Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the number of people with type 1 diabetes who receive the Freestyle Libre system on the NHS.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
Glucose monitoring technology, such as flash glucose monitors like Freestyle Libre will continue to be available to those meeting the relevant clinical criteria.
The NHS Long Term Plan announced that the National Health Service will ensure that, in line with clinical guidelines, eligible patients with type 1 diabetes benefit from life changing flash glucose monitors from April 2019, ending the variation patients in some parts of the country are facing.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how he plans to fund prescriptions for Continuous Glucose Monitoring devices following their addition to the high-cost tariff-excluded devices list for 2019-20.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
The information requested on the number of prescriptions that have been issued for continuous glucose monitoring devices in each clinical commissioning group (CCG) area in not collected. CCGs are responsible for commissioning and funding diabetes services, including funding for prescriptions for continuous glucose monitoring devices, for their local populations. CCGs are clinically led organisations that have both the local knowledge and accountability to make commissioning and funding decisions in the best interests of their patients.
CCGs and providers should agree a local price for when these devices are in use, as they are not set by the national tariff but are in the high cost devices list in the tariff for 2019/20.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many prescriptions have been issued for Continuous Glucose Monitoring devices in each clinical commissioning group area in (a) each year since 2015 and (b) 2019.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
The information requested on the number of prescriptions that have been issued for continuous glucose monitoring devices in each clinical commissioning group (CCG) area in not collected. CCGs are responsible for commissioning and funding diabetes services, including funding for prescriptions for continuous glucose monitoring devices, for their local populations. CCGs are clinically led organisations that have both the local knowledge and accountability to make commissioning and funding decisions in the best interests of their patients.
CCGs and providers should agree a local price for when these devices are in use, as they are not set by the national tariff but are in the high cost devices list in the tariff for 2019/20.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the criteria are for people with diabetes to be eligible for insulin pump therapy on prescription through the NHS.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
NHS England has published information on the criteria for patients eligible for insulin pump therapy, which includes supporting guidance for clinical commissioning groups. This can be found at the following link:
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence also published guidance that should be used by prescribers to inform decisions on achieving the most relevant treatment for their patient. This can be found at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/advice/mib110
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people with diabetes were prescribed insulin pump therapy through the NHS in (a) 2016-7 (b) 2017-8 and (c) 2018-9 to date.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
NHS Digital conducts the National Diabetes Insulin Pump Audit as a part of the National Diabetes Audit (NDA) Programme. Data from this audit shows that the number of people with diabetes attending specialist diabetes services in England in 2016-17 who were using an insulin pump was 9,735. Data for 2017-8 and 2018-9 is not yet available.
It should be noted that disclosure control has been applied to all figures, as per the NDA publication. All numbers are rounded to the nearest five, unless the number is one to seven, in which case it is rounded to five.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people with diabetes were not eligible for insulin pump therapy through the NHS in (a) 2016-7, (b) 2017-8 and (c) 2018-9 to date.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Information is not held centrally on the number of people assessed and deemed not eligible for insulin pump therapy.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many insulin pump therapy devices were prescribed by CCGs in (a) 2016-7, (b) 2017-8 and (c) 2018-9 to date.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
NHS Digital conducts the National Diabetes Insulin Pump Audit as a part of the National Diabetes Audit Programme. This element of the programme is conducted on the basis of specialist diabetes services that operate out of hospital trusts, so the data is not published at clinical commissioning group level.
Asked by: Mary Creagh (Labour - Wakefield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans the Government and NHS England have to ensure that CCGs use the funding allocated nationally to prescribe Flash Glucose Monitoring from 1 April 2019 using central NHS criteria.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
In November 2018, NHS England announced action to end the current variation in accessing flash glucose monitors. From April 2019 there will be a more consistent national approach to making these devices available. Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) will be reimbursed to cover the costs of flash glucose monitoring sensors for those type 1 diabetes patients who are most likely to benefit from their use. NHS England has published detailed criteria and supporting guidance at the following link:
CCGs will be reimbursed for the cost of flash glucose monitoring sensors for those who meet these criteria, which could amount to up to 20% of their type 1 diabetes populations. CCGs can also locally choose to fund flash glucose monitoring for other patients with diabetes. The guidance advises that as part of their annual review process, patients with diabetes should be assessed for suitability for flash glucose monitoring. This process can also form part of a review for a different purpose, if that occurs earlier. This will promote a systematic approach to increasing take up.
