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 potential merits of the use of Kaftrio in the NHS.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body that develops recommendations on whether medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of National Health Service resources at the price proposed by the company. Companies can agree discounts on the price of medicines in the context of the NICE evaluation process.

NICE is currently developing guidance for the NHS on the clinical and cost effectiveness of Kaftrio and other cystic fibrosis medicines, and recently consulted on its draft recommendations. Kaftrio is currently available as a treatment option for eligible NHS patients under the terms of an interim access agreement, which was originally reached in 2019.