Asked by: Alison Griffiths (Conservative - Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has identified any delays in issuing public health advice during the recent meningitis outbreak.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Protocols for escalating suspected meningitis outbreaks were followed. The rapid emergence of cases in this outbreak was genuinely unusual, and the response reflected the pattern and pace of cases identified in this outbreak. National Health Service clinicians and the UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA’s) local Health Protection Team followed well established national guidance for management of cases and contacts of meningococcal infection. Further information is available at the following link:
No delays in issuing public health advice have been identified. The UKHSA local Health Protection Team was notified of a cluster of cases on 14 March 2026. The team acted immediately and communication to those at immediate risk took place on 14 and 15 March 2026. In addition, on 15 March 2026, a letter was sent to all University of Kent students and staff with warn and inform information to ensure rapid identification of symptomatic individuals and also provided details on eligibility for antibiotic chemoprophylaxis. Further information is available at the following link:
Throughout the outbreak, the UKHSA has worked closely with the National Health Service, educational settings, and other partners. Further information on meningitis B and this outbreak is available on the UKHSA’s blog, at the following link:
Asked by: Alison Griffiths (Conservative - Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether protocols for escalating suspected meningitis outbreaks to national public health authorities were followed in full in the recent outbreak.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Protocols for escalating suspected meningitis outbreaks were followed. The rapid emergence of cases in this outbreak was genuinely unusual, and the response reflected the pattern and pace of cases identified in this outbreak. National Health Service clinicians and the UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA’s) local Health Protection Team followed well established national guidance for management of cases and contacts of meningococcal infection. Further information is available at the following link:
No delays in issuing public health advice have been identified. The UKHSA local Health Protection Team was notified of a cluster of cases on 14 March 2026. The team acted immediately and communication to those at immediate risk took place on 14 and 15 March 2026. In addition, on 15 March 2026, a letter was sent to all University of Kent students and staff with warn and inform information to ensure rapid identification of symptomatic individuals and also provided details on eligibility for antibiotic chemoprophylaxis. Further information is available at the following link:
Throughout the outbreak, the UKHSA has worked closely with the National Health Service, educational settings, and other partners. Further information on meningitis B and this outbreak is available on the UKHSA’s blog, at the following link:
Asked by: Alison Griffiths (Conservative - Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the findings and recommendations of the JCVI’s review of meningococcal B vaccination policy for adolescents and young adults.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is an expert scientific advisory committee that advises the Government on eligibility for vaccination and immunisation programmes. The JCVI has been consulted on the immediate vaccine response to the outbreak and clinical effectiveness of potential future outbreak response vaccination strategies.
The JCVI holds three committee meetings a year, usually on the first Wednesday of February, June and October. The draft minutes of each meeting will be published within six weeks of the meeting. In some circumstances, when the frequency of meetings is increased, it may not be possible to upload meeting minutes within six weeks.
On 17 March, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, also announced to the House of Commons that the JCVI has been asked to re-examine eligibility for meningitis vaccines to assess, for example, an expanded offer to older children and/or young adults. The JCVI will provide updated advice to the Department this summer around whether, and to what extent, a vaccine programme for older children and/or young adults would be clinically effective as well as an assessment of the cost-effectiveness of such a vaccination programme.
Asked by: Alison Griffiths (Conservative - Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the variation in diagnosis times and access to treatment for heart valve disease by (a) region and (b) demographic group in England and West Sussex.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department recognises that variation in the provision of heart valve disease (HVD) services exists across England is taking action to address this.
NHS England is strengthening consistency in the diagnosis and treatment to reduce variation in HVD diagnosis, including in West Sussex. This included echocardiography workforce initiatives to increase diagnostic capacity for HVD referrals for 2024/25. In 2025, the Getting It Right First Time programme published new and revised cardiology pathways to reduce delays and guide clinicians through diagnostic steps and treatment planning, and enhanced recovery protocols for Aortic Stenosis (advanced HVD).
In addition, the National Institute for Health and Care Research and the British Heart Foundation are partnering for the £50m Inequalities, which will fund a five-year consortium to generate research focused on tackling inequalities in ethnic minorities, deprived communities and unequal cardiovascular disease outcomes between women and men. More information is available at the following link:
https://www.nihr.ac.uk/news/new-50m-funding-to-tackle-inequalities-cardiovascular-disease
Asked by: Alison Griffiths (Conservative - Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of a proposed reduction in community inpatient capacity at Zachary Merton Hospital on the level of (a) the use of virtual wards, (b) care at home, and (c) provision at other community hospital sites in West Sussex.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not received a notification under Schedule 10A of the National Health Service Act 2006 about changes to services at Zachary Merton Hospital and has not undertaken an assessment of potential impacts.
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has been asked by the Hon. Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton to intervene in this matter and will consider and respond to that request in due course.
Asked by: Alison Griffiths (Conservative - Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, further to the Answer of 13 March 2026 to Question 117218 on NHS, whether his Department assessed the potential merits of exercising the call-in power under Schedule 10A of the National Health Service Act 2006 for proposed changes to services at Zachary Merton Hospital.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not received a notification under Schedule 10A of the National Health Service Act 2006 about changes to services at Zachary Merton Hospital and has not undertaken an assessment of potential impacts.
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has been asked by the Hon. Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton to intervene in this matter and will consider and respond to that request in due course.
Asked by: Alison Griffiths (Conservative - Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)
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 March 2026 to Question 117219 on NHS, whether changes to services at Zachary Merton Hospital had been notified to his Department under Schedule 10A of the National Health Service Act 2006.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not received a notification under Schedule 10A of the National Health Service Act 2006 about changes to services at Zachary Merton Hospital and has not undertaken an assessment of potential impacts.
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has been asked by the Hon. Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton to intervene in this matter and will consider and respond to that request in due course.
Asked by: Alison Griffiths (Conservative - Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what is the average waiting time for diagnostic tests, including echocardiograms, for suspected heart valve disease in (a) England and (b) NHS trusts serving West Sussex for which the latest data is available.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
An echocardiogram is the primary diagnostic test for suspected heart valve disease. Waiting times for echocardiograms are published in the diagnostics waiting times dataset (DM01) at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/diagnostics-waiting-times-and-activity/
Data is not available in DM01 for other tests used in the diagnostic pathway, for example electrocardiograms, chest X-rays, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging/computed tomography scans, and/or stress tests.
As of the end of February 2026, the latest available data, the DM01 data shows that the median time patients were waiting for an echocardiogram in England was 3.2 weeks. The median time for patients waiting for an echocardiogram at the University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust was 2.2 weeks.