Asked by: Ian Blackford (Scottish National Party - Ross, Skye and Lochaber)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent comparative assessment he has made of the risks of prescribing (a) medicinal cannabis and (b) treatments for drug addiction including methadone and diamorphine; and for what reasons prescription of medical cannabis is required to be prescribed by clinicians listed on the Specialist Register of the General Medical Council.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department has not made a comparative assessment of the risks of prescribing medicinal cannabis versus methadone and diamorphine. Methadone and diamorphine are licensed medicines, whereas the vast majority of cannabis-based medicines are unlicensed, which means they have not been assessed for their safety, quality and efficacy by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. Whilst the evidence-base remains limited, the decision to prescribe unlicensed products remains with specialist doctors who have expert knowledge and take responsibility for prescribing.
Asked by: Ian Blackford (Scottish National Party - Ross, Skye and Lochaber)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many UK companies have been issued with a licence to sell cannabis products for the NHS.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
Any company meeting the standards for the manufacture of unlicensed medicinal products, can supply cannabis-based products for medicinal use.
Cannabis-based products for medicinal use are Schedule 2 controlled drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001, which means that manufacturers, importers and distributors of these products must hold valid Home Office and Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) licences for the relevant activities which will include possession, supply and production of controlled drugs. Where products are sourced from abroad, importers must obtain an import licence from the Home Office and the MHRA each time they import these products.
Asked by: Ian Blackford (Scottish National Party - Ross, Skye and Lochaber)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many companies are licensed to sell cannabis products to the NHS.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
Any company meeting the standards for the manufacture of unlicensed medicinal products, can supply cannabis-based products for medicinal use.
Cannabis-based products for medicinal use are Schedule 2 controlled drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001, which means that manufacturers, importers and distributors of these products must hold valid Home Office and Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) licences for the relevant activities which will include possession, supply and production of controlled drugs. Where products are sourced from abroad, importers must obtain an import licence from the Home Office and non-objection to import from the MHRA for each individual import of a controlled drug.
Asked by: Ian Blackford (Scottish National Party - Ross, Skye and Lochaber)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to ensure that the serious shortage protocols safeguard individuals who suffer from a condition, such as epilepsy, in which any change in medication could pose a serious risk to their health.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
A serious shortage protocol is an additional tool to manage and mitigate medication shortages and may be used in the exceptional and rare situation when other measures have been exhausted or are likely to be ineffective. Any protocol would only be introduced if clinicians with expertise in the relevant area think it is appropriate. Pharmacists still have to use their professional discretion as to whether supplying against the protocol rather than the prescription is appropriate, or whether the patient needs to be referred back to their prescriber.
As the explanatory memorandum of the amending Statutory Instrument acknowledges, protocols for therapeutic or generic equivalents will not be suitable for all medicines and patients. For example, those types of protocols would not be suitable for treatments for epilepsy or treatments requiring biological products where the medicines that are prescribed need to be prescribed by brand for clinical reasons. In these cases, patients would always be referred back to the prescriber for any decision about their treatment before any therapeutic or generic alternative is supplied.
Asked by: Ian Blackford (Scottish National Party - Ross, Skye and Lochaber)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of recent trends in life expectancy.
Answered by Jane Ellison
We welcome the overall trend to longer life expectancy. Annual fluctuations in life expectancy do occur, but the overall trend remains positive. We are committed to helping people live longer, healthier lives. Tackling health inequalities amongst people of ages is embedded in policy right across the Department.
Asked by: Ian Blackford (Scottish National Party - Ross, Skye and Lochaber)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had with the General Medical Council on amending guidance related to the prescription of off-label drugs and subsequent personal liability.
Answered by George Freeman
The Government has made no such assessment and has not had discussions with the General Medical Council (GMC) on amending their guidance related to the prescription of off-label drugs and subsequent personal liability. The GMC is responsible for the assessment of its national guidance and this is kept under review as part of GMC’s normal internal governance arrangements.
As part of its response to the Off-Patent Drugs Bill, the Government has discussed a range of issues around off-label prescribing with a wide range of stakeholders, including the GMC. Working with the Department of Health, the GMC has recently published a Hot Topic on ‘Prescribing unlicensed medicines.’ This on-line tool explains GMC’s prescribing guidance and assures doctors of the clinical appropriateness of unlicensed and off-label prescribing. A copy of this is available at:
http://www.gmc-uk.org/guidance/28349.asp
Asked by: Ian Blackford (Scottish National Party - Ross, Skye and Lochaber)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of guidance from the General Medical Council on the personal liability taken on by medical professionals when prescribing off-label on the rate of off-label prescribing.
Answered by George Freeman
The Government has made no such assessment and has not had discussions with the General Medical Council (GMC) on amending their guidance related to the prescription of off-label drugs and subsequent personal liability. The GMC is responsible for the assessment of its national guidance and this is kept under review as part of GMC’s normal internal governance arrangements.
As part of its response to the Off-Patent Drugs Bill, the Government has discussed a range of issues around off-label prescribing with a wide range of stakeholders, including the GMC. Working with the Department of Health, the GMC has recently published a Hot Topic on ‘Prescribing unlicensed medicines.’ This on-line tool explains GMC’s prescribing guidance and assures doctors of the clinical appropriateness of unlicensed and off-label prescribing. A copy of this is available at:
http://www.gmc-uk.org/guidance/28349.asp
Asked by: Ian Blackford (Scottish National Party - Ross, Skye and Lochaber)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what evidence his Department holds on the prevalence of off-label prescribing among (a) specialist clinicians, (b) GPs, (c) nurses and (d) other medical professionals.
Answered by George Freeman
The Department does not hold the information requested. The Health and Social care Information Centre has published information on prescribing data by British National Formulary chapter.
Where clinically appropriate, off-label prescribing is supported in guidance given to prescribers by both the General Medical Council and by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. Prescribing in this way is part and parcel of normal every day clinical practice. It is very common in paediatric and palliative care.
Discussions relating to the Access to Medical Treatments (Innovation) Bill are considering how a potential database covering off-label use could be constituted.
Asked by: Ian Blackford (Scottish National Party - Ross, Skye and Lochaber)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the relationship between poverty in childhood and (a) ill-health and (b) use of the NHS in adulthood.
Answered by Jane Ellison
We want all children to have the healthiest start possible in life, and particularly the poorest children. We have strengthened support for mothers, babies and children by increasing the number of Health Visitors and more than doubling the number of places on the Family Nurse Partnership programme. Health is a new theme of the new Troubled Families Programme, in order to improve the physical and mental health of the adults and children in these families.