Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
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 21 October 2021 to Question 54029 on Coronavirus Vaccination, when will individuals vaccinated in Hong Kong be (a) able to register for the NHS Covid Passport and (b) eligible for the covid-19 booster vaccine.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Individuals who have received a vaccine approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency administered overseas and reside in England can record their vaccination on the National Immunisation Management System (NIMS). Those individuals are now able to book a face-to-face appointment at a specific vaccination centre to verify and record these doses in NIMS, which will then be displayed in the NHS COVID Pass.
Further expansion of the service to include additional vaccines in the NHS COVID Pass is planned in due course. People with a vaccine from Hong Kong will also be able to show their record of this vaccination where certification is required. Once an overseas vaccine is recorded in NIMS, they will automatically be invited for a booster dose, when eligible. For those whose vaccinations are not recorded in NIMS in England, they will be unable to book an appointment through the National Booking System. However, individuals can access a booster vaccination at a walk-in centre without needing their record to be updated in advance.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the timetable is for Tafamadis to be made available on the NHS for people with hereditary cardiac amyloidosis.
Answered by Edward Argar
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body that makes evidence-based recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new medicines should be routinely funded based on an assessment of their clinical and cost effectiveness. NICE published guidance in May 2021 that does not recommend tafamidis for the treatment of wild-type or hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy in adults. NHS England and NHS Improvement do not therefore routinely commission tafamidis for NHS patients in England. Where a treatment is not routinely commissioned by the NHS, a patient’s clinician may submit an individual funding request if they consider it is in their patient’s best interests to have that treatment.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to make Tafamadis, the only treatment for the terminal illness hereditary cardiac Amyloidosis, available to UK families.
Answered by Edward Argar
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body that makes evidence-based recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new medicines should be routinely funded based on an assessment of their clinical and cost effectiveness. NICE published guidance in May 2021 that does not recommend tafamidis for the treatment of wild-type or hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy in adults. NHS England and NHS Improvement do not therefore routinely commission tafamidis for NHS patients in England. Where a treatment is not routinely commissioned by the NHS, a patient’s clinician may submit an individual funding request if they consider it is in their patient’s best interests to have that treatment.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what criteria the NHS uses to decide whether a child with epilepsy can access a prescription for cannabis medication.
Answered by Edward Argar
Whether to prescribe any medicine is a clinical decision.
The licensed cannabis-based medicine Epidyolex is prescribed and routinely funded on the National Health Service (NHS) for Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (two forms of epilepsy).
However, the latest National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines demonstrate a clear need for more evidence to support routine prescribing and funding decisions for unlicensed cannabis-based products on the NHS.
If an NHS clinician wishes to prescribe these unlicensed products an individual funding request can be made based on whether there is evidence of exceptionality to justify funding the treatment. A request is made for an individual patient whose clinical circumstances are clearly different to other patients with the same condition, and there is a reason why the individual patient would respond differently to other patients and therefore gain more clinical benefit from the proposed treatment.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is making provisions for families who cannot afford to access cannabis medication via private healthcare for children with epilepsy after being refused treatment by the NHS.
Answered by Edward Argar
The Department does not make provision for the funding of medicines outside of the National Health Service (NHS) commissioning systems. NHS funding decisions follow clearly developed procedures that ensure equitable distribution of funding, prioritising those medicines that have proved their safety, quality, and clinical and cost effectiveness.
The licensed cannabis-based medicine Epidyolex is prescribed routinely on the NHS for Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (two forms of epilepsy). The cost of treatments, that have not been assessed for their quality, safety, clinical and cost effectiveness, sought privately, remains the responsibility of patients.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
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 number of (a) children and young people under 18 and (b) adults waiting for an NHS dentist in Tower Hamlets.
Answered by Jo Churchill
No waiting list data is held centrally on adults or children wishing to access National Health Service (NHS) dental services in Tower Hamlets, or in London. Patients are not required to register with a dental practice to access NHS services.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what additional funding he plans to provide to NHS England to help reduce the current waiting lists for NHS dentistry.
Answered by Jo Churchill
We continue to work closely with the National Health Service, Public Health England and the profession to safely increase levels of service, taking into account the ongoing infection prevention and control and social distancing requirements. This includes prioritising existing and additional funding provided to NHS England to tackle backlogs in care.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
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 the health and wellbeing of trans people of the increase to waiting times between referral and first appointment for Gender Identity Clinics; and what steps he is taking to help shorten those waiting lists.
Answered by Jo Churchill
We know that long waiting times for care is negative on patient’s mental health and wellbeing. We are improving access to gender identity services with the opening of four new clinics, in London, Manchester, Cheshire and Merseyside and the East of England. These clinics are now all open and receiving patients. A further new clinic is planned in Sussex due to open in 2022. These clinics are expected to reduce the waiting list by a third.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reasons only those fully vaccinated under the NHS covid-19 vaccination programme are able to travel without having to quarantine on their return to England.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Government is taking a phased approach to amending border requirements, firstly for inbound arrivals from ‘amber list’ countries who have been fully vaccinated under the United Kingdom programme. Work is ongoing to determine which non-UK vaccines could be recognised in this country.