NHS England has engaged with NHS Clinical Commissioners, the membership organisation for CCGs, regarding the planned arrangements so that they can advise their members as appropriate. An FAQ for patients and commissioners is also being prepared and will be published, to aid the implementation. NHS England is also in conversations with the Academic Health Science Network to identify the capacity and scope for them to aid in rolling out flash glucose monitoring.
Due to the limitations of the data collected by the NHS Business Services Authority, it is not possible to conclusively state which CCGs do or do not currently prescribe flash glucose monitors.
Asked by: Mary Creagh (Labour - Wakefield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps NHS England is taking to encourage CCGs which do not prescribe Flash Glucose Monitoring technology to do so as soon as possible when new guidance comes into effect from 1 April 2019.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
In November 2018, NHS England announced action to end the current variation in accessing flash glucose monitors. From April 2019 there will be a more consistent national approach to making these devices available. Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) will be reimbursed to cover the costs of flash glucose monitoring sensors for those type 1 diabetes patients who are most likely to benefit from their use. NHS England has published detailed criteria and supporting guidance at the following link:
CCGs will be reimbursed for the cost of flash glucose monitoring sensors for those who meet these criteria, which could amount to up to 20% of their type 1 diabetes populations. CCGs can also locally choose to fund flash glucose monitoring for other patients with diabetes. The guidance advises that as part of their annual review process, patients with diabetes should be assessed for suitability for flash glucose monitoring. This process can also form part of a review for a different purpose, if that occurs earlier. This will promote a systematic approach to increasing take up.
NHS England has engaged with NHS Clinical Commissioners, the membership organisation for CCGs, regarding the planned arrangements so that they can advise their members as appropriate. An FAQ for patients and commissioners is also being prepared and will be published, to aid the implementation. NHS England is also in conversations with the Academic Health Science Network to identify the capacity and scope for them to aid in rolling out flash glucose monitoring.
Due to the limitations of the data collected by the NHS Business Services Authority, it is not possible to conclusively state which CCGs do or do not currently prescribe flash glucose monitors.
Asked by: Mary Creagh (Labour - Wakefield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which CCGs do not currently prescribe Flash Glucose Monitoring kits.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
In November 2018, NHS England announced action to end the current variation in accessing flash glucose monitors. From April 2019 there will be a more consistent national approach to making these devices available. Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) will be reimbursed to cover the costs of flash glucose monitoring sensors for those type 1 diabetes patients who are most likely to benefit from their use. NHS England has published detailed criteria and supporting guidance at the following link:
CCGs will be reimbursed for the cost of flash glucose monitoring sensors for those who meet these criteria, which could amount to up to 20% of their type 1 diabetes populations. CCGs can also locally choose to fund flash glucose monitoring for other patients with diabetes. The guidance advises that as part of their annual review process, patients with diabetes should be assessed for suitability for flash glucose monitoring. This process can also form part of a review for a different purpose, if that occurs earlier. This will promote a systematic approach to increasing take up.
NHS England has engaged with NHS Clinical Commissioners, the membership organisation for CCGs, regarding the planned arrangements so that they can advise their members as appropriate. An FAQ for patients and commissioners is also being prepared and will be published, to aid the implementation. NHS England is also in conversations with the Academic Health Science Network to identify the capacity and scope for them to aid in rolling out flash glucose monitoring.
Due to the limitations of the data collected by the NHS Business Services Authority, it is not possible to conclusively state which CCGs do or do not currently prescribe flash glucose monitors.