Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether officials in her Department have had recent discussions with the Care Quality Commission on antibiotic underdosing.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Officials from the Department have not had any recent discussions with the Care Quality Commission on antibiotic underdosing. General guidance on prescribing and the use of medicines is published online by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, and is available at the following link:
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has had discussions with stakeholders on antibiotic line flushing.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Officials from the Department have not had any recent discussions with stakeholders on antibiotic line flushing. Good clinical practice is to flush an intravenous line with saline after a medicine has been administered, to ensure the full dose is delivered to the patient. This is not unique to antibiotics.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps her Department has taken to improve (a) services for children who require end of life care, (b) services for children with life threatening conditions and (c) services for children with life limiting conditions.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for determining the level of National Health Service funded palliative and end of life care for children locally, and they are responsible for ensuring that the services they commission meet the needs of their local population.
At a national level, in line with the NHS Long Term Plan, NHS England has provided approximately £12 million of match-funding to participating ICBs, and formerly CCGs, between 2020/21 and 2023/24. This was committed to invest in children and young people’s palliative and end of life care, giving a total investment of £24 million. In addition, NHS England supports palliative and end of life care for children and young people through the Children and Young People’s Hospice Grant. NHS England has confirmed that it will be renewing the funding for 2024/25, once again allocating £25 million of funding for children’s hospices using the same prevalence-based allocation approach as in 2022/23 and 2023/24. This prevalence-based approach ensures funding matches local need.
The Department is in ongoing discussions with NHS England to explore improving oversight and accountability of all-age NHS palliative and end of life care commissioning. Additionally, The Department, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, is investing £3 million in a new Palliative and End of Life Care Policy Research Unit. This will help build the evidence base on all-age palliative and end of life care to inform policy making in this vital area.
NHS England’s palliative and end of life care team has recently engaged with 24 ICBs to understand how to better support commissioners, and has also reviewed all 42 ICB Joint Forward Plans for their inclusion of palliative and end of life care.
From April 2024, NHS England will include palliative and end of life care in the list of topics for regular performance discussions between national and regional leads. Additionally, NHS England has commissioned the development of a palliative and end of life care dashboard, which brings together all relevant data in one place. The dashboard helps commissioners understand the palliative and end of life care needs of their local population, including children, enabling ICBs to put plans in place to address and track the improvement of health inequalities.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
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 of the safety of Philips CPAP machines in the NHS.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Heathcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) issued a National Patient Safety Alert to hospital trusts in response to two Field Safety Notices issued by Philips Respironics, regarding the risk of patient harm from Philips Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machines in June 2021.
This was due to degradation of the sound abatement foam in the CPAP Dreamstation devices. This led to a subsequent repair and replacement programme for all affected devices and their accessories. The progress of this programme is being monitored by the MHRA.
The MHRA conducted a risk benefit analysis to determine whether these CPAP devices should continue to be used while awaiting repair or replacement. The conclusion of this analysis was that, except for patients with specific risk factors, the known risks of the sudden discontinuation of treatment were higher than the potential risks posed by the degradation issue. The Patient Safety Alert advises that patients should continue using the affected machines unless advised otherwise by their patient care provider.
We would encourage patients to report any evidence of foam degradation, for example black marks or residue in their devices, directly via MHRA’s yellow card scheme.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many adverse events were registered with covid-19 vaccines from batch number 4120Z001 via the yellow card scheme; and whether more serious adverse events were registered with covid-19 vaccines from batch number 4120Z001 via the yellow card scheme than other batches of the Oxford-Astra Zeneca covid-19 vaccine.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) continuously monitors the safety of vaccines through a variety of pharmacovigilance approaches including the Yellow Card scheme. As part of our signal detection processes all adverse reaction reports received by the Yellow Card scheme are assessed and cumulative information reviewed at regular intervals. Our analysis of the Yellow Card reports accounts for product batch number.
The MHRA has received 7112 spontaneous suspected adverse drug reaction (ADR) reports in the United Kingdom relating to the COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccine with batch number 4120Z001 up to and including 17 January 2024. Our analysis of the Yellow Card reports including review of serious adverse reactions reported has not resulted in any safety concerns with the batch number 4120Z001 for the COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccine.
