Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to increase pertussis vaccination rates among (a) young children and (b) pregnant women.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), in partnership with NHS England and the Department, undertakes a range of actions to improve vaccination coverage for all ages in England. This includes initiatives to improve access to the immunisation programme, data to better identify under-served individuals and populations, training for healthcare professionals, and communication with the public.
For example, on 4 March 2024, the UKHSA launched a new multi-media marketing campaign across England to remind parents and carers of the risk of their children missing out on protection against serious diseases that are re-emerging in the country, with an urgent call to action to catch up on missed vaccinations.
Expectant mothers are encouraged to take up the maternal pertussis vaccine, which is 97% effective at preventing death in young infants from whooping cough. Parents and carers are also being reminded to check that children are vaccinated against whooping cough, which is offered to all infants at eight, 12, and 16 weeks of age, as part of the six in one combination vaccine, with an additional dose included in the pre-school booster vaccine.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she is taking steps to ensure adequate supplies of pertussis vaccine in the context of the rise in instances in the Czech Republic.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) centrally procures and manages the United Kingdom’s supply of the pertussis vaccine, for the routine national immunisation programmes. Due to the stockpiles maintained in the UK for the national programme, there is good supply available of all pertussis-containing vaccines for the routine immunisation programmes.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to her Department's press release entitled £5 million fund to tackle fatal drug deaths across the UK, published on 29 August 2023, how this funding will be distributed; and what criteria her Department is using to select projects for this funding.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of the Reducing Drug Deaths Innovation Challenge, which aims to reduce drug-related deaths across the United Kingdom, the Department is investing in 12 projects to develop technologies aimed at improving detection, response, or intervention in potential drug-related deaths.
Applicants submitted proposals, and these were assessed by an independent panel. Detailed assessment criteria were worked up by NHS Fife, and then moderated before awards were made. They included how well the project met the challenge described in the competition scope, the main technical challenges addressed, what similar products were available and how the proposal differentiated from them, project plan and milestones, expertise, cost, and commercial potential. We awarded funding to 12 projects, with further information available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/5-million-fund-to-tackle-fatal-drug-deaths-across-the-uk
This funding supports wider Government initiatives to tackle drug misuse in society. The UK’s drugs strategy, published in December 2021, has a key objective to prevent 1,000 drug deaths in England by 2025. This aligns with work within and across the four nations of the UK to improve systems of support and reduce drug-related deaths.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to provide public health interventions for people at risk of overdosing on (a) naloxone and (b) other synthetic opioids.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is actively monitoring, and responding to, the continued threat posed by the growing levels of potent synthetic opioids such as nitazenes and illicit fentanyl in the United Kingdom. A core part of this response is expanding access to naloxone, which is a lifesaving medicine that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose. The Government recently consulted on proposed amendments to the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 so that more professionals and services can give out take-home supplies of naloxone to those at-risk of an overdose, as well as their friends and family. This consultation closed on 6 March 2024, and we will publish the next steps in due course.
For those using opiates, treatment is the safest place to be. The Government is investing an additional £780 million over three years, through to 2024/25, to create a world-class treatment and recovery system, the largest ever single increase in treatment and recovery funding in England. £532 million is being invested specifically to improve drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services. This funding is in addition to the Public Health Grant, and will grow the capacity and quality of the drug treatment system.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department is taking steps to improve how it collects data on non-fatal overdoses involving synthetic opioids.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has a longstanding surveillance system in place to collect information on the nature and location of novel drug use, drug markets, and reports alerting us to drug harms experienced. We continue to monitor the threat posed by synthetic opioids, and are working to improve drug surveillance on synthetic opioids through development of an early warning system. The early warning system dashboard will pull together overdose-response data from ambulances, toxicology labs, and other key sources, so we know in near-real time where to target responses.
We know that most overdoses take place when individuals are alone or accompanied by others also using drugs. This means they are largely transitory and hidden events with no opportunity for sampling. A key indicator, therefore, are those who do come into contact with first responders, who are administered the lifesaving opioid reversal drug naloxone, or who are admitted to hospital. Ambulance data represents an opportunity for rapidly identifying local spikes in overdoses and, for this purpose, we are establishing data feeds with ambulance trusts in England on callouts where naloxone has been administered.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department plans to shorten the diagnostic pathway for ovarian cancer by allowing the CA125 blood test and ultrasound to be undertaken at the same time.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is supporting NHS England in developing Best Practice Timed pathways, to support the ongoing improvement effort to shorten diagnosis pathways, reduce variation, improve patient experience of care, and meet the Faster Diagnosis Standard. This standard ensures patients are told they have cancer, or that cancer is ruled out, within 28 days of urgent cancer referral from general practice or screening service.
