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 the full cost of implementing the Falsified Medicines Directive is in hospitals, dispensing doctor practices and community pharmacies.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Government is continuing work with stakeholders to assess the full costs of implementing the ‘safety features’ under the Falsified Medicines Directive in the United Kingdom taking account of the different approaches and use of the flexibilities allowed by the delegated regulation.
The European Union has published an assessment of the overall impact of the Delegated Regulation, which includes information on hospitals, doctors and pharmacy, and is available at the following link:
http://ec.europa.eu/smart-regulation/impact/ia_carried_out/docs/ia_2015/swd_2015_0189_en.pdf
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 penalties will be levied on (a) hospitals, (b) dispensing doctors and (c) community pharmacies if IT systems are found to be not compliant with the Falsified Medicines Directive by February 2019.
Answered by Steve Brine
A United Kingdom Government consultation on the implementation of the European Union Delegated Regulation on ‘safety features’ under the Falsified Medicines Directive will be released shortly. The consultation and accompanying impact assessment will focus on where the UK has legal scope to make changes. This will include the Government’s proposals over penalties and sanctions on hospitals, dispensing doctors and community pharmacies.
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 many and what proportion of dispensing points will have a Falsified Medicines Directive compliant IT system in place by February 2019.
Answered by Steve Brine
The European Union Delegated Regulation on ‘safety features’ under the Falsified Medicines Directive (FMD) comes into force in the United Kingdom on 9 February 2019 and will be directly applicable on all relevant actors in the medicines supply chain, including those dispensing medicines. Healthcare institutions (hospitals and general practitioner practices) and pharmacies will need to be able to decommission products from the national repository by this time. However, in the case of other places where medicines are supplied to patients the delegated regulation allows member states some flexibilities as to where products are decommissioned in the medicines supply chain.
A UK Government consultation on the implementation of the FMD will be released shortly. The consultation and accompanying impact assessment will focus on where the UK has the scope to legislate making use of the flexibilities. The number of dispensing points that will need to have FMD compliant IT systems in place by February 2019 is dependent on the outcome of the consultation.
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 steps he is taking to ensure that the UK takes a global leadership role in tackling antimicrobial resistance.
Answered by Steve Brine
The United Kingdom has taken a strong global leadership role in the course of the current Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Strategy 2013-2018. This includes advocating for sustained political commitment and financial investment at the highest levels of multilateral fora including the European Union, the G7 and the G20. The UK also continues to provide support to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Organisation for Animal Health, challenging them and other United Nations agencies and international organisations to deliver an ambitious, robust and joined-up response which aligns with the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and the Global Action Plan on AMR.
The UK was instrumental in drafting and gaining support for a UN political declaration on AMR, which was agreed by 193 UN member states at the UN General Assembly in September 2016. Alongside this political agreement, the UK co-hosted a side event where over £600 million was committed by countries for AMR research and development. To ensure progress of the 2016 UN Resolution, the Interagency Coordination Group (IACG) on AMR was established, with the UK’s Chief Medical Officer, providing pivotal momentum as an expert member and co-convener in her independent capacity. The IACG is due to report to the UN Secretary General in summer 2019.
Since the beginning of the current strategy in 2013, the UK Government has committed over £615 million in delivering domestic and international programmes to tackle AMR, including the Fleming Fund (£265 million) and the Global AMR Innovation Fund (£50 million). These programmes focus on supporting low- and middle-income countries to combat AMR in humans, animals and the environment `by supporting countries to implement comprehensive AMR National Action Plans and by leveraging investment and expertise from around the world. The Department also works with its executive agencies to combat AMR at the global level. For instance, Public Health England provides specialist training programmes internationally and is on the steering group of the WHO-hosted Global AMR Surveillance System.
The UK also continues to work with international agencies to ensure we effectively manage the risks of AMR in the environment. For instance, the UK worked with EU partners to develop the ‘AMR in the environment’ resolution at the UN Environment Assembly in December 2017.
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 steps he is taking to ensure that the UK takes a global leadership role in tackling antimicrobial resistance.
Answered by Steve Brine
The United Kingdom has taken a strong global leadership role in the course of the current Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Strategy 2013-2018. This includes advocating for sustained political commitment and financial investment at the highest levels of multilateral fora including the European Union, the G7 and the G20. The UK also continues to provide support to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Organisation for Animal Health, challenging them and other United Nations agencies and international organisations to deliver an ambitious, robust and joined-up response which aligns with the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and the Global Action Plan on AMR.
