Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department plans to take steps to ensure that every person with diabetes has access to medical technology that helps them manage their condition.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Standard care for type 1 diabetes involves regularly measuring blood glucose levels by self-monitoring, blood testing, or by using a continuous glucose monitor, real-time or intermittently scanned.
The NHS Long Term Plan committed that 20% of people with type 1 diabetes would benefit from life changing flash glucose monitors. Data to quarter three of 2022/23 shows that 73% of people with type 1 diabetes were prescribed flash glucose monitoring, against the 20% target.
In March 2023 the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommended that insulin dependent patients with type 2 diabetes should also benefit from flash or continuous glucose monitoring devices. We are now starting to see a growth in prescribing within the type 2 diabetes patient group.
On 19 December 2023 the NICE published its final recommendation on the hybrid closed loop system. The NICE has agreed with NHS England that all children and young people, women who are pregnant or planning a pregnancy, and those people who already have an insulin pump will be the first to be offered a hybrid closed loop system, as part of a five-year roll-out plan. Access to hybrid closed loop systems will be through a five-year phased roll out, in line with NHS England’s implementation plans.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to (a) monitor the availability, (b) notify relevant stakeholders of shortages and (c) help ensure adequate supply of (i) Victoza and (ii) other medications for patients with diabetes.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are aware of global supply issues with glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) including Victoza (liraglutide), which are licensed for treating patients with type 2 diabetes. We have issued guidance in the form of a Medicine Supply Notification, addressing all GLP-1 RAs advising healthcare professionals on how to manage patients requiring these medicines. Further guidance has been issued through a National Patient Safety Alert which provides further background and clinical information and actions for providers. This guidance was futher updated on 3 January 2024.
Our guidance is clear that GLP-1 RA medicines that are solely licensed to treat type 2 diabetes should only be used for that purpose and should not be routinely prescribed for weight loss.
The General Pharmaceutical Council, General Medical Council, Health and Care Professions Council, Nursing and Midwifery Council and Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland have also issued a joint statement stressing the importance of health and care professionals meeting regulatory standards in relation to these medicines. We have also added some of these products to the list of medicines that cannot be exported from, or hoarded in, the United Kingdom.
We are continuing to work closely with manufacturers and others working in the supply chain to help ensure the continued supply of these medicines for UK patients, for example by asking suppliers to expedite deliveries. Supplies of Rybelsus (semaglutide) have been boosted to support demand from new patients with type 2 diabetes, alongside patients switching from Victoza injections.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that diabetes patients in (a) Scunthorpe and (b) England receive the eight health checks recommended by Diabetes UK.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Recovery of routine diabetes care following the pandemic is a key priority for the NHS England Diabetes Programme. Transformation funding between 2020/21 and 2022/23 has supported recovery, as such that rates of routine care delivery are now almost back to the pre-pandemic level. Services in the National Health Service are asked to continue this upward trajectory, with a particular focus on ensuring that people from socio-economically deprived areas receive their annual reviews.
Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) is responsible for commissioning diabetes clinical services for the Scunthorpe area and has an established Diabetes Clinical Network. This network operates across the entirety of the Humber and North Yorkshire geographical area.
The latest National Diabetes Audit 2023-24 Quarterly Report, January 2023 to September 2023 was published on 11 January 2024. The proportion of patients with type 1 diabetes completing all eight care processes at Humber and North Yorkshire ICB is 27.0%, above the England average of 25.3%. The proportion of patients with type 2 diabetes completing all eight care processes at Humber and North Yorkshire ICB is 37% above the England average of 30.5%.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prevent children from developing diabetes at an early age.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is delivering an ambitious programme of work to help children and families maintain a healthier weight, which can prevent the onset of Type 2 diabetes.
The Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL) is contributing to reductions in levels of childhood obesity by encouraging soft drinks producers to remove added sugar from products. Levels of sugar in SDIL products have reduced by 46%, removing over 46,000 tonnes of sugar.
The Department supports three million children through the Healthy Food Schemes, which encourage and contribute to a healthy and balanced diet.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she is taking steps to promote research on diabetes health inequalities in rural communities.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department commissions research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including diabetes and health inequalities.
