Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2019 to Question 217570 on Syphilis, when Public Health England plans to publish its Syphilis Action Plan.

Public Health England (PHE) plans to publish its Syphilis Action Plan in spring 2019.

PHE routinely collects data on syphilis diagnoses made at sexual health clinics that are published each summer. PHE is implementing an updated version of the Genitourinary Medicine Clinic Activity Dataset (GUMCAD) sexually transmitted infections (STI) surveillance system from spring 2019 to better detect the complications of syphilis infection. The GUMCAD STI surveillance system can be viewed at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/gumcad-sti-surveillance-system

Additionally, the surveillance of congenital syphilis will form part of the new PHE Infectious Diseases in Pregnancy Screening (IDPS) Programme Integrated Screening Surveillance Service. Further information on the IDPS programme can be viewed at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/infectious-diseases-in-pregnancy-screening-programme-standards/our-approach-to-infectious-diseases-in-pregnancy-screening-standards

Increased professional and public awareness of syphilis in pregnancy and the neonate is planned via a new interactive IDPS e-learning package. The e-learning package can be viewed at the following link:

https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/nhs-screening-programmes/

The provision of patient information and regional training events for healthcare professionals are being considered.