Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
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 enable charities and patient organisations to feed into the dementia mission led by Dame Barbara Windsor.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are in the process of developing plans for this mission, engaging with a wide variety of stakeholders, including leading charities and patient organisations in the dementia and neurodegeneration space. We will continue to involve them as our plans develop.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the terms of reference for the national dementia mission.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are in the process of developing plans for this mission. We cannot yet confirm when we will publish the terms of reference for the mission.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
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 survival rates from sudden cardiac arrest.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England announced in the NHS Long Term Plan it will work with partners to improve community first response and build defibrillator networks to improve survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
A national network of community first responders and defibrillators will save up to 4,000 lives each year by 2028.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on delivering additional medical scans, tests and check-ups.
Answered by Will Quince
As part of our work to bust the Covid backlogs we have so far rolled out 89 Community Diagnostic Centres that have delivered over 2 million additional tests since June 2021, and will deliver capacity for up to 9 million additional tests a year from 2025.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
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 narrowing the eligibility criteria for influenza vaccination and the JCVI's advice to reduce the age cohort for the autumn covid-19 booster programme; and whether that change would place increased pressure on NHS capacity during the winter season.
Answered by Maggie Throup
On 15 July 2022, the Government provided an update on the COVID-19 autumn booster programme and flu vaccination programme. This included the expansion of the eligibility criteria for flu vaccinations to be offered to all adults aged 50 years old and over and secondary school children in Years 7, 8, and 9 in England. These additional groups will be eligible once the most vulnerable, including previously announced pre-school and primary school children, those aged 65 years old and over and those in clinical risk groups have been offered the vaccination. This expansion aims to reduce the level of serious illness and subsequent pressure on the National Health Service.
the Government accepted the JCVI’s advice to offer an autumn booster vaccination to increase immunity in those at higher risk from COVID-19 and protect against severe illness, hospitalisation and death in winter 2022/23. The booster dose will be offered to residents and staff in a care home for older adults; all adults aged 50 years old and over; those aged five to 49 years old in a clinical risk group or who are household contacts of someone with immunosuppression; frontline health and social care workers; and carers aged 16 years old and over. This aims to increase immunity in those at higher risk from COVID-19 and protect against severe illness, hospitalisation and death in winter 2022/23.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to transition covid-19 treatments into routine healthcare provision, including placing covid-19 vaccinations into the National Immunisation Programme and the provision of antiviral treatments for recommended groups.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The Department is working with the National Health Service and other partners to transition COVID-19 treatments such as antivirals, therapeutics, and vaccinations into routine healthcare provision. We aim to learn from the pandemic response to design a model which minimises the impact on other health and care services in times of greatest demand.
We await the results of the PANORAMIC study to determine how those who would benefit most from COVID-19 antivirals can continue to access treatments through the NHS, including the delivery of vaccinations.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
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 effectiveness of the rollout of covid-19 antivirals; and what comparative assessment his Department has made of his Department's rollout of covid-19 antivirals with other comparator countries.
Answered by Maggie Throup
We are continuing to monitor the deployment of COVID-19 antivirals. In the week commencing 6 June 2022, approximately 1,600 non-hospitalised patients in the United Kingdom have received these treatments, with the total number of patients treated at approximately 63,000.
The UK Health Security Agency is also monitoring the effectiveness of the COVID-19 therapeutics nirmatrelvir+ritonavir (Paxlovid), molnupiravir and remdesivir. Both molnupiravir and Paxlovid are being trialled as part of the PANORAMIC national study. Results from the molnupiravir section of the PANORAMIC national study are expected later this summer. The Antivirals and Therapeutics Taskforce is engaging with other nations on the use, deployment and evaluation of COVID-19 therapeutics and antivirals, which will inform our approach.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department's plans to expand the eligibility for antivirals to include patients that remain at moderate to high risk of developing severe covid-19.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The PANORAMIC national study is gathering further evidence on which patients would benefits most from oral antiviral treatments for COVID-19. The results from this study inform clinical policy on access to these treatments through the National Health Service, including any expansion of the eligible patient cohorts.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
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 role of covid-19 antivirals in reducing pressures on the NHS.
Answered by Maggie Throup
No specific assessment has been made. However, clinical trial results indicate that the dual oral antiviral nirmatrelvir/ritonavir resulted in a relative risk reduction of hospitalisation or death by 88% within five days of symptom onset, compared to placebo in non-hospitalised, high-risk adults with COVID-19. Further results show that the oral antiviral molnupiravir administered within five days of symptom onset to high-risk, non-hospitalised patients resulted in a relative risk reduction of 30% in the composite primary outcome of hospitalisation or death at day 29.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
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 facilitate the rollout of the international NHS COVID pass to 12-15 year olds before half term in February 2022.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Since 13 December 2021, fully vaccinated 12 to 15 year olds can demonstrate their vaccination status using an NHS COVID Pass travel letter. From 3 February 2022, children aged 12 years old and over can access a digital NHS COVID Pass for international travel. The digital NHS COVID Pass will provide a record of vaccinations received and evidence of prior infection or recovery for 180 days following a positive National Health Service polymerase chain reaction test. The pass will be available via NHS.UK for those aged 12 years old and over and via the NHS App for those aged 13 years old and over.