Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce waiting times for patients who require allergy tests.
Answered by Will Quince
Specialist allergy services are commissioned by NHS England Specialised Commissioning in line with the published service specification. While no specific assessment has been made of the adequacy of waiting times, the service specification sets out standard referral processes and equity of access to services, as well as highlighting the response time and prioritisation targets. There are regular review meetings between regional commissioning teams and providers to ensure compliance with service standards.
To reduce waiting times more generally for elective services, the ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’ sets out how the National Health Service will recover and expand elective services over the next three years.
We have allocated more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25, in addition to the £2 billion Elective Recovery Fund and £700 million Targeted Investment Fund already made available in 2021/2022 to increase elective activity. This funding aims to deliver the equivalent of approximately nine million additional checks and procedures and 30% further elective activity by 2024/25 than pre-pandemic levels. A proportion of this funding will be invested in workforce capacity and training and we have committed to invest £5.9 billion for new beds, equipment and technology.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of referral waiting times for allergy tests.
Answered by Will Quince
Specialist allergy services are commissioned by NHS England Specialised Commissioning in line with the published service specification. While no specific assessment has been made of the adequacy of waiting times, the service specification sets out standard referral processes and equity of access to services, as well as highlighting the response time and prioritisation targets. There are regular review meetings between regional commissioning teams and providers to ensure compliance with service standards.
To reduce waiting times more generally for elective services, the ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’ sets out how the National Health Service will recover and expand elective services over the next three years.
We have allocated more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25, in addition to the £2 billion Elective Recovery Fund and £700 million Targeted Investment Fund already made available in 2021/2022 to increase elective activity. This funding aims to deliver the equivalent of approximately nine million additional checks and procedures and 30% further elective activity by 2024/25 than pre-pandemic levels. A proportion of this funding will be invested in workforce capacity and training and we have committed to invest £5.9 billion for new beds, equipment and technology.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that allergy clinics have the (a) resources and (b) capacity to carry out allergy tests on patients with suspected allergies within an appropriate timeframe.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Specialist allergy services for patients with rare and complex conditions, including allergy clinics, are commissioned by NHS England Specialised Commissioning in line with the published Service Specification. This sets out that providers should deliver a diagnostic package for the investigation of suspected allergic diseases, including initial consultation and follow-up in a dedicated allergy clinic and specialised allergy tests.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Not Just Skin Deep report by Allergy UK published 22 Nov 2021, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that healthcare professionals have clear guidelines to help diagnose patients with atopic dermatitis.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards are responsible for working with local communities to understand the needs of the local population and to commission services to meet those needs, including for patients with atopic dermatitis and other skin conditions.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what investment strategy they have devised to address the gap in funding for antifungal development, particularly in light of the World Health Organization (WHO) fungal priority pathogen list.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK Health Security Agency is collaborating with medicinal chemists at the School of Cancer and Pharmaceutical Sciences at Kings College London, to develop new antimicrobials with novel modes of action for the World Health Organization’s priority pathogens. A series of compounds which evade efflux-mediated resistance are in development. Early-stage pre-clinical development has gained support from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases through its Preclinical Services team, for studies on pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics and efficacy.
While it is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions, the National Institute for Health and Care Research has invested more than £6 million in research into fungal infection.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to findings of the report by Allergy UK entitled Not Just Skin Deep, published in November 2021, on the proportion of clinical commissioning groups that had an adult eczema commissioning policy in 2021, whether her Department is taking steps to help ensure that integrated care systems develop (a) referral and (b) commissioning policies for (i) atopic dermatitis and (ii) other skin conditions.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) publishes guidance on atopic dermatitis and other skin conditions, which commissioners are expected to take into account. The guideline for atopic dermatitis in those aged under 12 years old is being updated, with draft recommendations to be published in April 2023. A referral has also been made to NICE to develop a new guidance on atopic dermatitis in adults.
Integrated care boards (ICB) are responsible for working with local commissioners and organisations to understand the needs of the local population and commission services to meet those needs, including for patients with atopic dermatitis and other skin conditions. ICBs have a legal duty to have due regard to NICE’s guidelines.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Allergy UK's report entitled Not Just Skin Deep: Getting under the skin of eczema, published in November 2022, what steps her Department is taking to improve guidance on diagnosing patients with atopic dermatitis.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) publishes guidance on atopic dermatitis and other skin conditions, which commissioners are expected to take into account. The guideline for atopic dermatitis in those aged under 12 years old is being updated, with draft recommendations to be published in April 2023. A referral has also been made to NICE to develop a new guidance on atopic dermatitis in adults.
Integrated care boards (ICB) are responsible for working with local commissioners and organisations to understand the needs of the local population and commission services to meet those needs, including for patients with atopic dermatitis and other skin conditions. ICBs have a legal duty to have due regard to NICE’s guidelines.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the findings of the report entitled Not Just Skin Deep, published by Allergy UK in November 2021, that more than one quarter of atopic dermatitis patients are waiting for longer than a year for a referral to specialist care, what steps she is taking to improve access to specialist dermatological care.
Answered by Will Quince
On 22 September 2022, we published ‘Our plan for patients’ which committed to eliminate long waiting times of over a year for elective care by March 2025, including in dermatology services.
We have allocated more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25, in addition to the £2 billion Elective Recovery Fund and £700 million Targeted Investment Fund already made available in 2021/2022 to increase elective activity. The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’ sets out the ambition to improve access to specialist advice and guidance to general practitioners and support the management of patients awaiting specialist care.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 patients with multiple allergies such as asthma and eczema have access to a multidisciplinary team who can consider the best care for the patient across their conditions; and whether he will make a statement.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
NHS England commissions specialist allergy services for patients with complex and severe allergy. The service specification sets out that specialist allergy centres should ensure that multidisciplinary care is provided for patients. There are regular review meetings between the regional commissioning teams and providers to ensure compliance with service standards.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 patients with allergies receive a referral to specialist care for the best possible evidence based treatment as recommended in the Allergy UK Patient charter for people who live with allergic disease; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The majority of allergy services are commissioned locally by integrated care systems, with specialist allergy services for patients with complex and severe allergies commissioned nationally by NHS England. There are resources available to support health care professionals in making referrals to specialist services, including guidance from the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.