Not all batches of the COVID-19 vaccines are the same size, and some batches may have had more wastage than other batches or be distributed more widely outside of the UK. Therefore, we would not expect the number of ADR reports for all batches to be the same as they have been administered to different numbers of patients. Furthermore, different batches would have been used at different stages of the vaccination campaign, and in different patient groups, which could also impact reporting rates.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps her Department have taken to (a) improve and (b) expand research into (i) the causes of and (ii) potential treatment for long COVID.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
For long COVID, research and scientific evidence is pivotal in shaping our understanding of causes and effects for individuals and the population. Over £50 million has already been invested in long COVID research projects to improve our understanding of the diagnosis and underlying mechanisms of the disease and the effectiveness of both pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies and interventions, as well as to evaluate clinical care.
The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including long COVID. The Medical Research Council also funds research into long COVID. It is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made based on the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. In all disease areas, the amount of NIHR funding depends on the volume and quality of scientific activity.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate her Department has made of the number of measles cases in (a) London, (b) Wandsworth borough and (c) Putney constituency.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The UK Health Security Agency publishes routine data on laboratory confirmed measles cases by age and region monthly, which is available at the following link:
This routine report does not include a breakdown of cases by local authority, due to the small numbers and the risk of deductive disclosure. Data can be enhanced retrospectively and analysed over longer periods to describe inequalities in the burden of disease. This was most recently published in 2019, and is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/measles-and-rubella-elimination-uk-strategy
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
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 help encourage vaccine uptake for measles in (a) London and (b) England.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is offered as a part of the childhood immunisation schedule, and there are several campaigns underway to increase uptake nationally. These include a targeted National Health Service campaign, launched in July 2023, to contact parents and carers of children aged between one and five years old, who were not fully vaccinated.
We are also launching a follow up campaign targeting unvaccinated and partially vaccinated children aged between six and 11 years old. In London this includes all those unvaccinated and partially vaccinated aged between 11 and 25 years old. Additionally, NHS England is working closely with the UK Health Security Agency and local health partners and communities to understand the needs of their populations and to tailor immunisation programmes to meet the needs of under-vaccinated communities. Efforts include offering alternative vaccination sites, local and national media coverage to raise awareness, and community outreach work to support increased uptake.
The MMR and polio catch-up campaign which was launched in London in May 2023 has resulted in 25,000 MMR vaccines being administered. NHS London has also offered MMR vaccines in nurseries and schools to make it easier for parents to vaccinate their children, and has worked with community and faith leaders to engage these communities and highlight the importance for anyone eligible to take up the vaccination offer.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps she has taken to improve equality of access to NHS ear wax removal services.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service will often recommend home treatment remedies to alleviate ear wax build-up. Manual ear syringing is no longer advised by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) due to risks associated with it, such as trauma to their ear drum or infection.
However, in line with NICE guidance, a person may require ear wax removal treatment if the build-up of earwax is linked with hearing loss. A general practice could then consider referring the patient into audiology services. Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning healthcare services that meet the needs of their local populations – including for audiology and ear wax removal services.
ICBs should therefore arrange for the provision of ear wax removal services for when a patient has a clinical need for ear wax removal beyond home treatments.
The NICE published guidelines last year on hearing loss – and specifically on ear wax removal treatment, at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng98/chapter/Recommendations#removing-earwax
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps she has taken to help ensure that chronic lymphocytic leukaemia patients on active monitoring have the support they need for their (a) mental and (b) physical well-being.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Long Term Plan states that, where appropriate, every person diagnosed with cancer will have access to personalised care, including needs assessment, a care plan and health and wellbeing information and support. This includes provision of end of treatment summaries, empowering people to manage their care and the impact of their cancer.
NHS England is supporting adults experiencing cancer with access to NHS Talking Therapies mental health services, formerly known as Improving Access to Psychological Therapies, which provide evidence-based psychological therapies for people with anxiety disorders and depression.
In 2022/23, Cancer Alliances mapped out locally driven improvements in psychosocial support provision, which is work that will continue in 2023/24.