Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department are taking to tackle antibiotic shortages.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department has well-established procedures to deal with medicine supply issues and works closely with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the pharmaceutical industry, NHS England and others within the supply chain to help prevent shortages and to ensure that the risks to patients are minimised when they do arise.
The continued demand for antibiotics to treat Strep A is making it difficult for some pharmacies to obtain certain antibiotics. We have been taking decisive action to address these temporary issues and to improve access to these medicines. These actions include working with manufacturers and wholesalers to expedite deliveries, bring forward stock they have to help ensure it gets to where it is needed and to boost supply to meet demand as quickly as possible. Deliveries to wholesalers and pharmacies are currently being made, with more expected in the coming days and weeks.
Eight Serious Shortage Protocols have been issued to allow pharmacists to supply an alternative form of penicillin V, or alternative antibiotic, if they do not have the specific product stated on the prescription. Advice has also been provided to pharmacists and general practitioners on the management of the current supply issues, including direction to use alternatives, as necessary.
Community pharmacies make an important contribution to the National Health Service, supporting patients across the country and we are taking action to support them. The Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework 2019-24 five-year deal commits £2.592 billion each year to the sector. The deal sets out the vision for how community pharmacy will support the NHS Long Term Plan by being better integrated into the NHS, delivering more clinical services and becoming the first port of call for minor illness. On 22 September we announced a £100 million investment into pharmacy for the remainder of the five-year deal.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department are taking to prevent community pharmacies making a loss when dispensing NHS prescriptions.
Answered by Will Quince
When market prices go up and pharmacies cannot purchase products at or below the Drug Tariff National Health Service reimbursement price, the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) can request the Department to reconsider the reimbursement price. If a new reimbursement price is issued this is known as a concessionary price. Concessionary prices are established using real time data from suppliers to generate prices that are reflective of the overall market.
Further, as part of the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework, pharmacies are allowed to keep £800 million medicines margin per year. Medicine margin is the difference between the reimbursement price and the prices paid by pharmacies. The Department assesses the overall medicine margin retained by pharmacies, through a medicine margin survey. If less than £800 million has been retained during the year an upwards adjustment is made to some reimbursement prices and if more than £800 million has been retained a downward adjustment is made.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department are taking to tackle medicine shortages.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department has well-established procedures to deal with medicine supply issues and works closely with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the pharmaceutical industry, NHS England and others within the supply chain to help prevent shortages and to ensure that the risks to patients are minimised when they do arise.
The continued demand for antibiotics to treat Strep A is making it difficult for some pharmacies to obtain certain antibiotics. We have been taking decisive action to address these temporary issues and to improve access to these medicines. These actions include working with manufacturers and wholesalers to expedite deliveries, bring forward stock they have to help ensure it gets to where it is needed and to boost supply to meet demand as quickly as possible. Deliveries to wholesalers and pharmacies are currently being made, with more expected in the coming days and weeks.
Eight Serious Shortage Protocols have been issued to allow pharmacists to supply an alternative form of penicillin V, or alternative antibiotic, if they do not have the specific product stated on the prescription. Advice has also been provided to pharmacists and general practitioners on the management of the current supply issues, including direction to use alternatives, as necessary.
Community pharmacies make an important contribution to the National Health Service, supporting patients across the country and we are taking action to support them. The Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework 2019-24 five-year deal commits £2.592 billion each year to the sector. The deal sets out the vision for how community pharmacy will support the NHS Long Term Plan by being better integrated into the NHS, delivering more clinical services and becoming the first port of call for minor illness. On 22 September we announced a £100 million investment into pharmacy for the remainder of the five-year deal.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to provide additional support with sourcing medicines to community pharmacy teams.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department has well-established procedures to deal with medicine supply issues and works closely with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the pharmaceutical industry, NHS England and others within the supply chain to help prevent shortages and to ensure that the risks to patients are minimised when they do arise.
The continued demand for antibiotics to treat Strep A is making it difficult for some pharmacies to obtain certain antibiotics. We have been taking decisive action to address these temporary issues and to improve access to these medicines. These actions include working with manufacturers and wholesalers to expedite deliveries, bring forward stock they have to help ensure it gets to where it is needed and to boost supply to meet demand as quickly as possible. Deliveries to wholesalers and pharmacies are currently being made, with more expected in the coming days and weeks.
