Asked by: Kevin Barron (Labour - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the guidance published by NHS England, Items which should not routinely be prescribed in primary care: Guidance for CCGs, what estimate his Department has made of the number of patients that have been refused prescriptions for over-the-counter medicines by their GP since the publication of that guidance.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
The Department has made no assessment of the number of patients refused prescriptions for over the counter medicines.
Asked by: Kevin Barron (Labour - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment the Government has made of the effectiveness of the implementation of the guidance entitled Items which should not be routinely prescribed in primary care: Guidance for CCGs.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
We are informed by NHS England that in the period up to and including October 2018, spend on the 18 low priority medicines has fallen by £31.1 million from £133.6 million, compared to 2016/17. This represents a reduction of 23%.
The volume of medicines prescribed reduced by 27% and the number of patients prescribed these medicines reduced by 32%.
In addition, NHS England has worked with PrescQIPP and the NHS Business Services Authority to refine its assessment of the amount of money spent on over the counter medicines.
In the 12 months to January 2019, the total National Health Service spend in England on over the counter medicines was £449.4 million. This was a saving on total spend of £25.9 million from the 12 months to January 2018, which was £475.3 million. This saving does not account for the potential impact to the NHS from a reduced number of general practitioner appointments, for which no assessment has been made.
These savings will be reinvested into the NHS, ensuring patients can access high quality care now and in the future.
Asked by: Kevin Barron (Labour - Rother Valley)
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 saving to the NHS of reducing the number of prescriptions for over-the-counter medicines.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
The Department has made no such assessment. From December 2017 to March 2018, NHS England carried out a public consultation on reducing prescribing of over-the-counter medicines for minor, short-term health concerns, ‘Conditions for which over the counter items should not routinely be prescribed in primary care: A consultation on guidance for CCGs’ which can be found at the following link:
https://www.engage.england.nhs.uk/consultation/over-the-counter-items-not-routinely-prescribed/
At the end of March 2018, NHS England published guidance to enable savings of up to £100 million for frontline care each year by curbing prescriptions for ‘over the counter’ medicines. The guidance does not affect prescribing of over the counter items for longer term or more complex conditions, or where minor illnesses are symptomatic or a side effect of something more serious.
We are informed by NHS England that in the 12 months to January 2019, the total National Health Service spend in England on over the counter items was £449.4 million. This was a saving on total spend of £25.9 million from the corresponding figure for the 12 months to January 2018, which was £475.3 million. This saving does not account for the potential impact to the NHS from a reduced number of general practitioner appointments, for which no assessment has been made.
Asked by: Kevin Barron (Labour - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 14 February 2019 to Question 219373 on UK Antimicrobial Resistance Diagnostics Collaborative, what representations his Department has received from members of that Collaborative; if he will publish the names of its members; and whether a Chair of that Collaborative has been appointed.
Answered by Steve Brine
NHS England established the United Kingdom Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Diagnostics Collaborative in 2018 to deliver the UK’s diagnostic ambitions for AMR. The Collaborative has played a valuable role in developing the diagnostic elements of the new five-year UK AMR national action plan, published in January this year.
The work of the Collaborative contributes directly to the Government’s commitments on AMR, and the Collaborative’s secretariat communicates with the Department on a regular basis and it has been represented by its secretariat and former chair in the UK AMR Programme’s governance groups.
The Collaborative’s chair remains vacant while NHS England develops detailed plans to support the implementation of the new national plan on AMR. As part of this work, the membership of the Collaborative is under review.
Current membership is drawn from a range of stakeholders across Government and its agencies, the devolved administrations, the health system, veterinary medicine, professional bodies, academia, the research community and industry. Members at or above ‘very senior manager’ (VSM) level and partner agencies involved in the Collaborative are listed in the following table.
Members of the UK Antimicrobial Resistance Diagnostics Collaborative at or above VSM level | Organisation |
Mohamed Sadak | Health Education England |
Marion Lyons | Welsh Government |
Gerry Waldron | Public Health Agency Northern Ireland |
Neil Woodford | Public Health England |
Partner Agencies | |
NHS Scotland | NHS England |
NHS Sheffield Clinical Commissioning Group | Department of Health and Social Care |
NHS Improvement | University of Bristol |
Institute of Biomedical Science | Association of Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine |
UK Standards for Microbiology Investigations | Royal College of Pathology |
Royal College of General Practice | National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Medical Technology Guidance |
Sherwood Forrest NHS Foundation Trust | Royal College of Nursing |
University of Surrey | Addenbrookes Hospital NHS Trust |
University of Edinburgh | Medical Research Council |
British In Vitro Diagnostic Association | NIHR Community Healthcare MedTech and In Vitro Diagnostics Co-operative |
Innovate UK | NICE |
Royal Cornwall Hospital | Kingston University |
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture Alliance |
University of Liverpool | Ulster University |
University of Exeter | Westpoint Farm Vets |
University of Nottingham | Centre for Ecology and Hydrology |
Cardiff University | Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital NHS Foundation Trust |
Glasgow Caledonian University |
|
Asked by: Kevin Barron (Labour - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to bring forward legislative proposal for a state-backed indemnity scheme for health care professionals.
