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Written Question
Blood: Donors
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)

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 potential merits of increasing the number of plasma donation points.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) are responsible for plasma collection in England. There are currently three plasma specific donation centres in Birmingham, Reading, and Twickenham. NHSBT will increase the number of plasma collection points over the coming years, and are currently assessing the optimum locations for this new capacity.


Written Question
Healthy Start Scheme
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people were eligible for Healthy Start vouchers in January (a) 2022 and (b) 2023.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The number of those eligible for Healthy Start in January 2022 was 553,601, and the number of those eligible in January 2023 was 578,067.


Written Question
Pharmacy: Training
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many training places for pharmacists in England there were in each year since 2010.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The number of training places for pharmacists in England is uncapped and determined each year by health education providers. The following table shows the number of starters on the Foundation Pharmacist Training Scheme, which is the final year of training and must be completed by all pharmacists before they can sit their registration exam, for each year since 2010/2011:

Training Year

Starters on Pharmacist Foundation Training Scheme

2010/2011

2367

2011/2012

2518

2012/2013

2600

2013/2014

2619

2014/2015

2767

2015/2016

2768

2016/2017

2785

2017/2018

2845

2018/2019

2854

2019/2020

2566

2020/2021

2583

2021/2022

2392

2022/2023

2598

2023/2024

2626

Source: General Pharmaceutical Council

Note: Data may include trainees studying in England, but upon successful completion, they may register in other areas of the United Kingdom.

As set out in the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, the ambition is to expand training places for pharmacists by 29% to approximately 4,300 by 2028/29, and to almost 5,000 by 2031/32.


Written Question
Pharmacy: Licensing
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Darren Henry (Conservative - Broxtowe)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to reduce the time taken to grant licences to pharmacies applying to open new premises.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Pharmacies that want to provide National Health Service pharmaceutical service must submit an application to the integrated care board (ICB). ICBs determine applications having regard to Pharmaceutical Needs Assessments (PNAs), undertaken by local authorities. Applications can also be made to provide benefits that were not foreseen in the PNA. If the applicant or another contractor wishes to appeal the decision of the ICB, then they can appeal the decision. Appeals are dealt with by NHS Resolution on behalf of my Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.

Together with Community Pharmacy England, the representative body of all pharmacy contractors in England, we keep the market entry system and underpinning processes under review, and streamline and expedite the processes where possible. For example, in May 2023, we removed the requirement for an applicant to provide fitness information if they already operate another pharmacy in the area, and the ICB already holds their up-to-date fitness information, and shortened the work history that needs to be provided to the last seven years. Applicants can also speed up the process by ensuring they provide all the right information with their application in a timely manner.


Written Question
Dental Services
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much (a) NHS and (b) private work was completed by GDC registered dentists who qualified (i) in the UK, (ii) overseas and (iii) in total in each of the last 10 years.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Primary care dentistry in the National Health Service is delivered through contracts structured around Units of Dental Activity (UDAs). Each treatment is allocated a number of UDAs in proportion to the complexity and amount of work required. The following table shows the number of UDAs delivered by dentists who have qualified within the United Kingdom and outside thereof whilst working in the NHS in England for 2016/17 onwards:

Year

UK Qualified UDA Delivered

Non-UK Qualified UDA Delivered

Other UDA Delivered

Total UDA Delivered

2016/17

48,825,392

26,394,403

10,644,608

85,864,403

2017/18

48,640,153

26,323,343

8,363,069

83,326,565

2018/19

49,482,862

27,192,292

6,528,618

83,203,772

2019/20

48,144,326

27,032,548

4,666,855

79,843,728

2020/21

15,260,168

8,265,064

927,591

24,452,823

2021/22

35,781,811

20,777,093

1,210,218

57,769,122

2022/23

43,918,652

25,763,340

486,695

70,168,687

Source: NHS Business Services Authority

Notes:

  1. The dentist’s region of qualification is based on that as provided on the General Dental Council (GDC) register. It is important to note that not all dentists have a country of qualification on the GDC register as supplied to the NHS Business Services Authority, and so these dentists are placed into “other” as their region of qualification.
  2. The Department does not hold data on how much private dental work was completed in the last 10 years.

Written Question
Electronic Cigarettes: Sales
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the number of non-compliant vapes sold on the UK market.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department works closely with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, Trading Standards, and other regulatory enforcement agencies to ensure that products sold in the United Kingdom comply with regulations for all e-cigarette products, and that non-compliant products are removed from the market.

In April 2023, the Government announced £3 million investment over two years to enhance work on illicit vape enforcement. Led by National Trading Standards, this builds on existing work by local trading standards officers across the country. Through this work, they identified that 2.1 million illicit vapes were seized across England by Trading Standards between 2022 to 2023.

