Asked by: Jacob Collier (Labour - Burton and Uttoxeter)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the (a) adequacy of the eligibility criteria for (i) free covid-19 vaccinations and (ii) access to covid-19 antiviral treatments for people with lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and (b) consistency of eligibility criteria used by general practices, community pharmacies and NHS 111 in England.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to protecting those most vulnerable to COVID-19 through vaccination, as guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The primary aim of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme remains the prevention of serious illness, resulting in hospitalisations and deaths, arising from COVID-19.
The JCVI has advised that population immunity to COVID-19 has been increasing due to a combination of naturally acquired immunity following recovery from infection and vaccine-derived immunity. COVID-19 is now a relatively mild disease for most people, though it can still be unpleasant, with rates of hospitalisation and death from COVID-19 having reduced significantly since COVID-19 first emerged.
The focus of the JCVI’s advised programme has therefore moved towards targeted vaccination of the two groups who continue to be at higher risk of serious disease, including mortality. These are the oldest adults and individuals who are immunosuppressed. The Government has accepted the JCVI’s advice for autumn 2025 and in line with the advice, a COVID-19 vaccination is being offered to the following groups:
The COVID-19 chapter of the UK Health Security Agency Green Book on immunisation against infectious disease sets out guidance on the eligibility criteria above. This is signposted to all providers to ensure consistency. As for all vaccines, the JCVI keeps the evidence under regular review.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published guidance that recommends several antivirals for the treatment of COVID-19, both in the community and for patients in hospital. This guidance sets out the eligibility criteria and ensures that patients who are at the highest risk of developing severe disease from COVID-19 have access to clinically- and cost-effective treatments.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
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 support parents caring for children with long covid; and whether his Department plans to develop a long-term strategy to fund (a) biomedical research and (b) treatment for long covid in (i) adults and (ii) children.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to ensuring that families have the support that they need. The Care Act 2014 requires local authorities to deliver a wide range of sustainable, high-quality care and support services, including support for carers, which can include parents.
Across the National Health Service in England, there are services supporting people with post-COVID syndrome, often described as long COVID. These services offer physical, cognitive, and psychological assessment, and, where appropriate, refer patients onto existing services for treatment and rehabilitation. Further information can be found via the NHS website, at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/post-covid-syndrome-long-covid/
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and the Medical Research Council (MRC) remain committed to funding high-quality research to understand the causes, consequences, and treatment for long COVID. We are actively exploring next steps for research in this area.
Between 2019/20 and 2023/24, through the NIHR and MRC, we have invested over £57 million on research into long COVID, with almost £40 million of this through two specific research calls on long COVID. The funded projects aim to improve our understanding of the diagnosis and underlying mechanisms of the disease and the effectiveness of both pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies and interventions, as well as to evaluate the effectiveness of clinical care.
This includes funded clinical trials to test and compare different treatments such as antihistamines, anticoagulants, and anti-inflammatory medicines, as well as trials such as the approximately £1.5 million REGAIN trial funded through the NIHR. REGAIN is the first randomised trial to show a benefit from rehabilitation for people with long COVID, and the first high-quality evidence confirming the sustained clinical benefit and lack of harm with rehabilitation programmes for long COVID which combine exercise with behavioural support, to measure their effects on symptoms, health, and other outcomes.
The approximately £1.9 million CLoCk study, co-funded by the NIHR and the MRC, developed an agreed definition of long COVID in children and young people as well as the associated symptoms, which will help harmonise research and improve understanding of the condition.
Funding is available and we welcome funding applications for research into long COVID in both adults and children. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.
To support clinical leadership in this area, NHS England has worked in partnership with the British Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine to develop a new Clinical Post-COVID Society to facilitate the ongoing sharing of best practice and to support people affected by long COVID. Further information about the society can be found at the following link:
https://www.clinicalpcs.org.uk
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
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 access to treatments for long covid.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to ensuring that families have the support that they need. The Care Act 2014 requires local authorities to deliver a wide range of sustainable, high-quality care and support services, including support for carers, which can include parents.
