Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Alzheimer’s Research UK’s report entitled Tipping Point: The Future of Dementia, what steps his Department is taking to increase the proportion of people with a dementia diagnosis who are registered to be informed about dementia clinical trials.
Answered by Will Quince
Join Dementia Research (JDR), delivered by the Department via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and in partnership with Alzheimer’s Society, Alzheimer Scotland and Alzheimer’s Research UK, is our main tool for enabling people to register their interest in dementia research and be matched to trials. The goal is to improve participation and diversity in dementia research by making it possible for anyone who wants to be involved in dementia research to get the chance to do so.
To increase the proportion of people with a dementia diagnosis in dementia clinical trials and other research and to increase awareness of opportunities to take part, the NIHR is undertaking several actions, including but not limited to: direct text messaging from general practitioners to patients at selected sites across England; establishing links with NHS Memory Services and other care networks to integrate discussion of JDR into their processes; working with the NHS Admiral Nurses to develop training materials to support healthcare professionals when discussing research with patients; and working to establish a national network of local JDR champions who will build on relationships with local organisations, charities and local groups representing under-represented communities to engage people with JDR.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 35 of the report Tipping Point: The Future of Dementia, published by Alzheimer’s Research UK in September 2023, whether his Department is taking steps to increase awareness among people with a dementia diagnosis about dementia (a) clinical trials and (b) other research.
Answered by Will Quince
Join Dementia Research (JDR), delivered by the Department via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and in partnership with Alzheimer’s Society, Alzheimer Scotland and Alzheimer’s Research UK, is our main tool for enabling people to register their interest in dementia research and be matched to trials. The goal is to improve participation and diversity in dementia research by making it possible for anyone who wants to be involved in dementia research to get the chance to do so.
To increase the proportion of people with a dementia diagnosis in dementia clinical trials and other research and to increase awareness of opportunities to take part, the NIHR is undertaking several actions, including but not limited to: direct text messaging from general practitioners to patients at selected sites across England; establishing links with NHS Memory Services and other care networks to integrate discussion of JDR into their processes; working with the NHS Admiral Nurses to develop training materials to support healthcare professionals when discussing research with patients; and working to establish a national network of local JDR champions who will build on relationships with local organisations, charities and local groups representing under-represented communities to engage people with JDR.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent representations his Department has received from (a) MedTech Directorate and (b) the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency on the (i) import of (A) urine drainage bags and (B) other medical devices, (ii) security of supply of those devices and (iii) cost to the NHS of imposing six per cent import tariffs on those devices.
Answered by Will Quince
The Secretary of State has received no representations on these matters from the Medical Technologies Directorate or the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
With regards to import tariffs specifically, the Government implemented temporary tariff suspensions on a set of goods in 2021, including urine drainage bags, to support the healthcare response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Government has extended the majority of these suspensions until 31 December 2023.
Departmental officials are aware of plans to remove temporary tariff suspensions and are considering information provided by industry alongside wider United Kingdom government analysis.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
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 take steps to publish a vaccine strategy.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Development of a vaccine strategy remains under review given the evolving understanding from the COVID-19 vaccination programme, the existing seasonal flu and the 12 national immunisation programmes.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
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 Cabinet colleagues to help tackle misinformation about mRNA vaccines.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Government takes the issue of vaccine misinformation extremely seriously. It is essential that people are able to access accurate information so they can make informed decisions about their health. The Department is working closely with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, media, social media and technology companies on innovative ways to tackle the proliferation of anti-vaccine messaging, limit misinformation, promote positive messages about vaccination and ensure that reputable sources such as NHS.UK are the most prominent. The Government uses extensive and targeted multi-channel communications, using trusted voices, and sharing accurate information about COVID-19 and vaccination, informed by clinical expertise and analysis from UKHSA.
Vaccines give us the best possible protection against COVID-19 and undergo a rigorous safety evaluation by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. UKHSA works with stakeholders across Government to maintain awareness of misinformation narratives and promote clear and accurate public health messaging, including that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are safe, effective and have saved countless lives. The Government continues to liaise with international partners including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the World Health Organization to monitor misinformation and horizon scan for both mis- and disinformation that can form barriers to the uptake of public health measures in the United Kingdom, including COVID-19 vaccines.
The Government is introducing the Online Safety Bill. For the first time, technology companies are going to be accountable to an independent regulator to keep their users, particularly children, safe. Under the new terms of service duties for Category 1 services, which allow users to post content online or to interact with each other and that have the largest audiences and a range of features which enable content and activity to reach large numbers of people, if certain types of mis- and disinformation including anti-vaccination falsehoods are prohibited in their terms of service, they will have to remove them.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
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 adequacy of the uptake of the influenza vaccine in winter 2022-23.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
In England from October to March monthly flu vaccine uptake data for general practitioner patients, school-aged children and frontline healthcare workers, are produced by UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and include the numbers vaccinated. The data is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/vaccine-uptake#seasonal-flu-vaccine-uptake:-figures
All monthly data is provisional until the end of season report is published. Vaccination can take place any time between 1 September 2022 and 31 March 2023. Annual reports for each flu season are published after the end of the season, with last year’s report published in June 2022.
Provisional monthly data for 2022 to 2023 shows that some of the momentum from the previous two years, where the highest flu vaccine uptake rates ever were achieved, was maintained initially but then tailed off. For those aged 65 years old and over, the World Health Organization target of 75% uptake has again been exceeded. For other cohorts, including pregnant women, healthcare workers, and two- and three-year-olds, uptake has been lower than the last two years.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to launch a public awareness campaign on the reasons for which people are prescribed medical cannabis.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department has no current plans to launch a public awareness campaign on the reasons for which people are prescribed cannabis-based medicines.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
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 ensure that eye care research is a priority for life sciences research in the UK.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department funds research into eye care though the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Applications for funding are subject to peer review and judged in open competition with awards being made based on the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. The NIHR has recently announced awards of £20 million and £6.5 million over five years to support the NIHR Moorfield Biomedical Research Centre and Clinical Research Facilities respectively. These centres are dedicated to supporting eye care research funded by public funders, medical research charities and the life sciences industry.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if her Department will take steps to expand the number of hospitals providing transcatheter aortic valve implantation for aortic stenosis in Integrated Care Systems with only surgical aortic valve replacement available.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
NHS England is finalising a revised commissioning position to enable hospitals to provide transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) and surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) for symptomatic severe aortic stenosis in adults. Patients in need of an aortic valve replacement will be assessed to determine whether a SAVR or TAVI procedure best meets their needs.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
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 in response to recent trends in the demand for palliative and end of life care in the community.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Palliative and end of life care services are commissioned by integrated care boards (ICBs) to meet the needs of the local population. NHS England has recently published statutory guidance to support ICBs in the duties under the Health and Care Act 2022, including the provision of palliative care, with explicit reference to community approaches and service provision in community settings.