Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s severity modifier on the prescribing of cancer medicines.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published its updated manual for health technology evaluations in January 2022, and has introduced a number of changes to make its methods and processes fairer, faster, and more consistent.
This includes the introduction of a broader severity modifier in place of the end-of-life modifier. NICE has been monitoring the impact of the changes that it introduced and analysis carried out by NICE for the first year of the updated manual’s implementation shows that NICE’s committee accepted 11 out of 13 cases where the company applied for a severity modifier, with eight of these being for cancer medicines.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what her Department's policy is on maintaining (a) supply of and (b) access to commonly prescribed medicines.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are approximately 14,000 licensed medicines, and the overwhelming majority are in good supply. However, the medicine supply chain is highly regulated, complex, and global, and supply disruption is an issue which affects countries all around the world.
There are a number of reasons why supply can be disrupted, including manufacturing difficulties, regulatory non-compliance, access to raw materials, sudden demand spikes, or distribution issues. Supply issues are driven by a range of factors, many of which are non-specific to the United Kingdom.
Whilst we can’t always prevent supply issues from occurring, the Department has a range of well-established processes and tools to manage them when they arise, and help mitigate risks to patients. We work closely with industry, the National Health Service, and others, to develop bespoke mitigation plans, which are tailored to each issue, to help ensure patients continue to have access to the medicines they need.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will publish a strategy to (a) tackle critical medicines shortages and (b) help improve the resilience of the community pharmacy sector.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has no plans to publish a strategy. There are around 14,000 medicines licensed for supply in the United Kingdom, and most are in good supply. However, the medicine supply chain is highly regulated, complex, and global, which means that there can sometimes be supply issues which affect the UK, along with other countries around the world. Medicine supply problems may be caused by several factors, including manufacturing difficulties, regulatory non-compliance, demand surges, problems with the supply of raw materials, and issues related to distribution of the product. We work with industry, NHS England, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the devolved administrations, and other stakeholders to address these issues and help ensure patients continue to have access to the treatments they need. Communications about supply issues requiring active management are issued to healthcare professionals, and guidance is provided to help them manage their patients, where necessary.
Access to community pharmacies in England is good, with 80% of the population living within 20 minutes walking distance from a pharmacy, and twice as many pharmacies in the most deprived areas. We are funding pharmacies with £2.6 billion per year, and have invested up to an additional £645 million in the sector across this and next year, for the recently launched Pharmacy First service and the expansion of the existing Blood Pressure Check Service and Pharmacy Contraception Service. The contractual arrangements and funding for 2024/25 are being currently consulted on with Community Pharmacy England.
Asked by: Anna Firth (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether prescriptions obtained from a pharmacy are charged as a private patients.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In England the National Health Service has not commissioned a national prescribing service from community pharmacy, and therefore community pharmacists cannot prescribe NHS medicines. Some pharmacies do offer a private prescribing service, for which they charge patients.
Where community pharmacies supply medicines as part of an NHS service, for example the new Pharmacy First service, the medicines are supplied on the NHS and the normal prescription charges rules apply.
NHS England is working with integrated care boards, who are currently recruiting over 200 community pharmacy pathfinder sites to establish how independent prescribing can be incorporated into clinical services available to the public through community pharmacy in the longer-term.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing pharmacists to prescribe alternative medications if those prescribed by a GP are not available without referring back to the GP.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our assessment is that allowing pharmacists to take local action to alter prescriptions and supply an alternative without the full oversight of supply issues that the Department has, could have the effect of creating a knock-on shortage of the alternative and could thereby have the potential to exacerbate rather than mitigate supply problems. Furthermore, pharmacies will not know the reasons why a medicine has been prescribed, and in what particular way.
However, Serious Shortage Protocols (SSPs) enable community pharmacists to supply a specified medicine or device in accordance with a protocol rather than a prescription, with the patient’s consent, and without needing to seek authorisation from the prescriber. SSPs are an additional tool that have been used in recent years to manage and mitigate medicine and medical devices shortages. SSPs are not introduced unless sufficient supplies of the alternative product to be supplied in accordance with the SSP are available to support the market.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department is taking steps to prevent the selling of prescription drugs online without requiring a prescription.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is the regulator in the United Kingdom for human medicines and is responsible for enforcing the Human Medicines Regulations 2012, which are available at the following link:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2012/1916/contents/made
The MHRA has identified the illegal sale and supply of human medicines as a global challenge. This includes the sale of prescription drugs without a prescription from unregulated sources. Criminal gangs, often based overseas, advertise medicines through illicit websites resembling those of legitimate pharmacies, while others exploit online marketplaces or sell social media platforms.