Answered by Steve Brine
The National Health Service (Clinical Negligence Scheme for General Practice) Regulations 2019 were laid in parliament on 25 February 2019 and come into force on 1 April 2019. The Regulations establish a scheme which provides indemnity cover for future clinical negligence liabilities of general practitioners, and others working in general practice in respect of services provided as part of the National Health Service in England.
The Department also intends to establish the arrangements for an existing liabilities scheme in April 2019, subject to satisfactory discussions with the Medical Defence Organisations.
Asked by: Kevin Barron (Labour - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government is on target to meet its commitment in the 2015 Comprehensive Spending Review to provide two million more diagnostic tests per year by 2020-21; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
In 2017/18 the National Health Service carried out 21.9 million diagnostic tests, nearly 1.7 million more than in 2015/16.
NHS England publishes monthly data on diagnostic waiting times which includes the volume of patients waiting for a diagnostic test. The data is available at the following link:
Asked by: Kevin Barron (Labour - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how has the £300 million per year to fund new diagnostic equipment and additional staff capacity announced in the 2015 Comprehensive Spending Review has been allocated.
Answered by Steve Brine
The 2015 Comprehensive Spending Review made a commitment to invest up to £300 million per year by 2020/21. The published financial profile agreed for the NHS England Cancer Programme over the four years to 2020/21 was:
2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 |
£123 million | £140 million | £154 million | £190 million |
This is being invested in earlier diagnosis and personalised care, including additional staff capacity and equipment. In addition, £130 million has been invested to modernise radiotherapy equipment. Funding has been allocated for over 80 new or upgraded linear accelerators across the country since October 2016.
Asked by: Kevin Barron (Labour - Rother Valley)
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 potential merits of nationally commissioning more public health services through community pharmacy.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Government has been clear that it wants to change the focus of the health and care system onto prevention and Ministers have also set out an ambition for local pharmacies to play a stronger role in helping people stay well in the community. The Department has committed to publishing a Green Paper on prevention that will set out how these plans will be achieved in more detail. An assessment specifically focusing on the potential merits of nationally commissioning more public health services through community pharmacy has not been undertaken.
An updated list of the 1,413 pharmacies found to be eligible for the pharmacy access scheme was published in January 2018, this is publicly available and can be found at the following link:
A small proportion of the pharmacies eligible for the scheme will not receive a payment because they do not meet the payment criteria as set out in the Drug Tariff. This means their income in 2016/17 is greater than their 2015/16 income less a 1% efficiency saving, and/or their estimated income in 2017/18 and 2018/19 is greater than their 2015/16 income less a 3% efficiency saving. The number and proportion of pharmacies on the scheme in receipt of a payment, for each year that the scheme has been running, is set out in the following table.
| Total number of eligible pharmacies | Total number of pharmacies receiving zero payments | Total number of pharmacies in receipt of payment |
2016/17 | 1,402 | 47 (3%) | 1,355 (97%) |
2017/18 | 1,415[1] | 57 (4%) | 1,358 (96%) |
[1]Two additional pharmacies have been accepted on to the scheme since the publication of the updated list. This explains the difference in the figures of 1,413 and 1,415 for 2017/18.
The fees and allowances paid under the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) for the provision of essential services, including dispensing, provided by community pharmacies each year from April 2015 to March 2018 are detailed in the following table, based on data provided by NHS England. The structure of fees and allowances does not allow payments just for dispensing to be isolated. These payments do not include the medicine margin that community pharmacies earn as part of the payment for essential services, which is paid through reimbursement within the drugs’ bill.
Enhanced services are locally commissioned. As such they are funded outside of the national CPCF and the Department does not hold the information sought.
Time period | Total essential services funding2 /£ | Total national CPCF funding (essential and advanced services) less medicines margin/ £ | Funding for essential services as a proportion of total national CPCF funding (essential and advanced services) less medicines margin/ % |
2015/16 | 1,881,828,149 | 2,000,000,000 | 94 |
2016/17 | 1,769,216,586 | 1,887,000,000 | 94 |
2017/18 | 1,668,141,583 | 1,792,000,000 | 93 |
2This comprises the fees and allowances paid under Part IIIA: Professional Fees (Pharmacy Contractors) and Part VIA: Payment for Essential Services (Pharmacy Contractors) of the Drug Tariff, and through the Quality Payment Scheme and Pharmacy Access Scheme. This does not include medicines margin.
