Asked by: Baroness Bull (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 27 June (HL8432), whether their current policy is to allow the private sale of COVID-19 vaccines through (1) pharmacies, or (2) other healthcare providers.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As mentioned in my letter on 1 June, the private provision of COVID-19 vaccination is not a decision for the Government.
Vaccines that have been licensed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency for use in the United Kingdom can be prescribed by a physician, either in the National Health Service or privately. However, as yet, the pharmaceutical companies producing COVID-19 vaccines have not made these treatments commercially available to the private health care sector in the UK either through pharmacies or other healthcare providers.
Asked by: Baroness Bull (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to (1) the remarks by Lord Markham on 25 April (HL Deb col 1092), and (2) the letter from Lord Markham to all members on 1 June, when their position on the private purchase of COVID-19 vaccinations changed from that given in the Written Answer by the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health and Social Care on 9 January (113401) when she stated that "the Government currently has no plans to allow private purchase of COVID-19 vaccines"; and (a) when, and (b) by what means, this information was made publicly available.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 25 January 2023, the Government published Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advice that the primary course COVID-19 vaccination should move, over the course of 2023, towards a more targeted offer during vaccination campaigns to protect those persons at higher risk of severe COVID-19. As the JCVI updates its clinical advice, the Government has and will continue to review its policy position, working with manufacturers, clinicians and other appropriate stakeholders. There is currently no private provision of COVID-19 vaccination in the UK and the Government has no plans to provide information regarding the private purchase of COVID-19 vaccines. We continue to develop options for the future supply of COVID-19 vaccines. We would expect private healthcare providers, including pharmacies, to inform the public if, and when, the option to purchase a COVID-19 vaccination becomes available in the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Baroness Bull (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they consider universal access to a high-quality Fracture Liaison Service (FLS) to be the best form of secondary fracture prevention; and if so, whether they will ensure that universal access to FLS is provided under the forthcoming Major Conditions Strategy.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the value of quality assured secondary fracture prevention services, including fracture liaison services. NHS England is working with commissioners to support the mobilisation and implementation of Fracture Liaison Services in each area and establish a greater number of clinics. This includes NHS England’s Getting it Right First-Time programme, which has a specific workstream on musculoskeletal health, and through exploring how best to support integrated care systems in the diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis.
The forthcoming Major Conditions Strategy will set out a clear vision for musculoskeletal conditions, covering treatment and prevention, alongside other major conditions.
Asked by: Baroness Bull (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Lord Kamall on 22 November (HL Deb, col 586), what steps they are taking to integrate social prescribing into the core undergraduate curriculum within medical schools.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Each medical school in England sets its own undergraduate curriculum, which must meet the standards of the General Medical Council (GMC). Individual curricula may not identify specific conditions for doctors to be aware of, but the GMC would expect that, in fulfilling their standards, newly qualified doctors are able to identify, treat and manage any care needs, including where they might benefit from social prescribing.
The Department has supported the National Academy for Social Prescribing (NASP) to deliver its strategy to use social prescribing to connect people in local communities. With NHS England and NHS Improvement, the NASP has supported the Social Prescribing Student Champion Programme to deliver more than 750 teaching sessions across all United Kingdom medical schools and organise over 30 regional, national and international student conferences on social prescribing. In addition, the NASP has funded 22 studentships across England, enabling medical students to organise conferences, teaching sessions and contribute to research relating to social prescribing.
Asked by: Baroness Bull (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Lord Kamall on 22 November (HL Deb, col 586), whether support will be made available for musicians to train as music therapists (1) to increase the number of practitioners able to deliver music interventions for dementia patients, and (2) to meet the ambitions for social prescribing as set out in the NHS Long Term Plan.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Research suggests music can help people with dementia reduce the need for medication, address agitation and help people and their families cope better with symptoms. The Chief Social Worker’s office have worked with the charity Music for Dementia to raise awareness among social workers and social care workers, on embedding music therapy in personalised social care plans for people living with dementia and their carers. NHS England and NHS Improvement, in collaboration with the National Academy for Social Prescribing and Music for Dementia, facilitated a series of webinars on the topic of creative support and supported Music for Dementia to produce guidance on music prescriptions for social prescribing link workers. We will publish a new dementia strategy in 2022, which will explore the role of arts and music-based interventions.
