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 he plans to take to raise public awareness of the signs and symptoms of the most life-threatening diseases in young people, particularly brain tumours, meningitis and sepsis.
Answered by Maggie Throup
We welcome HeadSmart’s campaign to raise awareness of symptoms that could indicate brain cancer in children and young people, which is promoted with NHS England and health professionals.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), in partnership with the Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement, is working to improve vaccination coverage for children of all ages in England. This includes access to immunisation programmes, such as meningitis; promoting communications with the public; using data to identify underserved individuals and populations; and training for healthcare professionals.
We continue to raise awareness of sepsis amongst parents, including through the UKHSA’s partnership with Mumsnet and their Start4Life campaign which delivers trusted advice and practical guidance to parents on identifying sepsis and how to access appropriate and timely medical care.
Asked by: Scott Benton (Independent - Blackpool South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many women have suffered (a) ruptured ectopic pregnancies, (b) haemorrhage, (c) uterine perforation, (d) sepsis and (e) cervical tear complications following the use of medical abortion pills at home since March 2020.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The information is not held in the format requested as abortion notification forms (HSA4) submitted by clinics and hospitals to the Chief Medical Officer at the Department do not record the number of individual women. From 1 April 2020 to 31 December 2020 eight complications involving haemorrhage after early medical abortion for residents of England and Wales were notified to the Department, where one or both medications were taken at home. No complications related to perforation, sepsis or cervical tear were notified. We do not hold information on ruptured ectopic pregnancies. Data for 2021 will be published in June 2022.
The Department is undertaking a project to review the system of recording abortion complications data and we anticipate this work will be completed shortly. The review will cover all data on complications arising from abortion including home use of early medical abortion pills.
To improve the accuracy of the data collected, the Department is working closely with a range of statutory bodies, professional organisations and abortion providers to identify additional sources of information that could be used to complement complications data collected via HSA4 abortion notification forms and improve the flow of data on abortion complications between different organisations, such as independent and National Health Service abortion providers and wider NHS health and care services.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government on what date the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (1) circulated, and (2) discussed, the published Sepsis Occurrence in Acutely Ill Patients (SOAP) study on the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines on cancer patients.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The pre-print article containing the published Sepsis Occurrence in Acutely Ill Patients study was circulated to the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation on 15 March 2021 and was discussed at its meeting on 16 March 2021.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment Public Health England has made of implications for its policies of the literature review entitled Vitamin C: An Adjunctive Therapy for Respiratory Infection, Sepsis and Covid-19, published on 7 December 2020.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Public Health England has not formally assessed this review.
The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) considered nutrition and immune function in relation to COVID-19 at its meeting in June 2020. The SACN agreed that their scoping exercise indicates a lack of robust evidence at this current time to suggest that specific nutrients such as vitamin C can reduce the risk or severity of COVID-19. This scoping exercise may be updated, or a more formal assessment undertaken, if robust evidence becomes available. The SACN noted that there was currently no new evidence that would change current dietary advice in relation to immune function.
Asked by: Lord Grade of Yarmouth (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for a single holistic infections strategy that addresses antimicrobial resistance, sepsis, future infections threats, and pandemic preparedness.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Government has assessed the case for a single holistic infections strategy and agrees with the need to closely align work on antimicrobial resistance, sepsis, future infections threats and pandemic preparedness. This has culminated in the publication of Public Health England’s PHE Infectious Diseases Strategy 2020-2025: Addressing urgent threats in the 21st century outlining priorities to reduce the risk of and burden from all infectious diseases including resistant infections, infections that can lead to sepsis, endemic infections, vaccine-preventable infections, and infections of pandemic potential, and bringing them together as a single strategic framework. A copy of the Strategy is attached.
While the Infectious Diseases Strategy does not address sepsis strategy directly, it is critical that our work on sepsis and anti-microbial resistance (AMR) is closely aligned. Sepsis forms an important part of NHS England and NHS Improvement’s AMR programme, which will continue to drive improvement in the prevention and management of infection and optimal antibiotic use.
Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment the Department has made of the potential merits of developing a holistic and whole-system approach to antimicrobial resistance, sepsis and infection prevention.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The United Kingdom’s five-year national action plan for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) takes a holistic and comprehensive approach across humans, animals, agriculture, the environment and food.
The national action plan includes a strengthened focus on infection prevention and control, with commitments to cut the number of resistant infections by 10% by 2025 and to halve levels of healthcare associated Gram-negative blood stream infections by 2023-2024.
It is critical that our work on sepsis and AMR is closely aligned. Sepsis forms an important part of NHS England and NHS Improvement’s AMR Programme, which continues to drive improvements in the prevention and management of infections and optimal antimicrobial use.
Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 20 October 2020 to Question 100504 on Sepsis, what steps his Department has taken to specifically support the diagnosis of Sepsis.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
To support the delivery of objectives set out in the ‘UK’s 20-year vision for Antimicrobial Resistance’ and five-year national action plan, NHS England and NHS Improvement have specifically committed to development of and access to diagnostics in relation to infections. This commitment includes:
- supporting the establishment of the Accelerated Access Collaborative and Pathway and ensure its work can support antimicrobials and diagnostics;
- preparing a two to five-year urgent diagnostics priority list and use Target Product Profiles for research and development;
- introducing incentives to develop and evaluate rapid diagnostics;
- streamlining the regulation processes to help get new diagnostics through as quickly as possible, including developing evidence-based guidance for using tests, and;
- working with National Health Service partners and industry to tackle barriers to new innovations being adopted in the NHS, building on the Life Sciences Industrial Strategy and the response to the Accelerated Access Review.
Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
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 improve diagnostic testing for sepsis and bloodstream infections.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
Since 2014, the Government has invested over £360 million in antimicrobial resistance research and development, including funding to support the development of diagnostics for infection. In order to support the work in delivering upon objectives set out in both the ‘UK’s 20-year vision for Antimicrobial Resistance’ and five-year national action plan, NHS England and NHS Improvement has laid out human health-related commitments specifically regarding the development of and access to diagnostics in relation to infections.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding the Government is allocating from the public purse to develop new sepsis diagnostics to determine whether a patient with sepsis has a bacterial or viral infection.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
Developing new diagnostics that enable early detection of bacterial or viral infections and drive optimal antimicrobial usage is a priority for this Government. Since 2014, the Government has invested over £360 million in antimicrobial resistance research and development, including funding to support the development of diagnostics for infection.
Investments in early-stage funding for diagnostic research include the £10 million Longitude Prize for a diagnostic tool that can rule out antibiotic use or help identify an effective antibiotic to treat a patient. The National Institute for Health Research Medtech and In Vitro Diagnostic Co-operatives support the development of medical technology and the uptake of commercially supplied in vitro diagnostic devices, including for infection-related tests. The £14.25 million award is for five years until 2022.
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 steps he is taking to improve public awareness and understanding of sepsis.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The Government continues to raise public awareness and understanding of sepsis through initiatives like Public Health England (PHE)’s national Start4life Information Service for Parents, targeting parents of zero to five-year olds. This includes leaflets, posters and a content-rich social media toolkit for partners to use on their own channels raising awareness at community level. PHE has also worked in partnership with Mumsnet, a leading digital platform for parents, to raise awareness through editorial and social media promotion.
The Department takes advice from NHS England and NHS Improvement’s Acute Deterioration Board, which brings together frontline experts from across the healthcare system, and seeks to ensure that sepsis campaigns target appropriate audiences and deliver measurable outcomes.