Written Evidence May. 15 2024
Committee: Environmental Audit CommitteeFound: This will be more than the number of cancer deaths occurring each year11 .
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
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 estimate of the number of hospital admissions for issues related to cigar smoking in the last (a) 12 months, (b) five years and (c) 20 years.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Smoking is responsible for approximately 80,000 deaths a year in the United Kingdom, and causes around one in four UK cancer deaths. It also costs our country £21.8 billion a year, and puts a huge burden on the National Health Service. The latest estimates from Action on Smoking and Health put the cost of smoking to the NHS at £1.9 billion a year.
All tobacco products are harmful. Tobacco smoke from cigars leads to the same types of diseases as cigarette smoke. Research has shown that using smokeless tobacco raises the risk of both mouth and oesophageal cancer. Data from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities’ Smoking Profile showed that in 2019/20 there were an estimated 448,031 smoking attributable hospital admissions, but we cannot differentiate by the type of tobacco.
As such, the Department does not hold data on the annual costs to the NHS of cigar smoking and snuff taking, nor data on the number of hospital admissions for issues related to cigar smoking or snuff taking in the last 12 months, five years, or 20 years.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
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 estimate of the number of hospital admissions for issues related to the taking of snuff in the last (a) 12 months, (b) five years and (c) 20 years.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Smoking is responsible for approximately 80,000 deaths a year in the United Kingdom, and causes around one in four UK cancer deaths. It also costs our country £21.8 billion a year, and puts a huge burden on the National Health Service. The latest estimates from Action on Smoking and Health put the cost of smoking to the NHS at £1.9 billion a year.
All tobacco products are harmful. Tobacco smoke from cigars leads to the same types of diseases as cigarette smoke. Research has shown that using smokeless tobacco raises the risk of both mouth and oesophageal cancer. Data from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities’ Smoking Profile showed that in 2019/20 there were an estimated 448,031 smoking attributable hospital admissions, but we cannot differentiate by the type of tobacco.
As such, the Department does not hold data on the annual costs to the NHS of cigar smoking and snuff taking, nor data on the number of hospital admissions for issues related to cigar smoking or snuff taking in the last 12 months, five years, or 20 years.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
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 estimate of the annual cost to the NHS of (a) cigar smoking and (b) snuff taking.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Smoking is responsible for approximately 80,000 deaths a year in the United Kingdom, and causes around one in four UK cancer deaths. It also costs our country £21.8 billion a year, and puts a huge burden on the National Health Service. The latest estimates from Action on Smoking and Health put the cost of smoking to the NHS at £1.9 billion a year.
All tobacco products are harmful. Tobacco smoke from cigars leads to the same types of diseases as cigarette smoke. Research has shown that using smokeless tobacco raises the risk of both mouth and oesophageal cancer. Data from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities’ Smoking Profile showed that in 2019/20 there were an estimated 448,031 smoking attributable hospital admissions, but we cannot differentiate by the type of tobacco.
As such, the Department does not hold data on the annual costs to the NHS of cigar smoking and snuff taking, nor data on the number of hospital admissions for issues related to cigar smoking or snuff taking in the last 12 months, five years, or 20 years.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
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 adequacy of the availability of enzyme replacement therapy.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are aware of the supply issues with the three enzyme replacement therapies, Creon 10,000 gastro-resistant capsules, Creon 25,000 gastro-resistant capsules, and Nutrizym 22 capsules. These are due to manufacturing and active pharmaceutical ingredient constraints. The Department will be issuing updated guidance to healthcare professionals regarding treatment of patients while there is a disruption to the supply of these pancreatic enzyme replacement therapies. We are having regular conversations with the suppliers of these products to help drive the resolution of these issues as quickly as possible, for example by expediting orders and increasing forecasts. We are also working with specialist importers to source unlicensed imports from abroad.
Whilst we can’t always prevent supply issues, we have a range of well-established tools and processes to mitigate risks to patients. These include close and regular engagement with suppliers, use of alternative strengths or forms of a medicine to allow patients to remain on the same product, expediting regulatory procedures, sourcing unlicensed imports from abroad, adding products to the restricted exports and hoarding list, use of Serious Shortage Protocols, and issuing National Health Service communications to provide management advice and information on the issue to healthcare professionals, so they can advise and support their patients.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
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 people who require enzyme replacement therapy receive that medication in a timely manner.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are aware of the supply issues with the three enzyme replacement therapies, Creon 10,000 gastro-resistant capsules, Creon 25,000 gastro-resistant capsules, and Nutrizym 22 capsules. These are due to manufacturing and active pharmaceutical ingredient constraints. The Department will be issuing updated guidance to healthcare professionals regarding treatment of patients while there is a disruption to the supply of these pancreatic enzyme replacement therapies. We are having regular conversations with the suppliers of these products to help drive the resolution of these issues as quickly as possible, for example by expediting orders and increasing forecasts. We are also working with specialist importers to source unlicensed imports from abroad.
Whilst we can’t always prevent supply issues, we have a range of well-established tools and processes to mitigate risks to patients. These include close and regular engagement with suppliers, use of alternative strengths or forms of a medicine to allow patients to remain on the same product, expediting regulatory procedures, sourcing unlicensed imports from abroad, adding products to the restricted exports and hoarding list, use of Serious Shortage Protocols, and issuing National Health Service communications to provide management advice and information on the issue to healthcare professionals, so they can advise and support their patients.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the take-up rate was for breast cancer screening in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England in each of the last two years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Breast Screening Programme statistics are available at the NHS Digital website's Breast Screening Programme page:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/breast-screening-programme
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, whether her Department is taking steps to assess the level of regional variation in the detection of lung cancer.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Targeted Lung Health Checks have been implemented in the most deprived areas of England, where people are four times more likely to smoke and are therefore at higher risk of lung cancer. This has resulted in greater numbers of lung cancer being detected in these areas than previously. The programme will be converted to a Targeted Lung Cancer Screening Programme and fully rolled out in all regions by 2030.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has given to the potential merits of increasing the level of funding for research into (a) pancreatic cancer and (b) other cancers with lower survival rates.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is proud to invest £1.3 billion per year on health research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). NIHR research expenditure for all cancers was over £121.8 million for 2022/23, and more is spent on cancer than any other disease group. Our investments in cancer, including rare and less survivable cancers such as pancreatic cancer, are pivotal to informing efforts to improve cancer prevention, treatment, and care.
As part of our commitment to driving more and better research into less survivable cancers, the Government awarded £2 million to new interdisciplinary research teams tackling hard to treat cancers via the Medical Research Council’s two-day cancer sandpit strategic funding opportunity in 2023, which focused on technological innovation for understanding cancers, including pancreatic cancer, with the poorest survival rates.
The NIHR continues to encourage and welcome applications for research into any aspect of human health, including pancreatic cancer and other cancers with lower survival rates. 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, rather than against specific disease funding allocations. We would welcome more applications from researchers working on pancreatic cancer prevention, treatment, and care.