Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the MHRA on the potential impact of regulatory reform on the time taken to develop glioblastoma treatments.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is an executive agency of the Department and regulates medicine, medical devices, and blood components for transfusion in the United Kingdom, with responsibility for ensuring medicines meet appropriate standards of safety, quality, and efficacy.
The impact of the new regulatory reform on the development of glioblastoma is that the new regulations will introduce notifiable trials, including initial and modification trials, which will be approved within 21 days without further assessment if they meet the inclusion criteria. Therefore, these submissions will be approved with a short turnaround time. This approach will free up assessors’ time to provide more support for trials that require closer scrutiny. The trials in glioblastoma are part of the oncology area, which represents almost 30% of all submissions received by the MHRA.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of NHS hospitals have 24 hours pharmacy dispensing for patients being discharged.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department and NHS England do not hold this information. NHS England’s guidance and toolkits embed medicines planning within discharge processes and emphasise arranging discharge prescriptions and take-home medicines in advance, so they can be supplied within standard pharmacy operating hours and do not delay discharge. Implementation of this guidance is the responsibility of local National Health Service organisations.
Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
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 potential impact on children and families of local pauses to neurodevelopmental assessments under the NHS Right to Choose pathway; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure that interim support is available to families whose referrals have been affected.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has recognised that, nationally, demand for assessments for neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has grown significantly in recent years and that people are experiencing severe delays for accessing such assessments. The Government’s 10-Year Health Plan will make the National Health Service fit for the future and it recognises the need for early intervention and support.
It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including access to neurodevelopmental assessments.
Through the medium-term planning framework, published 24 October, NHS England has set clear expectations for local ICBs and trusts to improve access, experience, and outcomes for autism and ADHD services over the next three years, focusing on improving quality and productivity.
Patients’ right to choose is set out in legislation. Patients being referred to a mental health professional, including for neurodevelopmental assessments, have the right to be treated by any clinically appropriate provider who holds a contract for the provision of NHS services.
ICBs are responsible for ensuring that their processes comply with the legal right to choose. This includes any qualifying contract requirements and clinical appropriateness or eligibility criteria. ICBs also have a duty to publicise and promote choice and can provide local referral guidance to support referrers and ensure that referrals into any NHS funded service are appropriate.
There has been no change to the existing legal right patients have to choose the provider and team who will provide their elective care in certain cases. These rights extend to any provider in England who holds a contract with an ICB, or NHS England, for the service/s the patient requires, as per the NHS Choice Framework. This includes independent sector providers who deliver NHS funded care. Neurodivergent services are already in scope of this legislation.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how often meetings are held to discuss NHS England’s Urgent and Emergency Care Daily Situation Reports.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Budget 2025, what assessment he has of the potential impact of the proposed changes to the salary sacrifice policy for employee pension contributions on the number of hours worked by NHS employees.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Department has assessed the potential benefits of enabling GPs to issue automatic repeat prescriptions for patients on stable, long-term medication.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Responsibility for prescribing, including the issue of repeat prescribing and the duration of prescriptions, rests with the prescriber who has clinical responsibility for that particular aspect of a patient’s care.
Electronic repeat dispensing is already implemented in the National Health Service and allows prescribers to authorise and issue a batch of repeat prescriptions for up to 12 months with just one digital signature. Since April 2019, the GP Contract has stated that electronic repeat dispensing should be used for all patients for whom it is clinically appropriate.
Prescriptions for longer periods of time may be more appropriate and more convenient for some patients with stable long-term conditions. However, for some patients, issuing shorter prescriptions may be appropriate to give the prescriber the opportunity to review the patient’s medicines, which is important for some treatment courses that require greater scrutiny or monitoring to be managed appropriately.
Asked by: Shockat Adam (Independent - Leicester South)
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 update NHS England’s Guidance - Commissioning Excellent Nutrition and Hydration 2015-2018, including consultation that has taken place with stakeholders working in the field of nutrition and malnutrition.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Shockat Adam (Independent - Leicester South)
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 ensure that people at risk of disease-related malnutrition are identified early through screening tools in primary and community care.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
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 (a) awareness and (b) treatment of postural tachycardia syndrome in North Shropshire constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Shockat Adam (Independent - Leicester South)
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 potential merits of a national clinical lead for disease related malnutrition within his Department.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.