Within the NHS Long Term Plan, Government has committed to expanding the number of pharmacists in Primary Care Networks. These pharmacists are well placed to work alongside the wider medical team to optimise the use of medicines, promote medicines adherence and improve the clinical and cost effectiveness of prescribed medications. Identifying and supporting patients on complex polypharmacy and those with long term conditions necessitating repeat prescriptions will form an important part of their role. Alongside this, in August 2018, NHS England, announced plans for a new pilot scheme, with investment of £1 million from the Pharmacy Integration Fund to develop system leadership within pharmacy across all settings. These pharmacy leaders will set the vision to systematically tackle medicines optimisation priorities for the local population within GP Network and Integrated Care System foot prints, further supporting medicines adherence, and in turn reducing medicines wastage.
Asked by: Kevin Barron (Labour - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will list each pharmacy in receipt of funding from the Pharmacy Access Scheme in each year since the establishment of that scheme.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Government has been clear that it wants to change the focus of the health and care system onto prevention and Ministers have also set out an ambition for local pharmacies to play a stronger role in helping people stay well in the community. The Department has committed to publishing a Green Paper on prevention that will set out how these plans will be achieved in more detail. An assessment specifically focusing on the potential merits of nationally commissioning more public health services through community pharmacy has not been undertaken.
An updated list of the 1,413 pharmacies found to be eligible for the pharmacy access scheme was published in January 2018, this is publicly available and can be found at the following link:
A small proportion of the pharmacies eligible for the scheme will not receive a payment because they do not meet the payment criteria as set out in the Drug Tariff. This means their income in 2016/17 is greater than their 2015/16 income less a 1% efficiency saving, and/or their estimated income in 2017/18 and 2018/19 is greater than their 2015/16 income less a 3% efficiency saving. The number and proportion of pharmacies on the scheme in receipt of a payment, for each year that the scheme has been running, is set out in the following table.
| Total number of eligible pharmacies | Total number of pharmacies receiving zero payments | Total number of pharmacies in receipt of payment |
2016/17 | 1,402 | 47 (3%) | 1,355 (97%) |
2017/18 | 1,415[1] | 57 (4%) | 1,358 (96%) |
[1]Two additional pharmacies have been accepted on to the scheme since the publication of the updated list. This explains the difference in the figures of 1,413 and 1,415 for 2017/18.
The fees and allowances paid under the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) for the provision of essential services, including dispensing, provided by community pharmacies each year from April 2015 to March 2018 are detailed in the following table, based on data provided by NHS England. The structure of fees and allowances does not allow payments just for dispensing to be isolated. These payments do not include the medicine margin that community pharmacies earn as part of the payment for essential services, which is paid through reimbursement within the drugs’ bill.
Enhanced services are locally commissioned. As such they are funded outside of the national CPCF and the Department does not hold the information sought.
Time period | Total essential services funding2 /£ | Total national CPCF funding (essential and advanced services) less medicines margin/ £ | Funding for essential services as a proportion of total national CPCF funding (essential and advanced services) less medicines margin/ % |
2015/16 | 1,881,828,149 | 2,000,000,000 | 94 |
2016/17 | 1,769,216,586 | 1,887,000,000 | 94 |
2017/18 | 1,668,141,583 | 1,792,000,000 | 93 |
2This comprises the fees and allowances paid under Part IIIA: Professional Fees (Pharmacy Contractors) and Part VIA: Payment for Essential Services (Pharmacy Contractors) of the Drug Tariff, and through the Quality Payment Scheme and Pharmacy Access Scheme. This does not include medicines margin.
Within the NHS Long Term Plan, Government has committed to expanding the number of pharmacists in Primary Care Networks. These pharmacists are well placed to work alongside the wider medical team to optimise the use of medicines, promote medicines adherence and improve the clinical and cost effectiveness of prescribed medications. Identifying and supporting patients on complex polypharmacy and those with long term conditions necessitating repeat prescriptions will form an important part of their role. Alongside this, in August 2018, NHS England, announced plans for a new pilot scheme, with investment of £1 million from the Pharmacy Integration Fund to develop system leadership within pharmacy across all settings. These pharmacy leaders will set the vision to systematically tackle medicines optimisation priorities for the local population within GP Network and Integrated Care System foot prints, further supporting medicines adherence, and in turn reducing medicines wastage.