Asked by: Paul Williams (Labour - Stockton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to support NHS providers who do not have full contingency plans in place if the UK leaves the EU without a withdrawal agreement.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
As part of a responsible Government, the Department is doing everything appropriate to prepare for European Union exit. We want to reassure patients that our plans should ensure the supply of medicines and medical products remains uninterrupted when we leave the EU on 31 October.
The Department is implementing a multi-layered approach, which consists of stockpiling where possible, securing freight capacity, changing or clarifying regulatory requirements, procuring additional warehousing, working closely with industry to improve trader readiness and putting in place the National Supply Disruption Response to manage potential shortages.
As part of this we are working closely with partners across the health and care system and industry, including the National Health Service and NHS Supply Chain, on robust preparations for EU exit.
Asked by: Paul Williams (Labour - Stockton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding he plans to allocate from the public purse to mitigate pressures on availability of medicines that may occur as a result of the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
As part of a responsible government, the Department is doing everything appropriate to prepare for European Union exit. We want to reassure patients that our plans should ensure the supply of medicines and medical products when we leave the EU on 31 October.
The Department, in consultation with the devolved administrations, has been working with trade bodies, product suppliers, and the health and care system in England to make detailed plans that should ensure continuation of the supply of medicines to the whole of the United Kingdom and its Crown Dependencies.
On 26 June, we wrote to suppliers of medicines to the UK from or via the EU or European Economic Area setting out our continuing multi-layered approach to support continuity of supply of medicines and medical products from 31 October.
Further details can be found at the following link:
Ahead of 31 October, all necessary funding will be made available to support our preparations. On 31 July, HM Treasury announced an additional £434 million made available to help ensure continuity of supply of vital medicines and medical products, including through freight capacity, warehousing and stockpiling.
Patients, hospitals and community pharmacies do not need to and should not undertake any stockpiling. Separate guidance issued to all National Health Service trusts, pharmacies and general practices has informed them of our plans and advising them that they can expect to be able to continue accessing medicines through their existing supply routes when the UK leaves the EU.
The Department’s Medicine Supply Team has well established procedures to deal with medicine shortages and works closely with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the pharmaceutical industry, NHS England and others operating in the supply chain to help prevent shortages and to ensure that the risks to patients are minimised when they do arise.
Both the 2019 Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access and the statutory branded medicines pricing scheme have detailed arrangements for how companies can request an increase to the NHS list price for a product.
Asked by: Paul Williams (Labour - Stockton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department will take to provide advice and guidance to clinicians on medicine shortages that occur as a result of the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
As part of a responsible government, the Department is doing everything appropriate to prepare for European Union exit. We want to reassure patients that our plans should ensure the supply of medicines and medical products when we leave the EU on 31 October.
The Department, in consultation with the devolved administrations, has been working with trade bodies, product suppliers, and the health and care system in England to make detailed plans that should ensure continuation of the supply of medicines to the whole of the United Kingdom and its Crown Dependencies.
On 26 June, we wrote to suppliers of medicines to the UK from or via the EU or European Economic Area setting out our continuing multi-layered approach to support continuity of supply of medicines and medical products from 31 October.
Further details can be found at the following link:
Ahead of 31 October, all necessary funding will be made available to support our preparations. On 31 July, HM Treasury announced an additional £434 million made available to help ensure continuity of supply of vital medicines and medical products, including through freight capacity, warehousing and stockpiling.
Patients, hospitals and community pharmacies do not need to and should not undertake any stockpiling. Separate guidance issued to all National Health Service trusts, pharmacies and general practices has informed them of our plans and advising them that they can expect to be able to continue accessing medicines through their existing supply routes when the UK leaves the EU.
The Department’s Medicine Supply Team has well established procedures to deal with medicine shortages and works closely with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the pharmaceutical industry, NHS England and others operating in the supply chain to help prevent shortages and to ensure that the risks to patients are minimised when they do arise.
Both the 2019 Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access and the statutory branded medicines pricing scheme have detailed arrangements for how companies can request an increase to the NHS list price for a product.
Asked by: Paul Williams (Labour - Stockton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding will be made available to mitigate any increase in the price of medicines as a result of the UK leaving the EU without an agreement.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
As part of a responsible government, the Department is doing everything appropriate to prepare for European Union exit. We want to reassure patients that our plans should ensure the supply of medicines and medical products when we leave the EU on 31 October.
The Department, in consultation with the devolved administrations, has been working with trade bodies, product suppliers, and the health and care system in England to make detailed plans that should ensure continuation of the supply of medicines to the whole of the United Kingdom and its Crown Dependencies.
