Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many child mental health patients have been held in inappropriate out of area placements since March 2021.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
While NHS England does collect internal management data on this topic, the statistics are not considered robust enough to be published.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure minimal usage of helium in MRI scanners in NHS facilities in the light of the global shortage of helium; and what steps they are taking to ensure all helium in scanners being replaced is reused appropriately.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Suppliers of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners are moving to a sealed helium solution, whereby the helium required to cool the magnet is approximately 0.5% of the current levels. These sealed systems will also ensure MRI scanners do not require further helium to be added during years of operational use.
Furthermore, suppliers are now replacing MRI scanners without requiring the magnet to be replaced, though this is only available for the first replacement cycle, whereby the scanner is fully replaced, but the existing magnet and helium are retained.
With regards to the Department, as set out in the recent Medical Technology Strategy: One Year On publication, the Design for Life Programme has been stood up to work with industry, the health and care sector, and academic partners to develop medical technology systems that support reuse, remanufacture, and material recovery becoming the default. This includes developing regulatory, commercial, digital, and policy environments that support this aim. The Department’s intention is to publish a roadmap later this year to articulate our relevant findings and plans moving forward.
Asked by: Baroness Goudie (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 NHS is prepared for the arrival of new diagnostic innovations for dementia.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service is a world leader in rolling out innovative treatments and has established a dedicated national programme team which is working in partnership with other national agencies and with local health systems to prepare for the potential roll out of new treatments for use in the earlier stages of Alzheimer’s disease. These plans assume that, if these new treatments are approved by the regulators, significant additional diagnostic capacity, including amyloid positron emission tomography–computed tomography, lumbar puncture and magnetic resonance imaging, will be needed both to identify patients who are most able to benefit and to provide important safety monitoring.
The national programme team is conducting preparations across the country, working alongside clinicians and local teams to identify where further funding will be required to roll out the additional tests and services needed to introduce these new and complex treatments.
NHS England is also working with partner agencies to support and inform further research into other diagnostic modalities, including blood-based biomarker and digital tests, which will help improve identification and management of Alzheimer’s disease.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with reference to declining immunisation rates in the UK, what level of prioritisation the Department of Health and Social Care and the UK Health Security Agency are giving to the adoption of new immunisation programmes with high uptake.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The introduction and adoption of new immunisation programmes and achieving high uptake across all immunisation programmes remains a high priority for the Government. We achieve high uptake for both life-course and seasonal vaccinations, with over 90% for pre-school diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis and among the highest in the world for flu vaccination. The NHS COVID-19 vaccination programme has been the biggest vaccine drive in the history of the National Health Service, implementing the largest volume of new vaccines in the shortest time, and repeatedly with boosters. 157.5 million COVID-19 vaccinations were delivered in England from December 2020 to the end of January 2024. However, over the last decade, performance across routine immunisation programmes has been in decline and continued variation in uptake and coverage between different communities reflects wider health inequalities.
In response to these challenges, the NHS vaccination strategy builds on lessons learnt from the pandemic and the success of our routine immunisation programmes. It aims to maximise uptake and coverage of vaccinations across all communities, improving uptake to save more lives.
Asked by: Baroness Hollins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to improve the mental health and wellbeing of babies and very young children, especially given the evidence surrounding the cumulative impact of poor mental health outcomes that begin early in life.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In March 2021, the Government published The best start for life: a vision for the 1,001 critical days, a copy of which is attached. This vision sets out six action areas for improving support for families during the 1,001 critical days to ensure every baby in England is given the best possible start in life, regardless of background.
The Government is investing approximately £300 million to improve support for families through the joint Department of Health and Social Care and Department for Education Family Hubs and Start for Life Programme. The programme is implementing many elements of the Best Start for Life Vision and is delivering a step change in outcomes for babies, children and their parents and carers in 75 local authorities in England, including those with high levels of deprivation. This investment includes £100 million for bespoke perinatal mental health and parent-infant relationship support. Many local authorities without funding have also chosen to implement elements of the vision.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - 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 proposed WHO Pandemic Preparedness Treaty, due to be considered by the 77th World Health Assembly in May, will include provisions to improve indoor air quality.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The United Kingdom welcomes the Pandemic Accord as an opportunity to strengthen global health security. Improving indoor air quality remains an important issue in public health. However, as the Accord aims to establish a high-level framework for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, we have pursued action on this specific issue in other multilateral settings.
