Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Wetherby and Easingwold)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that residents living in Elmet and Rothwell constituency are able to access a NHS dentist.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The Department is working closely with NHS England and NHS Improvement, the Chief Dental Officer for England and the British Dental Association to increase levels of service, as fast as is safely possible. In circumstances where patients are unable to access an urgent dental appointment directly through a National Health Service dental practice, they are advised to call NHS 111 who will assist in booking an appointment at one of over 100 designated urgent care centres, which continue to stay open across Yorkshire.
Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Wetherby and Easingwold)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether low-income parents or guardians of a child who has been instructed to self-isolate by their school will be eligible to apply for the covid-19 £500 Test and Trace Support payment.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Test and Trace Support Payment scheme is for people on low incomes who have been told to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace or the NHS COVID-19 app, either because they have tested positive or because they are a close contact of someone who has tested positive. We have worked closely with local authorities to monitor the effectiveness of the scheme and have listened to feedback from charities and support groups. We are now extending the scheme to summer 2021 and expanding eligibility to cover parents and guardians who have to take time off work to care for a child who is self-isolating.
Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Wetherby and Easingwold)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to answer Question 99590 tabled by the hon. Member for Elmet and Rothwell on 6 October 2020.
Answered by Edward Argar
We take parliamentary scrutiny incredibly seriously and it is fundamentally important that hon. Members are provided with accurate and timely information to enable them to hold Government to account. We are working rapidly to provide all Members with accurate answers to their questions, as well as supporting the Government’s response to the unprecedented challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The hon. Member’s question will be answered as soon as possible.
Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Wetherby and Easingwold)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the (a) subject and (b) outcomes for each trial of a new medical device developed for the UK market since 1 January 2006.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is currently bound by the European Union Regulations, the Medical Devices and the In-Vitro Diagnostic Devices Regulations, and its transparency provisions and therefore cannot currently publish information relating to approved clinical investigations from 1 January 2006.
The Medicines and Medical Devices Bill currently going through parliament will give the MHRA the power to update and amend the legislative frameworks that governs human medicines, medical devices and veterinary medicines. These powers will also enable transparency to support patient safety work. Clinical investigations work will be part of these future considerations.
Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Wetherby and Easingwold)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of air sanitisation and UV-C sterilisation units on reducing the spread of covid-19 in confined public spaces.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Public Health England (PHE) has made no assessment of the effectiveness of air sanitisation and ultraviolet C (UV-C) sterilisation units on reducing the spread of COVID-19 in confined public spaces.
PHE is liaising with national and international partners on the effectiveness of UV-C for inactivating SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19.
PHE will continue to review the emerging evidence.
Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Wetherby and Easingwold)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether all trials using new medical devices are logged centrally; and what steps he is taking to ensure that there is oversight of all non-drug trials.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
Medical devices are regulated by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). All trials of new medical devices being developed for the United Kingdom market are reviewed by the MHRA before the devices are used on humans in these trials in the UK. The MHRA maintains a record of all such trials whether approved or refused. Plans are in place to make this information available to the public in future. The MHRA only has oversight of medicines and medical devices trials and therefore do not have oversight of all non-drug trials.
All non-drug trials (including device studies) are centrally reviewed for ethical approval by the Health Research Authority (HRA). If they meet a set of additional legal and policy criteria, they are granted approval to proceed in the National Health Service.
All clinical trials must be conducted in accordance with the Policy Framework for Health and Social Care, which describes the roles and responsibilities of those involved in research oversight.
There is an expectation that all trials are registered and a lay summary made available on the HRA website.
Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Wetherby and Easingwold)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the timeframe is for the resumption of (a) nursing and (b) care home visits in England; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits on enabling immediate covid-secure visits for residents who have a (i) terminal illness and (b) mental and physical health condition that is affected by a lack of contact with relatives.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
On 22 July 2020 the Government published updated guidance on visiting arrangements for care homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. This guidance is applicable to all nursing and care homes and is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/visiting-care-homes-during-coronavirus
Updated visiting guidance was developed with collaboration from a range of social care stakeholders, including the Alzheimer’s Society. Our priority has been to enable residents to be reunited safely with their loved ones. This guidance will be updated as the risk posed by COVID-19 continues to change.
Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Wetherby and Easingwold)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to raise awareness of paediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disease (PANDAS); and if his will make it his policy for officials in his Department to attend the the first PANDAS UK conference at Imperial College London on 22 September 2018.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Paediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disease Associated with Streptococcal Infections is a term used to describe a subset of children and adolescents who have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and/or tic disorders, and in whom symptoms worsen following streptococcal (strep) infections. Treatment for these symptoms, including psychological therapies, is available from the National Health Service.
The Department does not require its staff to attend specific external events, but practitioners from the NHS will be taking part at the PANDAS UK conference on 22 September.
Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Wetherby and Easingwold)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of premature babies in England in the last 12 months; and how many of those babies had one or both parents take a course in neonatal resuscitation on discharge.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Office of National Statistics (ONS) publishes data on premature births in its Birth Characteristics publication. The latest data available is for 2016 which shows that there were 54,143 pre-term births (live births before 37 weeks gestation) in England and Wales. The ONS do not publish this information for England only.
Data on the number of parents that receive neonatal resuscitation training is not collected centrally. However, all neonatal units provide resuscitation training for the parents of babies considered at higher risk of potentially needing resuscitation in the community, which would include babies born prematurely. The training is provided by members of staff from within the neonatal unit and is organised and delivered at a local level.
Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Wetherby and Easingwold)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what reasons ibrutinib is not prescribed on the NHS as a treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.
Answered by Steve Brine
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published technology appraisal guidance in January 2017 that recommends ibrutinib for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and untreated chronic lymphocytic leukaemia with 17p deletion or TP53 mutation. Ibrutinib is routinely available to National Health Service patients for these indications in line with NICE’s recommendations if a patient’s doctor considers it to be the most appropriate treatment option.
NICE has not been able to make a recommendation on the use of ibrutinib for use in the treatment of other patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia because no evidence submission was received from the product’s manufacturer. Ibrutinib is not therefore routinely commissioned for NHS patients for these other indications. NICE will review this decision if the company decides to make an evidence submission.