Across the National Health Service in England, there are services supporting people with post-COVID syndrome, often described as long COVID. These services offer physical, cognitive, and psychological assessment, and, where appropriate, refer patients onto existing services for treatment and rehabilitation. Further information can be found via the NHS website, at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/post-covid-syndrome-long-covid/
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and the Medical Research Council (MRC) remain committed to funding high-quality research to understand the causes, consequences, and treatment for long COVID. We are actively exploring next steps for research in this area.
Between 2019/20 and 2023/24, through the NIHR and MRC, we have invested over £57 million on research into long COVID, with almost £40 million of this through two specific research calls on long COVID. The funded projects aim to improve our understanding of the diagnosis and underlying mechanisms of the disease and the effectiveness of both pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies and interventions, as well as to evaluate the effectiveness of clinical care.
This includes funded clinical trials to test and compare different treatments such as antihistamines, anticoagulants, and anti-inflammatory medicines, as well as trials such as the approximately £1.5 million REGAIN trial funded through the NIHR. REGAIN is the first randomised trial to show a benefit from rehabilitation for people with long COVID, and the first high-quality evidence confirming the sustained clinical benefit and lack of harm with rehabilitation programmes for long COVID which combine exercise with behavioural support, to measure their effects on symptoms, health, and other outcomes.
The approximately £1.9 million CLoCk study, co-funded by the NIHR and the MRC, developed an agreed definition of long COVID in children and young people as well as the associated symptoms, which will help harmonise research and improve understanding of the condition.
Funding is available and we welcome funding applications for research into long COVID in both adults and children. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.
To support clinical leadership in this area, NHS England has worked in partnership with the British Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine to develop a new Clinical Post-COVID Society to facilitate the ongoing sharing of best practice and to support people affected by long COVID. Further information about the society can be found at the following link:
https://www.clinicalpcs.org.uk
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
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 clinical research into treatments for long covid.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to ensuring that families have the support that they need. The Care Act 2014 requires local authorities to deliver a wide range of sustainable, high-quality care and support services, including support for carers, which can include parents.
Across the National Health Service in England, there are services supporting people with post-COVID syndrome, often described as long COVID. These services offer physical, cognitive, and psychological assessment, and, where appropriate, refer patients onto existing services for treatment and rehabilitation. Further information can be found via the NHS website, at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/post-covid-syndrome-long-covid/
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and the Medical Research Council (MRC) remain committed to funding high-quality research to understand the causes, consequences, and treatment for long COVID. We are actively exploring next steps for research in this area.
Between 2019/20 and 2023/24, through the NIHR and MRC, we have invested over £57 million on research into long COVID, with almost £40 million of this through two specific research calls on long COVID. The funded projects aim to improve our understanding of the diagnosis and underlying mechanisms of the disease and the effectiveness of both pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies and interventions, as well as to evaluate the effectiveness of clinical care.
This includes funded clinical trials to test and compare different treatments such as antihistamines, anticoagulants, and anti-inflammatory medicines, as well as trials such as the approximately £1.5 million REGAIN trial funded through the NIHR. REGAIN is the first randomised trial to show a benefit from rehabilitation for people with long COVID, and the first high-quality evidence confirming the sustained clinical benefit and lack of harm with rehabilitation programmes for long COVID which combine exercise with behavioural support, to measure their effects on symptoms, health, and other outcomes.
The approximately £1.9 million CLoCk study, co-funded by the NIHR and the MRC, developed an agreed definition of long COVID in children and young people as well as the associated symptoms, which will help harmonise research and improve understanding of the condition.
Funding is available and we welcome funding applications for research into long COVID in both adults and children. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.
To support clinical leadership in this area, NHS England has worked in partnership with the British Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine to develop a new Clinical Post-COVID Society to facilitate the ongoing sharing of best practice and to support people affected by long COVID. Further information about the society can be found at the following link:
https://www.clinicalpcs.org.uk
Asked by: Baroness Nye (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to enable GPs to prescribe antivirals, including Paxlovid, for the treatment of Covid in accordance with NICE evaluations.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Decisions on whether licensed medicines, including antivirals for COVID-19, should be recommended for routine National Health Service funding are made independently by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), on the basis of the evidence of costs and benefits.
