Asked by: Hannah Bardell (Scottish National Party - Livingston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department plans to answer Question 125316 tabled on 14 February 2022 by the hon. Member for Livingston.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer to Question 125316.
Asked by: Hannah Bardell (Scottish National Party - Livingston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme claims relating to covid-19 vaccinations have been passed to an independent medical advisor for assessment as of 18 February 2022.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) COVID-19 related claims are now being processed and medical records are being requested from claimant’s general practitioners or medical providers. Once these records have been gathered over an average period of six months, they will be passed for independent medical assessment. Since its administration of the VDPS began in November 2021, the NHS Business Services Authority has contacted all claimants to update them on the progress of their cases. As of 18 February 2022, no VDPS claims relating to COVID-19 vaccines had been passed to an independent medical advisor for assessment.
Asked by: Hannah Bardell (Scottish National Party - Livingston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme for covid-19 vaccinations will prioritise the processing of claims where the claimant’s diagnosed condition has an association acknowledged by inclusion in the Product Information warnings provided by MHRA.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
All claims submitted to the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme are clinically assessed on a case-by-case basis once all the claimant’s medical records are gathered. The NHS Business Services Authority, who administer the scheme, have established a team of caseworkers to ensure all claims are processed as quickly as possible.
Asked by: Hannah Bardell (Scottish National Party - Livingston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many claims have been made to the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme relating to covid-19 vaccinations as of 19 January 2022.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
As of 19 January 2022, there have been 733 claims to the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme relating to COVID-19.
Asked by: Hannah Bardell (Scottish National Party - Livingston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme will make payments to applicants diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome in the context of that syndrome having been added to the list of side effects for the AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccination.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
All claims to the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme are clinically assessed on a case-by-case basis.
Asked by: Hannah Bardell (Scottish National Party - Livingston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether any payments have been made under the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme relating to covid-19 vaccinations.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
There have not been any Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) payments relating to COVID-19 vaccinations to date.
Claims relating to COVID-19 are taking longer to investigate and process as the related vaccines are new and establishing a relationship between them and their purported side effects takes time. Since taking over the administration of the scheme in November 2021, the NHS Business Services Authority have started processing COVID-19 vaccinations claims and will update claimants on progress. Other VDPS claims continue to be processed as usual.
Asked by: Hannah Bardell (Scottish National Party - Livingston)
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 ensure blood cancer patients receive adequate emotional and psychological support during their treatment.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
In line with the NHS Long Term Plan, by 2021 every cancer patient will be offered personalised care and support planning, based on a holistic needs assessment, done in conjunction with the patient and in accordance with the NHS England Comprehensive Personalised Care model. This will be offered whether the person is due to undergo treatment or not, and includes all patients with blood cancer.
Asked by: Hannah Bardell (Scottish National Party - Livingston)
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 extending the Scottish Cancer Referral Guidelines for the rest of the UK to ensure consistent diagnoses of cancer.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) updated referral guidelines for suspected cancer was published in June 2015, ‘Suspected cancer: recognition and referral.’ It was estimated that the updated guideline could save about 5,000 lives a year with general practitioners (GPs) urged to think of cancer sooner and lower the referral threshold for tests. The NHS Long Term Plan also reaffirms that all GPs should use the latest evidence-based guidance from NICE to identify people at risk of cancer.
Asked by: Hannah Bardell (Scottish National Party - Livingston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to improve the coordination of oncology and haematology care for blood cancer patients.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
Cancer Alliances are working with local sustainability and transformation partnerships and integrated care systems to improve care and reduce variation across whole patient pathways.
Asked by: Hannah Bardell (Scottish National Party - Livingston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure a high level of up-take of the HPV vaccine throughout the country.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
Coverage of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in teenage girls is high with nearly 84% receiving the full course of vaccine. Public Health England (PHE) developed a range of materials targeted at teenagers and their parents to provide information about the HPV vaccination programme to help them make an informed choice. Local immunisation providers should share this information and signpost teenagers and their parents to these materials when the offer of HPV vaccination is underway in schools. These materials can be viewed at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immunisation#human-papillomavirus-(hpv)-for-girls
PHE also provides information and training materials for health professionals to ensure they can adequately respond to queries or concerns. These training materials can be viewed at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/human-papillomavirus-hpv-the-green-book-chapter-18a
In addition, PHE has also worked closely with several charities such as Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust and the Teenage Cancer Trust to develop lesson plans for schools to use to teach young people about cervical cancer and the HPV vaccine. These can be seen at the following links:
https://www.jostrust.org.uk/information-healthcare-professionals/information-teachers
https://www.teenagecancertrust.org/about-us/what-we-do/cancer-awareness/resources#cervicalcancer