Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to (a) increase the capacity of interstitial lung disease services and (b) reduce the time between diagnosis and access to treatment for that disease.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to improving the detection and diagnosis of all respiratory conditions. Community diagnostic centres (CDCs) are the primary intervention being pursued to increase diagnostic capacity quickly in the National Health Service. As of January 2024, 153 CDC sites are operational, and the programme has delivered over 5 million tests since July 2021.
Furthermore, the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan sets out the steps the NHS and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. It will put the workforce on a sustainable footing for the long term. As of September 2023, there are currently over 3,400 full-time equivalent (FTE) doctors working in the specialty of respiratory medicine in NHS trusts and other core organisations in England. This is over 690, or 25.5%, more than in 2019 and over 1,600, or 95.7%, more than in 2010. This includes almost 1,400 FTE consultants, which is over 260, or 23.2%, more than in 2019 and over 730, or 111.7%, more than in 2010.
On the delegation of specialised commissioning, NHS England approved plans in December to fully delegate the commissioning of 59 specialised services to integrated care boards (ICBs) in the East, Midlands and the North West regions of England from April 2024. NHS England has also approved plans to continue to jointly commission appropriate specialised services with ICBs in the South West, South East, London and the North East, and Yorkshire regions of England for a further year. This approach will help support a smooth transition of commissioning responsibility by April 2025. Moving to ICB-led commissioning will support a new focus on integration and population health management across whole pathways of care. This presents the opportunity to improve the quality of services, tackle health inequalities and deliver best value. Overall, the delivery of the Government’s plans on diagnostic centres, workforce, and the delegation of commissioning will help improve patient outcomes for respiratory diseases.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many agency staff were employed in NHS hospitals on 30 January 2024.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Agency workers are not National Health Service employees, and their services are invoiced upon their delivery. Invoices for these services will confirm the hours billed, and the cost of those hours. Due to the variability and complexity of the invoices, it is not possible to collect reliable statistical data on agency headcount.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 help increase the supply of Creon on the NHS.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department was made aware of a global supply issue with Creon 25000 gastro-resistant capsules in autumn 2023. We worked with the manufacturers to resolve that issue and stock is currently available. We are continuing to work with the manufacturers of Creon 25000 to help ensure that action is taken to resolve any further issues that may arise, as quickly as possible, to maintain continuity of supply of this important medicine for patients in the United Kingdom.
We understand how frustrating and distressing medicine supply issues can be. While we can’t always prevent supply issues from occurring, the Department has a range of well-established processes and tools to manage them when they arise and help mitigate risks to patients.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will bring forward legislation to regulate the sale of aspirin.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The sale of aspirin is already regulated under the Human Medicines Regulations 2012. Regulation 221 of these regulations specifies the pack sizes that can be sold without a prescription. Regulation 236 specifies the maximum amount of tablets that can be sold, currently set as 100 tablets, before it becomes a prescription only item.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) also has best practice guidance on the sale of medicines for pain relief for retailers, recommending a maximum sale of two packs. This is entirely voluntary, although it was agreed with the British Retail Consortium, and is available at the following link:
The MHRA is currently working with the British Retail Consortium to raise awareness of the guidance, why we have it in place, and how we can improve it to meet current retailing practice.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many operating theatre related fires have been reported in (a) 2020, (b) 2021, (c) 2022 and (d) 2023.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The information is not held in the format requested. Any unexpected or unintended incident which could have or did lead to harm to one or more patients can be recorded on the Learn from Patient Safety Events (LFPSE) service, to support local and national learning. This would include surgical fires and burns.
Recording onto LFPSE is a voluntary process, except where reporting to NHS England fulfils duties for other statutory mandatory requirements, such as reporting notifiable incidents to the Care Quality Commission (CQC). NHS England shares all such data with the CQC. Notifiable incidents include events resulting in serious harm or the death of a service user, and therefore the most serious surgical fires or surgical burns are subject to mandatory reporting. However, providers are encouraged to record all patient safety incidents, irrespective of the level of harm, to support local and national learning.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she plans to update the National Standards for Safety in Invasive Procedures to improve the information held on surgical fires.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
In January 2023, the Centre for Perioperative Care published, following consultation, revised National Safety Standards for Invasive Procedures. These national standards specifically cover all invasive procedures and include a requirement for local fire safety policies to minimise the risk of surgical fires and to contain a management plan in the event of one occurring.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 trends in referral numbers to secondary care for gynaecological services in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made as health policy is largely devolved, and health services in Northern Ireland are a matter for the Northern Ireland Executive.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has had recent discussions with the Department of Health in Northern Ireland on the installation of community diagnostic centres in Strangford constituency.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No recent discussions have been held with the Department of Health in Northern Ireland on the installation of community diagnostic centres in the Strangford constituency, or other constituencies in Northern Ireland. Diagnostic services in Northern Ireland are a matter for the devolved administration.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 with Cabinet colleagues to help improve the uptake of the HPV vaccine in schools.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
School Aged Immunisation Service providers have robust catch-up plans in place for the Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination based on population need, utilising opportunities from the HPV programme change in September 2023.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) works closely with several charities to develop sources that can be used to raise awareness of HPV. UKHSA also publish annual statistics to support local National Health Service teams in developing plans to improve uptake and reduce inequalities.
NHS England have improved digital communications on vaccinations, including expanding the NHS app, and have improved access to the vaccine outside of schools through community clinics at convenient times and locations.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has held recent discussions with (a) food and drink manufacturers and (b) high street retailers on taking steps to reduce the sugar content of iced coffee products.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Engagement continues with trade associations and businesses on the need for further progress, beyond what has already been made, to reduce the sugar content of iced coffee products.
As these products are excluded from the Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL), guidelines to reduce the sugar content of milk based drinks, including iced coffee products, by 20% by 2021 form part of the voluntary sugar reduction programme. Progress to date shows that 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.
A further report detailing progress on sugar reductions in these products, between 2017 and 2021, is due in 2024. This data will enable HM Treasury to consider whether to take these drinks into the levy, which it committed to when the SDIL came in to force in 2018.