Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
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 progress on the target of no new HIV infections by 2030.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) undertakes the monitoring of progress against the UNAIDS targets and publishes these as part of the HIV Action Plan monitoring and evaluation framework.
The UKHSA use the number of new HIV diagnoses first made in England as a proxy for HIV transmissions. The number of new HIV diagnoses first made in England fell from 2,986 in 2019 to 2,023 in 2021. However, this fall was not equal between demographic groups and occurred in the context of reduced HIV testing and increased proportion of late diagnoses.
To achieve the UNAIDS target, several areas need to be prioritised including HIV testing numbers exceeding levels seen in 2019, ensuring patients not retained in care are re-integrated and supported, and monitoring inequalities in HIV prevention and care to inform accessible and culturally-competent interventions.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
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 potential merits of extending opt out HIV testing to areas of high prevalence as defined by the UK Health Security Agency.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Provisional data from NHS England indicates that the HIV opt-out testing programme has helped find more than 550 cases of undiagnosed or untreated HIV during its first year. We are currently assessing all the evidence from the results of the programme's first year and its contribution to finding cases of undiagnosed or untreated HIV and preventing further HIV transmissions, alongside data on progress towards our ambitions to end new HIV transmissions, AIDS and HIV-related deaths within England by 2030.
This data will be used to examine the feasibility of further expanding the programme and we will be sharing evidence as it emerges to support other areas of the country to make the case for implementing the same approach locally. A decision will be made in due course.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
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 results of the first year of opt out HIV testing in areas of very high prevalence as defined by the UK Health Security Agency.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Provisional data from NHS England indicates that the HIV opt-out testing programme has helped find more than 550 cases of undiagnosed or untreated HIV during its first year. We are currently assessing all the evidence from the results of the programme's first year and its contribution to finding cases of undiagnosed or untreated HIV and preventing further HIV transmissions, alongside data on progress towards our ambitions to end new HIV transmissions, AIDS and HIV-related deaths within England by 2030.
This data will be used to examine the feasibility of further expanding the programme and we will be sharing evidence as it emerges to support other areas of the country to make the case for implementing the same approach locally. A decision will be made in due course.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
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 monitor progress against the target to deliver FibroScan testing for liver fibrosis through Community Diagnostic Centres in England by March 2025.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There is no national target specifically relating to the delivery of FibroScan testing for liver fibrosis through Community Diagnostic Centres in England by March 2025.
Diagnostic checks are a key part of many elective care pathways. The NHS’ Delivery Plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care has an overall ambition that 95% of patients needing a diagnostic check will receive it within six weeks by March 2025.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
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 potential merits of introducing FibroScans in primary care to improve early diagnosis of non-alcohol related fatty liver disease.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not made a specific assessment of the potential merits of introducing FibroScans in primary care to improve early diagnosis of non-alcohol related fatty liver disease. However, a practice has clinical discretion to decide if a FibroScan is necessary and appropriate for a patient and can either provide directly or through a provider, typically a hospital out-patient appointment.
In addition, NHS England have confirmed they have begun to assess the introduction of FibroScans through Community Diagnostic Centres. £2.3 billion is being spent to increase the number of Community Diagnostic Centres by March 2025, these centres will offer a range of services, with some providing services to support liver diagnosis . This will boost capacity to diagnose liver disease and improve earlier diagnosis and health outcomes.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
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 help housebound constituents in Darlington constituency to access the Covid-19 Vaccine Spring Booster.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Primary Care Network (PCN) in Darlington chose not to opt-in to the provision of the spring booster vaccination programme and vaccination of Darlington housebound patients is being carried out by two providers: A community pharmacy based in Bishop Auckland and Eston PCN.
These two providers are working together to vaccinate the 800 patients identified as housebound by general practitioner (GP) practices in Darlington, with the information co-ordinated by the local GP federation, Primary Health Care Darlington.
Housebound patients have been placed in cohorts based on their postcode area and a software model is being used to produce the most efficient route from a travel perspective. The providers are currently in the process of contacting patients to arrange a vaccination date.
Vaccinations are being delivered until 30 June and housebound patients can, and will, be vaccinated up until the end of the programme. The first two weeks of the vaccination booster programme (which started on 3 April in England) saw a strong focus placed on care home residents and locally NHS England have been delivering vaccinations to housebound patients over the past four weeks.
The latest data shows that 41.8% of NHS North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board’s (ICB) housebound patients have received a vaccine to date, against the ICB average of 41.9%. A comparison of the vaccination uptake rate for housebound patients against the 2022 position shows a very positive improvement of 25.7%.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
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 impact of public health grant allocations on the level of funding for sexual health services.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
No assessment of the impact of public health grant allocations on the level of funding for sexual health services is currently planned.
Since 2013, the Government has mandated local authorities in England to commission comprehensive open access to most sexual health services through the public health grant.
At the 2021 Spending Review we considered the need for local authority public health funding and confirmed that the public health grant to local authorities would increase over the settlement period. In 2023/24, the Grant increased by 3.3% to £3.529 billion, and will rise to £3.575 billion in 2024/25. It is for individual local authorities to decide their spending priorities based on an assessment of local need, including sexual health services, and to commission the service lines that best suit their population.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
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 provide sexual health services with an adequate level of funding.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
No assessment of the impact of public health grant allocations on the level of funding for sexual health services is currently planned.
Since 2013, the Government has mandated local authorities in England to commission comprehensive open access to most sexual health services through the public health grant.
At the 2021 Spending Review we considered the need for local authority public health funding and confirmed that the public health grant to local authorities would increase over the settlement period. In 2023/24, the Grant increased by 3.3% to £3.529 billion, and will rise to £3.575 billion in 2024/25. It is for individual local authorities to decide their spending priorities based on an assessment of local need, including sexual health services, and to commission the service lines that best suit their population.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
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 help reduce the level of transmission of sexually transmitted infections.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
We are committed to improving sexual health in England and have published an HIV Action Plan in 2021, which sets out the actions that we are taking from 2022 to 2025 to move towards ending human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmissions and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)- and HIV-related deaths within England by 2030. As part of the plan, we are investing over £3.5 million from 2021 to 2024 to deliver the National HIV Prevention Programme for England, including HIV Testing Week and other campaigns to improve information and testing for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
Dedicated sexual health services play a key public health role in diagnosis, early treatment and management of STIs, and we are providing more than £3.5 billion to local authorities through the public health grant to fund public health services, including sexual health services, in this financial year. Individual local authorities are responsible for and well placed to make funding and commissioning decisions about the sexual health services that best meet the needs of their local populations.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) conducts comprehensive surveillance of STIs and HIV in England and uses this data to understand national and local level trends and monitor preventative interventions. UKHSA also undertakes work to inform STI prevention programmes such as the National Chlamydia Screening Programme delivered by local authorities.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
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 ensure that all people who require pre-exposure prophylaxis are able to access that drug.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
As part of the HIV Action Plan, we committed to supporting the system to continue to improve access to the human immunodeficiency virus prevention drug pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for key population groups.
A PrEP Access and Equity Task and Finish group was established in 2022 as part of the HIV Action Plan Implementation Steering Group comprised of key delivery partners and sector stakeholders. The Task and Finish group has delivered recommendations on improving PrEP delivery for key population groups, which are currently being considered.