The NICE recommends the antiviral Paxlovid, a combination of nirmatrelvir plus ritonavir, as an option for treating COVID-19 in adults, only if they do not need supplemental oxygen for COVID-19, and they have any of the following:
A phased implementation of the NICE’s recommendations on Paxlovid has been agreed, to allow more time for the NHS to put in place the capacity and infrastructure needed for the full rollout to all eligible patients. Prescribers, including general practitioners, are currently able to prescribe Paxlovid to NHS patients at the highest risk of severe COVID-19, in line with the approach to rollout set out in the NICE’s guidance.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to reinstate the Covid Medicines Delivery Unit to provide access to antiviral drugs for people with covid-19 infections who are clinically vulnerable.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for arranging access to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) recommended treatments, therefore it is not driven by the Department. It is up to ICBs to determine the best model of access for their eligible population.
Antiviral treatments for COVID-19 are now routinely available for National Health Service patients at highest risk of serious illness from COVID-19, in line with the approach to the rollout set out in the NICE’s guidance published last year.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the guidance by NICE entitled Covid-19 rapid guideline: managing symptoms (including at the end of life) in the community, NG163, published on 3 April 2020, which medical experts were consulted during the commissioning process.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline NG163, published in 2020, was commissioned in accordance with an established agreement between NHS England and NICE. The focus at that time was given to providing rapid guidance on the management of affected patients with COVID-19. The following organisations were consulted on the guideline:
- Association for Palliative Medicine;
- Palliative Care Formulary;
- Wolfson Palliative Care Research Centre;
- Cicely Saunders Institute;
- NHS England;
- ICU Steps;
- Macmillan Cancer Support;
- Marie Curie;
- National Audit for Care at the End of Life;
- Palliative Care for Wales;
- Royal College of General Practitioners;
- Royal College of Physicians; and
- Sue Ryder.
The following organisations provided general practice consultation on the guidance:
- NICE GP Reference Group; and
- RCGP Network.
A number of NICE’s COVID-19 rapid guidelines were subsequently incorporated into a single guideline, NG191, for the management of COVID-19 in children and adults. The list of panel members for this guideline is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng191/documents/register-of-interests-2
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the stock of approved antiviral treatments of COVID-19, including those recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in August are made readily available to all vulnerable patients.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The stock of COVID-19 antivirals owned by the Department is available to those who are eligible for treatment in line with an interim clinical commissioning policy for England and the Devolved Nations or National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommendations. Stocks are distributed in England in response to orders received from community pharmacies and National Health Service secondary care trusts who operate under arrangements put in place by the relevant NHS Commissioning Boards. Proportionate allocations have been made to the Devolved Nations and detailed distribution arrangements lie within the remit of the respective national systems.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase awareness of (1) eligibility for COVID-19 post-exposure treatments, and (2) how to access to COVID-19 post-exposure treatments.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
Information for patients’ awareness of COVID-19 treatments and how to access treatments is published by the National Health Service and is available on the NHS.uk website in an online-only format. The NHS will continue to communicate to people, including those most vulnerable to COVID-19, about available clinical interventions, including vaccination and treatments, as well as testing and public health advice.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish guidance to Integrated Care Boards on the availability of antivirals for immunocompromised patients with a covid infection.
Answered by Will Quince
From 27 June, the pathway for COVID-19 treatments transitioned from the former national pandemic-specific arrangements to more routine local arrangements for assessment and treatment
This transition follows the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guidance that was published 29 March 2023 and which recommended two treatments for non-hospitalised patients at highest risk, and one treatment for use in those hospitalised due to COVID-19. These are Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir plus ritonavir) from Pfizer, Xevudy (sotrovimab) from GlaxoSmithKline and RoActemra (tocilizumab) from Roche.
This guidance will ensure that everyone with COVID-19 at the highest risk of progressing to severe disease, will have access to clinically and cost-effective treatments, which will be routinely available to eligible patients on the National Health Service. The NHS is required to have medicines available within 90 days of a positive NICE appraisal. Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) have therefore had up to 90 days to make funding available for these treatments and to secure arrange local access through routine NHS pathways.
NHS England continues to meet with regional colleagues on a weekly basis to help them to facilitate the local transition and to understand if ICBs have any new or emerging issues requiring support.