The MHRA has a dedicated Criminal Enforcement Unit (CEU) that works with partners across the Government, policing to prevent and disrupt this illegal trade and to bring to justice those involved. The CEU monitors online channels for evidence of illegal activity and takes proportionate regulatory action. This includes using the full range of the Agency’s powers to investigate and prosecute offenders where necessary and appropriate. The unit also works to remove illegally trading websites and remove criminal profits from offenders. Through its #FakeMeds communications campaign the MHRA also provides quick and easy tools to help the public avoid buying illegally traded medicines when they shop online.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
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 help prevent the online sale of prescription drugs without a prescription.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is the regulator in the United Kingdom for human medicines and is responsible for enforcing the Human Medicines Regulations 2012. The MHRA has identified the illegal sale and supply of human medicines as a global challenge. This includes the sale of prescription drugs from unregulated sources. Criminal gangs, often based overseas, advertise medicines through illicit websites resembling those of legitimate pharmacies, while others exploit online marketplaces or sell social media platforms.
The MHRA has a dedicated Criminal Enforcement Unit (CEU) that works with partners across government and policing to prevent and disrupt this illegal trade and to bring to justice those involved. The CEU monitors online channels for evidence of illegal activity and takes proportionate regulatory action. This includes using the full range of the Agency’s powers to investigate and prosecute offenders where necessary and appropriate. The unit also works to remove illegally trading websites and remove criminal profits from offenders. Through its #Fakemeds communications campaign, the MHRA also provides quick and easy tools to help the public avoid buying illegally traded medicines when they shop online.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle the sale of prescription-only drugs to patients without a prescription through illicit websites.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is the regulator in the United Kingdom for human medicines and is responsible for enforcing the Human Medicines Regulations 2012. The MHRA has identified the illegal sale and supply of human medicines as a global challenge. This includes the sale of prescription drugs from unregulated sources. Criminal gangs, often based overseas, advertise medicines through illicit websites resembling those of legitimate pharmacies, while others exploit online marketplaces or sell social media platforms.
The MHRA has a dedicated Criminal Enforcement Unit (CEU) that works with partners across government and policing to prevent and disrupt this illegal trade and to bring to justice those involved. The CEU monitors online channels for evidence of illegal activity and takes proportionate regulatory action. This includes using the full range of the Agency’s powers to investigate and prosecute offenders where necessary and appropriate. The unit also works to remove illegally trading websites and remove criminal profits from offenders. Through its #Fakemeds communications campaign the MHRA also provides quick and easy tools to help the public avoid buying illegally traded medicines when they shop online.
Asked by: Mark Eastwood (Conservative - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress her Department has made on consulting on proposed amendments to Part IX of the Drug Tariff; and if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the proposed amendments on (a) the medical technology ecosystem, (b) innovation relating to the the Life Sciences Vision and (c) the wider UK economy.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
A targeted consultation on Medical Devices in Primary Care: Proposals for updating Part IX of the Drug Tariff-medical devices available for prescribing in primary care was issued on 6 October 2023.
The consultation on Part IX of the Drug Tariff sets out a series of proposals to modernise Part IX of the Drug Tariff. The objectives of the proposals are to ensure Part IX consistently includes devices that are of good quality and effectiveness; ensure that the Tariff product list is refreshed going forward and existing and new products are only adopted or continued to be used if able to demonstrate value to the National Health Service and patients; and update processes on Part IX applications to support the adoption of innovation that can improve patient outcomes and the quality of life for patients.
The consultation was fully closed for responses at 4 January 2024. The Department is considering all the responses before finalising any proposed amendments to Part IX of the Drug Tariff. Therefore, the Department will share a response to the consultation and an updated assessment of the impacts in due course.
In forming the proposals, that have been consulted on, the department has had extensive engagement with industry, the health and care sector, NHS commissioners and patient representative groups. There will be further engagement with these stakeholders for any amendments to Part IX that are taken forward.
Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her Department's policies of the sale of prescription-only drugs on illicit websites.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Where individuals sell illegal drugs on their own website, they may be committing an offence. This may then be a matter for law enforcement and/or regulatory bodies such as the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
The Online Safety Act also puts duties on user-to-user and search service providers to tackle illegal third-party content accessed on or via their service. They must take proactive action against online offending such as illegal sale of drugs and must protect children from other legal content which could cause harm to them.