The UK was instrumental in drafting and gaining support for a UN political declaration on AMR, which was agreed by 193 UN member states at the UN General Assembly in September 2016. Alongside this political agreement, the UK co-hosted a side event where over £600 million was committed by countries for AMR research and development. To ensure progress of the 2016 UN Resolution, the Interagency Coordination Group (IACG) on AMR was established, with the UK’s Chief Medical Officer, providing pivotal momentum as an expert member and co-convener in her independent capacity. The IACG is due to report to the UN Secretary General in summer 2019.
Since the beginning of the current strategy in 2013, the UK Government has committed over £615 million in delivering domestic and international programmes to tackle AMR, including the Fleming Fund (£265 million) and the Global AMR Innovation Fund (£50 million). These programmes focus on supporting low- and middle-income countries to combat AMR in humans, animals and the environment `by supporting countries to implement comprehensive AMR National Action Plans and by leveraging investment and expertise from around the world. The Department also works with its executive agencies to combat AMR at the global level. For instance, Public Health England provides specialist training programmes internationally and is on the steering group of the WHO-hosted Global AMR Surveillance System.
The UK also continues to work with international agencies to ensure we effectively manage the risks of AMR in the environment. For instance, the UK worked with EU partners to develop the ‘AMR in the environment’ resolution at the UN Environment Assembly in December 2017.
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 steps his Department is taking with the Treasury to implement value-based healthcare into plans for health and social care services.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Department of Health and Social Care and HM Treasury discuss with National Health Service bodies on a regular basis how to improve value for patients and taxpayers in the commissioning and delivery of NHS services. A number of measures are in place, including NHS RightCare, an NHS England supported programme to ensure the best possible care is delivered as efficiently as possible. NHS RightCare has been rolled out across local health economies in England, with all clinical commissioning groups having a dedicated Delivery Partner to help support and implement the RightCare approach.
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 it is his Department’s policy that commissioners can consider the full (a) economic, (b) social and (c) population health value of a health service intervention and not only its acquisition cost when making a commissioning decision; and what guidance his Department has issued to support such decision making.
Answered by Steve Brine
The National Health Service needs to be able to deliver the right care, in the right place, with optimal value. Commissioners must consider the interests of patients when making commissioning decisions, not only the financial cost of commissioning a particular service.
Guidance is available to support clinical commissioning groups. In September 2016, NHS England and NHS Improvement published the NHS Operational Planning and Contracting Guidance 2017-19. Subsequent refresher guidance has also been published. In March 2018, NHS England also published updated guidance on planning, assuring and delivering service change for patients. NHS RightCare is a national NHS England-supported programme committed to delivering the best care to patients, making the NHS’s money go as far as possible and improving patient outcomes.
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 steps his Department is taking to support greater collaboration between GP surgeries and community pharmacies to ensure the optimal usage of medicines at primary care level.
Answered by Steve Brine
NHS England is supporting the development of primary care networks through which local providers of primary care, including general practitioners (GPs) and pharmacies, collaborate to better integrate services for patients. In addition, through the Pharmacy Integration Fund, NHS England is working to better utilise the skills and expertise of pharmacy teams to improve clinical effectiveness and reduce demand on GPs and other parts of primary care system.
To support this, regional pharmacy integration events are being planned to run through 2018. These events will bring together Sustainable Transformation Leads, pharmacy providers and wider stakeholders to promote collaboration and consider how community pharmacies can be better utilised to support people to stay well in the community.
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 potential contribution of community pharmacies to building long term value in the health and social care system at the (a) local and (b) primary care level.
Answered by Steve Brine
Ministers recognise the important contribution that community pharmacies already make and also that they have so much more to offer. Ministers see community pharmacy playing an enhanced role in the health and care of our country with pharmacy teams supported to do more to help people stay well in the community, and in doing so helping to reduce the demand on other parts of the system, including primary care.
In particular, the Government has been piloting the use of community pharmacies to support urgent care and the management of minor illness in the community. Alongside public awareness campaigns promoting pharmacy as a first port of call for a wide range of minor health concerns, the Digital Minor Illness Referral Service directs patients into community pharmacy from NHS 111 Online and the NHS 111 phone line. The impact of this work is being evaluated and will be carefully considered by Ministers.
In addition to this, over 9,000 community pharmacies are registered Healthy Living Pharmacies, proactively delivering lifestyle advice and promoting wellbeing and self-care to people in the community. This is an important resource that local teams can commission to deliver a wide range of services to meet the unique needs of their local population.
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 the timetable is for the publication of an updated five year antimicrobial resistance strategy.
Answered by Steve Brine
Work is underway across Government, the devolved administrations and a wide range of stakeholders to develop a refreshed United Kingdom antimicrobial resistance strategy. Publication is planned by the end of the year.