Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions she has had with relevant stakeholders on tackling shortages of Ezetimibe.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is aware of supply issues affecting several Ezetimibe suppliers. We are engaging with these suppliers to address the issues, and are working with alternative suppliers to ensure supplies remain available.
The medicine supply chain is highly regulated, complex, and global. Supply disruption is an issue which affects the United Kingdom, as well as other countries around the world. There can be a variety of causes, including manufacturing issues, problems with access to raw ingredients, and sudden spikes in demand.
Whilst we can’t always prevent supply issues, the Department has well-established tools and processes to manage them, in order to mitigate risks to patients. We work closely with the pharmaceutical industry, NHS England, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, and others operating in the supply chain to help ensure patients continue to have access to suitable medicines when supply is disrupted.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions she has had with stakeholders on tackling shortages of atorvastatin.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There have been supply issues with atorvastatin, but as a result of our work to manage those issues, including engaging with alternative suppliers to cover supply gaps in order to meet demand, they have now been resolved.
The medicine supply chain is highly regulated, complex, and global. Supply disruption is an issue which affects the United Kingdom, as well as other countries around the world. There can be a variety of causes, including manufacturing issues, problems with access to raw ingredients, and sudden spikes in demand.
Whilst we can’t always prevent supply issues, the Department has well-established tools and processes to manage them, in order to mitigate risks to patients. We work closely with the pharmaceutical industry, NHS England, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, and others operating in the supply chain to help ensure patients continue to have access to suitable medicines when supply is disrupted.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions she has had with relevant stakeholders on tackling shortages of Etoricoxib.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is aware that a supplier of etoricoxib 60 milligram tablets is experiencing a supply issue. We have been working with that supplier to address the issue, and resupply is expected in early May 2024. We have worked with alternative suppliers to ensure they can cover the gap in the market in the meantime.
The medicine supply chain is highly regulated, complex, and global. Supply disruption is an issue which affects the United Kingdom, as well as other countries around the world. There can be a variety of causes, including manufacturing issues, problems with access to raw ingredients, and sudden spikes in demand.
Whilst we can’t always prevent supply issues, the Department has well-established tools and processes to manage them, in order to mitigate risks to patients. We work closely with the pharmaceutical industry, NHS England, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, and others operating in the supply chain to help ensure patients continue to have access to suitable medicines when supply is disrupted.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what her planned timetable is for publishing a response to the Hughes Report on compensation for patients damaged by sodium valproate, published 7 February 2024.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Government commissioned the Patient Safety Commissioner (PSC) to produce a report on redress for those affected by sodium valproate and pelvic mesh. We are grateful to the PSC and her team for completing this report, and our sympathies remain with those affected by sodium valproate and pelvic mesh. The Government is now carefully considering the PSC’s recommendations, and will respond substantively in due course.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to paragraph 59 of the Third Report of Session 2022–23 of the Women and Equalities Committee, HC 94, published on 18 April 2023, how many and what proportion of members of the Maternity Disparities Taskforce are from organisations that are run by and for Black women.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Maternity Disparities Taskforce brings together experts to explore and consider evidence-based interventions, in order to tackle disparities in maternity outcomes and experience. These experts include representatives from across the health system, the Government, and the voluntary sector.
Membership includes the Health and Wellbeing Alliance, including the Maternity Consortium, which ensures representation from organisations run by and for women from ethnic minority groups. A full list of its members is available at the following link:
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the planned timescale is for (a) completing and (b) assessing the projects undertaken under the Artificial Intelligence in Health and Care Award.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The AI in Health and Care Award was created to help accelerate the testing of artificial intelligence technologies most likely to meet the aims set out in the NHS Long Term Plan, and to develop an evidence base to support the commissioning of technologies that are clinically and cost effective. A total of £123 million has been allocated to 86 artificial intelligence technologies and of these, 48 awards have been completed, 13 are scheduled to conclude by March 2024, 17 by March 2025, five by March 2026, and three by September 2026.
All awarded technologies, aside from phase one and phase two projects, are expected to submit an evaluation one month after their completion. Evaluations are not publicly released, but will inform policy and commissioning decisions. Further information is available at the following link:
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of maternity staff have completed cultural competence training in each NHS trust.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
This information is not held in the format requested.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what her planned timescale is for rolling out the maternal morbidity indicator.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department recognises the importance of monitoring near-misses and severe maternal morbidity, and continues to consider how a maternal morbidity indicator can be implemented. No timescales for a national rollout of the indicator have been set.
NHS England has developed 14 Maternal Medicine Networks (MMN) across England to ensure that all women with chronic and acute medical problems around pregnancy, for instance diabetes or heart disease, have access to specialist management and care from physicians and obstetrics, tackling the biggest contributors to maternal mortality. The Department is in the process of commissioning the National Institute for Health and Care Research’s Policy Research Unit for Maternal and Neonatal Health, to undertake research into developing an MMN-specific maternal morbidity outcome indicator, and provide the prevalence of current morbidity as a baseline for ongoing monitoring.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
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 assess the effectiveness of the Maternity Disparities Taskforce.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Maternity Disparities Taskforce brings together experts from across the health system, the Government, and the voluntary sector to explore and consider evidence-based interventions to tackle disparities in maternity outcomes and experience.
The taskforce is currently focused on developing a targeted pre-pregnancy toolkit which will encourage healthy behaviours and planning for pregnancy, by supporting women to make informed choices about their health and wellbeing. Once rolled out, the toolkit will be assessed for effectiveness against its aims.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to paragraph 12 of the Fifth Special Report of Session 2022–23 of the Women and Equalities Committee entitled Black maternal health: Government Response to the Committee’s Third Report, published on 30 June 2023, HC 1611, what the outcome was of the scoping exercise undertaking by NHS England on (a) the implications of co-ordinating the Maternal Health Disparities review and (b) assessing how to bring relevant stakeholders together.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The scoping work, to fully understand the implications of co-ordinating this review and determining the best way to bring the relevant stakeholders together, has not yet started.