Asked by: Baroness Stroud (Conservative - 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 23 April (HL14837) in which he said that the Department of Health and Social Care had made "no assessment" of the ability to screen for ectopic pregnancies via telemedicine abortion services, how they are ensuring that the clinical guidance set by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists is sufficient to prevent ectopic pregnancies from going undiagnosed.
Answered by Lord Bethell
It is the role of clinical experts such as the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists to set clinical practice and ensure that it includes appropriate guidance on identification of ectopic pregnancies.
Asked by: Baroness Stroud (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the ability to screen for ectopic pregnancies via telemedicine abortion services.
Answered by Lord Bethell
No assessment has been made. The Department does not set clinical practice. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has issued clinical guidelines Coronavirus (COVID-19) infection and abortion care: Information for healthcare professionals. A copy is attached. The guidance sets out that taking a history and a symptom-based approach, with an ultrasound if indicated, is consistent with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guidance on the diagnosis and management of ectopic pregnancy. The Royal College’s guidance includes a decision aid for clinicians to use to help determine if an ultra-sound scan is required.
Asked by: Baroness Stroud (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Social Care on 16 February (151601 and 150684), what consideration the Human Tissue Authority gave to the ethics of the home use of abortion pills, approved in March 2020; and what assessment that Authority has made of the impact of at home abortions on (a) sewage and (b) non-recyclable waste systems.
Answered by Lord Bethell
It is not within the Human Tissue Authority’s remit to consider the ethics of the home use of abortion pills or to make any assessment of the impact on sewage and non-recyclable waste systems.
Asked by: Baroness Stroud (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any national triage system has been put in place in hospitals for the upcoming winter period; if so, (1) what are the criteria of that system, (2) what guidance they have circulated to hospitals about that system, and (3) whether any such guidance states that all patients should be triaged based on care need rather than age.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The National Health Service has repeatedly instructed staff that no patient who could benefit from treatment should be denied it. Clinicians are focused on assessing the individual needs of patients and providing the care that will benefit them best.
When issuing guidance on restoration of non-COVID-19 health services, NHS England instructed providers to make full use of available capacity whilst protecting the most vulnerable. Furthermore, throughout the pandemic, public health measures have protected our most vulnerable patients. For example, we have ensured care home residents and staff are protected, including testing all residents and staff, ring-fencing £1.1 billion for infection control and making a further £4.6 billion available to councils to address pressures caused by the pandemic.
Asked by: Baroness Stroud (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that a triage tool has been used to deny elderly patients access to intensive care during the COVID-19 pandemic; and what guidance, if any, they circulated to hospitals about the use of any such tool.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Claims that frail and elderly patients were denied care in wave one of the coronavirus pandemic, in part because of a triage tool which was developed for use if the National Health Service was overwhelmed, are categorically untrue. Guidance to help clinicians make rational, evidence-based decisions in the event of intensive care units being overwhelmed was commissioned by NHS England’s National Medical Director and the four United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers but work was halted when it became clear the NHS would not be overwhelmed.
Asked by: Baroness Stroud (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential impact of the national rollout of Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing on the prevalence of sex-selective abortion; and what plans they have to suspend the rollout of that scheme until they have carried out a review of that potential impact.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The United Kingdom National Screening Committee’s (UK NSC) recommendation on the use of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT), is as a contingent test in the National Health Service Fetal Anomaly Screening Programme for Down’s syndrome, Edward’s syndrome and Patau’s syndrome only.
NIPT has not been recommended for the use of any other genetic marker, including sex.
There are no plans to suspend the rollout of the NIPT screening programme. NIPT will be introduced as an ‘evaluative roll out’. This means the programme will be able to monitor how the introduction of NIPT is working at each stage of the roll out and make any changes to the pathway and screening processes quickly and effectively. The UK NSC will be kept informed about progress with the evaluation.
Asked by: Baroness Stroud (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Bethell on 15 July (HL Deb, col 2028) that they intend to keep measures, and regulations introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic under constant review, what plans they have to review the (1) physical, and (2) psychological, impact of the temporary introduction of at-home use of early medical abortion pills.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Department is carefully monitoring the impact of and compliance with the temporary approval of home administration of both sets of abortion medication during the COVID-19 pandemic. Officials have regular meetings with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Care Quality Commission and abortion service providers. The Government has committed to undertake a public consultation on making permanent the COVID-19 measure allowing for home use of both pills for early medical abortion up to 10 weeks gestation for all eligible women. The current COVID-19 measure will be kept in place until the public consultation concludes and a decision has been made. Work to develop the consultation will begin soon and further details will be available in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Stroud (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to remarks by Lord Bethell on 15 June (HL Deb, col 2028), when these reviews took place; what opportunities there were for external input into these reviews; and what conclusions they reached regarding the need to maintain the approval of women’s homes as a class of place where pills can be taken for early medical abortion.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Department is carefully monitoring the impact of and compliance with the temporary approval of home administration of both sets of abortion medication during the COVID-19 pandemic. Officials have regular meetings with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Care Quality Commission and abortion service providers to discuss the impact and any issues arising. The Department is keeping under review when the temporary approval will be removed.
Asked by: Baroness Stroud (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what investigation they have made, if any, of reports of misadministration of the abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol from a telemedicine appointment during the COVID-19 pandemic leading to the death of an unborn child at 28 weeks; and how many other cases of such misadministration they are aware of.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Public safety and continued access to key services is our priority during this difficult period. We are monitoring the impact of the temporary approval to approve women’s homes as a class of place where both sets of medication for early medical abortion can be taken. We are aware that a small number of incidents have been identified which the Department is looking into working alongside the Care Quality Commission and others.
Asked by: Baroness Stroud (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many sets of pills for early medical abortions at home have been distributed; and what assessment they have made of the number of early medical abortions that have been carried out at home.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Abortion data is published annually and data for 2020 is not due to be published until 2021. The data requires full quality assurance prior to release. The Code of Practice outlined in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 prohibits the pre-release of official statistics before the due date of publication.