Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has for a cross-Government delivery plan on myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Department plans to publish a draft delivery plan on ME/CFS shortly. We intend to seek views on the draft plan before publishing a final delivery plan at a later date.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to data on gonorrhoea and syphilis diagnoses, published by the UK Health and Security Agency on 6 June 2023, what steps his Department is taking to reduce gonorrhoea and syphilis infections.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
Sexual health services play a key public health role in diagnosis, early treatment and management of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including syphilis and gonorrhoea. We are providing more than £3.5 billion to local authorities through the Public Health Grant to fund public health services, including sexual health services, in this financial year. Individual local authorities are responsible for and well placed to make funding and commissioning decisions about the sexual health services that best meet the needs of their local populations, ensuring patients can be adequately diagnosed and treated to avoid further transmission and long-term health problems.
As part of the HIV Action Plan, we are investing over £3.5 million from 2021 to 2024 to deliver the National HIV Prevention Programme for England, including HIV Testing Week and other campaigns to improve information and testing for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and other STIs.
The UK Health Security Agency supports local areas to improve sexual health service delivery through data monitoring and reporting. It has also published a Syphilis Action Plan to address the increase in syphilis diagnosis in England, focusing on key interventions such as targeted testing, partner notification and awareness raising.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
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 ensure people have adequate access to sexual health services.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
Sexual health services play a key public health role in diagnosis, early treatment and management of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including syphilis and gonorrhoea. We are providing more than £3.5 billion to local authorities through the Public Health Grant to fund public health services, including sexual health services, in this financial year. Individual local authorities are responsible for and well placed to make funding and commissioning decisions about the sexual health services that best meet the needs of their local populations, ensuring patients can be adequately diagnosed and treated to avoid further transmission and long-term health problems.
As part of the HIV Action Plan, we are investing over £3.5 million from 2021 to 2024 to deliver the National HIV Prevention Programme for England, including HIV Testing Week and other campaigns to improve information and testing for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and other STIs.
The UK Health Security Agency supports local areas to improve sexual health service delivery through data monitoring and reporting. It has also published a Syphilis Action Plan to address the increase in syphilis diagnosis in England, focusing on key interventions such as targeted testing, partner notification and awareness raising.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
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 (a) fund and (b) procure a vaccine to treat gonorrhoea.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Currently there are no vaccines in the United Kingdom licensed for protection against gonorrhoea. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) are aware of ongoing studies evaluating the potential protection against gonorrhoea from meningococcal B vaccination and plan to consider evidence on other vaccines which could be used to protect against gonorrhoea. Once the JCVI has concluded its review and provided advice, the Government will consider options for implementing a programme.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
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 using doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis to treat sexually transmitted infections.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the British Association of Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH) published a joint position statement on the use of doxycycline as prophylaxis (doxyPEP) for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in 2021. Given the need for additional data on the effectiveness of doxyPEP to control STIs and potential harms due to increasing antimicrobial resistance, it is not currently endorsed by the UKHSA. However, UKHSA continually reviews emerging scientific evidence of the effectiveness of doxyPEP to inform any future guidance on its use to control STIs.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
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 increase the retention of GPs; and whether his Department is providing additional funding to support schemes with that objective.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
The 2020 updated GP Contract Framework announced a number of new retention schemes alongside continued support for existing schemes for the general practice workforce. This includes the GP Retention Scheme, the GP Retention Fund, the National GP Induction and Refresher, the Locum Support Scheme, and the Supporting Mentors Scheme. We are investing at least £1.5 billion to deliver more appointments by 2024 which includes additional funding for these schemes.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will take steps to launch a publicity campaign to educate people on self-managing illnesses and on when to access health services.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
As part of its ‘Help Us, Help You’ campaign, NHS England has run several campaign phases including marketing activity to increase use of the NHS 111 online service for urgent but non-life-threatening medical needs, and to encourage use of pharmacy for minor conditions including coughs, colds, itchy eyes and earache. Further ‘Help Us, Help You’ campaign phases are being considered.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has plans to increase (a) funding and (b) support for general practice to respond to increases in demand for their services.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
In the Autumn Statement we committed to publish a full recovery plan for primary care systems. This plan will set out detailed ambitions for recovery to deliver improved access to general practice, so that everyone who needs an appointment with their general practitioner practice can get one within two weeks, and those who need an urgent appointment can get one on the same day.
Our primary care recovery plan is being drafted and will be published in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
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 (a) fund and (b) develop IT systems to help GP practices implement telemedicine and online consultations.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
NHS England’s GP IT Operating Model, Digital Care Services catalogue and GP IT Futures framework ensures digital systems are modern, integrated, secure and user-friendly. The GP IT Futures framework ensures general practice IT evolves with minimal disruption to care and supports ongoing improvements to procurement, greater choice of nationally accredited suppliers, and products that meet core requirements, standards, and capabilities.
NHS England’s Digital First Primary Care programme is supporting practices to optimise the use of digital tools, including by providing transformation funding to help practices implement video and online consultation systems. The Digital First Online Consultation and Video Consultation framework improves the procurement process for Primary Care Networks of such solutions, and is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/gp/digital-first-primary-care/procurement/
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to take steps to expand the eligibility criteria for Seasonal Covid-19 Boosters to include those who suffer with long term effects of Covid-19.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Eligibility for COVID-19 vaccination is based on the advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). JCVI advice, including advice on eligibility for future planned programmes, is set out in published JCVI statements and reflected in national guidance. The guiding principle behind JCVI advice to date is the prevention of severe disease and mortality.
JCVI have indicated in interim advice that there should be a vaccination programme in autumn 2023. The final advice, including evidence in determining eligibility for an autumn 2023 COVID-19 booster vaccination, is currently being reviewed by the JCVI and will be published in due course. No advice has been published on COVID-19 programmes beyond autumn 2023.
At this time, based on JCVI advice, the green book does not indicate that ‘those who suffer with long term effects of COVID-19’ are a clinical risk group. JCVI will keep its advice under review, and advice will be based on evidence regarding the risk from COVID-19 and the potential benefits of vaccination.