Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the latest estimates from the Operational Delivery Networks, produced by NHS England, of the total number of people infected with Hepatitis C in England, broken down by disease state: (1) mild, (2) moderate, (3) cirrhotic, and (4) end stage.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
NHS England has advised that the information on infection rates and disease state is not available in the format requested. Most recent estimates suggest that around 160,000 people in England are living with chronic hepatitis C infection.
Over the past three years Operational Delivery Networks (ODNs) have delivered the mber of hepatitis C treatments as shown in the following table.
ODN |
|
|
|
| 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 |
North East and Cumbria | 250 | 395 | 620 |
Greater Manchester and Eastern Cheshire | 521 | 687 | 845 |
Cheshire and Merseyside | 252 | 347 | 585 |
South Yorkshire | 212 | 340 | 438 |
Humberside and North Yorkshire | 112 | 377 | 329 |
West Yorkshire | 328 | 445 | 584 |
Lancashire and South Cumbria | 134 | 330 | 343 |
Leicester | 133 | 255 | 265 |
Birmingham | 518 | 748 | 742 |
Nottingham | 268 | 383 | 470 |
Eastern Hepatitis Network | 333 | 586 | 706 |
West London | 554 | 562 | 757 |
North Central London Viral Hepatitis Network | 421 | 730 | 865 |
Barts | 299 | 494 | 667 |
South Thames Hepatitis Network | 557 | 870 | 1,068 |
Surrey Hepatitis Services | 91 | 154 | 174 |
Sussex Hepatology Network | 165 | 241 | 274 |
Thames Valley | 221 | 347 | 425 |
Wessex | 270 | 341 | 412 |
Bristol and Severn | 203 | 326 | 419 |
South West Peninsula | 189 | 328 | 394 |
Kent Network via Kings | - | 154 | 175 |
Note:
Kent Network was not active in 2015/16 hence no treatments were recorded.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will publish the data recorded in the National Hepatitis C register referred to in the NHS press release of 29 January, which set out plans for England to be the first in the world to eliminate the disease.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The National Hepatitis C Patient Registry was established in 2017 to record and monitor treatment uptake, outcomes and increased diagnosis rates in real time. To date, NHS England has only been able to publish data on the number of treatments successfully delivered; this shows that nationally 9,440 treatments were delivered in England in 2016/17 against a target of 10,000.
While NHS England provides information on treatment numbers for inclusion in the Public Health England annual surveillance report, it does not intend to publish registry data separately because the data contains confidential patient information.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress the Operational Delivery Networks have made against the Hepatitis C 2020 Impact Targets set out in the World Health Organisation’s Global health sector strategy on viral hepatitis 2016–21 and Appendix 1 of the Hepatitis C in England 2017 report.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The 2020 impact targets set out in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Health Sector Strategy on viral hepatitis 2016- 1 and Appendix 1 of the Hepatitis C in England 2017 report focus on reducing the number of new cases of chronic viral hepatitis C infection and mortality rates.
A summary of progress towards achieving the WHO elimination goal was published in 2017 in Public Health England’s (PHE) report Hepatitis C in the UK 2017 report: Working to eliminate hepatitis C as a major public health threat. Further progress for England only was recently published by PHE in Hepatitis C in England 2018 report: Working to eliminate heptatis C as a major public health threat. Copies of these reports are attached.
These progress reports have shown that the United Kingdom is on target to meet the WHO interim goal of reducing hepatitis C mortality by 10% by 2020. Better access to improved treatment and prioritising patients with highest unmet clinical need has led to the first fall in deaths from severe hepatitis C related liver disease in a decade.
Assessing the impact Operational Delivery Networks directly have on the incidence of infection is a challenge as this is difficult to measure. Most proxy indicators of incidence suggest that that numbers of new hepatitis C cases have remained relatively stable over recent years.
Successful delivery of treatments, alongside the contributions of other public health services such as needle exchange and opioid substitution services, will have an effect on incidence. Ongoing monitoring of trends of identification of new cases, and of overall annual prevalence, will continue to be important.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the latest estimates of the number of people diagnosed as infected with Hepatitis C in each of the last three years, broken down by Operational Delivery Network; and how many of those people have received treatment, broken down by Operational Delivery Network.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The information on infection rates is not available in the format requested. Most recent estimates suggest that around 160,000 people in England are living with chronic hepatitis C infection, of which a substantial proportion are thought to be undiagnosed or diagnosed but not engaged in specialist care. We do not currently have these figures broken down by Operational Delivery Network (ODN) but Public Health England is preparing updated estimates of hepatitis C prevalence and disease burden at the sub-national level, due to be published in 2018.
Over the past three years ODNs have delivered the following number of hepatitis C treatments.
