Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the two year survival rate for patients with bowel cancer in Walsall; and what assessment he has made of the impact of levels of availability of robotics for cancer operations on that figure.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not made a specific estimate on the two-year survival rate for patients with bowel cancer in Walsall, however, the Department is focused on improving survival rates for all cancers, and on meeting all National Health Service cancer waiting time targets, so no patient waits longer than they should.
No specific assessment has been made on the impact of the levels of availability of robotics for cancer operations. However, there is a robotic assisted surgery clinical strategy for the Black Country Provider Collaborative which has increased robotic surgery access for all patients in the Black Country, particularly for renal service.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the level of robotics capability for cancer operations at Walsall Manor Hospital.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment is planned. There is a robotic assisted surgery clinical strategy for the Black Country Provider Collaborative which has increased robotic surgery access for all patients in the Black Country, particularly for renal service.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions she has had with (a) UK Biobank and (b) UK Biobank funders on the adequacy of the proportion of UK Biobank participants from BAME backgrounds.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The scientific and ethical impacts of cohort diversity on the generalisability of research findings is part of ongoing conversations on health data, including with UK Biobank. As a funder, the Government routinely engages in discussions about diversity with UK Biobank through the Medical Research Council and National Institute for Health and Care Research. The Department is committed to increasing participation of ethnic minority groups in health and social care research, and is working in partnership with diverse communities to ensure they have a stronger voice in shaping priorities for research, the design and delivery of research, inclusive recruitment into studies, and the mobilisation of evidence into practice.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will have discussions with (a) the National Institute for Health Research and (b) other NHS funding streams on the potential merits of increasing the level of funding made available to the South Asian Biobank to help monitor (i) disease diagnoses and (ii) health outcomes from that project among people from South Asian backgrounds.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The South Asian Biobank, originally funded by the Wellcome Trust, is an international research study designed to prevent the high risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer among South Asian people. The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funds research via a range of programmes, with eligibility criteria to support applicants to decide where to apply. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality. The NIHR has provided funding for research projects associated with the South Asian Biobank through open competition, and welcomes any future applications. In addition, the NIHR provides funding to NIHR research infrastructure through open competition. The NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre and the Clinical Research Network have provided support for the South Asian Biobank.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the level of funding allocated to the South Asian Biobank.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The South Asian Biobank, originally funded by the Wellcome Trust, is an international research study designed to prevent the high risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer among South Asian people. The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funds research via a range of programmes, with eligibility criteria to support applicants to decide where to apply. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality. The NIHR has provided funding for research projects associated with the South Asian Biobank through open competition, and welcomes any future applications. In addition, the NIHR provides funding to NIHR research infrastructure through open competition. The NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre and the Clinical Research Network have provided support for the South Asian Biobank.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much revenue the health surcharge for migrants generated in each year from 2018 to 2022 inclusive.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) income data is published annually in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts.
Please note that the IHS figure is made up of both Retained Income and Consolidated Funds. The IHS amounts for financial years from 2018 to 2022 inclusive are as follows:
- 2017/18: £240,483,000
- 2018/19: £297,927,000
- 2019/20: £597,677,000
- 2020/21: £480,822,000
- 2021/22: £1,423,284,000
- 2022/23: £1,706,112,000
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her Department's policies of trends in the level of pharmacy students in Walsall South constituency.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, backed by over £2.4 billion to fund additional education and training places over the next five years, sets out the ambition to increase training places for pharmacists across England by nearly 50% to around 5,000 by 2031/32, and to grow the number of pharmacy technicians. Increasing training places will increase the number of pharmacy students, including those choosing to study in schools of pharmacy in proximity to Walsall South constituency.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
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 providing free prescriptions for immunosuppressants for transplant patients.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Education)
There are no plans to provide free prescriptions for immunosuppressants for transplant patients. Approximately 89% of prescription items are currently dispensed free of charge in community pharmacies and there is a wide range of exemptions from prescription charges already in place for which transplant patients may meet the eligibility criteria and be in receipt of free prescriptions.
In addition, those on a low income can apply for additional support through the NHS Low Income Scheme. This provides both full and partial help with a range of health costs, not just prescription charges. Those who do not qualify for low-income help, may benefit from the purchase for prescription pre-payment certificate. This caps the cost of prescriptions at £111.60 per year, helping people to get all the medicines they need for just over £2 a week.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of trends in the level of (a) covid-19 infection, (b) admissions to hospital as a result of covid-19 infection or related complications and (c) deaths attributed to covid-19 in the last six months.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
UK Health Security Agency are continually monitoring trends in COVID-19, to inform the Government on the spread, severity and impact of COVID-19. Long term trends must be interpreted with caution, as they can be affected by changes in dominant variant, timing of vaccine booster campaigns, seasonality, and changes to testing policy.
Over the last six months, trends have shown that cases of COVID-19 are seen to increase approximately every three months before returning to a baseline. This was seen over the Christmas period, and there has been a slow increase over March that has returned to baseline. Overall, the peaks are smaller than those seen in previous waves, peaking at 8,236 cases per day in December 2022 compared to a peak of 30,388 in July 2022.
Hospital admission due to COVID-19 tend to mirror cases of COVID-19. Over the last six months there have been peaks in hospital admissions over the Christmas period and a slow increase over March that has begun to decrease. Admissions peaks are similar or smaller than those seen previously, peaking at 1,376 admissions per day in December 2022, 1,418, in October 2022 and 2,005 in July 2022.
For deaths attributed to COVID-19, where COVID-19 is recorded on the death certificate/registration, over the last six months there has been an increase in deaths over the early January period, and a slow increase in April 2023. Peaks in deaths have been similar or lower to those seen previously, peaking at 126 per day in Jan 2023, 111 in Oct 2022, and 189 in July 2022.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many deaths recorded in (a) England and Wales and (b) Walsall were attributed to covid-19 in (i) October 2022, (ii) January 2023 and (iii) the most recent 30-day period for which figures are available.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
It should be noted that UK Health Security Agency have two measures of death associated with COVID-19, any death that has a positive COVID-19 test in the preceding 28 days, and deaths which have COVID-19 recorded on their death registration.
For England and Wales, in October 2022 there were 4,223 deaths recorded within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test and 2,573 deaths were recorded with COVID-19 on the death registration. In January 2023 there were 4,063 deaths recorded within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test and 3,380 deaths were recorded with COVID-19 on the death registration. In the 30 day period between 12 March 2023 and 10 April 2023 there were 3,366 deaths were recorded within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test and 1,704 deaths were recorded with COVID-19 on the death registration
For Walsall, in October 2022 20 deaths were recorded within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test and 17 deaths were recorded with COVID-19 on the death registration. In January 2023, 27 deaths were recorded within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test and 14 deaths were recorded with COVID-19 on the death registration. In the 30 day period between 12 March 2023 and 10 April 2023, 22 deaths were recorded within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test and four deaths were recorded with COVID-19 on the death registration.