Asked by: Tom Elliott (Ulster Unionist Party - Fermanagh and South Tyrone)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress has been made on the 100,000 Genome Project; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The 100,000 Genomes Project is making good progress. The project is at the leading edge of global science, developing ground breaking new techniques and protocols.
The Northern Ireland Department of Health and Medical Research Council have provided £3.3 million funding for the Northern Ireland Genomic Medicine Centre which received approval to go live in February 2017, becoming the first of the devolved nations to do so. Recruitment of participating patients has commenced and is on schedule to meet project targets. Sequencing will be performed by Genomics England and the results will be passed back to clinical experts at the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust.
Genomics England has developed semi-automated bioinformatics to analyse genomic data to find the cause of disease. To date, over 29,000 whole genomes have been sequenced and reports are already being returned to the National Health Service who are responsible for discussing clinical interpretations and next steps with patients.
The project is already changing the lives of patients with a rare disease – providing many patients with diagnoses for the first time, often after years of uncertainty and distress whilst helping to reduce considerable costs to health and social care budgets.
Genomics England and NHS England are actively developing a fast track pipeline for patients with cancer who are participating in the Project. We are aiming to reduce the time from sample acquisition to the return of a report to four weeks. This will increase the utility of the service to clinicians and patients alike.
Asked by: Tom Elliott (Ulster Unionist Party - Fermanagh and South Tyrone)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will estimate the potential (a) medium and (b) long-term cost savings to the NHS of the use of genetic cascade testing to identify and treat familial hypercholesterolaemia.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The current National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance recommends genetic cascade testing for familial hypercholesterolaemia as highly cost effective. This guidance is currently under review, due to be issued in May 2017, and will take into account the latest changes to the costs of drugs and genetic tests in its revised economic modelling.
Asked by: Tom Elliott (Ulster Unionist Party - Fermanagh and South Tyrone)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Accessible Information Standard.
Answered by David Mowat
NHS England is conducting a post-implementation consultation on the Accessible Information Standard, which all organisations that provide National Health Service care or publically funded social care have been required to follow since 1 August 2016. The consultation will enable NHS England to assess the impact of the Standard and to ensure that it is, and will be, fit for purpose.
Asked by: Tom Elliott (Ulster Unionist Party - Fermanagh and South Tyrone)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many patients are receiving natural desiccated thyroid on NHS prescription.
Answered by David Mowat
Information is not collected centrally on the number of people prescribed medicines. Information is available on the number of prescription items dispensed for desiccated thyroid.
The number of Levothyroxine Sodium and Liothyronine prescription items written in the United Kingdom and dispensed in the community in England in 2015, by drug name 1 | |
Drug | Items (000’s) |
Armour Thyroid | 3.8 |
Efra Thyroid | 0.5 |
Levothyrox/Liothyronine | 0.1 |
Nature Thyroid | 0.2 |
WP Thyroid | - 2 |
Total 3 | 4.6 |
Source: Prescription Cost Analysis system data provided by NHS Digital
Notes:
1 Desiccated thyroids are a combination product which contain the active ingredients ‘levothyroxine sodium & liothyronine’ which are both thyroid hormones. Different brands and strengths of desiccated thyroids are currently prescribed in England.
2 Less than 50 prescription items dispensed.
3 Total figure may not sum due to rounding.
Asked by: Tom Elliott (Ulster Unionist Party - Fermanagh and South Tyrone)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Prime Minister's announcement of 11 January 2016, whether Northern Ireland will receive additional funding for mental health care as a result of the Barnett consequentials of the changes to funding set out in that announcement.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The additional funding referred to in the Prime Minister’s announcement of 11 January 2016 is part of the Department’s overall Spending Review settlement, as announced in the Autumn Statement on 25 November 2015.
The Spending Review also set out the block grant allocations for the Devolved Administrations in line with the application of the Barnett Formula to United Kingdom Government spending.
The actual allocation of public expenditure between the services under the control of the devolved administrations, including health, is for the devolved administrations to determine.