Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many more NHS endoscopies will be performed annually by 2020 by the clinical endoscopists being trained through the accelerated training programme.
Answered by Philip Dunne
Health Education England estimate that the additional 200 clinical endoscopists being trained through the accelerated training programme will result in approximately 225,000 additional procedures a year.
Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many clinical endoscopists have been trained as part of the accelerated training programme.
Answered by Philip Dunne
To date, 48 clinical endoscopists have completed Health Education England’s (HEE) accelerated training programme, of which 17 completed training in 2017. A further 40 clinical endoscopists are currently in training across two cohorts and are due to complete the programme in December 2017 and April 2018.
HEE plan a further three cohort intakes in 2018.
Training of endoscopists outside of England is a matter for each of the devolved administrations in that country.
Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many clinical endoscopy cohorts have completed training in 2017 as part of the accelerated training programme.
Answered by Philip Dunne
To date, 48 clinical endoscopists have completed Health Education England’s (HEE) accelerated training programme, of which 17 completed training in 2017. A further 40 clinical endoscopists are currently in training across two cohorts and are due to complete the programme in December 2017 and April 2018.
HEE plan a further three cohort intakes in 2018.
Training of endoscopists outside of England is a matter for each of the devolved administrations in that country.
Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many reports of (a) all adverse and (b) serious adverse reactions to (i) Cervarix, (ii) Gardasil and (iii) generic human papilloma virus vaccines the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency has received to date.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
As with all vaccines and medicines, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) closely monitors the safety of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. The MHRA takes advice from the Government's independent expert advisory body, the Commission on Human Medicines (CHM), when evaluating the risks and benefits of medicines and vaccines.
A total of 8,835 suspected adverse reaction reports (ADRs) with HPV vaccines have been reported to the MHRA via the Yellow Card Scheme up to 17 April 2017. This follows administration of at least eight million doses of the vaccine since the immunisation programme began in 2008.
It is important to note that a Yellow Card report is not proof of a side effect occurring, but a suspicion by the reporter that the vaccine may have been the cause. Whilst Yellow Card reports may represent side effects, they may also relate to coincidental events unrelated to vaccination. The CHM has thoroughly reviewed the data reported in association with HPV vaccines in the United Kingdom and has no concerns about the number or nature of Yellow Card reports received. The CHM considered that the vast majority of suspected side effects reports appeared to be similar in frequency and type to those that had been reported with other vaccines routinely given to adolescents and adults and concluded that the evidence does not support a link between HPV vaccination and chronic illnesses.
The possible known side effects, and the frequency, are listed in the product information which is provided with the vaccines. The vast majority of the 8,835 ADRs relate to the known risks of vaccination that are well-described in the available product information. The expected benefits in protecting against HPV-related mortality and disease outweigh the known side effects of HPV vaccine.
Vaccine Brand | Total number of reports | Number of serious reports (% of total) |
Cervarix | 6,312 | 1,812 (29%) |
Gardasil | 1,858 | 767 (41%) |
Gardasil 9 | 10 | 6 (60%) |
HPV Brand unspecified | 658 | 456 (69%) |
Total for Human Papilloma virus vaccines | 8,835* | 3,038 (34%) |
Source: MHRA sentinel database for adverse reactions.
Note that the total number of reports received will not be equal to the totals in the table above as some reports of suspected adverse reactions may have included more than one vaccine.
Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that existing and cost-effective drugs which have been shown to be effective in reducing the risk of recurrence and spread of incurable cancer are repurposed as quickly as possible.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Government is working with a range of organisations, including the Association of Medical Research Charities, to ensure that robust evidence showing new uses for existing drugs can be brought more systematically into clinical practice to benefit patients.
Significant progress has been made in designing a ‘drug re-purposing pathway’ to help the charities and others to navigate a route through the National Health Service so that they can see how research can be shared at a national level and then picked up locally where it can reach the patient. Work on this is continuing.
Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that new drugs developed in part with financial support from government are made available to NHS patients.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Through its technology appraisal programme, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) provides authoritative, evidence-based guidance for the National Health Service on the clinical and cost effectiveness of new drugs and other treatments. NHS commissioners are legally required to fund drugs and treatments recommended in NICE technology appraisal guidance.
The Government wants patients to access cost effective, innovative drugs and technologies quickly at a price that the NHS can afford and to create a more attractive environment for innovators. That is why we commissioned the Accelerated Access Review, which reported in October 2016.
Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to reduce the screening age for bowel cancer to 50-years old.
Answered by David Mowat
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Dulwich and West Norwood (Helen Hayes MP) on 10 March 2017 to Question 66349.
Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to item 7 of the substantive hearing of the Conduct and Competence Committee at the Nursing and Midwifery Council of 13 and 14 September 2016 on Pauline Cafferkey that found that the evidence indicates that PHE Screening staff were not properly prepared to receive so many travellers from at risk countries, whether he has made an assessment of the implications for his policies of that finding; and what steps he plans to take to ensure health screening of such travellers is adequately planned for and resourced in future.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Working in partnership with the Border Force, Public Health England screened 14,500 passengers returning to the United Kingdom from West Africa during the Ebola outbreak. This was the first time that port of entry screening for an infectious disease had been implemented on this scale. The design and implementation of the screening process evolved throughout the course of the outbreak with ever more accurate information being gathered from partners overseas and shared in advance with the screening teams at the five major UK ports of entry.
Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his policy is on introducing fortification of bread with folic acid.
Answered by Jane Ellison
We are considering all aspects of preconception health as a priority, including the uptake of folic acid. We want children to have the best possible start in life and ensuring optimal maternal health is a key part of this.