Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 4 December (HL12450), what timetable has been set for the completion of the review by NHS England of the issues raised by the Health Services Safety Investigations Body regarding electronic patient records, and the implementation of the safety standards and best practices that arise from that review.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England is not currently doing a review of the issues raised by Health Services Safety Investigations Body regarding electronic patient records. NHS England will not manage the timetable for implementation of safety standards and best practices, as this falls to trusts, each of whom have their own statutory duty to deliver safe care.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 1 December (HL12276), how many Yellow Card reports of tinnitus (Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities code 10043882), broken down by the medications to which they were linked, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency received in each year since 2014.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for ensuring medicines, medical devices, and blood components for transfusion meet applicable standards of safety, quality, and efficacy. The MHRA rigorously assesses available data, including from the Yellow Card scheme, and seeks advice from the Commission on Human Medicines, the MHRA’s independent advisory committee, where appropriate, to inform regulatory decisions, including amending the product information.

The MHRA has received a total of 11,348 United Kingdom reports through the Yellow Card scheme associated with reaction term tinnitus, including worsening of tinnitus, from 1 January 2014 up to and including 27 November 2025. The table in the document attached provides a yearly breakdown of reports associated with tinnitus. It also provides a yearly breakdown of reports received by the substance associated with tinnitus. Please note that each report may list more than one suspect drug. Therefore, the total number of reports received cannot be accurately derived from the figures presented in the table in the attached document. The following table shows a yearly breakdown of reports associated with tinnitus received from 1 January 2014 up to and including 27 November 2025:

It is important to note that anyone can report to the MHRA’s Yellow Card scheme and the recording of these reports in the Yellow Card database does not necessarily mean that the adverse reactions have been caused by the suspect drug. Many factors must be considered in assessing causal relationships, including temporal association, the possible contribution of concomitant medication, and the underlying disease. We encourage reporters to report suspected adverse reaction reports, and the reporter does not have to be sure of a causal association between the drug and the reactions, as a suspicion will suffice.

The number of reports received cannot be used as a basis for determining the incidence of a reaction, as neither the total number of reactions occurring, nor the number of patients using the drug, is known.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 4 December (HL12450), what specific dataset was used to support the analysis that "highly digitised trusts" have a 17.5 per cent reduction in sepsis mortality; and how many NHS trusts were included in the calculation of that figure.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The modelling of sepsis mortality used the Hospital Episode Statistics Admitted Patient Care dataset, using the episode level version of this dataset to ensure maximum accuracy in identifying inpatient activity related to sepsis.

The research includes nine National Health Service trusts and foundation trusts in England which implemented an enterprise level electronic patient record (EPR) system, where the EPR system was rolled out throughout the whole provider at the point of implementation. A further eight providers are included in the same model as controls, as these are providers without an EPR system at the time of the analysis.

A digitally mature trust was defined as an acute provider in the top decile of digitisation index based on the Digital Maturity Assessment 2016/17.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 4 December (HL12450), how they have defined a "highly digitised trust".

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The modelling of sepsis mortality used the Hospital Episode Statistics Admitted Patient Care dataset, using the episode level version of this dataset to ensure maximum accuracy in identifying inpatient activity related to sepsis.

The research includes nine National Health Service trusts and foundation trusts in England which implemented an enterprise level electronic patient record (EPR) system, where the EPR system was rolled out throughout the whole provider at the point of implementation. A further eight providers are included in the same model as controls, as these are providers without an EPR system at the time of the analysis.

A digitally mature trust was defined as an acute provider in the top decile of digitisation index based on the Digital Maturity Assessment 2016/17.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 18 November (HL11736), whether they plan to provide no budget to enact recommendations from the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group until after the merger of NHS England with the Department of Health and Social Care.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department recognises the important role that NHS England’s clinical policy development process plays in determining routine commissioning decisions on new specialised services, treatments, and interventions, which have not been reviewed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

We are carefully assessing NHS England’s functions as part of the process of merging NHS England with the Department. The outcome of these ongoing assessments will be made at the earliest opportunity, and we remain committed to progressing this reform at pace, subject to legislation and the will of Parliament.

Until such a time that NHS England is being abolished, Clinical Priorities Advisory Group recommendations are being enacted under the current rules and criteria.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 27 November (HL11874), whether the forthcoming 10 Year Workforce Plan will set out specific forecasts for the number of staff the NHS needs over those 10 years; whether they will publish the assumptions used to produce that plan; and whether the National Audit Office will make an assessment of that plan.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it. It will include modelling of the potential size and shape of the future workforce and implications for major professions.

The updated workforce modelling, and its underlying assumptions, will be set out in and alongside the plan when published in spring 2026. It will be supported by external independent scrutiny. A decision on whether the National Audit Office will be asked to make an assessment of the plan has not yet been made.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 7 November (HL11405), what monitoring processes are in place to ensure that the national sample handling guidance for the whole genome sequencing of solid tumours is being implemented fully.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The performance of the NHS Genomic Medicine Service is monitored quarterly through an assurance framework, which ensures all seven NHS Genomic Laboratory Hubs are operating to national quality standards. This identifies and minimises any potential variation and ensures consistent delivery of the criteria outlined in the National Genomic Test Directory.

Found: Letter from Baroness Merron to Baroness Smith regarding devolution, clauses subject to a Legislative

Found: Baroness Merron, Minister for Mental Health, said: It has been a privilege to guide this landmark Bill

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Found: Nil Return Nil Return Stephen Kinnock Nil Return Nil Return Nil Return Nil Return Nil Return Baroness Merron

Found: Nil Return Stephen Kinnock Nil Return Nil Return Nil Return Nil Return Nil Return Nil Return Baroness Merron