Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of adopting the (a) Infection & Orthopaedic Management (INFORM), (b) British Orthopaedic Association and (c) other guidelines for the treatment and management of prosthetic joint infections.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK Health Security Agency manages a national surveillance programme, the Surgical Site Infection (SSI) Surveillance Service, which enhances the quality of patient care by providing hospitals with a framework for collection and comparison of their rates of SSI against national benchmarks. This information is used to review and guide clinical practice, to reduce the risk of infection following surgery. Hip and knee replacements are two of the 17 categories of surgery under surveillance by hospitals. Surveillance in at least one orthopaedic surgical category per quarter, per financial year is mandatory for all National Health Service hospitals undertaking orthopaedic surgery, with hip and knee replacements being the most numerous.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle post-operative infections in the context of (a) an ageing population and (b) trends in the number of joint replacement operations.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK Health Security Agency manages a national surveillance programme, the Surgical Site Infection (SSI) Surveillance Service, which enhances the quality of patient care by providing hospitals with a framework for collection and comparison of their rates of SSI against national benchmarks. This information is used to review and guide clinical practice to reduce the risk of infection following surgery. Hip and knee replacements are two of the 17 categories of surgery under surveillance by hospitals. Surveillance in at least one orthopaedic surgical category per quarter, per financial year is mandatory for all National Health Service hospitals undertaking orthopaedic surgery, with hip and knee replacements being the most numerous.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of expanding the holistic care approach for cancer (a) care and (b) delivery to (i) prosthetic infection and (ii) other clinical conditions.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not made a formal assessment of the merits of expanding the holistic approach, used for cancer, to prosthetic infection and other clinical conditions, however the National Health Service is working towards a holistic approach in infection prevention and control, and in long-term conditions. This includes improving perioperative care for surgical clinical care pathways, including for prosthetic infections, whereby patients receive proactive, personalised support to optimise their health before surgery.
The NHS works hard to deliver care to meet people’s needs as far as possible, given this can have a significant impact on their experience and quality of life. Cancer Alliances across England are working to ensure that every person receives personalised care and support from cancer diagnosis onwards. This involves holistic need assessments to ensure people's physical, practical, emotional, and social needs are identified and addressed at the earliest opportunity. It also involves accessible information about emotional support, coping with side effects, financial advice, getting back to work, and making healthy lifestyle choices, before, during, and after treatment.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of psychological support for post-surgical orthopaedic infections.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
We have made no such assessment. Anyone experiencing mental ill health as a result of a post-surgical orthopaedic infection should speak to their general practitioner, or refer themselves to their local NHS Talking Therapies service.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to ensure that best practice guidelines for prosthetic infection are implemented across elective surgery clinical care pathways.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is working with NHS England to improve perioperative care. This should ensure best practice guidelines are implemented across surgery clinical care pathways, including for prosthetic infections. In May 2023, NHS England published guidance setting out five core perioperative care requirements relating to the care of adult patients awaiting planned inpatient surgery. These measures address the key objective of identifying health needs as early as possible in perioperative pathways, and then using time on the waiting list to optimise health. The NHS England National Elective Recovery and Outpatients programme is working with NHS England regional teams to help oversee and support compliance, and will continue to do so throughout 2024/25.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
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 annual cost to the NHS of the use of illegal drugs.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Dame Carol Black’s review of evidence related to drugs, published in February 2020, estimated the cost to the National Health Service of illegal drug use at £431 million per annum. This includes admissions in secondary care, prison treatment and infectious disease. However, this figure does not include other NHS costs such as primary care or accident and emergency usage so will be an underestimate.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the paper in Epidemiology and Infection 2023; 151: e160, entitled Haemolytic uraemic syndrome in children England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Ireland: A prospective cohort study, published on 1 September 2023, if she will take steps to publish more accurate data on the number of cases of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli-associated hemolytic uremic syndrome identified by the UK Health Security Agency; and if her Department will take steps to increase funding for research into (a) cures and (b) treatments to improve long-term health outcomes for this illness.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Haemolytic Uraemic Syndrome (HUS) is a notifiable disease and cases are reported on a weekly basis by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). The most common type of Shiga toxin-producing E.coli associated with HUS is also a notifiable pathogen, and the number of laboratory reported cases is published on a weekly basis by UKHSA. This data covers England and Wales, and is available at the following link:
The Department commissions research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). As the largest public funder for health and care research, the NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including cures and treatments for HUS.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps (a) her Department, (b) the Food Standards Agency and (c) the UK Health Security Agency have taken to help ensure that unsafe food is not placed on the market by companies that were involved in the outbreak of E.coli O157 in August 2020 and August 2022.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) and other health protection agencies undertook a thorough investigation of this outbreak linked to fresh produce, which involved the appropriate food safety enforcement authorities for each site involved. A review of food safety management systems provided reassurance that robust controls were in place. Where opportunities for improvement were identified, the FSA along with the enforcing local authorities provided risk management advice to food businesses.
Following engagement with industry trade associations to assess industry practices and approaches to risk assessment mitigation across the fresh produce sector, a multi-agency working group has been formed to review standard practices across the industry.
The UK Health Security Agency undertook a surveillance study which included a retail sampling survey of fresh produce in 2023. Early monitoring of results indicates good safety practices in the fresh produce sector with no evidence of serious public health consequences.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to reduce waiting times for children and young people to access community paediatric services.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his planned timetable for publishing the report on the E.coli O157 outbreak that started in August 2022.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The report is expected to be published in March 2024.