Asked by: Steve Brine (Conservative - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the (a) surveillance of infectious diseases and (b) Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
As part of our responsibility to protect citizens from the impact of infectious diseases, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) carries out surveillance activities across a range of pathogens which represent a significant risk to health. This involves multiple UKHSA teams working with external partners across a wide range of activities. Our assessments of the effectiveness of surveillance are incorporated into annual reports on surveillance and progress towards the elimination of notifiable diseases, including tuberculosis and measles.
Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010 serve an important role in England’s ability to respond promptly to suspected cases of infectious disease that could have an impact on public health, by supporting a robust surveillance system. Regulations are reviewed by the Department and UKHSA, and include public consultations. A summary of responses to the recent Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010: proposed amendments consultation, is available at the following link:
Asked by: Steve Brine (Conservative - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress her Department has made on identifying the key reasons why people (a) may not be offered and (b) decline the offer of a HIV test in sexual health clinics.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Further work is being undertaken by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) to explore reasons why people may not be offered or decline the offer of an HIV test in Sexual Health clinics. UKHSA will provide a descriptive analysis of predictors in the third quarter of 2024.
Asked by: Steve Brine (Conservative - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to her Department's publication entitled Towards Zero - An action plan towards ending HIV transmission, AIDS and HIV-related deaths in England - 2022 to 2025, updated on 21 December 2021, what recent progress has been made on (a) reviewing existing late diagnosis protocols and (b) strengthening the protocols prior to a national roll out.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
A late HIV diagnoses steering group will be held in the second quarter of 2024 to review and agree the content of the protocol. Software is also under development to enable information to be captured.
Asked by: Steve Brine (Conservative - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress her Department has made on understanding the circumstances surrounding HIV acquisitions in 2023.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Further analyses around HIV acquisitions will be undertaken to ensure the circumstances reflect a wide range of people living with HIV. This will be published in the third quarter of 2024.
Asked by: Steve Brine (Conservative - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to provide Descovy to people with HIV through the NHS.
Answered by Will Quince
People living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) who meet the relevant criteria can access emtricitabine and tenofovir alafenamide (Descovy®) through the NHS England clinical commissioning policy: Tenofovir Alafenamide for treatment of HIV 1 in adults and adolescents, which is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/f03-taf-policy.pdf
Asked by: Steve Brine (Conservative - Winchester)
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 tackle the level of diabetes in pregnant women with HIV.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
All pregnant women receive a Personalised Care and Support Plan, which is a series of facilitated conversations in which the person actively gets involved to explore the management of their health and well-being, taking into account individual needs and requirements, including pre-existing health conditions.
Further to this, NHS England have developed 14 Maternal Medicine Networks across England, to ensure that all women with chronic and acute medical problems around pregnancy, including diabetes, have access to specialist management and care from physicians and obstetrics.
With relation to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the Specialised Adult HIV Service Specification sets out the requirements for service providers to support the appropriate management of people living with HIV, including pregnant women with HIV, through referral to and liaison with primary care for management of non-HIV care needs. Service providers are required to ensure that pathways are in place for access to other specialties.
Asked by: Steve Brine (Conservative - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has had recent discussions with the (a) UK Health Security Agency, (b) British HIV Association and (c) other representatives of people with HIV on taking steps to encourage people who are living with HIV to seek medical care.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Education)
As part of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) Action Plan, we committed to optimising access to treatment and retention and re-engagement in HIV care. As part of the HIV Action Plan Implementation Steering Group, which drives forward the implementation of the Plan, we established a retention and re-engagement in care Task and Finish subgroup including UK Health Security Agency, British HIV Association and other key stakeholders who will provide advice on how to increase the number of people retained and re-engaged in care and receive effective medical care. The Implementation Steering Group will be considering the advice and, if needed, take appropriate action to ensure we meet our Action Plan’s objectives.
Asked by: Steve Brine (Conservative - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has a timetable for bringing forward commencement orders on powers for the Care Quality Commission to assess integrated care systems.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Section 31 of the Health and Care Act 2022 introduced duties on the Care Quality Commission to conduct reviews and assessments of integrated care systems. The government is preparing to make a Commencement Statutory Instrument that will commence these duties on 1 April 2023.
Asked by: Steve Brine (Conservative - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to ensure there is no reduction in funding for sexual health budgets due to the Sexual Health tariff and reduced mainstream Sexual Health activity caused by the monkepox outbreak.
Answered by Caroline Johnson - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
We continue to work with the UK Health Security Agency, local authorities and NHS England to monitor the impact of monkeypox on sexual health services and maintain access to routine sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services, including HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis and contraception.
We have allocated more than £3 billion to local authorities in England to fund public health services, including SRH services, through the Public Health Grant in 2022/23. It is for individual local authorities to determine spending priorities based on an assessment of local need, including for SRH services. In addition, we have provided funding for antiviral medicines to treat monkeypox, the procurement of the smallpox vaccine and for sexual health services to deliver this vaccine to those eligible for vaccination.
Asked by: Steve Brine (Conservative - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department will take to address displaced access to (a) PrEP, (b) HIV services, (c) family planning services and (d) contraception services within the NHS.
Answered by Caroline Johnson - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
We continue to work with the UK Health Security Agency, local authorities and NHS England to monitor the impact of monkeypox on sexual health services and maintain access to routine sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services, including HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis and contraception.
We have allocated more than £3 billion to local authorities in England to fund public health services, including SRH services, through the Public Health Grant in 2022/23. It is for individual local authorities to determine spending priorities based on an assessment of local need, including for SRH services. In addition, we have provided funding for antiviral medicines to treat monkeypox, the procurement of the smallpox vaccine and for sexual health services to deliver this vaccine to those eligible for vaccination.