Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to implement the recommendations of the Second interim report of the Infected Blood inquiry on psychological services.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
A bespoke psychological support service for infected blood victims, commissioned by NHS England, is currently being developed, and is planned to go live in early summer 2024.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
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 tackle Haemochromatosis.
Answered by Will Quince
Genomic testing for haemochromatosis is available through the NHS Genomic Medicines Service (GMS) for patients in England who show unexplained iron overload suggestive of hereditary haemochromatosis. Any clinician who suspects haemochromatosis can order this testing via the local Genomic Laboratory Hubs. Seven NHS GMS Alliances play an important role in supporting the strategic systematic embedding of genomic medicine in end-to-end clinical pathways and clinical specialities supporting the achievement of equitable access to standardised end-to-end pathways of care, inclusive of genomic testing, clinical genetics and genomic counselling services, as well as raising awareness among clinicians and the public of the genomic testing available through the National Health Service. They drive this embedding across all providers within their geography from primary and community care to secondary and tertiary care.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
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 maintain the supply of hormone replacement therapy medicines.
Answered by Will Quince
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. For example, the introduction of a new manufacturing facility for Oestrogel has meant that this product is now readily available for patients. Only two of the 22 Serious Shortage Protocols issued since April last year remain as the supply disruptions with most products experiencing shortages have been resolved.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
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 assessment of the potential merits of removing pensionable status from NHS responsibility payments when secondments are short term.
Answered by Will Quince
Additional responsibility payments such as those for clinical and medical directors are not covered by national contracts. A permanent pay increase for additional responsibilities would typically form part of a member’s pensionable pay and a temporary or short term increase would not. This is a matter for employers to consider when offering the payment. Pay arrangements in Scotland are a matter for the Scottish Government.
NHS Employers have published guidance on the local options available to employers in England, which can be put in place to support staff who are affected by pension tax.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with providers of managed quarantine hotels for travellers returning to the UK on ensuring adequate processing times for refund requests.
Answered by Caroline Johnson
The Department of Health and Social Care’s Managed Quarantine Service (MQS) ended on 15 December 2021 when all countries were removed from the United Kingdom’s “red list”.
Corporate Travel Management (CTM) managed the booking system for MQS, taking payments from travellers and booking their rooms in MQS hotels across the UK.
Where a refund is due, the aim is to process this within 20 working days, though occasionally more information is required, which can cause delays. There are a very small number of refunds that are being processed, which we are aiming to action as quickly as possible. Customers are advised to contact UKHSA if they believe that they are still awaiting a refund so that this can be investigated.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) continues to hold regular discussions with CTM on a range of issues.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
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 making the NHS Pension Scheme tax unregistered for the purposes of helping to provide predictability for NHS workers undertaking overtime.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Government is reviewing the interaction between taxation and pensions in the National Health Service. Making the NHS Pension Scheme into a tax-unregistered scheme would not benefit the vast majority of NHS staff, who would lose income tax relief on contributions and the option of a tax-free lump sum on retirement.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to help people who are owed refunds by covid-19 travel testing companies that have ceased operations.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Where a customer service issue with a private testing provider arises, this should be raised directly with the provider. The terms and conditions of sale provide further information on consumers’ rights. Where this cannot be resolved by the provider, guidance on consumer rights is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/consumer-protection-rights
In specific circumstances, the Department will support the relevant regulatory bodies, such as Trading Standards, to investigate the provider.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of additional contracts with the ZOE Covid Study.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The Government will continue monitoring the virus through maintaining surveillance studies such as the Office for National Statistics’ COVID-19 Infection Survey and other data sources, including genomic sequencing. The Government will keep all surveillance activities under review to ensure we have the capabilities to monitor waves of COVID-19 and defend against future variants.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
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 a dedicated research fund for research into fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No specific assessment has been made. The Department provides over £1 billion to the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) to deliver health and social care research. The usual practice of the NIHR is not to ring-fence funds for expenditure on particular topics and to welcome funding applications into any aspect of human health. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much of the £20 million committed by his Department in 2018 to brain tumour research over a five year period is still to be allocated; and what assessment he has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on brain tumour research funding.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Since this funding was announced in February 2018, a further £20 million was announced in May 2018, bringing the total planned investment to £40 million over five years.
The information on spending still to be allocated is not held in the format requested. The National Institute for Health Research’s (NIHR) infrastructure spending on cancer research does not record the specific type of cancer. Studies can be applicable to cancer in general, such as the type of tumour and research on supportive and palliative care interventions.
During the COVID-19 pandemic many of the NIHR’s research programmes, studies and trials were necessarily paused. However, the NIHR’s funding competitions remained open throughout, including for brain tumour research.