Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department will carry out an impact assessment of the Government's Living Safely with Covid strategy on any potential risk posed by that strategy to people who are immunocompromised or immunosuppressed.
Answered by Maggie Throup
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he intends to issue specific guidance for people who are immunocompromised or immunosuppressed on how to manage their risk to covid-19 in the Living Safely with Covid strategy.
Answered by Maggie Throup
On 4 April 2022, updated guidance for people whose immune system means they are at higher risk of serious illness if they become infected with COVID-19 was published at the following link:
Immunocompromised individuals who are eligible to receive COVID-19 treatments will receive a letter from NHS England offering advice should they become symptomatic, which is available at the following link:
The letter also includes information on accessing free lateral flow device tests and should they test positive, how to contact a Covid Medicines Delivery Unit in and out of general practitioner surgery hours.
Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he will appoint a dedicated lead for immunocompromised and immunosuppressed people in Government in order to provide adequate communication and guidance on covid-19 to this group.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The Chief Executive of the UK Health Security Agency, Dr Jenny Harries, is the Senior Coordinating Clinical Lead for the programmes supporting these patients.
Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what impact assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of its Living Safely with Covid strategy on the Panoramic study.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Limited symptomatic testing will be available for a small number of at-risk groups. The forthcoming testing strategy will provide further detail on eligible groups, including for patients who may be eligible to enrol in the Panoramic study.
Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what comparative assessment his Department has made of guidance on vitamin D consumption issued in the (a) UK, (b) US and (c) EU.
Answered by Maggie Throup
In 2016, the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) published a review of the evidence on vitamin D and a wide range of health outcomes. This included consideration of the approach taken by the Institute of Medicine in the United States in setting dietary reference intakes for vitamin D. In 2016, the SACN and the European Food Safety Authority published a joint explanatory note outlining their dietary reference values (DRVs) for vitamin D.
The SACN noted that for assessments carried out in the United Kingdom, US and the European Union, serum concentration of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) continues to be the best indicator of exposure to vitamin D from skin synthesis and dietary intake, and is used to derive DRVs for vitamin D. However, the evidence considered for setting a target concentration of 25(OH)D, as the basis for setting DRVs, is not the same.
Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of introducing a national strategy to reduce vitamin D deficiency, with particular regard to BAME groups.
Answered by Maggie Throup
We have not made a formal assessment.
Our current advice is to take a daily 10 microgram supplement of vitamin D throughout the autumn and winter for musculoskeletal health. In addition, people at risk of vitamin D deficiency including black, Asian and minority ethnic groups are advised to consider taking a daily supplement throughout the year.
Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)
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 that sarcoma patients receive routine access to mental health support (a) during and (b) after cancer treatment.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The NHS Long Term Plan states that where appropriate every person diagnosed with cancer, including sarcoma patients, should receive a Personalised Care and Support Plan based on a holistic needs assessment, end of treatment summaries and health and wellbeing information and support, including for mental health needs. All patients will have access to the right expertise and support.
People with long term conditions, such as cancer, have been identified as priority patients for accessing Improving Access to Psychological Therapy (IAPT) services. Many IAPT services have strong links with a range of health and care settings to ensure that patients and carers receive the right support as quickly as possible.
Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish a separate strategy for supporting families and carers of people with rare diseases, including support for their (a) mental health, (b) relationships, and (c) professional careers.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the vital role unpaid carers play, especially during this difficult period now more than ever.
In June 2018, the Government published its cross-Government Carers Action Plan 2018-2020 to increase identification, recognition and support for unpaid carers. It sets out a two-year programme of targeted work to support unpaid carers. It puts a focus on practical actions and gives visibility to the work already underway or planned within Government. The action plan is available at the following link:
Good progress has been made towards fulfilling the commitments set out in the Carers Action Plan. Last July we published the ‘Carers Action Plan: 1-year progress review’ which showcases some of the key commitments we made within the action plan and is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/carers-action-plan-2018-to-2020-1-year-progress-review
As work within the Carers Action Plan comes to an end this year, we plan to produce a final report and steps outlining the next phase of work supporting unpaid carers.
The Government has no plans to publish a separate strategy for supporting families and carers of people with rare diseases.
Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of covid-19 on the timely (a) assessment and (b) diagnosis of people with rare diseases; and what steps his Department plans to take to tackle the backlog of undiagnosed cases.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department, alongside NHS England, is considering the impact of COVID-19 on patients with rare diseases. NHS England has had discussions with some services and patients/patient groups to understand the impact of COVID-19 including what has worked well; what has not worked so well; and opportunities for transformation.
NHS England as a direct commissioner of services and clinical commissioning group commissioners are currently working with all service providers to restore diagnostic capacity for all patient care groups.
NHS England will continue to look at what services can be delivered successfully through virtual communication technology such as telephone consultation and videoconferences. Where services do need to be delivered face-to-face, including the diagnosing of new cases, NHS England will work with providers to ensure that patients have a safe journey through the hospital to the treatment area.
Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to allocate additional funding to the specialised drug budget to cater for technologies being developed for new rare disease patient groups.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) issues guidance for the National Health Service on whether drugs and other treatments represent an effective use of NHS resources through its technology appraisal and highly specialised technologies programmes, including drugs for patients with rare diseases.
NHS England and NHS Improvement will continue to fund new treatments, including for rare diseases, in accordance with NICE guidance.
Through the Early Access to Medicines Scheme, we are already making important drugs available to patients. So far around 1,500 patients have benefited from the scheme, which enables drugs to be used in clinical practice in parallel with later stages of the regulatory process.