The UK continues to support international improvements to indoor air pollution through its engagement with the World Health Organization (WHO). For example, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) contributed to WHO projects in 2020 and 2022 to assess combined exposure to multiple chemicals in indoor air in schools. UKHSA continues to work with the International Society on Indoor Air Quality and Climate on the development of an open database on international indoor environmental quality guidelines. The database aims to be actively used by researchers, practitioners, and policymakers across the world.
Moreover, the UK was a strong advocate for action to improve indoor air quality at last year’s United Nations General Assembly. We worked with international partners on this issue during the High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage. The UK was supportive of reference being made to the health impacts of indoor air pollution, which was subsequently adopted in the meeting’s political declaration on 5 October 2023, and is available on the United Nations website in an online-only format.
Asked by: Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the Food Data Transparency Partnership’s decision not to make reporting on health data mandatory, what steps they are taking to ensure enforcement of and consistency in the voluntary scheme.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Food Data Transparency Partnership’s (FDTP) Health Working Group (HWG) has been testing the effectiveness and quality of potential standardised metrics that food and drink companies can use to report on the healthiness of their sales. This is an important part of government’s strategy to address poor diet and reduce obesity and was restated in the Major Conditions Strategy interim report August 2023.
Once a recommended set of metrics and reporting guidance has been produced and approved by Ministers, the expectation is that businesses who voluntarily report will all follow this standardised approach.
A key commitment of the HWG is timely and transparent communication so that wider food sector stakeholders can input into each stage of the process in order to ensure recommendations around comparability and enforcement will be as viable and effective as possible. Alongside engagement with industry, the FDTP also regularly engages civil society organisations and investor groups to gather and integrate wider feedback into discussions. Summaries of these HWG discussions are published online on the FDTP GOV.UK page.
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 data they are gathering on countries currently implementing immunisation programmes for infant respiratory syncytial virus regarding (1) acceptance and uptake, and (2) hospitalisations.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK Health Security Agency continues to monitor international reporting. In the United States, as of 31 January 2024, maternal immunisation was 17.9%. By February 2024, 43% of infants under eight months old had received a dose of nirsevimab.
In Galicia, Spain, 92.9% of 5,357 infants born between 25 September 2023 and 4 February 2024 had nirsevimab, plus 79.7% of 5,823 in a catch-up programme. The peak of hospitalisation rate in infants under six months old was 102 per 100,000, for season 2023 to 2024 during the week starting 27 November 2023 compared to a median of 776 for seasons 2017 to 2018, 2018 to 2019 and 2019 to 2020, peaking during the first week of January 2024.
In Luxembourg, 84% of 1,524 infants born in hospital between early October and mid-December 2023 received nirsevimab. Luxembourg observed a decrease in hospitalisation in infants under six months old of 69% between the 2022 to 2023 and 2023 to 2024 respiratory syncytial virus seasons.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
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 to ensure that people eligible for NHS continuing healthcare funding have access to services.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare and NHS-funded Nursing Care sets out in paragraph 185 that, where an individual is eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC), the integrated care board (ICB) is responsible for care planning, commissioning services, and case management. The ICB is responsible for planning strategically, specifying outcomes, procuring services, and managing demand and provider performance in relation to CHC. The services commissioned must include ongoing case management, including review or reassessment of the individual’s needs.
NHS England holds ICBs accountable, and engages with them to ensure that they discharge their functions via timely and well-established assurance mechanisms. The national framework also sets out that those in receipt of CHC continue to be entitled to access to the full range of primary, community, secondary, and other health services.
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, what assessment has she made of the potential merits of a men's health strategy for the economy.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Whilst no specific assessment has been made, we are already taking action to address the health issues that disproportionately impact men. This includes through policies announced on International Men’s Day, such as the appointment of a Men’s Health Ambassador, to raise the profile of men’s health issues. The Major Conditions Strategy will also focus on improving health outcomes linked to major condition areas like cancer, cardiovascular, and chronic respiratory diseases that disproportionately impact men.