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.
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.
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.
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.
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 the UK National Screening Committee plans to publish a review of its recommendations on screening for osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK National Screening Committee considered screening women for osteoporosis in 2019, but recommended not to screen for it, due to limited evidence.
The review is available at the following link:
https://view-health-screening-recommendations.service.gov.uk/osteoporosis/
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 plans to reduce the minimum age for bowel screening to 50.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England started the lowering of age for bowel cancer screening in April 2021. The following table shows the rollout plan for the bowel screening, keeping in mind that the timeline may differ slightly from region to region:
Cohort age at first invitation | Year invitations start |
56 years old | 2021/22 |
58 years old | 2022/23 |
54 years old | 2023/24 |
50 and 52 years old | 2024/25 |
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, whether there are license applications for melatonin gummy products being processed as of 23 November 2023.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency can confirm that there are currently no licensed melatonin gummy products. However, we are unable to confirm or deny whether we have received or are progressing a Marketing Authorisation Application for melatonin gummies as this information is commercially sensitive.
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 recent discussions she has had with the National Homecare Medicines Committee on its timetable for reporting on an electronic prescribing system.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Homecare Medicines Committee provided evidence about an electronic prescribing system (EPS) for the Homecare Medicine Service to the House of Lords Public Services Select Committee as part of its recent inquiry into the Service. The Committee published its report on 16 November 2023 which included recommendations on Information Technology interoperability and electronic prescribing. The Government welcomed this report and will respond in due course. This report is available at the following link:
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5803/ldselect/pubserv/269/269.pdf
NHS England and the National Homecare Medicines Committee Digital Sub-Group have been working to develop an output-based specification to support electronic prescribing and the transmission of prescriptions using the national EPS. Adoption of this is dependent on IT suppliers, as well as the development capability and priorities of the National Health Service EPS Product Team.
It is too early to give an indicative timetable for this work. NHS England has, however, set up a working group to explore the feasibility of whether the current EPS can be utilised across Homecare Medicines Services. This group is likely to report at the end of April 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 steps her Department is taking to promote the new Pace Checker feature in the NHS Active 10 app.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
‘Pace Checker’ is a new feature that launched in the NHS Active 10 mobile application in September 2023. The feature was developed to support individuals to measure their walking pace when using the Active 10 application, providing guidance and motivation to reach a brisk pace of over 100 steps per minute. Brisk walking contributes to reaching the Chief Medical Officer’s adult physical activity guidance of at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity per week.
The NHS Active 10 mobile application is primarily promoted through the Better Health programme and partnership initiatives, encouraging the public to take steps to improve their physical and mental health. Most recently, the application was promoted through a World Mental Health Day campaign by Every Mind Matters to encourage individuals to take up a ‘little big thing’ to support their mental health. More information on the Better Health programme is available at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/better-health/
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, how many times unauthorized parties have gained access to (a) sensitive data and (b) confidential information on the Federated Data Platform in the past twelve months.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Federated Data Platform (FDP) is software that will sit across National Health Service trusts and integrated care systems allowing them to connect data they already hold in a secure and safe environment. The contract for the FDP has not yet been awarded.
The service is not yet live or in use. In line with current transition planning, we do not expect data to be placed into the FDP until 2024. No unauthorised parties have gained access to sensitive data or confidential information for the Care Coordination Solution or OPTICA pilots.