Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the availability of the asthma drug serotide in pharmacies; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department fully understands that maintaining access to Seretide inhalers for the management of asthma is vitally important to many people in this country. We are currently not aware of any supply issues with Seretide inhalers from GSK and they are available in volumes sufficient to meet normal United Kingdom demand.
We continue to work closely with industry and partners in the health system to help prevent shortages and to ensure that the risks to patients are minimised when supply issues do arise.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will allocate funding for (a) local promotion and (b) outreach programmes to increase the number of people claiming healthy start vouchers.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
We are developing a digital approach to Healthy Start, which should make it easier for families to apply for, receive and use Healthy Start benefits. As part of the digitisation process, we are working with a number of local areas to consider how to encourage people to claim Healthy Start.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
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 proportion of people in receipt of Healthy Start vouchers.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Between 29 April and 26 May 2019, 54% of people eligible to make an application for Healthy Start vouchers had made an application and been accepted onto the scheme.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to bring forward legislative proposals to reduce the abuse of older people in social care; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government has no plans to bring forward legislation to reduce the abuse of older people in social care.
The Government is committed to preventing and reducing the risk of harm to people in vulnerable situations.
The Care Act 2014 statutory guidance states that local authorities should ensure that the services they commission are safe, effective and of high quality. Where it is suspected that an individual may be at risk of abuse or neglect local authorities have a duty to carry out proportionate enquiries.
Regulated providers have a key role in safeguarding adults. All professions are subject to employer checks and controls and employers in the health and care sector must satisfy themselves regarding the skills and competence of their staff and the Care Quality Commission monitors how well providers are doing this.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will seek a guarantee from the Health and Care Professions Council that there will be no further increases to their registration fees for at least the next four years.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) is independent of the Government and funded by registrants’ fees on a cost recovery basis. It is the responsibility of the HCPC to determine the level of fees that it charges registrants. It would therefore not be appropriate for the Government to seek a guarantee from the HCPC that it will not increase its fees for at least the next four years.
Following public consultation, the HCPC is planning to raise its annual fees by £16, from £90 to £106 a year from October 2019. HCPC registration fees will remain the lowest of any of the United Kingdom-wide health and care regulators. Registration fees are tax-deductible and this fee rise will amount to just over £1 a month extra for most of the HCPC’s registrants.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the supply of Rilutek for people with motor neurone disease, and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
The Department fully understands that maintaining access to Riluzole (Rilutek) for the management of motor neurone disease is vitally important to many people in this country. We are aware that there was a supply issue with Riluzole earlier this year which resulted in limited supplies during February and early March, and worked closely with suppliers to manage this.
Supplies of Riluzole 50 milligram tablets are currently available in volumes that are sufficient to meet normal United Kingdom demand. The Department continues to work very closely with all the manufacturers of Riluzole 50 milligram tablets and can confirm that the supply situation continues to improve with further deliveries expected over the coming months. All patients who require Riluzole 50 milligram tablets should be able to obtain a supply from their pharmacy.
We continue to work closely with industry and partners in the health system to help prevent shortages and to ensure that the risks to patients are minimised when supply issues do arise.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that people with Parkinson’s disease in each region of the UK are offered the full range of available treatments.
Answered by Steve Brine
NHS England commissions the specialised elements of Parkinson’s care that patients may receive from 25 specialised neurological treatment centres across England. NHS England has published a service specification setting out what providers must have in place to deliver specialised neurological care. This supports equity of access to high quality services for patients wherever they live. The specification can be found at the following link:
www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/spec-services/npc-crg/group-d/d04/
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance ‘Parkinson’s disease: Diagnosis and management in primary and secondary care’, updated in 2017, sets out best practice for clinicians in the identification and treatment of Parkinson’s disease in line with the latest available evidence.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data he holds on the treatments available for people with Parkinson’s disease in each region of the UK.
Answered by Steve Brine
NHS England commissions the specialised elements of Parkinson’s care that patients may receive from 25 specialised neurological treatment centres across England. NHS England has published a service specification setting out what providers must have in place to deliver specialised neurological care. This supports equity of access to high quality services for patients wherever they live. The specification can be found at the following link:
www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/spec-services/npc-crg/group-d/d04/
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance ‘Parkinson’s disease: Diagnosis and management in primary and secondary care’, updated in 2017, sets out best practice for clinicians in the identification and treatment of Parkinson’s disease in line with the latest available evidence.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect on just in time delivery arrangements for medical devices of the UK leaving the EU Customs Union; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The Government is working to mitigate the impact of any potential delays at borders in the unlikely event of a no-deal outcome to our negotiations on exiting the European Union. Our planning aims to ensure that from the day the United Kingdom leaves the EU, we will have the necessary resources and contingencies in place to maintain uninterrupted supplies of medical devices, including those delivered to National Health Service trusts on a just in time basis.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many UK-based notified bodies for medical devices have registered under the EU Medical Devices Regulations 2017; how many of those bodies were registered under previous regulations; what assessment he has made of the effect on the NHS in the event that insufficient notified bodies register; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
There are currently four United Kingdom-based notified bodies designated under the Directive 93/42/EC on medical devices and Directive 98/79/EC on in vitro diagnostic medical devices. Of these four UK notified bodies, one is also designated Directive 90/385/EEC on active implantable medical devices. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is the designating authority in the UK and is responsible for designating and monitoring the performance of UK notified bodies. This includes undertaking regular audits of their activities.
New European Union Regulations for medical devices (Regulation 2017/745) and in vitro diagnostic medical devices (Regulation 2017/746) entered into force in May 2017, with Regulation 2017/745 fully applying from May 2020 and Regulation 2017/746 fully applying from May 2022. Each notified body will need to apply for separate designation under these Regulations. No notified body in the UK, or across the EU, is currently designated under either Regulation.
The new Regulations substantially strengthen the regulatory framework for medical devices and in vitro diagnostic devices and the MHRA recognises the importance of having competent notified bodies in place in sufficient time to ensure continuity of supply of products to the UK market.
To this end, the MHRA has been engaging with UK notified bodies on an ongoing basis to ensure that sufficient resources are in place and to ensure notified bodies are prepared for the designation process. The MHRA is also providing expert auditors to support the process of joint assessment of notified bodies under the new legislation across the EU to support the consistent application of the new Regulations across all EU Member States.