Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to introduce comprehensive diagnostic and outcome data collection on outpatient appointments within the NHS.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Detailed information is collected and published on diagnostic and outpatient appointments. These data sets include Hospital Episode Statistics, Diagnostic Waiting Times and Activity, and Diagnostic Imaging Dataset.
We are working to improve the range of data we collect on diagnostic activity to support the delivery of the Sir Mike Richards Review, Diagnostics: Recovery and Renewal.
We are also working to improve outcome data collection for outpatient appointments, and from April 2022, a new facility will be available in outpatient data collection, which will report on the ‘latest Clinically Appropriate Date’ by which the patient should next be seen or reviewed.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that homeless people without access to GP services receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recognises that many people who are homeless or sleeping rough are likely to have underlying health conditions which would place them in priority group six. These conditions are likely to be under-diagnosed or not properly reflected in general practitioner (GP) records. The JCVI has advised that homeless people without access to GP services should be offered the vaccine without the need for a National Health Service number or GP registration.
There is work being undertaken to update our operational guidance on reaching rough sleepers and homeless people based on this recent JCVI advice. The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government are working closely with NHS England and NHS Improvement to support outreach, and further work is being done to explore the availability of effective on-street models which could be used to support this work. Local teams are now prioritising all homeless people for vaccination alongside priority group six.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many homeless people have been admitted to hospital with COVID-19 in England.
Answered by Lord Bethell
This information is not held in the format requested. NHS Digital collects data on an admission, not individual, basis therefore an individual may be recorded more than once.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many new HIV infections have been recorded in each of the last ten years, broken down by age group; and what proportion of those infections were a clinical late diagnosis.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The number of HIV diagnoses in the United Kingdom and the proportion made at late stage of infection by age group for the past 10 years are presented in the national HIV tables which are attached due to the size of the data.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure equitable access to sexual health services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Sexual and reproductive health services are open during the COVID-19 pandemic though some are temporarily reducing their face-to-face appointments and may only be able to see emergency or urgent cases in person. The Department and Public Health England (PHE) are working with local commissioners, the National Health Service and professional bodies including the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare, to discuss emerging issues on sexual and reproductive services, including contraception, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
PHE is also establishing a national framework for online sexual and reproductive health services that local areas can choose to commission for their residents. Information for the public on how to access contraception, emergency contraception, abortion, sexually transmitted infections, HIV and sexual assault during COVID-19 is online at the Sexwise and the NHS websites. This includes links to other organisations providing information and support.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the upcoming National Sexual and Reproductive Health Strategy will tackle sexual health inequalities experienced by (1) BAME communities, (2) trans and non-binary, including gender diverse, people, (3) gay and bisexual men and women, and (4) people living in poverty.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The development of the national sexual health and reproductive health strategy was paused during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now that we are moving forward with the Government’s COVID-19 recovery strategy, work on the strategy will be restarting shortly. We will consider issues around inequalities, tackling stigma and discrimination and other relevant issues as part of the strategy development.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to provide an update on plans to support HIV testing initiatives across England; and if so, when.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Public Health England (PHE) supports HIV testing initiatives across England through its national programmes where appropriate.
PHE has committed to supporting the 56 Dean Street Breaking the Chain campaign via HIV Prevention England, the national HIV Prevention Programme and the national HIV self-sampling service. From 5 June 2020, residents of all local authorities in England can order a free self-sampling kit through the national HIV self-sampling service. PHE has committed to paying for 7,000 HIV tests, including syphilis opt-out testing, throughout the promotional period.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have been made of the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of people living with HIV across the UK; and what support is being provided to those individuals.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Government and the National Health Service recognise that the mental health impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak on some people living with long term conditions like HIV can be significant.
Mental health services across England have remained open for business throughout the pandemic and mental health providers have been working hard to ensure that all those who need them have access to mental health services. This includes instructing mental health trusts to establish all-age 24 hours a day, seven days a week crisis helplines and issuing guidance to trusts on staff training, prioritisation of services and how to maximise use of digital and virtual channels to keep delivering support to patients.
In addition, the ‘Every Mind Matters’ online resource provides advice and practical tips to help look after mental health and wellbeing. It has now seen 3.8 million visits and over 380,000 additional completions of mind plans to improve wellbeing and mental health since the introduction of social distancing.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Bethell on 24 February (HL Deb, cols 2–3), what the expected increase in the preventative health budget will be; how much of that will directly benefit sexual health services; what steps they are taking to put innovation at the centre of the sexual health strategy; and what assessment they have made of the pressures on the sexual health workforce arising from the increasing prevalence of sexual transmitted infections.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The 2019 Spending Round provided a real terms increase in the public health grant to local authorities. This is in addition to the funding the National Health Service provides for preventative services. Local authorities in England are mandated to provide comprehensive open access sexual health services. It is for individual local authorities to decide their spending priorities based on an assessment of local need, including the need for sexual health services taking account of their statutory duties.
Work on the development of a new national sexual and reproductive health strategy is underway. Initial engagement has already taken place and we are considering suggestions for priority areas for the new strategy we received through the Green Paper Advancing our health: prevention in the 2020s. Details of the strategy’s scope and objectives will be announced in due course.
The Department has not made a specific assessment of the pressures on the sexual health workforce arising from increasing prevalence of sexually transmitted infections.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to combat the growth of drug-resistant sexually transmitted infections.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Of all bacterial sexually transmitted infections, antimicrobial resistance is primarily a concern for gonorrhoea and Mycoplasma genitalium.
Public Health England (PHE) undertakes comprehensive surveillance through the Gonococcal Resistance to Antimicrobials Surveillance Programme. This surveillance programme enables early detection and management of antibiotic resistance in gonorrhoea. This intelligence is used to advise on national gonorrhoea treatment guidelines to ensure they remain effective.
PHE offers a service to detect antibiotic resistance in Mycoplasma genitalium which can help clinicians give the most appropriate treatment to patients. PHE is conducting a pilot of surveillance of antimicrobial resistance in Mycoplasma genitalium in collaboration with several sexual health clinics across England.
PHE also investigates both outbreaks and individual cases of extensively drug resistant gonorrhoea and potential treatment failures for gonorrhoea to ensure effective management and control spread.