Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken with the Scottish Government to ensure that (a) English people living, studying, and working in Scotland can access their covid-19 vaccine through NHS Scotland and (b) Scottish people living, studying, and working in England can access their covid-19 vaccine through NHS England.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Anyone living in the UK can receive the vaccine free of charge in line with the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) prioritisation groups. All constituent four nations agreed to follow the advice of the JCVI for phase one deployment, and each administration is responsible for vaccine deployment across their respective geographies and for offering a vaccine to people resident there.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what additional steps have been taken to ensure that medical professionals are equipped to provide awareness of the risk of physical and neurodevelopmental harm to a baby associated with the use of many anti-epileptic drugs taken in pregnancy, specifically when providing such information via digital consultations and telemedicine.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) ensures that information is available electronically to support discussions between medical professionals and women and girls on the risk of physical and neurodevelopmental harm to babies born to mothers who take epilepsy medicines during pregnancy. Healthcare professionals have been reminded of their responsibility to inform women and girls of the risks of valproate specifically through letters from the United Kingdom’s Chief Medical Officers and Chief Pharmaceutical Officers and by articles in the MHRA’s electronic bulletin Drug Safety Update.
On 6 May 2020 the MHRA published guidance for specialists to support adherence to the pregnancy prevention requirements for women of childbearing potential taking valproate during the pandemic, particularly patients who are shielding due to other health conditions. This included guidance on annual review of patients using digital consultations.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
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 (a) collect and (b) disseminate data on individual women who have been prescribed anti-epileptic drugs to enable investigation into the reasons for the teratogenicity of valproate and other epilepsy medication.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and NHS Digital have been working to build a Registry to monitor the use of valproate and compliance with the current regulatory position and to monitor any children born to women on valproate. The Registry is being built around routinely collected data on all women in England who are taking National Health Service-prescribed valproate and identifies when they are pregnant and accessing NHS care for that pregnancy. Work is now ongoing to extend the Registry to include women in the devolved administrations. The Registry will also be extended to include all girls and women prescribed an antiepileptic drug. This has been prioritised within the next phase of development. Once available, this data will be accessible to support additional research.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps have been taken to appoint a Patient Safety Commissioner as recommended by the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
On 14 December 2020, the Government tabled an amendment to the Medicine and Medical Devices Bill to establish an independent Patient Safety Commissioner for England and so accepting the second recommendation of the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review. The Medicines and Medical Devices Act achieved Royal Assent on 11 February 2021 and establishes the Commissioner position and its main duties and powers.
The everyday workings of the Commissioner are to be finalised and regulations will be made setting out further details about the appointment and operation of the Commissioner such as the terms of office, finances and other support. Officials are now working with legal and appointment colleagues to confirm timelines and begin both the regulation and appointment process for the Commissioner.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people were registered with an NHS dentist in Canterbury district in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Registration is not required as part of the current contractual arrangements and data on patients registered with a National Health Service dentist in Canterbury is not held centrally. Data on dental appointments is not held as it is not collected in a form that includes information on individual appointments.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS dentistry appointments were carried out in Canterbury district in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Registration is not required as part of the current contractual arrangements and data on patients registered with a National Health Service dentist in Canterbury is not held centrally. Data on dental appointments is not held as it is not collected in a form that includes information on individual appointments.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether (a) physiotherapists and (b) other healthcare staff providing patient-facing NHS services, but employed by independent providers, will have access to covid-19 vaccination in the same priority cohort as NHS employees.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) consists of independent experts who advise the Government on which vaccine/s the United Kingdom should use and provide advice on prioritisation at a population level. The JCVI has advised that the first priorities for any COVID-19 vaccination programme should be the prevention of COVID-19 mortality and the protection of health and social care staff and systems.
Therefore, in line with the recommendations of the JCVI, the vaccine will be initially rolled out to priority groups, including frontline health and social care workers who are at increased personal risk of exposure to infection with COVID-19 and of transmitting that infection to susceptible and vulnerable patients in health and social care settings.
The COVID-19 chapter in the Green Book: Immunisation against infectious disease sets out further information defining those groups of health and social care workers that should be offered the COVID-19 vaccine. This includes physiotherapists and other healthcare staff providing direct patient care in independent, voluntary and non-standard healthcare settings. The COVID-19 chapter in the green book is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-the-green-book-chapter-14a
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether (a) physiotherapists and (b) other healthcare staff providing patient facing services in charitable hospices will have access to covid-19 vaccination in the same priority cohort as NHS employees.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) consists of independent experts who advise the Government on which vaccine/s the United Kingdom should use and provide advice on prioritisation at a population level. The JCVI has advised that the first priorities for any COVID-19 vaccination programme should be the prevention of COVID-19 mortality and the protection of health and social care staff and systems.
Therefore, in line with the recommendations of the JCVI, the vaccine will be initially rolled out to priority groups, including frontline health and social care workers who are at increased personal risk of exposure to infection with COVID-19 and of transmitting that infection to susceptible and vulnerable patients in health and social care settings.
The COVID-19 chapter in the Green Book: Immunisation against infectious disease sets out further information defining those groups of health and social care workers that should be offered the COVID-19 vaccine. This includes physiotherapists and other healthcare staff providing direct patient care in independent, voluntary and non-standard healthcare settings. The COVID-19 chapter in the green book is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-the-green-book-chapter-14a
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether self-employed physiotherapists providing patient-facing services in care homes will have access to the covid-19 vaccination in the same priority cohort as NHS employees.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) consists of independent experts who advise the Government on which vaccine/s the United Kingdom should use and provide advice on prioritisation at a population level. The JCVI has advised that the first priorities for any COVID-19 vaccination programme should be the prevention of COVID-19 mortality and the protection of health and social care staff and systems.
Therefore, in line with the recommendations of the JCVI, the vaccine will be initially rolled out to priority groups, including frontline health and social care workers who are at increased personal risk of exposure to infection with COVID-19 and of transmitting that infection to susceptible and vulnerable patients in health and social care settings.
The COVID-19 chapter in the Green Book: Immunisation against infectious disease sets out further information defining those groups of health and social care workers that should be offered the COVID-19 vaccine. This includes physiotherapists and other healthcare staff providing direct patient care in independent, voluntary and non-standard healthcare settings. The COVID-19 chapter in the green book is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-the-green-book-chapter-14a
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether self-employed physiotherapists providing patient-facing services in the community will have access to the covid-19 vaccination in the same priority cohort as NHS employees.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) consists of independent experts who advise the Government on which vaccine/s the United Kingdom should use and provide advice on prioritisation at a population level. The JCVI has advised that the first priorities for any COVID-19 vaccination programme should be the prevention of COVID-19 mortality and the protection of health and social care staff and systems.
Therefore, in line with the recommendations of the JCVI, the vaccine will be initially rolled out to priority groups, including frontline health and social care workers who are at increased personal risk of exposure to infection with COVID-19 and of transmitting that infection to susceptible and vulnerable patients in health and social care settings.
The COVID-19 chapter in the Green Book: Immunisation against infectious disease sets out further information defining those groups of health and social care workers that should be offered the COVID-19 vaccine. This includes physiotherapists and other healthcare staff providing direct patient care in independent, voluntary and non-standard healthcare settings. The COVID-19 chapter in the green book is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-the-green-book-chapter-14a