Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of creating a national naloxone programme.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Naloxone is highly effective in reducing opioid overdose-related deaths, and the Government is working to widen access to, and increase the uptake of, this life saving drug. A prescription only medicine that is available across the United Kingdom, naloxone can be prescribed by a doctor or non-medical prescriber or provided, under a Patient Group Direction. It can also be supplied without prescription by drug services, which include specialist National Health Service and voluntary sector treatment services, as well as community pharmacies providing other substance misuse services across the UK.
Naloxone has been available for anyone to use in an emergency since 2005. There is good awareness of it, supported by earlier guidance by the Department and its agencies in 2015, 2018, 2019, and 2023. Drug treatment services and their suppliers also provide independent awareness-raising materials, targeting people who use opioids.
The Government launched a UK-wide public consultation to seek views on our proposal to amend the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 so that more professionals, services, and family members can give out take-home naloxone supplies. The consultation closed on 6 March 2024, and the responses are currently being analysed. The Government will publish its official response shortly.
The Government is working to increase naloxone carriage, and has provided additional investment in drug treatment services to support this work. In England, local authorities and their partners have been increasing naloxone supply in recent years. There are now three naloxone products available, and supply has been meeting demand. To enable the Government to respond to any future change in demand for naloxone, the Department is working with the Home Office to model scenarios where demand for naloxone may increase, and has conducted a commercial engagement exercise to better understand the naloxone market, and the market’s capacity to respond to changes in demand.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what her planned timetable is for publishing a response to her Department's consultation on Expanding access to naloxone.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Naloxone is highly effective in reducing opioid overdose-related deaths, and the Government is working to widen access to, and increase the uptake of, this life saving drug. A prescription only medicine that is available across the United Kingdom, naloxone can be prescribed by a doctor or non-medical prescriber or provided, under a Patient Group Direction. It can also be supplied without prescription by drug services, which include specialist National Health Service and voluntary sector treatment services, as well as community pharmacies providing other substance misuse services across the UK.
Naloxone has been available for anyone to use in an emergency since 2005. There is good awareness of it, supported by earlier guidance by the Department and its agencies in 2015, 2018, 2019, and 2023. Drug treatment services and their suppliers also provide independent awareness-raising materials, targeting people who use opioids.
The Government launched a UK-wide public consultation to seek views on our proposal to amend the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 so that more professionals, services, and family members can give out take-home naloxone supplies. The consultation closed on 6 March 2024, and the responses are currently being analysed. The Government will publish its official response shortly.
The Government is working to increase naloxone carriage, and has provided additional investment in drug treatment services to support this work. In England, local authorities and their partners have been increasing naloxone supply in recent years. There are now three naloxone products available, and supply has been meeting demand. To enable the Government to respond to any future change in demand for naloxone, the Department is working with the Home Office to model scenarios where demand for naloxone may increase, and has conducted a commercial engagement exercise to better understand the naloxone market, and the market’s capacity to respond to changes in demand.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the availability of naloxone across England.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Naloxone is highly effective in reducing opioid overdose-related deaths, and the Government is working to widen access to, and increase the uptake of, this life saving drug. A prescription only medicine that is available across the United Kingdom, naloxone can be prescribed by a doctor or non-medical prescriber or provided, under a Patient Group Direction. It can also be supplied without prescription by drug services, which include specialist National Health Service and voluntary sector treatment services, as well as community pharmacies providing other substance misuse services across the UK.
Naloxone has been available for anyone to use in an emergency since 2005. There is good awareness of it, supported by earlier guidance by the Department and its agencies in 2015, 2018, 2019, and 2023. Drug treatment services and their suppliers also provide independent awareness-raising materials, targeting people who use opioids.
The Government launched a UK-wide public consultation to seek views on our proposal to amend the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 so that more professionals, services, and family members can give out take-home naloxone supplies. The consultation closed on 6 March 2024, and the responses are currently being analysed. The Government will publish its official response shortly.
The Government is working to increase naloxone carriage, and has provided additional investment in drug treatment services to support this work. In England, local authorities and their partners have been increasing naloxone supply in recent years. There are now three naloxone products available, and supply has been meeting demand. To enable the Government to respond to any future change in demand for naloxone, the Department is working with the Home Office to model scenarios where demand for naloxone may increase, and has conducted a commercial engagement exercise to better understand the naloxone market, and the market’s capacity to respond to changes in demand.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she is taking steps to increase awareness of naloxone.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Naloxone is highly effective in reducing opioid overdose-related deaths, and the Government is working to widen access to, and increase the uptake of, this life saving drug. A prescription only medicine that is available across the United Kingdom, naloxone can be prescribed by a doctor or non-medical prescriber or provided, under a Patient Group Direction. It can also be supplied without prescription by drug services, which include specialist National Health Service and voluntary sector treatment services, as well as community pharmacies providing other substance misuse services across the UK.
Naloxone has been available for anyone to use in an emergency since 2005. There is good awareness of it, supported by earlier guidance by the Department and its agencies in 2015, 2018, 2019, and 2023. Drug treatment services and their suppliers also provide independent awareness-raising materials, targeting people who use opioids.
The Government launched a UK-wide public consultation to seek views on our proposal to amend the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 so that more professionals, services, and family members can give out take-home naloxone supplies. The consultation closed on 6 March 2024, and the responses are currently being analysed. The Government will publish its official response shortly.
