Asked by: Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
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 risks posed to people living with disabilities by a lack of availability of (a) medicines and (b) essential medical equipment in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Department is doing everything appropriate to prepare for leaving the European Union. We want to reassure patients that our plans should ensure the uninterrupted supply of medicines and medical products once we have left the EU.
The Department, as part of our EU exit preparations, has analysed the supply chains of over 12,000 licensed medicines used by patients in the United Kingdom and close to half a million product lines of medical devices and clinical consumables with an EU/European Economic Area touchpoint. This approach means that the medicines and medical equipment used by people living with disabilities are included within our planning.
We continue to implement a multi-layered approach to mitigate potential disruption to supply, which consists of stockpiling where possible, securing freight capacity, changing or clarifying regulatory requirements, procuring additional warehousing, working closely with industry to improve trader readiness and putting in place the National Supply Disruption Response to manage potential shortages. Further details can be found at the following link:
Asked by: Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether anti-epileptic drugs are exempted from serious shortage protocols; and what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the use of such protocols on (a) people with learning disabilities and (b) their families in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a withdrawal agreement.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
While Serious Shortage Protocols (SSP) in England have the scope to cover all medicines and appliances that are on a National Health Service prescription in primary care, including anti-epileptic drugs, it is clear that an SSP for therapeutic or generic equivalents will not necessarily be suitable for all medicines and patients. For example, where medicines need to be prescribed by brand for clinical reasons, which is the case for epilepsy medication.
Any protocol would only be introduced if clinicians with expertise in the relevant area think it is appropriate. Pharmacists will have to use their professional judgment as to whether supplying against the protocol rather than the prescription is appropriate or the patient should be referred to their prescriber.
The legislation enabling Ministers to issue SSPs was not introduced as a European Union exit measure alone but as a business-as-usual measure that can be used before and after our exit from the EU.
Asked by: Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the availability of anti-epilepsy medications in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Department is doing everything appropriate to prepare for leaving the European Union. We want to reassure patients that our plans should ensure the uninterrupted supply of medicines and medical products, including those used for the treatment of epilepsy, once we have left the EU.
The Department, as part of our EU exit preparations, is implementing a multi-layered approach to mitigate potential disruption to supply, which consists of stockpiling where possible, securing freight capacity, changing or clarifying regulatory requirements, procuring additional warehousing, working closely with industry to improve trader readiness and putting in place the National Supply Disruption Response to manage potential shortages. Further details can be found at the following link:
We have been working closely with suppliers to monitor over 300 different epilepsy medicines provided by almost 50 companies and we are pleased to see many are holding stockpiles far beyond the six weeks’ additional buffer we requested. We also know that the vast majority of those suppliers with lower levels of stockpiles are taking action to re-route their supply chains away from the short straits crossings where applicable.
Asked by: Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many meetings he had with his Department’s Chief Scientific Adviser from 1 June to 31 August 2019.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
For the period 1 June 2019 to 31 August 2019 my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care met with the Department’s Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA) three times, the CSA met with other Health Ministers on seven occasions.
Asked by: Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
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 (a) raise awareness of and (b) increase access to the PrEP impact trial amongst women at high risk of contracting HIV.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
A core function of the pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) Impact Trial Community Advisory Board (CAB) is to raise awareness and uptake of PrEP in key populations including women and black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities. Further information about PrEP Impact Trial CAB activities and participating community groups can be found at the following links:
https://www.prepimpacttrial.org.uk/faqs
In addition, Public Health England’s Innovation Fund has supported a number of community based projects aimed at increasing PrEP awareness in women, BAME groups and trans communities; information on the projects funded in 2018 can be found at the following links:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/innovative-hiv-prevention-projects-reached-170000-people-in-2018
Since the start of the PrEP Impact Trial in October 2017, over half of the available 26,000 trial places have been filled. As of 3 September 2019, all participating Trial clinics were open to recruitment for women, trans men and heterosexual men. Information on the enrolment status of participating clinics is regularly updated on the PrEP Impact Trial website at the following link:
https://www.prepimpacttrial.org.uk/join-the-trial
Asked by: Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
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 (a) raise awareness of and (b) increase access to the PrEP impact trial in BAME communities.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
A core function of the pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) Impact Trial Community Advisory Board (CAB) is to raise awareness and uptake of PrEP in key populations including women and black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities. Further information about PrEP Impact Trial CAB activities and participating community groups can be found at the following links:
https://www.prepimpacttrial.org.uk/faqs
In addition, Public Health England’s Innovation Fund has supported a number of community based projects aimed at increasing PrEP awareness in women, BAME groups and trans communities; information on the projects funded in 2018 can be found at the following links:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/innovative-hiv-prevention-projects-reached-170000-people-in-2018
Since the start of the PrEP Impact Trial in October 2017, over half of the available 26,000 trial places have been filled. As of 3 September 2019, all participating Trial clinics were open to recruitment for women, trans men and heterosexual men. Information on the enrolment status of participating clinics is regularly updated on the PrEP Impact Trial website at the following link:
https://www.prepimpacttrial.org.uk/join-the-trial