Asked by: Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Conservative - The Cotswolds)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the sale of the Bexsero form of meningococcal group B vaccine to GlaxoSmithKline on (a) his Department's negotiations with Novartis on a price for the vaccine and (b) the roll out of that vaccine.
Answered by Jane Ellison
As the commercial negotiations with Novartis are confidential and this includes any assessments made to inform the negotiations, it is not possible to provide the information requested.
Asked by: Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Conservative - The Cotswolds)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many intensive care places in the UK have been occupied by Meningitis B patients since January 2013.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available for England is shown in the following table. Information for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is a matter for the Devolved Administrations.
Number of critical care periods and critical care bed days with a primary diagnosis of meningitis for the period April 2013-March 2014 (provisional data):
Diagnosis | Critical care periods | Critical care bed days |
Viral meningitis | 22 | 72 |
Bacterial meningitis | 238 | 1,572 |
Other /unspecified causes | 56 | 317 |
Occurring in another disease | 110 | 653 |
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre
Notes:
1. Meningococcal B disease is caused by the bacteria Neisseria meningitidis. Information on usage of critical care beds resulting from meningococcal B disease is not separately identifiable. Information on meningococcal septicaemia has not been provided.
2. The data provided covers English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector.
3. The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 20 diagnosis fields in the Hospital Episode Statistics data set and provides the main reason why the patient was admitted to hospital.
4. The following International Classification of Disease (ICD)-10 codes have been used to define meningitis:
A87 Viral meningitis
G00 Bacterial meningitis, not elsewhere classified
G03 Meningitis due to other and unspecified causes
G01.X* Meningitis in bacterial diseases classified elsewhere (in the 1st or 2nd position)
G02* Meningitis in other infectious and parasitic disease classified elsewhere (in the 1st or 2nd position)
Asked by: Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Conservative - The Cotswolds)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average daily cost is of keeping a patient in an intensive care unit.
Answered by Dan Poulter
The information is shown in the following table. It is from reference costs, which are the average unit costs to National Health Service trusts and foundation trusts of providing defined services in a given financial year to NHS patients. Reference costs for acute care are collected by healthcare resource groups (HRGs), which are standard groupings of clinically similar treatments that consume similar levels of healthcare resource. HRGs for critical care, which are organised into neonatal, paediatric and adult critical care, represent the daily cost of the part of the patient’s stay that requires care in a designated critical care bed. Adult critical care is further differentiated into burns, spinal injuries, and all other critical care units. The HRGs cover critical care areas, such as an intensive therapy unit or high dependency unit, but may include temporary, non-standard locations.
Average daily cost of critical care in England, 2012-13:
| Average unit cost per day |
Neonatal critical care | £645 |
Paediatric critical care | £1,494 |
Adult critical care: burns intensive care units | £1,984 |
Adult critical care: spinal injury intensive care units | £887 |
Adult critical care: all other adult critical care units | £1,168 |
Source: Reference costs, Department of Health
Asked by: Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Conservative - The Cotswolds)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, at what age babies will be eligible for vaccination with the Bexsero vaccine.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has recommended that there should be a carefully planned national meningococcal B immunisation programme for infants, using a three dose schedule of Bexsero®(at two, four and 12 months of age), subject to the vaccine being available at a cost-effective price .
The JCVI has also advised that when the programme starts there should be a one-off, opportunistic catch-up programme for babies aged three and four months of age who would have not had the opportunity to receive the vaccine at two months of age.
Asked by: Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Conservative - The Cotswolds)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many cases of Meningitis B there have been in the UK since January 2013; and in how many such cases individuals have (a) died, (b) required amputation of limbs, (c) become blind, (d) become deaf and (e) contracted other central nervous system complications as a result of Meningitis B.
Answered by Jane Ellison
There were 667 laboratory confirmed cases of invasive meningococcal B disease in England from January 2013 to March 2014, which is the latest available information.
There were 40 deaths registered in England in 2013 in which the underlying cause was meningococcal infection. Data about deaths from meningococcal B infection are not separately available. Information on deaths for 2014 will be available in July 2015.
Information on complications associated with invasive meningococcal B disease is not routinely collected as part of meningococcal surveillance. Many of the complications continue to develop, evolve and be tested after the diagnosis is confirmed, especially long-term complications such as behaviour, communication or memory problems, and, therefore, cannot be collected in real-time.
The most robust and comprehensive data on long-term complications following meningococcal B disease in children in England is in a recent study published in The Lancet Neurology in 2012, a copy of which has been placed in the Library.
Information for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is a matter for the Devolved Administrations.
Asked by: Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Conservative - The Cotswolds)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the Bexsero vaccine is licensed for (a) individual application and (b) use in conjunction with other vaccines.
Answered by George Freeman
Bexsero, a Meningococcal group B vaccine, was licenced for the active immunisation of individuals from two months of age and older against invasive meningococcal disease caused by Neisseria meningitidis group B. It can be administered individually or concomitantly with a number of other vaccine antigens, either as monovalent or as combination vaccines such as diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis, Haemophilus influenzae type b, inactivated poliomyelitis, hepatitis B, heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate, measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella. When given concomitantly with other vaccines Bexsero must be administered at a separate injection site.
Asked by: Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Conservative - The Cotswolds)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the ambulance response times in the Cotswolds were for (a) Red One, (b) Red Two, (c) Green One and (d) Green Two cases in the latest month for which figures are available; and what the figures were in each such category in the last month for which figures are available prior to the merger with the South West Ambulance Trust.
Answered by Jane Ellison
We are advised by NHS England that the Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group has not altered its contract with South West Ambulance Services NHS Foundation Trust to reduce average ambulance response times.
The information requested is shown in the following tables:
Ambulance response times in the Cotswolds for January 2013 (Great Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust)
Type of response | Numbers of Responses | Percentage of calls that met required standard |
Red One | 700 | 75.7% |
Red Two | 9,208 | 75.0% |
Green One | 1,059 | 87.2% |
Green Two | 5,067 | 81.7% |
Source: NHS England
Ambulance response times in the Cotswolds for April 2014 (South West Ambulance Services NHS Foundation Trust, North only)
Type of response | Numbers of Responses | Percentage of calls that met required standard |
Red One | 691 | 71.4% |
Red Two | 9,550 | 74.4% |
Green One | 1,302 | 85.3% |
Green Two | 6,191 | 88.0% |
Source: NHS England
Asked by: Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Conservative - The Cotswolds)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what reasons Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group was allowed to alter its contract with South West Ambulance Trust to reduce average ambulance response times; and what effect reduction will have on ambulance response times in the Cotswolds.
Answered by Jane Ellison
We are advised by NHS England that the Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group has not altered its contract with South West Ambulance Services NHS Foundation Trust to reduce average ambulance response times.
The information requested is shown in the following tables:
Ambulance response times in the Cotswolds for January 2013 (Great Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust)
Type of response | Numbers of Responses | Percentage of calls that met required standard |
Red One | 700 | 75.7% |
Red Two | 9,208 | 75.0% |
Green One | 1,059 | 87.2% |
Green Two | 5,067 | 81.7% |
Source: NHS England
Ambulance response times in the Cotswolds for April 2014 (South West Ambulance Services NHS Foundation Trust, North only)
Type of response | Numbers of Responses | Percentage of calls that met required standard |
Red One | 691 | 71.4% |
Red Two | 9,550 | 74.4% |
Green One | 1,302 | 85.3% |
Green Two | 6,191 | 88.0% |
Source: NHS England