On 26 June, we wrote to suppliers of medicines to the UK from or via the EU or European Economic Area setting out our continuing multi-layered approach to support continuity of supply of medicines and medical products from 31 October.
Further details can be found at the following link:
Ahead of 31 October, all necessary funding will be made available to support our preparations. On 31 July, HM Treasury announced an additional £434 million made available to help ensure continuity of supply of vital medicines and medical products, including through freight capacity, warehousing and stockpiling.
Patients, hospitals and community pharmacies do not need to and should not undertake any stockpiling. Separate guidance issued to all National Health Service trusts, pharmacies and general practices has informed them of our plans and advising them that they can expect to be able to continue accessing medicines through their existing supply routes when the UK leaves the EU.
The Department’s Medicine Supply Team has well established procedures to deal with medicine shortages and works closely with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the pharmaceutical industry, NHS England and others operating in the supply chain to help prevent shortages and to ensure that the risks to patients are minimised when they do arise.
Both the 2019 Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access and the statutory branded medicines pricing scheme have detailed arrangements for how companies can request an increase to the NHS list price for a product.
Asked by: Paul Williams (Labour - Stockton South)
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 EU nationals are aware of the requirement to provide evidence that they live in the UK on a lawful basis to access healthcare in the UK in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The Department is working closely with other Government departments and the National Health Service to ensure that European Union citizens are aware of the requirements to access healthcare in the event of the United Kingdom leaving the EU without a deal. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has a large-scale public information campaign setting out what business and the public need to know as we prepare to leave the EU. Further guidance and information will be published in due course.
We have published the following guidance on GOV.UK at the following links:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/healthcare-for-eu-and-efta-citizens-visiting-the-uk
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/healthcare-for-eu-and-efta-nationals-living-in-the-uk
Asked by: Paul Williams (Labour - Stockton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how his Department plans to communicate changes in reciprocal healthcare arrangements to EU nationals in the UK in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The Department is working closely with other Government departments and the National Health Service to ensure that European Union citizens are aware of the requirements to access healthcare in the event of the United Kingdom leaving the EU without a deal. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has a large-scale public information campaign setting out what business and the public need to know as we prepare to leave the EU. Further guidance and information will be published in due course.
We have published the following guidance on GOV.UK at the following links:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/healthcare-for-eu-and-efta-citizens-visiting-the-uk
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/healthcare-for-eu-and-efta-nationals-living-in-the-uk
Asked by: Paul Williams (Labour - Stockton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether doctors will be required to determine a patient's eligibility for healthcare in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a withdrawal agreement.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
Doctors will not be required to determine patient’s entitlement for free National Health Service healthcare in any European Union exit scenario. A clinician’s role is to provide the relevant healthcare for patients and make decisions on their treatment based on their clinical needs. Clinicians will at times be required to make a decision on whether treatment is immediately necessary, urgent or can safely wait until the individual leaves the United Kingdom for those patients identified as not eligible for NHS-funded care, as this will determine when payment has to be taken.
Asked by: Paul Williams (Labour - Stockton South)
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 trends in health visitor recruitment in (a) the UK, (b) Teesside, and (c) Stockton South constituency.
Answered by Jo Churchill
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Paul Williams (Labour - Stockton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to make additional funding available to NHS trusts and health boards to meet potential additional costs associated with changes to reciprocal healthcare in the event of the UK leaving with EU without a withdrawal agreement.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The Chancellor announced on 1 August that he has made an additional £2.1 billion available to prepare for European Union exit which includes the creation of an Operational Contingency Fund, to meet the costs of ‘no deal’ operations. This fund is available for bids where EU Exit operational costs arise that cannot be met by existing funding settlements.
Asked by: Paul Williams (Labour - Stockton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what meetings his Department has had with pharmacies on Teesside on the supply of prescription medication in preparation for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
As part of a responsible Government, the Department is doing everything appropriate to prepare for European Union exit. We want to reassure patients that our plans should ensure the supply of medicines and medical products remains uninterrupted when we leave the European Union on 31 October.
The Department, in consultation with the devolved administrations, has been working with trade bodies, product suppliers, and the health and care system in England to make detailed plans that should ensure continuation of the supply of medicines and medical products to the whole of the United Kingdom and its Crown Dependencies.
On 26 June, we wrote to suppliers of medicines to the UK from or via the EU or European Economic Area setting out our continuing multi-layered approach to support continuity of supply of medicines and medical products from 31 October.
Further details can be found at the following link: