Asked by: Baroness Golding (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce the number of pharmacies closing permanently.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made of any shortfall in community pharmacy funding. The Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework commits £2.592 billion a year to fund the provision of National Health Service pharmaceutical services in England. In September 2022 we made an additional £100 million one-off investment to fund the increase in clinical services delivery by the sector. In May 2023, as part of the Delivery Plan for Recovering Access to Primary Care we committed to a further investment of up to £645 million to support a Pharmacy First service which will include expanded treatment options for seven common conditions, including earache, sore throat and urinary tract infection, and more blood pressure checks and oral contraception consultations in community pharmacy.
Pharmacy openings and closures in England are published by NHS Business Services Authority. Between 31 December 2022 and 30 June 2023, the number of pharmacies reduced by 222. This reduction is mainly driven by the large multiples reducing their portfolios. To address the disproportionately high rate of closures of 100-hour pharmacies, legislation was amended in April to allow those pharmacies to reduce their hours to a minimum of 72. The Department is monitoring the market, and access to pharmaceutical services remains good, with 80% of people in England living within 20 minutes walking distance of a community pharmacy and twice as many pharmacies in the more deprived areas.
Asked by: Baroness Golding (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of any shortfall in funding affecting pharmacies in England for each year between 2015 and 2023.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made of any shortfall in community pharmacy funding. The Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework commits £2.592 billion a year to fund the provision of National Health Service pharmaceutical services in England. In September 2022 we made an additional £100 million one-off investment to fund the increase in clinical services delivery by the sector. In May 2023, as part of the Delivery Plan for Recovering Access to Primary Care we committed to a further investment of up to £645 million to support a Pharmacy First service which will include expanded treatment options for seven common conditions, including earache, sore throat and urinary tract infection, and more blood pressure checks and oral contraception consultations in community pharmacy.
Pharmacy openings and closures in England are published by NHS Business Services Authority. Between 31 December 2022 and 30 June 2023, the number of pharmacies reduced by 222. This reduction is mainly driven by the large multiples reducing their portfolios. To address the disproportionately high rate of closures of 100-hour pharmacies, legislation was amended in April to allow those pharmacies to reduce their hours to a minimum of 72. The Department is monitoring the market, and access to pharmaceutical services remains good, with 80% of people in England living within 20 minutes walking distance of a community pharmacy and twice as many pharmacies in the more deprived areas.
Asked by: Baroness Golding (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 trends behind the number of pharmacy closures this year.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made of any shortfall in community pharmacy funding. The Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework commits £2.592 billion a year to fund the provision of National Health Service pharmaceutical services in England. In September 2022 we made an additional £100 million one-off investment to fund the increase in clinical services delivery by the sector. In May 2023, as part of the Delivery Plan for Recovering Access to Primary Care we committed to a further investment of up to £645 million to support a Pharmacy First service which will include expanded treatment options for seven common conditions, including earache, sore throat and urinary tract infection, and more blood pressure checks and oral contraception consultations in community pharmacy.
Pharmacy openings and closures in England are published by NHS Business Services Authority. Between 31 December 2022 and 30 June 2023, the number of pharmacies reduced by 222. This reduction is mainly driven by the large multiples reducing their portfolios. To address the disproportionately high rate of closures of 100-hour pharmacies, legislation was amended in April to allow those pharmacies to reduce their hours to a minimum of 72. The Department is monitoring the market, and access to pharmaceutical services remains good, with 80% of people in England living within 20 minutes walking distance of a community pharmacy and twice as many pharmacies in the more deprived areas.
Asked by: Baroness Golding (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have for the funding of MRI treatment of essential tremor following the recommendation by NICE for its use.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published interventional procedure (IP) guidance on the use of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)-guided focused ultrasound as a treatment for essential tremor in June 2018. A copy of Unilateral MRI-guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy for treatment-resistant essential tremor is attached.
NICE concluded that the evidence on the safety of unilateral MRI-guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy for treatment-resistant essential tremor raises no major safety concerns. However, current evidence on its efficacy is limited in quantity. Therefore, this procedure should not be used unless there are special arrangements for clinical governance, consent, and audit or research.
IP guidance looks at procedures used for diagnosis or treatment. It considers if they are safe and work well enough for wider use in the National Health Service. Whilst compliance with IP guidance is not mandatory, it is considered best clinical practice for the NHS to take it into account.
Asked by: Baroness Golding (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the Secretary of State will announce progress on the regulation of Sonographers to provide for statutory protection of title.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
There are no plans to regulate sonographers on a statutory basis.
Asked by: Baroness Golding (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress has been made to secure trade agreements to ensure the security of supply of medical radioisotopes following Brexit.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The United Kingdom already has robust, domestic regimes in place for the safety, security, transport, use and disposal of nuclear and radioactive materials – including medical radioisotopes – throughout their lifecycle. These regimes will remain in place when Euratom arrangements no longer apply in the UK, ensuring we exit with certainty, clarity and control.
The Government is continuing to prepare for all European Union exit scenarios and is confident that we will be able to continue to provide a seamless supply of medicines, including medical radioisotopes, to National Health Service patients from the moment we leave the EU.
Asked by: Baroness Golding (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of physiotherapists and podiatrists being trained as independent prescribers, what progress is being made to extend prescribing to include other groups of allied health professionals.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
NHS England is working closely with the relevant professional bodies and the Department to keep the case for any further expansion of prescribing responsibilities for the allied health professions under review.