Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
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 improve liver cancer surveillance among higher risk patients with chronic hepatitis B (a) nationally and (b) within Devon Integrated Care System.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service Cancer Programme is working to detect more hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) at an early stage when the chances of survival are higher. Six-monthly liver ultrasound surveillance for patients with cirrhosis or advanced fibrosis is key to identifying liver cancers earlier. The programme has been providing funding to Cancer Alliances in 2023/24 and 2024/25, to invest in local liver surveillance programmes. This includes Peninsula Cancer Alliance, which covers Devon.
The cancer programme is also funding two pilot initiatives, the Community Liver Health Checks and liver primary care case finding pilots, to identify people with advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis requiring HCC surveillance. Both pilot initiatives are being delivered across in the peninsula, with one primary care case finding pilot taking place within Devon Primary Care Network.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
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 tackle shortages of epilepsy medication.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is working hard with industry to help resolve the intermittent supply issues with some epilepsy medications. As a result of ongoing activity and intensive work, including directing suppliers to expedite deliveries, some issues, including with some carbamazepine and oxcarbazepine presentations, have been resolved.
There is a supply issue with all strengths of lamotrigine tablets due to manufacturing issues, and this is expected to resolve from late November 2024. Other manufacturers of lamotrigine tablets can meet the increased demand during this time.
The Department continues to work closely with industry, the National Health Service, and others to help ensure patients continue to have access to an alternative treatment until their usual product is back in stock.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
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 increase referrals from GP surgeries to community pharmacies under the Pharmacy First service.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In August 2024, approximately 71% of general practices (GPs) in England made at least one referral into the Pharmacy First Service. To help increase uptake, NHS England is working closely with the integrated care boards (ICBs), GP stakeholders, and the community pharmacy sector to improve referral pathways. Funding has been provided to ICBs to recruit Primary Care Network engagement leads who will be well placed to support GP teams to refer into the service.
Digital systems are being improved to integrate the referral process, and most pharmacies can now receive Pharmacy First referrals from GPs straight into their NHS England assured pharmacy IT systems. NHS England is continuing to promote the Pharmacy First service to increase public awareness and knowledge around accessing community pharmacy services. This will include a targeted public communications campaign with associated media materials.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of reducing the activity thresholds for the Pharmacy First Service monthly fixed payment.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Minimum Activity Requirements for the Pharmacy First Service have been amended for the remainder of 2024/25, to 20 for October, November, and December, 25 for January and February 2025, and 30 for March 2025.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
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 impact of community pharmacy closures on health outcomes (a) in South West Devon constituency and (b) nationally.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are aware of the reduction in the number of pharmacies in recent years and recognise that pharmacy closures can impact on local communities. Local authorities are required to undertake a pharmaceutical needs assessment (PNA) every three years to assess whether their population is adequately served and must keep these assessments under review. Integrated care boards give regard to the PNAs when reviewing applications from the new contractors. Contractors can also apply to open a new pharmacy to offer benefits to patients that were not foreseen by the PNA.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending prescribing rights to (a) dieticians, (b) occupational therapists, (c) prosthetists and orthotists, (d) diagnostic radiographers, (e) speech and language therapists and (f) other healthcare professionals.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department works with NHS England to ensure that the prescribing responsibilities for all Allied Health Professionals are regularly reviewed and updated. Where it is deemed clinically appropriate and necessary to extend prescribing responsibilities to Allied Health Professionals, the Department follows an established process for making changes that ensures proposals are safe and beneficial for patients.
Regarding wider work related to non-medical prescribing, in late 2020 NHS England launched a series of public consultations seeking views on proposals to amend responsibilities for the prescribing, supply, and administration of medicines for the following professionals:
This work was undertaken as part of the Chief Professions Officers’ medicines mechanisms (CPOMM) programme. The Department is working with NHS England to consider the CPOMM consultations and progress the extension of responsibilities to supply, administer, or prescribe medicines under the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 (HMRs 2012) to regulated healthcare professionals, where a clear need and benefits have been identified.
For example, in June 2024 the Department completed work to amend the HMRs 2012 to allow dental hygienists and dental therapists to supply and administer specified medicines via exemptions, and pharmacy technicians to use Patient Group Directions. This legislation came into force in late June 2024. At present, the Department is reviewing priorities for progressing work in the CPOMM programme.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
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 community pharmacies have dispensed medications at a loss in each of the last three years.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We do not hold this information. Community pharmacy reimbursement arrangements do not aim to ensure that every pharmacy is paid as much or more than it paid for every product, but aims overall to reimburse as much as they were bought for, plus the allowed medicine margin. The medicine margin is the difference between the product price reimbursed by the National Health Service and the price at which pharmacies buy them. As part of the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) in 2023/24, pharmacies were allowed to retain £850 million from the medicine margin, on top of what they are paid for the medicines they purchase as part of providing NHS services. The Department assesses the medicines margin retained through a quarterly margin survey, which has found that more than the amount agreed as part of the CPCF has been delivered in total across the previous four financial years.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
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 impact of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy on children's (a) oral health and (b) associated dental care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment has been made. Sugar consumption is the main risk factor for tooth decay. Reducing consumption of foods and drinks that contain sugar, alongside adequate exposure to fluoride, including daily toothbrushing with fluoride toothpaste, has a positive effect on children’s oral health and associated dental care.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
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 allowing community pharmacists to substitute prescription medication for generic alternatives in cases of medicine shortages.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
If the generic name is written on the prescription, pharmacists can dispense any supplier’s version of that product. However, where the prescription is written for a brand or a supplier, then the pharmacist is required to supply that specific product. Generic substitution was consulted on in 2010 but the proposals were not progressed following concerns about the potential impact on patient safety. Currently, Serious Shortages Protocols (SSPs) are a tool that has been used in recent years to manage and mitigate medicine and medical device shortages. An SSP enables community pharmacists to supply a specified alternative medicine or device, with the patient’s consent, and without needing to seek authorisation from the prescriber. SSPs are developed with the input of clinical experts and are a safe, effective way to ensure medicines continue to be available for everyone who needs them.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of the nutritional content of commercial infant and baby foods.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
An evidence review on commercial baby food and drink, published in June 2019, showed that young children are eating too much sugar and salt, and energy intakes are exceeding requirements. Some baby foods, particularly finger foods, had added sugar or salt or contained ingredients that are high in sugar or salt. More information on this review is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/commercial-infant-and-baby-food-and-drink-evidence-review
More recent evidence considered by the independent Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN), for their report on Feeding Young Children aged 1 to 5 years, published in July 2023, reported that among children aged 12 to 18 months old who consumed commercial baby food and drinks, these products provided around 20% of free sugars intakes. Free sugar intakes are above recommendations for children at all ages where recommendations have been set.
SACN recommended in this report that foods, including snacks that are high in salt, free sugars, saturated fat, or are energy dense, should be limited in the diets of children aged one to five years and that commercially manufactured foods and drinks marketed specifically for infants and young children are not needed to meet nutrition requirements.
We face a childhood obesity crisis and the Government is committed to raising the healthiest next generation. Under our health mission and shift to prevention we are considering what action is needed to respond to the SACN commercial baby food recommendations to establish healthy habits as early as possible.