Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (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 NHS has secure access to Priadel for the treatment of bipolar disorder.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Supplies of Priadel (lithium carbonate) are currently available.
Ensuring patients have access to the medicines they need is vital. The Department brought the supply of Priadel to the attention of the Competition and Markets Authority which has now opened an investigation.
Essential Pharma has now agreed to continue supplying Priadel to the National Health Service whilst we work to agree a fair and appropriate price for this medicine.
We continue to work closely with the supplier and wholesalers to maintain the availability of Priadel and to ensure supply remains available for patients. We are aware that Essential Pharma have quotas in place with wholesalers to reduce the risk of stockpiling but have confirmed that ordering mechanisms are in place to ensure all prescriptions for Priadel can access this treatment.
We have also added lithium carbonate to the parallel export restriction list (8 September 2020) to ensure supplies remain available for the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to keep public health functions within local government responsibilities; and how they plan to ensure that such functions are sustainably funded.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Local government has a vital role in improving the public’s health, both through securing services and through promoting local policies that act on the wider determinants of health. Future funding for local government public health responsibilities will be considered as part of the 2020 Spending Review.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that cancer survival rates are not adversely impacted by the cancellation or delay in cancer screening, diagnostic testing, and cancer treatments.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Although some appointments for cancer screening, diagnostics and treatments have been rescheduled during the COVID-19 pandemic to protect vulnerable patients, NHS England and NHS Improvement have taken a robust approach to ensuring that people at highest risk are seen as a matter of priority. NHS England and NHS Improvement have minimised the impact on those most at risk of dying of cancer by ensuring that urgent and essential cancer treatments continue throughout the pandemic.
Restoring full operation of all cancer services is a key commitment and is well underway, as set out in NHS England’s letters dated 10 June and 31 July 2020. The number of people waiting in screening pathways is reducing and there is a continued focus on sending out invites for routine screening appointments that were previously delayed.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the governance of the National Institute for Health Protection will include representatives from both national and local government.
Answered by Lord Bethell
We are currently developing the transition process to support full and formal establishment of the National Institute for Health Protection. Future governance arrangements will be determined as part of this process over the coming months.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to invest additional resources into public health to help public health teams meet any backlog in the demand for services which had to be stopped due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Government has provided £3.2 billion of additional funding for local government to help them respond to COVID-19 pressures across the services they deliver. Local authorities will take spending decisions based on local priorities and the Government is keeping the position under review.
Funding beyond 2020/21 will be set out at the next spending review.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the White Paper on the Mental Health Act 1983 will include measures that prioritise prevention and early intervention, as proposed by the Local Government Association in its Bright Futures campaign and in its submission to the review of the Mental Health Act 1983.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
We will publish our White Paper in the next few months. This will set out the Government’s response to Sir Simon Wessely’s Independent Review of the Mental Health Act.
Our intention is that this White Paper will pave the way for reform to the Mental Health Act 1983, and tackle issues addressed by the Review. We will ensure that people subject to the Act receive better care and have a much greater say in that care.
We will consult publicly on our proposals and we will bring forward a Bill to amend the Act when parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether their plans to reform care and support will consider adults of all ages and unpaid carers, as well as older people.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Putting social care on a sustainable footing, where everyone is treated with dignity and respect, is one of the biggest challenges we face as a society. The Government will bring forward a plan for social care this year. The Government will seek to build cross-party consensus and will outline next steps shortly.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they plan to bring forward their proposals to reform adult social care and support; and whether they intend to work closely with the Local Government Association to take forward those proposals.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Putting social care on a sustainable footing, where everyone is treated with dignity and respect, is one of the biggest challenges we face as a society. The Government will bring forward a plan for social care this year. The Government will seek to build cross-party consensus and will outline next steps shortly. The Department engages with stakeholders on a regular basis, including the Local Government Association, and will work with them and others as we take forward proposals.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (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 O'Shaughnessy on 5 December 2018 (HL11677), whether they plan to publish their considerations on the findings of the Local Government Association green paper for adult social care and wellbeing, published in November 2018; and if so, when.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Government will consider closely the findings of the Local Government Association’s report as we bring forward proposals to reform the social care system.
In the development of the Green Paper on Adult Social Care we have noted the important contributions made by a number of recent reports, including the Local Government Association’s report. The Green Paper will be published at the earliest opportunity.