Asked by: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) phase I, (b) phase II and (c) phase III clinical trials for dementia have been hosted in Wales in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The information requested on clinical trials hosted in Wales and Scotland is not held centrally. A table showing the number of phase one, two and three clinical trials supported by the National Institute for Health and Social Care Research Clinical Research Network in England for dementia from 2012/13 to 2021/22 is attached.
Asked by: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to extend the eligibility for the spring booster vaccine to people with motor neurone disease who are clinically extremely vulnerable to covid-19.
Answered by Maggie Throup
On 21 February 2022, the Government accepted advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to offer a COVID-19 booster vaccination to specific vulnerable groups. This included residents in care homes for older adults; adults aged 75 years old and over; and individuals aged 12 years old or over who are immunosuppressed.
On 15 July 2022, the Government accepted advice from the JCVI to offer a booster vaccination to additional vulnerable patient cohorts in autumn 2022. This includes all clinical risk groups and those with motor neurone disease.
Asked by: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps NHS England is taking to ensure standardised approaches to developing radioligand therapy services across the country.
Answered by James Morris
NHS England is appointing a new National Specialty Advisor for Nuclear Medicine to ensure the opportunities for radioligand therapies approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence are realised.
Asked by: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the 10 Year Cancer Plan will include provisions on expanding system infrastructure to deliver innovative cancer treatment such as radioligand therapy.
Answered by James Morris
I refer the hon. Members to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for St Albans (Daisy Cooper MP) on 19 July 2022 to Question 33937.
Asked by: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to increase public access to (a) first aid kits and (b) defibrillators in public locations.
Answered by James Morris
With St John Ambulance, NHS England is co-ordinating skills development to increase the use of automated external defibrillators by individuals in community settings, supported by confident cardiopulmonary resuscitation skills. This will include a national network of community advocates to champion the importance of first aid and training 60,000 people to save up to 4,000 lives each year by 2028.
The Government encourages organisations in England to consider purchasing a defibrillator as part of first-aid equipment, in particular for locations where there are high concentrations of people. Many community defibrillators have since been provided through national lottery funding, community fundraising schemes, workplace funding or by charities in public locations, such as shopping centres.
Asked by: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase housing-with-care provision across the UK.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are required to shape their local markets, and ensure that people have a range of high-quality, sustainable and person-centred care and support options available to them. As of 1 September 2021, the Care Quality Commission rated 85% of all social care organisations as good/outstanding.
Health, social care and housing are devolved matters. In England, the Government’s plan for health and social care, announced on 7 September, recognised the important role of housing in providing care and support to people in the community. An independent pre-evaluation scoping exercise commissioned by the Department has found good evidence for the benefits of extra care housing for older people. The Government will invest in supported housing, including housing-with-care, as well as exploring other innovative housing solutions to allow more people to live independently at home for longer, with personalised care and support. We will continue to work closely with the sector, including as part of the white paper on adult social care which will be published later this year.
Asked by: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)
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 value of (a) care and (b) housing-with-care provision within the health and social care system.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are required to shape their local markets, and ensure that people have a range of high-quality, sustainable and person-centred care and support options available to them. As of 1 September 2021, the Care Quality Commission rated 85% of all social care organisations as good/outstanding.
Health, social care and housing are devolved matters. In England, the Government’s plan for health and social care, announced on 7 September, recognised the important role of housing in providing care and support to people in the community. An independent pre-evaluation scoping exercise commissioned by the Department has found good evidence for the benefits of extra care housing for older people. The Government will invest in supported housing, including housing-with-care, as well as exploring other innovative housing solutions to allow more people to live independently at home for longer, with personalised care and support. We will continue to work closely with the sector, including as part of the white paper on adult social care which will be published later this year.
Asked by: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)
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 performance of lateral flow devices available in the UK; and what comparative assessment he has made of the performance of those devices that are available in the UK and overseas.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Since August 2020, Public Health England has evaluated over 150 lateral flow antigen devices (LFDs) produced by United Kingdom and international manufacturers. To date, 31 of these have displayed performance characteristics desirable for mass testing, with a very high specificity and sensitivity against viral loads associated with infectiousness. Devices are also tested for robustness, usability and evidence of cross-reactivity with seasonal coronaviruses.
The Department monitors the evaluation of LFDs that are performed in other countries to shortlist LFDs for validation that meet criteria designed to identify the most likely future requirements and use cases in the United Kingdom.
Asked by: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)
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 whether the Innova Lateral Flow Device Test is fit-for-purpose.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Evaluation from Public Health England and the University of Oxford have shown that Innova lateral flow tests were shown to detect over 95% of individuals with high viral load or the most infectious cases. Results of the Innova evaluation in 2020 showed that the tests were effective in picking up viral antigens in both symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals. The Department continues to monitor the performance of the Innova lateral flow test.
Asked by: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department plans to set out a timeline for the implementation of the dementia moonshot.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to supporting research into dementia and to delivering a moonshot. Later in 2021, we will bring forward a new dementia strategy to set out our plans for dementia research, care, support and awareness in England for future years.