Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure that the database of the booking system for booster vaccinations administered by NHS England includes records of initial vaccinations administered by NHS Scotland; for what reason the vaccination records of people inoculated in Scotland have hitherto been unavailable within the booking system when those people seek booster vaccinations after relocating from Scotland to England; what the average additional time taken to get a booster vaccination has been for those people as a result of that lack of data; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Data sharing agreements are in place across the United Kingdom to ensure health records of individuals are updated if they receive a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in another part of the UK.
Should an issue with an individual’s vaccine record occur, this will not prevent them from receiving their booster vaccination. They can attend a walk-in site to be vaccinated for either their booster or primary course of vaccination. In addition, individuals can call 119 for the Vaccine Data Resolution Service. Given the measures in place to resolve such issues, information on any additional time incurred is not held.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will establish permanent arrangements to gather testimony from members of the public with adverse experience of implanted materials, including (a) vaginal and (b) other mesh implants, and (c) silicone in (i) breast implants and (ii) contraceptive devices, in order that the long-term consequences of the use of such substances can be monitored continuously.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
We have no plans to do so. The report of the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review was published in July 2020 and investigated the impacts of three harmful medical interventions, including vaginal mesh implants. This independent report gathered testimonies from members of the public with adverse experience of mesh implants.
The Government’s response set out the actions we are taking to implement the recommendations and improve patient safety. A patient reference group was established on a temporary basis to inform the development of the Government’s full response to the Review
Anyone with safety concerns, including adverse incidents involving medical devices, can report these to a relevant medical professional and via the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s Yellow Card scheme.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he will take to ensure patients giving consent to having bodily implants are fully informed of the health risks caused by implanted materials, with particular reference to (a) autoimmune disease and (b) fibromyalgia; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The General Medical Council’s revised guidance ‘Decision making and consent’ came into effect in November 2020. The guidance specifies that doctors must give patients the information, time and support needed to make an informed decision about their treatment.
As part of its consultation on the reform of medical device regulation in the United Kingdom, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is currently considering what information should be provided to the patient at the point of consent and on receipt of the implant. The new regulatory approach is not yet finalised but the information considered includes warnings, precautions or measures to be taken by the patient or a healthcare professional and a caution that risk may emerge during use of an implantable device, including, where appropriate, on autoimmune disease and fibromyalgia. More information on the outcome of the consultation is expected to be published in early 2022.
The Department is putting in place mechanisms to ensure that the patient voice is routinely heard. This includes the creation of a statutory role of the Patient Safety Commissioner.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to provide a substantive response to Question 56714, on the inclusion of the vaccination status of victims of the covid-19 outbreak as part of the statistics broadcast daily, which was due for answer on 20 October.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
I refer the Rt hon. Member to the answer of 3 November to Question 56714.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy, when publishing daily figures for new fatalities after confirmation of covid-19 infection, to include a breakdown showing how many of them had been (a) unvaccinated, (b) partially vaccinated, and (c) fully vaccinated (i) with and (ii) without a classification of being clinically extremely vulnerable; and what additional steps he will take to provide data to the public advertising the role of vaccination in preventing deaths from covid-19 infection.
Answered by Maggie Throup
We have no plans to do so. However, weekly data on COVID-19 deaths by vaccination status is published in the UK Health Security Agency’s weekly COVID-19 vaccine surveillance report. This contains the latest data on vaccine effectiveness data against mortality and also contains estimates on the direct and indirect impact of the vaccination programme, including deaths averted up to 24 September 2021. The weekly reports are available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-vaccine-weekly-surveillance-reports
The Department is working to ensure the public has access to information to allow an informed choice about vaccinations.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what opportunities the Government will make available to (a) Parliament and (b) the public to (i) discuss and (ii) decide whether (A) fluoride and (B) any other blanket medication should be added to British water supplies.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Heath and Care Bill, which aims to to expand water fluoridation schemes, in England, is currently at the Committee stage where it can be debated further by Parliament.
The changes proposed by the Bill will maintain the duty to consult with the public on any future water fluoridation proposals.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made in tackling the backlog of cancer cases resulting from covid-19 outbreak; what steps he has taken to cover the shortage of specialist cancer nurses; what steps he will take to encourage trainee nurses to become specialist cancer nurses; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Data for July 2021 shows fewer than 19,000 people waiting longer than 62 days for treatment following an urgent referral for suspected cancer in England. This is a decrease from 35,000 in May 2020 and is just above pre-pandemic levels.
In 2021/22 Health Education England will continue to take forward the priorities outlined in the Cancer Workforce Plan. Training grants are being offered for 250 nurses to become cancer nurse specialists and 100 nurses to become chemotherapy nurses.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether vulnerable residents in (a) care homes and (b) hospital facilities will be less at risk of serious illness in the event that they are infected with covid-19 by staff who have been fully vaccinated against that disease; to what extent being fully vaccinated against covid-19 prevents a person from transmitting that virus to vulnerable people; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Several studies have provided evidence that vaccines are effective at preventing infection and symptomatic disease. Uninfected individuals cannot transmit the virus, therefore the vaccines are also likely to be effective at preventing transmission from staff to vulnerable patients. Data from Scotland has also shown that household contacts of vaccinated healthcare workers are at reduced risk, which is in line with the studies on infection. There may be additional benefit due to prevention of infection, if some individuals who become infected despite vaccination are also at a reduced risk of transmitting because of reduced duration or level of viral shedding.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
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 10131, tabled on 29 May 2021, by the Rt hon. Member for New Forest East.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
I refer the Rt hon. Member to the answer of 26 July to Question 10131.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 28 May 2021 to Question 6161 on the vaccination status of people hospitalised with the Indian variant of covid-19, for what reason those essential data are not held centrally in the format requested; in what format those data are held centrally; and if he will make it his policy without further delay to (a) gather centrally and (b) subsequently release to the media each day the numbers of people that have been hospitalised with the Indian variant of covid-19 who are (i) vaccinated with (A) one and (B) both doses and (ii) unvaccinated against coronavirus.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Data concerning the numbers of people hospitalised with the Delta variant who have received one dose, two doses and are unvaccinated is collected centrally for inclusion in Public Health England’s (PHE) ‘Investigation of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern: technical briefings’ which is available at the following link:
This data was first included on 27 May and form part of ongoing surveillance and vaccine effectiveness monitoring activity. Public Health England collates data on COVID-19 cases, hospitalisations and COVID-19 vaccination status from a number of different data sources, including the Office for National Statistics, National Health Service trusts, private laboratories and Lighthouse Laboratories There are currently no plans to provide daily statistics due to varying reporting timelines of the data sources.