Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that self-referral to community audiology services is widely available across England.

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

Community audiology services are commissioned by integrated care boards (ICBs). The priorities and operational planning guidance states that systems are expected to put in place self-referral routes to community audiology services.

To raise awareness of self-referral to audiology services, NHS England is adding information on the relevant condition specific pages on the NHS.UK website. ICBs are responsible for ensuring that patients have the information they need to make decisions about their care, including if they have the option to self-refer to locally commissioned services.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they are having with integrated care boards about commissioning community audiology services in all areas in England.

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

Community audiology services are commissioned by integrated care boards (ICBs). The priorities and operational planning guidance states that systems are expected to put in place self-referral routes to community audiology services.

To raise awareness of self-referral to audiology services, NHS England is adding information on the relevant condition specific pages on the NHS.UK website. ICBs are responsible for ensuring that patients have the information they need to make decisions about their care, including if they have the option to self-refer to locally commissioned services.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that patients are aware that they are able to self-refer to community audiology services.

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

Community audiology services are commissioned by integrated care boards (ICBs). The priorities and operational planning guidance states that systems are expected to put in place self-referral routes to community audiology services.

To raise awareness of self-referral to audiology services, NHS England is adding information on the relevant condition specific pages on the NHS.UK website. ICBs are responsible for ensuring that patients have the information they need to make decisions about their care, including if they have the option to self-refer to locally commissioned services.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they are having with integrated care boards to ensure community-based glaucoma services are commissioned in all areas of England.

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

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for assessing the health needs of their local population, and for commissioning primary and secondary eye care services to meet them. Arrangements to meet local needs will differ across ICB geographies and could include commissioning community-based glaucoma services.

The Getting It Right First Time programme is currently developing best practice guidance for glaucoma services to support the adoption of high standards across the pathway, from detection onwards.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure community-based glaucoma services are available in every region in England.

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

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for assessing the health needs of their local population, and for commissioning primary and secondary eye care services to meet them. Arrangements to meet local needs will differ across ICB geographies and could include commissioning community-based glaucoma services.

The Getting It Right First Time programme is currently developing best practice guidance for glaucoma services to support the adoption of high standards across the pathway, from detection onwards.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what opportunities they have identified in the NHS 10 Year Plan for the expansion of the NHS Genomic Medicine Service in relation to diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

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

The 10-Year Health Plan sets out how we will shift from sickness to prevention. As part of this, we will harness the combination of genomics, predictive analytics, and artificial intelligence to usher in a new era for secondary prevention. The National Health Service, in partnership with Our Future Health, will trial the use of Integrated Risk Scores, which combine genomic, lifestyle, and health data, within the newly announced neighbourhood health services. Initially focused on cardiovascular disease and diabetes, the programme will expand to includes breast, bowel, and prostate cancer, with other diseases such as glaucoma, osteoporosis, and dementia under consideration. This marks a major step toward routine genetic testing in preventive care, enabling earlier and more personalised interventions.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish the planned timeline for widening access to genetic risk assessment and genomic testing for cardiovascular and metabolic conditions; and if so, when.

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

The 10-Year Health Plan included a commitment to begin implementing Integrated Risk Scores that bring together polygenic risk scores and other non-biological risk factors. NHS England, in partnership with Our Future Health and clinical experts, will carry out a three year service evaluation from 2026/27.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to integrate multi-condition genetic risk scoring for high-impact conditions into the NHS prevention framework in order to achieve measurable reductions in disease prevalence and healthcare costs.

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

The National Health Service, in partnership with Our Future Health, will trial the use of Integrated Risk Scores, which combine genomic, lifestyle, and health data, within the newly announced neighbourhood health services. Initially focused on cardiovascular disease and diabetes, the programme will expand to includes breast, bowel, and prostate cancer, with other diseases such as glaucoma, osteoporosis, and dementia under consideration. This marks a major step toward routine genetic testing in preventive care, enabling earlier and more personalised interventions.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what specific actions and policies they are considering to help families with genetic risk profiles across chronic conditions, such as type 1 and type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, to be proactive in managing their conditions.

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

The National Health Service, in partnership with Our Future Health, will trial the use of Integrated Risk Scores, which combine genomic, lifestyle, and health data, within the newly announced neighbourhood health services. Initially focused on cardiovascular disease and diabetes, the programme will expand to includes breast, bowel, and prostate cancer, with other diseases such as glaucoma, osteoporosis, and dementia under consideration. This marks a major step toward routine genetic testing in preventive care, enabling earlier and more personalised interventions.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to position the United Kingdom as a global leader in the use of newborn genetic screening data to support earlier detection and prevention of conditions, including diabetes, neurological disorders and rare genetic diseases.

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

As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, the Government has an ambition to offer newborn genomic testing as part of routine National Health Service care within the next decade. The Generation Study is developing evidence to inform this ambition, by evaluating the effectiveness of using whole genome sequencing to test 100,000 newborns for over 200 genetic conditions. Positive results are only returned where there is robust evidence that a treatable condition is likely to develop within the first five years of life. There are no plans to screen for conditions that appear later in life or remain asymptomatic. By summer 2027, 100,000 newborns will have had their whole genomes sequenced. The evaluation part of the study will then be completed and presented to the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC). Subject to the study’s evaluation, the UK NSC’s advice, and the appropriate funding, genomic testing could be available for all newborns in the United Kingdom by 2035.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many yellow card reports of increased sexual arousal (Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities code 10021679) the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency received each year since 2014, and what medications those reports were tied to.

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

A total of 52 reports that describe increased sexual arousal suspected to be associated with the use of medicines or vaccines have been received through the Yellow Card scheme. The reports were received between 2014 and 2025 for a wide range of medicinal products which include antidepressants, hormonal medicines, vaccines, antipsychotics, antibiotics, cardiovascular medicines, drugs used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, sedatives, drugs used to treat dementia and diabetes, and single reports for drugs used to treat osteoporosis, Parkinson’s disease, and pain.

The term increased sexual arousal itself is not in the product information for any of the above classes of medicines, however terms such as increased libido and hypersexuality are reflected in product information for medicines used to treat Parkinson’s disease. The following table shows a breakdown of all spontaneous Yellow Card Reports the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) received from 1 January 2014 to 4 November 2025, where the MedDRA, a categorisation of medical terminology, Lowest Level Term (LTT) ‘increased sexual arousal’ was reported:

In addition, the following able shows a breakdown of all spontaneous Yellow Card Reports the MHRA received from 1 January 2014 to 4 November 2025 where the MedDRA LLT ‘increased sexual arousal’ was reported, broken down by substance:

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the abolition of NHS England, whether they will continue to provide a budget for specialised commissioning to enact the advice of the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group; and if not, whether there is an alternative route for NHS England to approve proven, cheap treatments.

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 the organisations are formally merged, NHS England continues to full fill its statutory duties.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 8 October (HL10211), what recourse is available to patients for whom a 'do not resuscitate' decision was made by medical staff prior to a surgical procedure without consulting either the patient or their family.

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

A Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) is a clinical decision made on the basis of a senior clinical assessment of a patient’s condition. It remains best practice to communicate this decision to the patient and if they lack capacity, their family or representative.

If the patient or their family or representative do not agree with the decision, they should be given time to ask for a second opinion or review. This is in line with the National Health Service guidance for DNACPR decisions. Guidance and information for the public on DNACPR decisions is available on the NHS website, including information on asking for a second opinion or a review and what to do if there are concerns about, or disagreement with, a DNACPR form in a patient’s or family member’s medical records.