To strengthen our enforcement activity, the Government will also provide an additional £30 million of funding per year for enforcement agencies, including Trading Standards. This increase in investment will help to stamp out criminal activity by boosting the enforcement of illicit tobacco and vapes.


Written Question
Pharmacy: ICT
Wednesday 27th March 2024

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, following Pharmacy First claims recently appearing incorrectly in the NHS Business Services Authority’s 'Manage Your Service' portal, what assessment they have made of (1) the loss of confidence of community pharmacies in the Pharmacy First claims system, and (2) the impact on them of needing to set up a manual double-checking system to ensure that they do not lose out on funding.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Some pharmacy contractors have experienced a discrepancy between the data that they have entered, and the data received by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA). This has affected February claims for Urgent Medicines Supply. This was caused by the new formatting of data received by the NHSBSA resulting from changes made by some IT system suppliers when implementing Pharmacy First.

The NHSBSA has been working closely with IT system suppliers to resolve the issues and identify the affected contractors. They have extended the deadline for claiming February activity. Contractors will be paid for all Pharmacy First consultations undertaken.

The contractual relationship for the provision of IT to support the new services is between pharmacy contractors and IT system suppliers. Any concerns should be raised by the contractor with their chosen IT system supplier.

The Department is aware of the disruption to service this has caused to some contractors, and the concerns that contractors have overpaid. That is why the claim window has been extended, and the NHSBSA is working closely with contractors’ IT suppliers to reconcile the data to ensure every consultation is captured and paid. We are keeping the situation under close review.


Written Question
Pharmacy: ICT
Wednesday 27th March 2024

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 were the circumstances behind Pharmacy First claims recently appearing incorrectly in the NHS Business Services Authority’s 'Manage Your Service' portal; and what assessment they have made of the impact of this on the workload of community pharmacies.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Some pharmacy contractors have experienced a discrepancy between the data that they have entered, and the data received by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA). This has affected February claims for Urgent Medicines Supply. This was caused by the new formatting of data received by the NHSBSA resulting from changes made by some IT system suppliers when implementing Pharmacy First.

The NHSBSA has been working closely with IT system suppliers to resolve the issues and identify the affected contractors. They have extended the deadline for claiming February activity. Contractors will be paid for all Pharmacy First consultations undertaken.

The contractual relationship for the provision of IT to support the new services is between pharmacy contractors and IT system suppliers. Any concerns should be raised by the contractor with their chosen IT system supplier.

The Department is aware of the disruption to service this has caused to some contractors, and the concerns that contractors have overpaid. That is why the claim window has been extended, and the NHSBSA is working closely with contractors’ IT suppliers to reconcile the data to ensure every consultation is captured and paid. We are keeping the situation under close review.


Written Question
Pharmacy: Finance
Wednesday 27th March 2024

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 assessment they have made of the impact on community pharmacies, in particular in relation to funding reductions, of technical problems preventing such pharmacies from submitting accurate data for Pharmacy First consultations in February.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Some pharmacy contractors have experienced a discrepancy between the data that they have entered, and the data received by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA). This has affected February claims for Urgent Medicines Supply. This was caused by the new formatting of data received by the NHSBSA resulting from changes made by some IT system suppliers when implementing Pharmacy First.

The NHSBSA has been working closely with IT system suppliers to resolve the issues and identify the affected contractors. They have extended the deadline for claiming February activity. Contractors will be paid for all Pharmacy First consultations undertaken.

The contractual relationship for the provision of IT to support the new services is between pharmacy contractors and IT system suppliers. Any concerns should be raised by the contractor with their chosen IT system supplier.

The Department is aware of the disruption to service this has caused to some contractors, and the concerns that contractors have overpaid. That is why the claim window has been extended, and the NHSBSA is working closely with contractors’ IT suppliers to reconcile the data to ensure every consultation is captured and paid. We are keeping the situation under close review.


Written Question
Kidneys: Transplant Surgery
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)

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 reduce waiting times for children in need of kidney transplants.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We are working with NHS Blood and Transplant to help reduce waiting times for children in need of kidney transplants. This includes implementing initiatives to improve the use of living donor kidney transplantation in paediatric centres, engaging with transplant centres to review patients who are too unwell to receive a transplant, and reducing long waiters, which are patients who wait more than 104 days for a transplant.

Nation-wide campaigns have been developed to increase paediatric registrations on the organ donor register, for example Ralph’s campaign, and the school’s education programme has been refreshed for younger children. A paediatric perfusion programme is also being developed to increase the use of kidneys from donors after circulatory death for paediatric patients.