Eight Serious Shortage Protocols have been issued to allow pharmacists to supply an alternative form of penicillin V, or alternative antibiotic, if they do not have the specific product stated on the prescription. Advice has also been provided to pharmacists and general practitioners on the management of the current supply issues, including direction to use alternatives, as necessary.
Community pharmacies make an important contribution to the National Health Service, supporting patients across the country and we are taking action to support them. The Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework 2019-24 five-year deal commits £2.592 billion each year to the sector. The deal sets out the vision for how community pharmacy will support the NHS Long Term Plan by being better integrated into the NHS, delivering more clinical services and becoming the first port of call for minor illness. On 22 September we announced a £100 million investment into pharmacy for the remainder of the five-year deal.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
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 13 December 2022 to Question 98750 on NHS: Staff, which stakeholders NHS England has consulted on that plan; and whether NHS England has consulted the Royal Colleges of Medicine.
Answered by Will Quince
Independent think tanks have contributed to test and refine the plan’s methodology. NHS England has consulted with stakeholders including medical Royal Colleges, trade unions, regulators, system leaders, third sector organisations and representation from the workforce. NHS England will undertake further engagement with interested organisations before the plan is finalised.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to para 5.59 of the Autumn Statement, CP 751, published on 17 November, whether the independently verified workforce forecasts will include the projected costs of workforce expansion.
Answered by Will Quince
The Government has committed to publishing a workforce plan next year, which will include independently verified forecasts for the number of healthcare professionals required in future years, taking account of improvements in retention and productivity. The plan will inform how we can meet the needs of patients and the National Health Service workforce. Funding plans beyond the current Spending Review period will be subject to the outcome of future Spending Reviews.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, reference to para 5.59 of the Autumn Statement, CP 751, published on 17 November, which organisations he plans to involve in independently verifying the NHS workforce forecasts; and whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of including medical royal colleges holding workforce census data in this process.
Answered by Will Quince
The Government has committed to publishing a workforce plan next year, which will include independently verified forecasts for the number of healthcare professionals required in future years, taking account of improvements in retention and productivity. NHS England is engaging with a range of stakeholders in developing this plan.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if the Novovax vaccine is yet available for use in the UK, and if not, when will it be
Answered by Maria Caulfield
On 15 September 2022, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation advised that in exceptional circumstances the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine, Nuvaxovid, may be used when no clinically suitable United Kingdom-approved alternative is available. The deployment of Nuvaxovid commenced on 28 September 2022.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
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 10 November to Question 75915 on Community Diagnostic Centres: Staff, what diagnostic (a) services and (b) processes are covered by digital diagnostics; and what investment has been made in each.
Answered by Will Quince
Digital diagnostics will ensure that all community diagnostic centres are connected to digitally enabled imaging and pathology networks, which will improve the time taken to obtain results and maximise productivity. The following table shows funding allocated in the Spending Review 2021 settlement for services in digital diagnostics in each year from 2022/23 to 2024/25.
| 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 | Total |
Laboratory information management systems and interoperability | £55.18 million | £48.97 million | £46.9 million | £151.05 million |
Digital pathology | £41 million | £21.93 million | £13.9 million | £76.83 million |
Image sharing | £44.1 million | £37.97 million | £32.84 million | £114.91 million |
Home reporting | £7.16 million | £1.15 million | £0.2 million | £8.51 million |
iRefer | £9.92 million | £3.02 million | £1.4 million | £14.34 million |
Magnetic resonance imaging acceleration | £11.25 million | £0 | £0 | £11.25 million |
Cases under review | £6.69 million | £0 | £0 | £6.69 million |
Total | £175.3 million | £113.04 million | £95.24 million | £383.58 million |
Source: NHS England
Note:
Funding is rounded to the nearest £10,000.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the long-term workforce plan announced in the Autumn Statement 2022.
Answered by Will Quince
The Government has committed to publishing a workforce plan next year, which will include independently verified forecasts for the number of healthcare professionals required in future years.