Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 increase the public's awareness of the side effects that can arise from taking weight loss drugs such as Ozempic.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) plays a pivotal role in ensuring the safety, efficacy, and quality of medicines and healthcare products available to patients in the United Kingdom. Patient safety remains the MHRA’s highest priority, and they take every opportunity to encourage reporting of any safety concerns to the Yellow Card scheme, which helps to improve the safe use of medicines and medical devices for everyone.
New medicines including, Mounjaro and Wegovy, are intensively monitored to ensure that any new safety concerns are identified promptly. The Commission on Human Medicines and the MHRA encourages the reporting of all suspected reactions to newer drugs and vaccines, which are denoted by an inverted Black Triangle symbol. This symbol appears next to the name of a relevant product in drug safety updates, the British National Formulary and the Nurse Prescribers’ Formulary, the monthly index of medical specialities, the electronic medicines compendium, and advertising material. Patient information leaflets accompanying licensed medicines in the UK must include a description of the adverse reactions which may occur in normal use of the medicinal product, as well as information on how to report them. All adverse reactions must be reflected in the leaflet, in language that the patient will understand.
The MHRA has received a small number of reports of falsified and unlicenced medicines being sold illegally online as a treatment for weight loss. The agency has issued public health messaging warning of the dangers of buying such medicines from illegal trading sources online.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 improve early intervention for mental health conditions in working-age adults.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The £795 million of additional funding announced in the Autumn Statement will see thousands of working-age adults with mental ill health helped back into work over the next five years, keeping them out of poverty, improving their wellbeing, and raising their living standards.
This will increase the number of sessions per course of Talking Therapies treatment, to tackle the root causes of common mental health conditions like anxiety and depression and to broaden access, leading to an expected additional 384,000 people completing a course of treatment by 2028/29.
The investment will also fund an additional 100,000 Individual Placement and Support places over five years, which will help people with severe mental illness gain and retain paid employment.
Between 2019 and 2022, total number of NHS Talking Therapies staff across England, including clinical and non-clinical, has risen by 38%. NHS England has published a positive practice guide for NHS Talking Therapies staff working with those from black and ethnic minority groups, which is helping providers take appropriate action to ensure that communities have equality of access to NHS Talking Therapies
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 adequacy of the uptake of the cervical cancer vaccine.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The routine human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme for adolescents offers a life-saving vaccine to all children in Year 8, to protect them against strains of HPV that can cause some cancers including cervical, anal, head, and neck. High-risk HPV DNA is found in over 99% of all cervical cancers. The UKHSA monitors uptake of the adolescent HPV vaccination programme, and publishes annual statistics for England and the United Kingdom, with further information available at the following link:
This data is used by local NHS Screening and Immunisation Teams to develop local plans to improve uptake and reduce inequalities, in collaboration with key partners such as directors of public health, and their teams in local authorities. Publication of statistical data also generates national communication activity, to raise awareness and improve uptake.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people under the age of 18 were diagnosed with ADHD in the last 12 months.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Data on the number of children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is not held centrally, but may be held locally by individual National Health Service trusts or commissioners.
The Department is exploring options for improving data collection and reporting on waiting times for ADHD assessments and diagnoses, to help improve access to ADHD assessments in a timely way and in line with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guidelines. In line with this, the National Institute for Health and Care Research has commissioned a research project to provide initial insights into local ADHD assessment waiting times data collection, and NHS England is currently scoping a national programme of work on ADHD, to understand more about the issues relating to ADHD service provision across the country.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number of people diagnosed with mouth cancer in the last twelve months.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not available for the last twelve months. The most recent data available from 2021 shows 9,018 people were diagnosed with mouth cancer in England. Further information is available at the following link:
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance her Department plans to issue to asthmatic people on projected high pollen levels this summer.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
At present, NHS England has no plans to issue guidance to asthmatic people on projected high pollen levels this summer. However, the National Health Service website contains advice on asthma, which includes advice on understanding and managing triggers, such as pollen. The NHS site also links to Asthma and Lung UK’s advice on asthma management, which contains more detailed information on managing triggers, and how best to reduce risk when pollen levels are high.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has new capabilities for monitoring real-time pollen levels for this year’s pollen season. This adds to the UKHSA’s Real-time Syndromic Surveillance, which includes the monitoring of presentations of asthma to the NHS. The UKHSA also provides weekly updates via publicly available surveillance bulletins, which are available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/syndromic-surveillance-systems-and-analyses.
In addition to this work, the Met Office provides alerts and advice when pollen levels are high. These alerts provide valuable information on pollen levels over the next five days for asthmatics and hayfever sufferers, so they can appropriately modify their planned future activities, and ensure they use or have their medication with them.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many diagnoses of measles there have been in the last 12 months.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) publishes routine data on laboratory confirmed measles.
Between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2023, there have been 368 laboratory confirmed cases in the England. From 1 October 2023, there have been 730 laboratory confirmed measles cases reported in England.
The 2023 data is available at the following link:
As part of the national incident response, 2024 data is currently being published weekly at the following link:
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 encourage the uptake of HPV vaccinations in schools.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
National Health Service Commissioned School Aged Immunisation Service providers have robust catch-up plans in place for the adolescent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme based on population need, utilising opportunities from the move to one dose in September 2023.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) works closely with several charities to develop resources that can be used to raise awareness of HPV. UKHSA also publishes annual statistics to support local NHS teams in developing plans to improve HPV uptake and reduce inequalities.
NHS England has improved digital communications on vaccinations, including expanding the NHS app, and improved vaccine access outside of schools through community clinics at convenient times and locations. UKHSA produces a number HPV resources which are available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hpv-vaccination-programme
Other materials are available on the UKHSA Health Publications website in a range of language and accessible formats, which are available at the following link:
https://www.healthpublications.gov.uk/Home.html
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the (a) prevalence of the use of disposable vapes by people under the age of 18 and (b) impact of that use on their health.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Vaping is never recommended for children and carries the risk of future harm and addiction. The active ingredient in most vapes, apart from nicotine-free vapes, is nicotine which, when inhaled, is a highly addictive drug. Evidence suggests that the brain in adolescence is more sensitive to the effects of nicotine, so there could be additional risks for young people. The long-term health harms of colours and flavours when inhaled are unknown, but they are certainly very unlikely to be beneficial.
The Department does not hold data on the prevalence of the use of disposable vapes by people under the age of 18 years old. However, Action on Smoking and Health’s survey, Use of e-cigarettes among young people in Great Britain, found that 69% of vape users aged 11 to 17 years old mainly used disposable vapes in 2023, rising from 7.7% in 2021. Northern Ireland’s Young person’s behaviour and attitude survey 2022, shows that 85.7% of 11 to 16 year olds in Northern Ireland who currently use vapes, reported that they used disposables. Both surveys are available respectively at the following links:
https://ash.org.uk/resources/view/use-of-e-cigarettes-among-young-people-in-great-britain
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 raise awareness of what can be done to prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Prevention and early intervention are paramount to preventing Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), and we want to ensure that every family receives the support and guidance they need during the early days of parenthood.
Health visitors have an important role supporting child health, wellbeing, and parenting confidence. They support families in improving health literacy, managing minor illnesses, and preventing accidents, including promoting safe sleeping for babies. Health visitors can also work with early years services to ensure that safer sleep messages are promoted across early years services. Further information is available at the following link:
The Department is also working alongside NHS England and the National Child Mortality Database (NMCD) to increase the data bank on SIDS, to increase our evidence base, understanding, and inform actions and policy.