Health Education England have promoted the allied health professions, including music therapists. This included a Career Changer campaign with a number of music therapists with a musician background. We are continuing to deploy social prescribing link workers across the
National Health Service and have exceeded the first target of 1,000 link workers by March 2021. As of September 2021, there were over 1,400 new link workers in place and we are working towards the target of at least 900,000 people referred to social prescribing by 2023/24.
Asked by: Baroness Bull (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Lord Kamall on 22 November (HL Deb, col 586), what cross-government steps they are taking to raise awareness among (1) carers, and (2) healthcare practitioners, of the value of music therapy and its application in the care of patients with dementia.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Research suggests music can help people with dementia reduce the need for medication, address agitation and help people and their families cope better with symptoms. The Chief Social Worker’s office have worked with the charity Music for Dementia to raise awareness among social workers and social care workers, on embedding music therapy in personalised social care plans for people living with dementia and their carers. NHS England and NHS Improvement, in collaboration with the National Academy for Social Prescribing and Music for Dementia, facilitated a series of webinars on the topic of creative support and supported Music for Dementia to produce guidance on music prescriptions for social prescribing link workers. We will publish a new dementia strategy in 2022, which will explore the role of arts and music-based interventions.
Health Education England have promoted the allied health professions, including music therapists. This included a Career Changer campaign with a number of music therapists with a musician background. We are continuing to deploy social prescribing link workers across the
National Health Service and have exceeded the first target of 1,000 link workers by March 2021. As of September 2021, there were over 1,400 new link workers in place and we are working towards the target of at least 900,000 people referred to social prescribing by 2023/24.
Asked by: Baroness Bull (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bethell on 21 May (HL18), what information, if any, is retained on requests for exemptions to the COVID-19 hotel quarantine system; if information is retained, how many such requests were made on medical grounds; and how many requests were (1) accepted, and (2) rejected.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Managed Quarantine Service securely retains all the exemption correspondence and associated data within internal Departmental system and fully complies with the relevant provisions of the UK General Data Protection Regulation. Personal data is retained for as long as necessary for the purposes it is needed.
Since February, approximately 60 cases have been granted exemptions from COVID-19 managed quarantine facilities on medical grounds. We do not hold data centrally on the number of unsuccessful exemption requests on medical grounds.
Asked by: Baroness Bull (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bethell on 21 May (HL18), whether (1) individuals, or (2) a panel, are responsible for assessing applications for medical exemptions from the COVID-19 hotel quarantine system, including the assessment of any supporting medical evidence; whether those responsible for assessing applications for medical exemptions hold any medical qualifications; and how those responsible for assessing applications are (a) recruited, and (b) remunerated.
Answered by Lord Bethell
To apply for a medical or compassionate exemption, a traveller should contact the Managed Quarantine Service at least 14 days before their travel date, with medical evidence to support their application. Evidence must be supplied from a healthcare professional, applying professional clinical judgement on the basis of past treatment and an assessment of whether it is possible for adequate care to be provided in a managed quarantine facility. This includes considering whether additional medical support could be provided by telephone, or by a family member joining an individual in quarantine. This will need to be assessed against the public health risk of variants of concern and conditions may be placed on any exemption.
Applications are considered by trained Departmental staff, following detailed procedures designed by public health professionals and are supported by medically qualified public health professionals. These individuals are recruited and remunerated according to standard civil service procedures.
Asked by: Baroness Bull (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the letter from the Minister of State for Patient Safety, Suicide Prevention and Mental Health to Baroness Bull on 18 June, what funding they have allocated to the new eating disorder study jointly led by King’s College London and Beat; and through which funding mechanism any such funding was provided.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The United Kingdom Eating Disorders Genetic Initiative (EDGI) is funded by the National Institute for Health Research’s (NIHR) Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre Maudsley BioResource for Mental Health. The NIHR has invested £6.5 million into their Mental Health Bioresource, BioResource for Translational Research and Biosample theme.
Asked by: Baroness Bull (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the benefits of sustaining PCR testing and sequencing at scale in universities as a means of identifying and understanding new variants; and what plans they have to fund support for such testing and sequencing.
Answered by Lord Bethell
No specific assessment has been made. The regular testing offered at universities is with lateral flow devices (LFDs) rather than polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests. In line with wider national policy, all positive LFD tests are followed by a confirmatory PCR test. The intention is for 100% of viable positive samples from PCR tests to be presented for sequencing to identify and understand new variants. PCR testing and sequencing are provided and funded by NHS Test and Trace.