The Government is working to increase naloxone carriage, and has provided additional investment in drug treatment services to support this work. In England, local authorities and their partners have been increasing naloxone supply in recent years. There are now three naloxone products available, and supply has been meeting demand. To enable the Government to respond to any future change in demand for naloxone, the Department is working with the Home Office to model scenarios where demand for naloxone may increase, and has conducted a commercial engagement exercise to better understand the naloxone market, and the market’s capacity to respond to changes in demand.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
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 ensure that lobbying by the tobacco industry does not undermine future public health policies aimed at reducing smoking rates.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Smoking is responsible for approximately 80,000 deaths a year in the United Kingdom, and causes around one in four cancer deaths in the UK. It also costs our country £17 billion a year, and puts a huge burden on the National Health Service. Smoking is an addiction, and there is no liberty in addiction. It causes harm to not only the smoker, but to society as a whole. That is why we have introduced the Tobacco and Vapes Bill to create the first smokefree generation, and enable us to further crack down on youth vaping. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill is available at the following link:
https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3703
The UK is a party to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, and under Article 5.3 has an obligation to protect the development of public health policy from the vested interests of the tobacco industry. As a world leader in tobacco control, the Government takes this commitment very seriously. In 2023, the Department published guidance for Government engagement with the tobacco industry, which is available at the following link:
The Department regularly publishes correspondence from, or to, those with links to the tobacco industry, and it is available at the following link:
https://khub.net/web/phe-national/public-library/-/document_library/v2WsRK3ZlEig/view/394794557
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 steps she is taking to help increase the number of people participating in smoking cessation programmes.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Smoking is the number one entirely preventable cause of ill-health, disability and death in this country. It is responsible for 80,000 yearly deaths in the United Kingdom and one in four of all UK cancer deaths. It costs our country £17 billion a year, £14 billion of which is through lost productivity alone. It puts a huge pressure on the National Health Service and social care, costing over £3 billion a year. Quitting smoking is the best thing a smoker can do for their health and smokers are three times as likely to succeed with stop smoking services (SSS) when compared to an unsupported quit attempt.
As announced in Stopping the start: our new plan to create a smokefree generation, published in October 2023, the Government is investing an additional £70 million per year for five years to support local authority-led SSS, around doubling current spend and supporting 360,000 people to set a quit date each year. To support engagement with SSS, and increase motivation to quit, we are spending an additional £15 million per year to fund national anti-smoking campaigns. We are also investing up to £45 million over two years to roll out our national ‘Swap to Stop’ scheme and establishing a financial incentives scheme to help pregnant smokers and their partners quit smoking with smoking cessation support.
Vaping is never recommended for children, and carries the potential harms of future addiction while their lungs and brains are still developing. The health advice is clear, vapes can be an effective tool to help smokers quit, but young people and those who have never smoked should not vape, or be encouraged to vape.
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 to help increase the availability of NHS dentistry in Hornsey and Wood Green constituency.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In 2022/23, 954 dentists in the North Central London Integrated Care Board performed some National Health Service work, the equivalent to 62.5 dentists per 100,000 people. This is higher than the figure in 2021/22, when 891 dentists performed some NHS work, the equivalent to 58.4 dentists per 100,000 people.
Our plan to recover and reform NHS dentistry will make dental services faster, simpler, and fairer for patients, and will fund approximately 2.5 million additional appointments. The plan sets out a number of actions which will improve access for patients, by helping the sector to recover activity more quickly, addressing underlying issues, and setting out the action needed for longer term reform of the system.
A new patient premium will support dentists in taking on new patients, and a new marketing campaign will help people locate an NHS dentist as needed. New dental vans will bring dental care to our most isolated communities, and Golden Hello incentives will encourage dentists into under-served areas. We will further support dentists by raising the minimum Units of Dental Activity rate to £28 this year, making NHS work more attractive and sustainable.
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 she has made of the potential impact of vaping on the health of pregnant women; and whether she plans to take steps to encourage pregnant women to stop vaping.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our health advice on vaping is clear, if you smoke, it is better to vape, but if you don’t smoke, you should never vape. Evidence to date suggests vaping is less harmful than smoking. Research funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research finds that pregnant women who vaped, when compared to women who used Nicotine Replacement Therapy, were twice as likely to quit, and that both approaches were safer than smoking. Further information is available at the following link:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-01808-0
To help pregnant smokers quit smoking, the Government is providing up to £10 million of investment over 2023/24 and 2024/25 via a financial incentives scheme. This evidence-based intervention, supported by behavioural support, will encourage pregnant women to quit smoking, and remain smokefree throughout pregnancy and beyond, helping to improve the health and wellbeing of both mother and baby.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and The Weald)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress she has made on retaining more GPs.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There were 2,799 more full time equivalent (FTE) doctors working in general practice (GP) in December 2023, compared to December 2019. The Government is working with NHS England to increase the GP workforce in England. This includes measures to boost recruitment, address the reasons why doctors leave the profession, and encourage them to return to practice. NHS England has made available a number of retention schemes, to boost the GP workforce.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
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 provide mental health support for the dental workforce.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan commits the National Health Service to supporting staff health and wellbeing, and asks integrated care systems to develop plans to support NHS staff in maintaining their mental health.
The NHS dental workforce is also able to access the NHS Practitioner Health Service. NHS England is in the process of reviewing the service as part of a wider review into its mental health and wellbeing offer to all staff, including the dental workforce.