O’Neill Review Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department of Health and Social Care
Jim Shannon
Main Page: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)Department Debates - View all Jim Shannon's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
(7 years, 8 months ago)
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Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Streeter, and I thank the hon. Member for Thirsk and Malton (Kevin Hollinrake) for setting the scene.
I could not help but be shocked by the figures in the information that hon. Members received from the Library. The briefing stated:
“If we are unable to slow the acceleration of AMR, future consequences will be worse still.”
It also stated that
“10 million people a year could be dying as a result of AMR by 2050”.
Professor Dame Sally Davies has said that we could well
“return to a time where 40 per cent of the population die prematurely from infections we cannot treat.”
Those are the facts, so what do we do to solve the problem? I will try to hit on some solutions, and I look to the Minister for encouragement.
I want to highlight the work that has been done on the boundary of my constituency at the world-renowned Queen’s University Belfast. Researchers there are leading a €50 million Europe-wide project to develop new drug treatment to improve the lives of patients with cystic fibrosis and bronchiectasis. The inhaled antibiotics in bronchiectasis and cystic fibrosis consortium—the iABC—which is made up of world-leading lung specialists from across Europe, will develop new inhaled antibiotics to manage chronic lung infection, which is the main cause of disease and death in patients with cystic fibrosis and bronchiectasis. If we look across the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for solutions and how to address the problem, we can see that we are doing a grand job on moving forward on this issue. The new antibiotics, which are being trialled over a five-year period and are being developed in response to the urgent need for new forms of inhaled antibiotics, are expected to improve patients’ quality of life by reducing lung infections and flare-ups, improving lung function and overcoming antibacterial resistance, which frequently occurs in patients with those conditions.
The consortium is also funded by the European Commission and involves some 20 organisations from eight countries across Europe. As Professor Stuart Elborn, dean of the school of dentistry, medicine and biomedical sciences at Queen’s University, said:
“There are limited antibiotics available to treat lung infection in cystic fibrosis and bronchiectasis, and the bacteria causing them are becoming increasingly resistant to current antibiotics.”
The work being done by Queen’s University has the potential to deliver inhaled antibiotics that will improve the quality of life and survival rates of cystic fibrosis and bronchiectasis patients. It is the latest example of the commitment of the researchers and staff at Queen’s University to advancing knowledge and changing lives by working with international experts.
We are looking at how we can best address these issues, so I ask the Minister to tell us what has been done on the partnerships that clearly operate between big business, universities and Government to ensure that the giant steps being taken by the likes of Queen’s University in Belfast can be replicated across the whole United Kingdom. If that can be done, we can solve the problem.