Asked by: Mark Eastwood (Conservative - Dewsbury)
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 adequacy of the availability of support for people with diabetes in (a) Dewsbury constituency and (b) West Yorkshire.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board has a dedicated diabetes programme and system wide diabetes leadership team which includes representation from National Health Service organisations, including acute trusts and primary and community care, and local authorities. The West Yorkshire diabetes programme team is working together to deliver national diabetes programmes to prevent the onset of and improve the lives of people living with diabetes across West Yorkshire, including Dewsbury.
Kirklees Health and Care Partnership completed a full review of diabetes services across Kirklees in 2023. Extensive engagement with the Kirklees communities took place via a community champions project. Kirklees Health and Care Partnership invested £155,000 to support the community champion engagement and, in voluntary organisations, to develop new services for communities to access help to both prevent the onset of diabetes and support self-management.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking with (a) the NHS, (b) community organisations and (c) health experts to help tackle inequalities in the treatment of diabetes.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for improving the health of their populations, including the planning and delivery of diabetes clinical services and addressing health inequalities. The national NHS Diabetes Programme (NDP) develops policies and provides leadership and support to ICBs to improve diabetes care and outcomes.
The NDP ensures local health care systems can identify inequalities in diabetes care and outcomes through National Diabetes Audit data that contains demographic information such as age, deprivation, ethnicity. The NDP allocates funding to support the costs of diabetes clinical lead posts in local health systems, with a key priority to supporting improvement in addressing health inequalities at the local level.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to NHS England's web page entitled Diabetes treatment and care programme, whether all eight Type 1 diabetes and disordered eating pilots have been commissioned by their Integrated Care Systems to secure services independently of NHS England pilot scheme funding.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The national approach to funding the establishment of Type 1 Diabetes with Disordered Eating services was delivered in two phases. Initial sites in London, Hampshire, and Dorset received national funding between 2018/19 and 2021/22, before the transition of commissioning responsibility to local systems commenced from April 2023. All three of these services did initially secure local funding, independent of the national pilot scheme. More recently, we understand that the status of these sites to be as follows: London services are partially active across London, with local consideration of ongoing funding and delivery arrangements underway; Hampshire services are active and embedded in wider eating disorder specialist services; and Dorset services have been discontinued. The remaining five newer services have been funded from September 2022, and are nationally funded up to March 2025.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help tackle the shortage of prescription medications for the treatment of diabetes.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has worked intensively with industry to seek commitments from them to address issues with the supply of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs), used as a treatment for type 2 diabetes. As a result, deliveries have been expedited and supplies boosted, and the overall supply position in the United Kingdom has improved. Guidance for healthcare professionals, which was updated in March 2024 and supersedes the National Patient Safety Alert, now allows for the initiation of new patients onto Rybelsus tablets, an oral semaglutide, or Mounjaro KwikPen (tirzepatide), and provides advice on what to prescribe patients who are unable to obtain their existing GLP-1 RA treatment whilst there continue to be disruptions to the supply of some products.
We are aware of supply issues with some insulin products for the treatment of type 1 diabetes. However, the vast majority are in stock. Comprehensive management guidance on alternative products has been issued to the National Health Service where needed.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the adequacy of the availability of continuous glucose monitoring for people with type-1 diabetes; and if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of taking steps to increase access to that monitoring.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Long Term Plan made a commitment that 20% of people with type 1 diabetes would benefit from life changing flash glucose monitors. Data up to the third quarter of 2022/23 shows that 73% of people with type 1 diabetes were prescribed flash glucose monitoring, against the 20% target. As a result of the recent National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance that also recommended that insulin dependent patients with type 2 diabetes should benefit from flash or continuous glucose monitoring devices, we are now starting to see a growth in prescription within the type 2 diabetes patient group.
Variation ratio in prescribing between the most and least affluent Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) quintiles has been monitored on a quarterly basis. Variation between these IMD quintiles has reduced in every English region. When the programme started, Flash was twice as likely to be prescribed to patients living in the most affluent areas. The current ratio between most and least affluent geographies is now at a ratio of 1 to 1.02, meaning there is virtually parity between the most and least deprived patient groups across England.