Asked by: Pauline Latham (Conservative - Mid Derbyshire)
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 adequacy of the frequency of CT scanning in relation to aortic dissection; and what plans he has to increase the speed of access to that service.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
It is recognised the demand for cardiothoracic CT scanning procedures has increased considerably in recent years, for a number of indications.
The NHS Long Term Plan has identified the need to undertake an assessment of the capacity and demand for CT, including workforce implications.
Asked by: Pauline Latham (Conservative - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what specialist aortic surgery facilities there are in the UK; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing more specialist aortic surgery centres.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
There are currently 28 specialised cardiac surgery centres in England.
NHS England and NHS Improvement has advised that the Specialised Cardiac Improvement Programme includes a workstream on cardiac surgery, but this and previous work has not identified the need for additional surgical centres. The aim is to further develop networked centres to increase access to surgeons who have developed and can maintain particular expertise in aortic dissection surgery.
Asked by: Pauline Latham (Conservative - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing additional specialist blood pressure clinics.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
The number of individuals with resistant hypertension, requiring highly specialist input, is small and there are specialist clinics across the country.
NHS England and NHS Improvement has advised that the vast majority of people with hypertension will be satisfactorily managed in primary care, often with support from hospital specialists across cardiology, renal medicine, and clinical pharmacology.
Asked by: Pauline Latham (Conservative - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase (a) access and (b) referral rates for genetic services.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Building on the 100,000 Genomes Project and existing genetic services, NHS England announced in October 2018 that over the next 18 months, work to mobilise the NHS Genomic Medicine Service (GMS) would get underway, providing consistent and equitable care for the country’s 55 million population.
Investment for genomics was included as part of the NHS Long Term Plan, setting out commitments over the next five years to:
- Sequence 500,000 whole genomes by 2023/24, as part of a Government commitment to sequence 1 million whole genomes;
- Extend the use of molecular diagnostic testing and routine offering whole genome sequencing to seriously ill children who are likely to have a rare genetic disorder, children with cancer, and adults suffering from certain rare conditions or specific cancers;
- Link and correlate genomics, clinical data and data from patients, providing routes to new treatments, diagnostic patterns and information to help patients make informed decisions about their care; and
- Increase the number of people identified with familial hypercholesterolaemia (inherited high cholesterol) from 7% to 25% over the next five years.
The NHS Genomic Medicine Service will be supported by an informatics system that is being developed in partnership with Genomics England. When fully operational, the informatics system will enable NHS England to monitor the number of genomic tests being carried out across the country and benchmark activity.
Asked by: Pauline Latham (Conservative - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has for widening the use of NHS Digital to enable pharmacists to update a patient's health record.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Pharmacists working across a range of care settings are able to update patient records. In particular the general practice clinical pharmacist programme is funding 2,000 pharmacists over four years to work alongside general practitioners (GPs) and nurses in general practice with read/write access to patient health records.
Clinical pharmacists in hospital practice also have read/write access to hospital patient records to support clinical practice.
In some areas, community pharmacists have been given read/write access to support working with general practices particularly linked to any prescribing role they have.
In addition, 96% of community pharmacists in England have now been provided with read access to the summary care record, which provides a summary of the data in the patient’s general practice record. In addition, 80% have now been provided with a secure NHSmail account which allows safe and secure communication between the pharmacist and the GP practice regarding patient encounters.
Further work is underway to develop a solution that integrates updates recorded by a pharmacist directly into the GP record. This will take time to develop and implement due to the complexity involved.
Asked by: Pauline Latham (Conservative - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to evolve Medicines Use Reviews to enable community pharmacists to better support people with long-term conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Department is committed to supporting people with long term conditions manage their illness and take their medication correctly. In line with this ambition, eligibility for Medicine Use Reviews was amended from April 2015, to better target these services at patients who would derive the most benefit from it. This change required 70% of Medicine Use Reviews to be held with people within key target groups which included people with conditions such as diabetes or high blood pressure.
The Department continues to develop and monitor the evidence base and effectiveness of all Advanced Services provided by community pharmacists to improve patient outcomes and make the best use of National Health Service resources. It will continue to do so and develop plans accordingly.
Asked by: Pauline Latham (Conservative - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to expand the role of pharmacies.
Answered by Steve Brine
Community pharmacies provide vital front line health services. We want them to be even more integrated with the wider health system and used more often by the public for their health needs. We are taking action to make that happen; for example, we have re-commissioned the delivery of flu vaccinations and will be re-running the ‘stay well this winter campaign’ this year.
Asked by: Pauline Latham (Conservative - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when will companies following a recommendation for use from the Cancer Drugs Fund be able to access Cancer Drugs Fund funding for a drug which they have previously been making available to the NHS free of charge by means of the Early Access to Medicines Scheme.
Answered by Steve Brine
Under the new arrangements for the appraisal and funding of cancer drugs introduced in July 2016, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) aims to publish draft recommendations on the use of all cancer drugs before licensing. Where NICE’s draft guidance recommends use of the drug for routine commissioning or for use through the Cancer Drugs Fund, NHS England will make Cancer Drugs Fund funding available for its use in National Health Service patients in line with NICE’s recommendations from the point of licensing. There should therefore be no gap in the availability of cancer drugs recommended by NICE that had previously been made available before licensing under the Early Access to Medicines Scheme.
Asked by: Pauline Latham (Conservative - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to transfer the funding of medicines under the Early Access to Medicines Scheme from pharmaceutical companies to the NHS.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Early Access to Medicines Schemes is a voluntary scheme. Companies are not paid for the medicines they supply into the scheme. However, the Government has recently announced new funding as part of a of a wider package of up to £86 million aimed at addressing barriers to uptake of innovation that were recommended in the Accelerated Access Review. Small to Medium Enterprises with products that meet the requirements for the Early Access to Medicines Scheme will be able to access this funding opportunity. Further announcements will be made on how small businesses can apply for this support. More information can be found at this link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/86-million-funding-announced-for-new-medicine-and-technology
Asked by: Pauline Latham (Conservative - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what funding is available for treatments which have been made available under the Early Access to Medicines Scheme after marketing authorisation but before the publication of NICE guidance.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Early Access to Medicines Schemes is a voluntary scheme. Companies are not paid for the medicines they supply into the scheme. However, the Government has recently announced new funding as part of a of a wider package of up to £86 million aimed at addressing barriers to uptake of innovation that were recommended in the Accelerated Access Review. Small to Medium Enterprises with products that meet the requirements for the Early Access to Medicines Scheme will be able to access this funding opportunity. Further announcements will be made on how small businesses can apply for this support. More information can be found at this link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/86-million-funding-announced-for-new-medicine-and-technology