Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the number of people who have contracted Pseudomonas whilst staying in hospital in each of the last 10 years for which data is available.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) advises in preventing outbreak of infections such as pseudomonas in hospitals to the Department, National Health Service national, regional, and local teams, including commissioners and providers. This is done through collecting and publishing data and supporting in development and updating of Infection Prevention Control (IPC) guidance, as well as providing independent IPC, decontamination, and epidemiology expertise. This also includes provision of subject matter and health protection experts such as Consultants in Public Health Medicine who can assist healthcare providers in the control of protracted and difficult outbreaks and can offer peer support visits, and specialist and reference microbiology services accessible to all healthcare providers in the United Kingdom.
UKHSA runs surveillance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa bloodstream infections and publishes case numbers by trust and onset setting, monthly, quarterly, and annually. UKHSA also produces a quarterly epidemiological commentary which presents trends in Gram-negative bacteraemia (including P. aeruginosa) over time.
UKHSA publishes data on Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteraemia on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis. This includes epidemiological commentaries, which explain the data and put the results in context. Further information is available at the following link:
The following table shows the number of hospital onset cases of P. aeruginosa since mandatory surveillance began in 2017/18.
Financial year | All reported cases | Hospital onset cases |
2017/2018 | 4,308 | 1,626 |
2018/2019 | 4,186 | 1,518 |
2019/2020 | 4,345 | 1,581 |
2020/2021 | 4,291 | 1,670 |
2021/2022 | 4,334 | 1,626 |
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
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 prevent outbreaks of pseudomonas in hospitals; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) advises in preventing outbreak of infections such as pseudomonas in hospitals to the Department, National Health Service national, regional, and local teams, including commissioners and providers. This is done through collecting and publishing data and supporting in development and updating of Infection Prevention Control (IPC) guidance, as well as providing independent IPC, decontamination, and epidemiology expertise. This also includes provision of subject matter and health protection experts such as Consultants in Public Health Medicine who can assist healthcare providers in the control of protracted and difficult outbreaks and can offer peer support visits, and specialist and reference microbiology services accessible to all healthcare providers in the United Kingdom.
UKHSA runs surveillance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa bloodstream infections and publishes case numbers by trust and onset setting, monthly, quarterly, and annually. UKHSA also produces a quarterly epidemiological commentary which presents trends in Gram-negative bacteraemia (including P. aeruginosa) over time.
UKHSA publishes data on Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteraemia on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis. This includes epidemiological commentaries, which explain the data and put the results in context. Further information is available at the following link:
The following table shows the number of hospital onset cases of P. aeruginosa since mandatory surveillance began in 2017/18.
Financial year | All reported cases | Hospital onset cases |
2017/2018 | 4,308 | 1,626 |
2018/2019 | 4,186 | 1,518 |
2019/2020 | 4,345 | 1,581 |
2020/2021 | 4,291 | 1,670 |
2021/2022 | 4,334 | 1,626 |
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the number of people who have died as a result of asthma in (a) England and (b) Gloucestershire, in each of the last ten years for which figures are available.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities publishes the Interactive Health Atlas of Lung conditions in England profile that includes asthma metrics and compares local areas within England. The profile includes the mortality rate from asthma.
The following table shows the number of deaths for the last 10 years.
Year | Gloucestershire CCG | England |
2011 | 8 | 982 |
2012 | 8 | 1,054 |
2013 | 8 | 1,037 |
2014 | 8 | 1,045 |
2015 | 12 | 1,221 |
2016 | 13 | 1,169 |
2017 | 9 | 1,236 |
2018 | 12 | 1,333 |
2019 | 13 | 1,202 |
2020 | 10 | 1,261 |
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
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 help reduce the number of fatalities caused by asthma; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Action on chronic respiratory diseases is crucial as they are the third biggest contributor to Years of Life Lost in England. The Major Conditions Strategy will cover treatment and prevention for chronic respiratory diseases, including asthma. The Strategy will set out a strong and coherent policy agenda that sets out a shift to integrated, whole-person care, building on measures that we have already taken forward through the NHS Long Term Plan. Interventions set out in the Strategy will aim to alleviate pressure on the health system, as well as support the Government’s objective to increase healthy life expectancy and reduce ill-health related labour market inactivity.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
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 the adequacy of guidance on asthma care; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Action on chronic respiratory diseases is crucial as they are the third biggest contributor to Years of Life Lost in England. The Major Conditions Strategy will cover treatment and prevention for chronic respiratory diseases, including asthma. The Strategy will set out a strong and coherent policy agenda that sets out a shift to integrated, whole-person care, building on measures that we have already taken forward through the NHS Long Term Plan. Interventions set out in the Strategy will aim to alleviate pressure on the health system, as well as support the Government’s objective to increase healthy life expectancy and reduce ill-health related labour market inactivity.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
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 improve care for people suffering from asthma; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Action on chronic respiratory diseases is crucial as they are the third biggest contributor to Years of Life Lost in England. The Major Conditions Strategy will cover treatment and prevention for chronic respiratory diseases, including asthma. The Strategy will set out a strong and coherent policy agenda that sets out a shift to integrated, whole-person care, building on measures that we have already taken forward through the NHS Long Term Plan. Interventions set out in the Strategy will aim to alleviate pressure on the health system, as well as support the Government’s objective to increase healthy life expectancy and reduce ill-health related labour market inactivity.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the number of people with asthma in (a) England and (b) Gloucestershire; and what assessment he has made of trends in the number of people with asthma in (i) England and (ii) Gloucestershire; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities publishes the Interactive Health Atlas of Lung conditions in England profile that includes asthma metrics and compares local areas within England. The profile includes the prevalence of asthma, as collected by the Quality Outcomes Framework, NHS Digital.
