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Written Question
NHS: Databases
Thursday 28th March 2024

Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)

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 when data will be placed into the federated data platform for NHS trusts and integrated care systems.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Federated Data Platform will allow the National Health Service to make better use of data to improve outcomes for patients, including reducing waits and discharging people quicker from hospital.

45 organisations who participated in the NHS England pilot, broken down into 42 trusts, two integrated care boards, and the City Healthcare Partnership Community Interest Company, have begun to transition into the Federated Data Platform, in a sequence of waves scheduled between March and May 2024. NHS England aims for all trusts and integrated care boards who wish to use the platform to do so within the next three years.


Written Question
Ophthalmic Services: Medical Treatments
Friday 15th March 2024

Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when does she expect the photobiomodulation process for treatment of those with severe eye problems to be made available via the NHS.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Clinicians utilise the best available evidence, including guidance from The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), to determine appropriate treatments to be made available to patients via the National Health Service.

The NICE runs an interventional procedures programme to assess the efficacy and safety of interventional procedures used for treatment or diagnosis, to determine whether they work well enough and are safe enough for use in the NHS. The programme can assess procedures that involve incision, puncture, and entry into a body cavity, or that use ionising, electromagnetic, or acoustic energy.

The NICE’s interventional procedures programme is not currently looking at this procedure in relation to the treatment of eye problems, and there has been no notification to the NICE for consideration of photobiomodulation for treatment of those with severe eye problems.

The Department is committed to partnering with industry, patients, and the wider health and social care system to ensure effective and innovative medical technologies that support the continued delivery of high-quality care and outstanding patient safety, are available to patients. Innovators can sign up to the NHS Innovation Service for guidance on the key steps to introduce their idea or product to the NHS.


Written Question
Cancer: Screening
Thursday 7th March 2024

Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what her timetable is for the introduction of the recommendations of the final evaluation report for the secondary care routine reflux cohort of the Cytosponge test.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

On 26 February 2024, NHS England published the results of the cytosponge test pilot for secondary care routine reflux and Barrett’s surveillance cohort, which began in January 2021, and launched at 30 hospitals across England. The pilot tested over 8,500 patients with the capsule sponge test. Evaluation of a cohort of patients showed almost eight out of 10 patients, who completed a test, were discharged without the need for further testing, freeing up endoscopy capacity for higher risk patients and those referred for urgent tests for oesophageal cancer. Patients with positive results from the capsule sponge test who were referred on for an endoscopy had the highest prevalence of Barrett’s oesophagus, at 27.2%, compared to zero patients with negative results who completed an endoscopy.

A timetable for the introduction of the recommendations of the final evaluation report for the secondary care routine reflux cohort of the cytosponge test, is yet to be finalised and published.


Written Question
Cardiovascular Diseases
Wednesday 28th February 2024

Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)

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 16 November 2023 to Question 1604 on Cardiovascular Diseases, what her planned timetable is to respond to the report from the Government Champion for Personalised Prevention's taskforce on cardiovascular disease.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is considering the recommendations of the Government Champion for Personalised Prevention, and information on the next steps will be provided in due course.


Written Question
Streptococcus: Screening
Thursday 8th February 2024

Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when she expects to receive the Group B Streptococcus cluster randomised trial results.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 15 January 2024 to Question 8936.


Written Question
Processed Food: Sugar
Wednesday 24th January 2024

Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will hold discussions with the food industry on reducing the sugar content in (a) food and (b) drink products.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

As she has done in previous ministerial roles, the current Secretary of State will recuse herself on departmental issues relating to outside interests, all of which have been declared to the House and under the Ministerial Code.

Discussions have been held with businesses by the Minister for Public Health, and officials, since 2015, on the actions they can take to reduce the sugar content of food and drink products.

The Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL) came in to force in April 2018. Between 2015 and 2020, levels of sugar in drinks subject to SDIL reduced by 46%, removing over 45,000 tonnes of sugar, while sales increased by approximately 21%. The reductions were spread evenly across all socio-economic groups.

Milk based drinks are excluded from the levy but are included in the voluntary sugar reduction programme. To date, sugar and calories in pre-packed milk based drinks sold through retail have reduced by 29.7% and 20%, respectively. Pre-packed milk substitute drinks have reduced sugar and calories by 6.9% and 8%, respectively.

The voluntary sugar reduction programme also includes the foods that contribute most to the sugar intakes of children aged up to 18 years old. Between 2015 and 2020, reductions in sugar levels were seen in all categories, with breakfast cereals and yogurts and fromage frais showing the greatest change with reductions of 14.9% and 13.5%, respectively, and removing 21,960 tonnes of sugar.


Written Question
World Health Assembly
Wednesday 24th January 2024

Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the cost to her Department was for officials to attend the fourth meeting of the Working Group on Amendments to the International Health Regulations in July 2023.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The travel and accommodation costs for officials to attend was £980.15.


Written Question
Prime Minister: Correspondence
Wednesday 17th January 2024

Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Prime Minister's answer of 27 November 2023 to Question 3132 on Prime Minister: Correspondence, when she plans to respond to the correspondence from an East Londonderry constituent of 16 June 2023 on water fluoridation policy that was re-delivered to the Prime Minister's parliamentary office in-person by the hon. Member for East Londonderry on 29 November 2023.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

I replied to the hon. Member on 16 January 2024. With apologies, this case was delayed as part of our continued backlog of cases following the pandemic and we are currently working through an urgent recovery plan to resolve this.


Written Question
Dementia: Health Services
Monday 15th January 2024

Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what changes have been made to the provision of services for people with dementia in the period since the publication of the guidance by the NHS and the Alzheimer’s Society entitled The dementia guide: Living well after your diagnosis in November 2020.

Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Since the publication of the guidance by the National Health Service and the Alzheimer’s Society in November 2020, NHS England is funding an evidence-based improvement project for two trusts in each region, encompassing 14 sites in total, to pilot the Diagnosing Advanced Dementia Mandate tool to improve diagnosis of dementia in care homes and to create an alternative pathway for diagnosing dementia. NHS England is also stepping up and accelerating preparation for the rollout of any potential new treatments, including the establishment of a dedicated programme team for early Alzheimer’s treatments.

NHS England's RightCare team is refreshing the RightCare Dementia Scenario which works through the dementia well pathway journey from diagnosing well through to dying well, detailing optimal and sub optimal approaches, with associated costings for each. The RightCare team is also developing a ‘dementia model pathway’.

Following publication of the Strategic Framework on 14 August 2023, we are continuing to develop the Major Conditions Strategy, informed by the Call for Evidence and ongoing engagement. This includes dementia as one of the six major conditions. Our intention is to publish the strategy in early 2024.


Written Question
Streptococcus: Screening
Monday 15th January 2024

Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, to the Answers of 20 December 2022 to Question 102798 and of 4 September 2023 to Question 194994 on Streptococcus: Screening, what her planned timetable is to respond to the cluster randomised trial on Group B Streptococcus expected to end on 31 May 2024.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The clinical and cost-effectiveness of testing for Group B Streptococcus: a cluster randomised trial with economic and acceptability evaluations (GBS3) trial is currently recruiting participants. The trial is currently contracted to complete at the end of May 2024. As with all research funded through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, we expect findings to be submitted to the Department; in the case of this trial, to the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) hosted by the Department. The UK NSC stands ready to review the findings of this research as soon as the results are shared.