Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how they will (1) assess, and (2) report on, the effectiveness of COVID-19 Medicine Delivery Units (CMDUs) in providing treatments for COVID-19 to vulnerable patients; and whether they have any plans (a) to disband CMDUs and devolve this responsibility to a primary care model, or (b) implement any other change of process.

NHS England regularly meets with patient groups and charities, such as Blood Cancer UK, to hear feedback on the experience of individuals who have sought and/or received treatment via a COVID-19 Medicine Delivery Unit (CMDU), and with representatives of the care home sector to identify ways to facilitate timely contact and clinical assessment for potentially eligible individuals in their care. Publications reporting on treatment via CMDUs are available in an online-only format on the National Health Service website.

In the future, access to COVID-19 treatments will be determined by the guidance of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, which is currently undertaking a multiple technology appraisal covering a range of potential COVID-19 treatments. Once its final determination has been made and published, setting out which COVID-19 treatments should be made routinely available by the NHS, it will be for local integrated care boards to determine access pathways for these medicines within their local communities. The expectation is for treatment to be deployed through more routine access routes, including through GPs and other forms of primary care.