The main findings for NHS Gloucestershire CCG and England were in 2021/22 there were 46,646 people recorded with asthma in Gloucestershire, 7.3% of the population. In England there were 3,745,077 people recorded with asthma, 6.5% of the population. The percentage of people with asthma in Gloucestershire was higher than for England as a whole. The definition of the asthma registers changed in 2020/21 and earlier years data is not directly comparable. Longer trends cannot be calculated.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the cost to the public purse of providing free prescriptions to people aged between 60 and 66 in each of the last five years.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
There are no plans to make an assessment. The Department published an impact assessment in 2021 on increasing the upper age exemption for prescription charges. The impact assessment estimated that charging people aged 60 to 65 years old for prescriptions would return an additional £226 million a year. More information on this is available at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/996781/impact-assessment-upper-age-prescription-exemption.pdf
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessments he has made of the potential merits of implementing the Neurodiversity Pathway for Autism and ADHD for people aged between 0 and 18; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
This specific assessment has not been made. We expect integrated care boards to have due regard to relevant best practice guidelines when commissioning autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) services for children and young people.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends a maximum waiting time of 13 weeks between a referral for an autism assessment and a first appointment. While we want every area to meet NICE guidance, we recognise that this is not happening everywhere. NHS England publish quarterly data on how many people are waiting for an autism assessment, and for how long, by local area. The data provides useful information to support local areas to identify and manage local demand.
We are investing £2.5 million in 2022/2023 to test and embed improved autism diagnostic pathways. NHS England will publish in due course a national framework to support partners in local areas to commission and deliver autism assessment services for children, young people and adults. The aim of the framework is to improve access to and the quality of these assessment processes, reduce the time that people wait for an assessment, as well as improving consistency of support for people while they wait for an autism assessment or after they are diagnosed, including mental health and peer support.
With regard to ADHD, while NICE does not recommend a maximum waiting time standard from referral for an assessment of ADHD to the point of diagnosis, a diagnosis of ADHD should be made as soon as possible. In a recent Westminster Hall debate on 1 February 2023, I committed to look at how we can improve data on ADHD assessment waiting times, to help improve access to ADHD assessments in a timely way and in line with the NICE guideline on ADHD.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department are taking to improve access to specialist services for children with (a) Autism and (b) ADHD; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
This specific assessment has not been made. We expect integrated care boards to have due regard to relevant best practice guidelines when commissioning autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) services for children and young people.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends a maximum waiting time of 13 weeks between a referral for an autism assessment and a first appointment. While we want every area to meet NICE guidance, we recognise that this is not happening everywhere. NHS England publish quarterly data on how many people are waiting for an autism assessment, and for how long, by local area. The data provides useful information to support local areas to identify and manage local demand.
We are investing £2.5 million in 2022/2023 to test and embed improved autism diagnostic pathways. NHS England will publish in due course a national framework to support partners in local areas to commission and deliver autism assessment services for children, young people and adults. The aim of the framework is to improve access to and the quality of these assessment processes, reduce the time that people wait for an assessment, as well as improving consistency of support for people while they wait for an autism assessment or after they are diagnosed, including mental health and peer support.
With regard to ADHD, while NICE does not recommend a maximum waiting time standard from referral for an assessment of ADHD to the point of diagnosis, a diagnosis of ADHD should be made as soon as possible. In a recent Westminster Hall debate on 1 February 2023, I committed to look at how we can improve data on ADHD assessment waiting times, to help improve access to ADHD assessments in a timely way and in line with the NICE guideline on ADHD.