Asked by: Hugh Gaffney (Labour - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
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 effect of the introduction of minimum unit pricing of alcohol in Scotland on the level of alcohol consumption in Scotland.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
No assessment has been made. NHS Scotland publishes annual reports on the impact of the Scottish Government’s alcohol strategy, a core element of which is minimum unit pricing. However, the Scottish Government will not publish its statutory report on the impact of minimum unit pricing (MUP) until five years post-implementation of the legislation, in 2023. The Government shall monitor the impact of MUP as robust evidence emerges.
Asked by: Hugh Gaffney (Labour - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the availablity of (a) critical and (b) short shelf-life medicines in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The Government fully understands that maintaining access to all medicines and medical products, including critical medicines and short shelf-life products, is vitally important to millions of people in this country. Ensuring unhindered supply of these products remains the Government’s top priority.
As in preparation for 29 March and 12 April, our ‘no deal’ EU Exit contingency plans for 31 October will cover the NHS, social care and the independent sector and covers all medicines, medical devices and clinical consumables, supplies for clinical trials, vaccines and countermeasures, and organs and tissues for transplants.
The Department has continued to work closely with the Devolved Administrations, industry trade bodies and suppliers, the NHS and other key stakeholders. Prior to 29 March, the Department analysed the supply chains of 12,300 medicines, close to half a million product lines of medical devices and clinical consumables, vaccines used in national and local programmes, and essential non-clinical goods on which the health and care system relies. These analyses and assessments have been updated where necessary and will continue to be refined while a ‘no deal’ EU Exit remains a possibility. This work has informed our plans.
We are asking suppliers to analyse their supply chains and to make alternative plans if they anticipate disruption, including rerouting to alternative ports or using airfreight where necessary. Our contingency measures aim to support industry-led measures and, where required, act as a ‘last resort’ to be used only when a supplier’s alternative arrangements encounter difficulties, to ensure uninterrupted supply.
In the case of medicines that cannot be stockpiled because, for example, they have short shelf-lives, such as medical radioisotopes, we are working closely with suppliers to make alternative arrangements using airfreight.
Further details can be found at the following link:
While we never give guarantees, we are confident that, if everyone – including suppliers, freight companies, international partners and the health and care system – does what they need to do, the supply of medicines and medical products should be uninterrupted in the event of a no-deal EU Exit.
Asked by: Hugh Gaffney (Labour - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of access to free wheelchairs for people with short-term mobility conditions or injuries.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
No recent assessment has been made of the provision of wheelchairs for short-term use.
Asked by: Hugh Gaffney (Labour - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the UK leaving the EU on staffing levels in the NHS.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
NHS Digital publishes data on the nationality of staff working in the National Health Service in England and the latest figures show that there were over 3,200 more European Union nationals working in the NHS in September 2017 than before the referendum result.
The Government is committed to ensuring that the NHS and social care system have the nurses, midwives, doctors, carers and other health professionals that it needs.
We continue to monitor and analyse overall staffing levels across the NHS and adult social care, and we are working across Government to ensure there will continue to be sufficient staff to deliver the high quality services on which patients rely following the United Kingdom’s exit from the EU.
On 8 December, the UK and EU Commission reached an agreement which delivered on the Prime Minister’s number one priority, to safeguard the rights of people who have built their lives in the UK and EU, following the UK’s exit from the EU.
The agreement will guarantee the rights of the 150,000 EU nationals working in our health and care system. It means that EU citizens living lawfully in the UK and UK nationals living lawfully in the EU by 29 March 2019 will be able to stay and enjoy broadly the same rights and benefits as they do now.
Asked by: Hugh Gaffney (Labour - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
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 effectiveness of Kalydeco as a treatment for people with cystic fibrosis.
Answered by Steve Brine
During the last five years, NHS England commissioned a health technology assessment to review the clinical evidence for Kalydeco (Ivacaftor) and decided at the time that it would support its use to treat one gene mutation. Subsequently it has broadened use for other gene mutations following further evidence reviews.
For commissioned drugs such as Kalydeco (Ivacaftor) for named mutations, prescribing decisions are made by multidisciplinary teams in hospitals commissioned by NHS England to provide specialised services for adults and children with cystic fibrosis.
NHS England is investing significant resources into the provision of Kalydeco which works directly on the genes causing cystic fibrosis and in medicines that reduce the impact of the disease.
NHS England and the Cystic Fibrosis Trust jointly collect outcomes data through the Cystic Fibrosis Registry to inform better management of the disease.
Information about specialised National Health Service commissioning is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/spec-services/npc-crg/group-a/a01/
Asked by: Hugh Gaffney (Labour - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans the Government has to increase support for people with mental health conditions over the next two years.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Government is committed to improving mental health provision across England. We are driving an ambitious programme of work under the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health, which includes delivering a major expansion of services.
This programme includes enhancing liaison psychiatry in accident and emergency (A&E), so that patients presenting at A&E with a mental health crisis will have access to psychiatric liaison to ensure they get the right treatment as quickly as possible. It will also expand crisis resolution and home treatment teams, so that people can expect support to be available as a safe and effective alternative to hospital, and improve perinatal mental health services for women during pregnancy and in the first postnatal year, so that women are able to access the right care at the right time and close to home.