Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he has plans to introduce an opt-out system for organ donation; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Since the launch of the United Kingdom-wide Taking Organ Transplantation to 2020 Strategy in July 2013, organ donation rates have increased by 7% and transplant rates by 6% mainly through a strengthening of the donation infrastructure (e.g. increased specialist nurses, improved retrieval arrangements). In 2016-17, the UK had the highest ever deceased donor and transplant rates with 1,413 deceased donors and 3,710 transplants and there are now 24 million people on the Organ Donor Register.
However, three people still die every day in need of an organ transplant. We have, therefore, announced that we will launch a 12 week consultation, before the end of this year, on increasing rates of organ donation, including a new “opt out” system of consent for England. The consultation will seek views on:
- How to increase rates of organ donation, particularly from BAME communities;
- How the issue of consent should be managed within the NHS;
- How technology could help people to discuss their preferences with family; and
- How opt out could work in practice, the safeguards needed and how families could be supported.
The Government will carefully consult, listen and take account of the views from people from a diverse range of ethnic, religious and cultural communities when considering any changes to the law.
We are still committed to campaigns to raise awareness, and encourage families and friends to discuss their wishes on organ donation.
Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when his Department plans to publish the consultation on regulation of Physician Associates.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The Department is currently considering options for a consultation on the regulation of Physician Associates, which will be published in due course.
Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the cost to the NHS of (a) branded and (b) non-branded inhaled medication in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by David Mowat
Information for the latest available 12 month period is given in the table below.
Net Ingredient Cost (NIC) of inhaled-medication prescription items written in the United Kingdom and dispensed in the community in England, classified as inhaled nebuliser products within British National Formulary sections 3.1.2 Antimuscarinic bronchodilators, 3.1.4 Compound bronchodilator preparations , 3.2 Corticosteroids, and 3.3.1 Cromoglicate and related therapies | ||||
Period | NIC £000’s | |||
Year | Quarter | Non-branded 1 | Branded 2 | Total |
2015 | 4 | 20,959.2 | 246,653.5 | 267,612.7 |
2016 | 1 | 25,205.7 | 226,611.2 | 251,816.9 |
2016 | 2 | 25,390.8 | 231,223.2 | 256,614.0 |
2016 | 3 | 25,047.6 | 228,186.1 | 253,233.8 |
Total 3 |
| 96,603.3 | 932,674.1 | 1,029,277.3 |
Source: Prescription Cost Analysis (PCA) system data provided by NHS Digital
Notes:
1 Non-Branded are those drugs prescribed and available generically.
2 Branded will include those generics that have been dispensed with a Brand name.
3 Total figure may not sum due to rounding.
Most inhaled products are licensed with a brand name, so even after the brand originator loses the patent exclusivity and alternative products become available, they usually will have a brand name, therefore their Net Ingredient Cost will be reported against branded spend.
Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of potential savings to the NHS budget of prescribing the most cost-effective inhaler medication to each NHS patient.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
No such estimate has been made. We expect clinicians to consider the cost of a medicine in making prescribing decisions but recognise that there may be valid reasons why the prescribing of a higher cost product may sometimes be appropriate to meet the clinical needs of individual patients. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence supports clinically and cost effective prescribing through the production of evidence-based guidance for healthcare professionals.
Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will introduce the mandatory collection of data relating to the number of people diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis by a multi-disciplinary team; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by David Mowat
There are no plans to introduce the mandatory collection of data relating to the number of people diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) by a multi-disciplinary team.
Although data is collected for patients attending specialised respiratory services, NHS England does not collect data specifically on patients with IPF. The service specification covers a broader range of respiratory diseases and does not include IPF as a data requirement.
NHS England is able to quantify the number of patients who qualify and receive high cost drugs for IPF. In addition, the British Thoracic Society holds a voluntary register of IPF cases.
Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the number of patients diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis by a multidisciplinary team in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by David Mowat
No assessment has been made of the number of patients diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis by a multidisciplinary team in each of the last five years. This information is not held in the format requested.
Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average cost of providing care to a person with (a) decompensated cirrhosis and (b) hepatocellular carcinoma has been in the last 12 months for which figures are available.
Answered by David Mowat
The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is shown in the table below and is from reference costs, which are the average unit cost to National Health Service trusts and foundation trusts of providing defined services in a given financial year. Reference costs are published annually, with most recently available data being for 2014-15.
Reference costs for acute care are collected by healthcare resource group (HRG), which are standard groupings of clinically similar treatments that consume similar levels of healthcare resource. HRGs are organised by chapters and sub-chapters, representing different body systems, and HRG sub-chapters GC and PG describe hepatobiliary and pancreatic system disorders for adults and children respectively. The average costs in the following table will therefore include the costs to NHS hospitals of treating decompensated cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, as well as the costs of other related disorders.
These costs do not include high cost drugs, or treatment in outpatient or other settings outside of hospital. They reflect the costs of a single episode of care under one consultant for a patient admitted to hospital for elective and non-elective treatment. Patients admitted to hospital may have multiple episodes of care and each one of these episodes will be recorded separately.
Table: Average cost to NHS hospitals of treating hepatobiliary and pancreatic system disorders, 2014-15
| Average cost per unit of activity (£) |
Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders | 1,984 |
Non-Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders | 1,751 |
Paediatric, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders | 2,344 |
Source: Reference costs, Department of Health
Notes:
GC12C Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, with Multiple Interventions
GC12D Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, with Single Intervention, with CC Score 5+
GC12E Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, with Single Intervention, with CC Score 2-4
GC12F Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, with Single Intervention, with CC Score 0-1
GC12G Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, without Interventions, with CC Score 6+
GC12H Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, without Interventions, with CC Score 3-5
GC12J Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, without Interventions, with CC Score 1-2
GC12K Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, without Interventions, with CC Score 0
GC17A Non-Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, with Multiple Interventions, with CC Score 9+
GC17B Non-Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, with Multiple Interventions, with CC Score 4-8
GC17C Non-Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, with Multiple Interventions, with CC Score 0-3
GC17D Non-Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, with Single Intervention, with CC Score 9+
GC17E Non-Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, with Single Intervention, with CC Score 4-8
GC17F Non-Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, with Single Intervention, with CC Score 0-3
GC17G Non-Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, without Interventions, with CC Score 8+
GC17H Non-Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, without Interventions, with CC Score 5-7
GC17J Non-Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, without Interventions, with CC Score 2-4
GC17K Non-Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, without Interventions, with CC Score 0-1
PG71A Paediatric, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, with CC Score 2+
PG71B Paediatric, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, with CC Score 1
PG71C Paediatric, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, with CC Score 0
Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions officials of his Department have had with their counterparts in (a) Wales on the Welsh Liver Disease Delivery Plan and (b) Scotland on the Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Framework.
Answered by David Mowat
There have been no discussions with counterparts in Wales on the Welsh Liver Disease Delivery Plan or Scotland on the Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Framework.
Public Health England contributes to the Lancet Commission on Liver Disease and the Lancet Commission have also reviewed the Welsh Liver Disease Delivery Plan.
Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average cost of a liver transplant was in the last year.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
NHS England advises that the overall cost of operations for 2015-16 is currently being finalised. However, based on 2014-15 financial information, the average cost per operation in that year was £67,131.
These figures are for the United Kingdom as liver transplantation is a service that NHS England commissions on behalf of England and the three devolved nations.
Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of trends in the number of patients with severe asthma being referred to a specialist by their GP over the last three years.
Answered by Jane Ellison
No such assessment has been made.