Number of hepatitis C treatments by ODN
ODN |
|
|
|
| 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 |
North East and Cumbria | 250 | 395 | 620 |
Greater Manchester and Eastern Cheshire | 521 | 687 | 845 |
Cheshire and Merseyside | 252 | 347 | 585 |
South Yorkshire | 212 | 340 | 438 |
Humberside and North Yorkshire | 112 | 377 | 329 |
West Yorkshire | 328 | 445 | 584 |
Lancashire and South Cumbria | 134 | 330 | 343 |
Leicester | 133 | 255 | 265 |
Birmingham | 518 | 748 | 742 |
Nottingham | 268 | 383 | 470 |
Eastern Hepatitis Network | 333 | 586 | 706 |
West London | 554 | 562 | 757 |
North Central London Viral Hepatitis Network | 421 | 730 | 865 |
Barts | 299 | 494 | 667 |
South Thames Hepatitis Network | 557 | 870 | 1,068 |
Surrey Hepatitis Services | 91 | 154 | 174 |
Sussex Hepatology Network | 165 | 241 | 274 |
Thames Valley | 221 | 347 | 425 |
Wessex | 270 | 341 | 412 |
Bristol and Severn | 203 | 326 | 419 |
South West Peninsula | 189 | 328 | 394 |
Kent Network via Kings | - | 154 | 175 |
Note:
Kent Network was not active in 2015/16 hence no treatments were recorded.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the latest NHS England estimates of the total number of people infected with the Hepatitis C virus within each Operational Delivery Network.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The information on infection rates is not available in the format requested. Most recent estimates suggest that around 160,000 people in England are living with chronic hepatitis C infection, of which a substantial proportion are thought to be undiagnosed or diagnosed but not engaged in specialist care. We do not currently have these figures broken down by Operational Delivery Network (ODN) but Public Health England is preparing updated estimates of hepatitis C prevalence and disease burden at the sub-national level, due to be published in 2018.
Over the past three years ODNs have delivered the following number of hepatitis C treatments.
Number of hepatitis C treatments by ODN
ODN |
|
|
|
| 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 |
North East and Cumbria | 250 | 395 | 620 |
Greater Manchester and Eastern Cheshire | 521 | 687 | 845 |
Cheshire and Merseyside | 252 | 347 | 585 |
South Yorkshire | 212 | 340 | 438 |
Humberside and North Yorkshire | 112 | 377 | 329 |
West Yorkshire | 328 | 445 | 584 |
Lancashire and South Cumbria | 134 | 330 | 343 |
Leicester | 133 | 255 | 265 |
Birmingham | 518 | 748 | 742 |
Nottingham | 268 | 383 | 470 |
Eastern Hepatitis Network | 333 | 586 | 706 |
West London | 554 | 562 | 757 |
North Central London Viral Hepatitis Network | 421 | 730 | 865 |
Barts | 299 | 494 | 667 |
South Thames Hepatitis Network | 557 | 870 | 1,068 |
Surrey Hepatitis Services | 91 | 154 | 174 |
Sussex Hepatology Network | 165 | 241 | 274 |
Thames Valley | 221 | 347 | 425 |
Wessex | 270 | 341 | 412 |
Bristol and Severn | 203 | 326 | 419 |
South West Peninsula | 189 | 328 | 394 |
Kent Network via Kings | - | 154 | 175 |
Note:
Kent Network was not active in 2015/16 hence no treatments were recorded.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address the financial cost to society of (1) alcohol misuse, (2) obesity, and (3) viral hepatitis.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Government wants everyone to be able to make healthier choices, regardless of their circumstances, and to minimise the risk and impact of illness. A range of action is being taken to do this, in particular across the three areas identified.
To tackle alcohol misuse we are preventing below cost selling, tightening the rules on irresponsible promotions and introducing new powers to deal with anti-social behaviour. Local authorities are supported by Public Health England (PHE) in the commissioning of high quality, evidence based treatment services for their local populations’ needs.
In addition, the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers have produced new low risk drinking guidelines which provide the public with the latest information about the health risks of different levels and patterns of drinking. The guidelines enable people to make informed choices about their drinking.
Tackling childhood obesity is a priority for this Government. We launched Childhood Obesity: A Plan for Action in August 2016. Our world-leading plan will help children and families to recognise and make healthier choices and be more active. Many of the key commitments in our plan will have an impact on tackling obesity across all age groups. These include the soft drinks industry levy and sugar reduction programme, which will reduce the amount of sugar we all consume. A copy of Childhood Obesity: A Plan for Action is attached.
The National Strategic Group on Viral Hepatitis is a PHE-supported, cross-agency expert group on viral hepatitis with external membership from academia, NHS England, local government, clinical commissioning groups, patient representative groups and other organisations, to provide strategic direction and advice around viral hepatitis. The strategy group aims to help reduce the incidence, prevalence and consequences of infection from the viral hepatitides in England.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve the detection of hepatitis B and hepatitis C.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines are available to help raise awareness of, and testing for, hepatitis B and C infection in people at increased risk of infection. Screening for hepatitis B and C is recommended in groups who are at increased risk of infection so that diagnosed individuals can be referred for specialist care and management. NICE has also produced best practice guidance on hepatitis B antenatal screening and the new-born immunisation programme.
NHS England commissions the infectious diseases in pregnancy screening programme, including the screening for hepatitis B, as of part of the maternity pathway. In addition and as part of health services commissioned for those in detained settings, NHS England is rolling out an ambitious Opt-Out Blood Borne Viruses (BBV) testing programme. The key aim is to improve uptake rates for hepatitis B and hepatitis C testing by the introduction of good practice for ‘meaningful offer’ of BBV testing across the adult prison estate by end of 2017-18.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Lord O'Shaughnessy on 17 July (HL530), what support they are giving to Operational Delivery Networks which did not achieve their run rates in the period 2016–17 to meet those targets in the future.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
In 2016-17, Operational Delivery Networks achieved 94% of the planned treatment run rate of 10,000 patients, with all but two treating over 90% of their run rate. NHS England has a Commissioning for Quality and Innovation scheme in place for hepatitis C virus (HCV), which provides a substantial opportunity for hospitals to earn additional income available to invest in their contribution to the sustainable rollout of HCV treatments. NHS England also invested £1 million in fibroscanning equipment to identify patients at the highest unmet clinical need. Clinical and commissioning support is provided at regional and national level to share best practice.