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 merits of engaging the pharmacy sector to help deliver digital NHS health checks.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Health Check Online will be ready for piloting in three local authorities from spring 2025 for six months. Throughout the development of the pilot, Community Pharmacy England has been engaged.
Individuals taking part in the pilot will be able to use the ‘NHS Find a Pharmacy’ service, which directs patients to their nearest participating pharmacy for a blood pressure check, without the need to see a general practitioner.
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 take steps to provide funding for the Pharmacy First scheme after March 2025.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that pharmacies are an integral part of the fabric of our communities, as an easily accessible ‘front door’ to the National Health Service, staffed by highly trained and skilled healthcare professionals. We are working at pace with Community Pharmacy England to ensure that the funding we have available for community pharmacy is used in the best way possible, including for Pharmacy First.
We will announce the outcome of the consultation in the usual manner, by letter to contractors, when the consultation has concluded.
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 recent progress he has made on the national rollout of digital NHS health checks across England; and when he expects that rollout to be completed.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Health Check Online service will be piloted in three local authorities from spring 2025 for six months. Subject to the outcomes of the pilot, an independent evaluation and Government Digital Service processes, the aim is to roll out nationally from spring 2026, delivering around one million checks in the first four years.
The NHS Health Check Online service will be delivered alongside the face-to-face programme, offering people the choice to carry out their health check at a time and place convenient to them, to understand and act on their risk of cardiovascular disease.
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 the dementia diagnosis rate was for people aged under 65 who had developed symptoms on 13 January 2025; and if he will publish a monthly estimate of this rate within national primary care dementia data.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The dementia diagnosis rate is not calculated for patients aged under 65 years old. This is because the numbers of patients known to have dementia in the sample population age groups comprising the zero- to 64-year-old age range is not large enough for reliable estimates to be made.
The Primary Care Dementia Data publication includes a monthly count of the number of patients aged 65 years old and under who do have a dementia diagnosis on their patient record, which is expressed as a raw count, and as a percentage of registered patients aged zero to 64 years old.
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 earlier diagnosis of hepatitis B (a) nationally and (b) within Devon Integrated Care System.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
Hepatitis B is usually asymptomatic in the early years, and therefore, many people remain unaware of their infection. The UK Health Security Agency estimates that 268,767 people were living with chronic hepatitis B in England in 2022, 38.1% of whom we estimate are diagnosed. As a result, raising both professional and public awareness remains critical to reducing the undiagnosed burden of hepatitis B.
In April 2022, the NHS England introduced the bloodborne virus opt out testing in emergency departments programme, which was implemented across 34 sites. In its first 24 months 1,185,678 hepatitis B tests had been conducted in the programme, which has led to 1,957 new diagnoses of hepatitis B. Following the success of this programme, it is now being expanded to a further 47 sites nationwide. Further information is available at the following link:
In addition, the list of sites and go live dates is available at the following link:
The United Kingdom has continued to see the success of well-established antenatal screening. Antenatal screening coverage has remained high at 99.8%, which ensures pregnant women living with hepatitis B are diagnosed and interventions are implemented, to prevent transmission of hepatitis B to their children.
As set out in the published Hepatitis B in England 2024 report, effective interventions have also been developed to raise awareness of hepatitis B among healthcare professionals and communities at risk of acquiring viral hepatitis, support primary care in identifying and managing cases, and offer testing and immunisations to close contacts. These interventions need to be more widely implemented to continue to improve diagnosis and access to care. The Hepatitis B in England 2024 report is available at the following link:
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
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.