In March 2023, NHS England published guidance for local health and care systems to implement a timed gynaecological cancer diagnostic pathway, including for ovarian cancer. The gynaecological pathway ensures that at day zero, when presenting with symptoms, an ultrasound and a minimum data set is obtained, which includes a full blood count. For patients with suspected ovarian cancer, the minimum dataset should also include tumour marker CA125, with confirmation of suspicious features of ovarian cancer on ultrasound.
The guidance further ensures that patients with persistent abdominal symptoms, raised CA125, and a normal pelvic scan should be referred through the non-specific symptoms rapid diagnostic centre pathway. Women over 50 years old with elevated CA125 and palpable mass or ascites, or both, or with a previous ultrasound with risk of malignancy, should be referred straight to a computed tomography scan.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to reduce regional variations in early diagnosis of ovarian cancer.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Reducing inequalities and variation in cancer treatment is a priority for the Government, as is increasing early cancer diagnosis, as both are key contributors to reducing cancer health inequalities. The National Health Service is improving cancer pathways to get people diagnosed faster once referred, and is looking into alternative routes into the system, including non-specific symptom (NSS) pathways for patients who do not fit clearly into a single urgent cancer referral pathway, but who are at risk of being diagnosed with cancer. This will help support faster ovarian cancer diagnosis. 113 NSS pathways are currently operational, with more in development.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of (a) funding and (b) support available for research into non-invasive cancer monitoring technologies.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Research is crucial in tackling cancer, which is why the Department invests over £1 billion per year in health research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). NIHR research expenditure for all cancers was £121.8 million in 2022/23 and the NIHR spends more on cancer than any other disease group.
In terms of adequacy of funding, the NIHR funds research in response to proposals received from scientists, rather than allocating funding to specific disease areas. It is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.
Regarding technologies, the NIHR’s Invention for Innovation (i4i) Programme is a translational research funding scheme aimed at supporting medical devices, such as non-invasive cancer monitoring technologies, and includes in vitro diagnostic devices and digital health technologies addressing an existing or emerging health or social care need. Further information is available at the following link:
https://www.nihr.ac.uk/explore-nihr/funding-programmes/invention-for-innovation.htm
Additionally, in September 2023, the Office for Life Sciences Cancer Mission launched the £12 million NIHR i4i Cancer Mission: Early Cancer Diagnosis Clinical Validation and Evaluation Call, aiming to support the clinical validation and evaluation of breakthrough technologies that can increase the proportion of cancers that are detected earlier in the disease course and target health inequalities in cancer diagnosis.
The NIHR continues to welcome and encourage funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including cancer monitoring technologies, and it is worth noting that all applications that were fundable in open competition, have been funded.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the NHS is taking steps with (a) technology developers and (b) academia to help accelerate the introduction of innovative medical solutions.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In February 2023, the Department published the MedTech strategy which outlined how we will work with key stakeholders, including technology developers and academia, to ensure the health and social care system can reliably access safe, effective, and innovative medical technologies. To accelerate the introduction of innovative medical solutions, we are working with stakeholders at pace to implement solutions to streamline and join-up the innovation adoption pathway, from providing clear signals to industry on the innovation we need, to reforming regulation, comparative assessment, and with clearer procurement pathways.
In October 2023, the Government announced £30 million of investment in the Health Tech Adoption and Acceleration Fund. The fund is supporting integrated care systems to invest in the latest technology to help cut waiting lists, speed up diagnosis, and deliver new and improved ways to treat patients. Thanks to this fund, tens of thousands of patients at risk of kidney disease will be able to get tested from the comfort of their own homes. In February 2024, the Government announced eight innovative tech companies who will be supported to bring their devices to market through the Innovative Devices Access Pathway (IDAP). One of the technologies allows chemotherapy patients to self-test at home, using a finger-prick blood test, for neutropenic sepsis. Another is a smartphone app that delivers exercises, cognitive behaviour therapy, and targeted physical activity in a personally customisable format to help patients manage multiple sclerosis.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help encourage innovation in the development of healthcare technology for at home use.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In February 2023, the Department published the MedTech strategy which outlined how we will work with key stakeholders, including technology developers and academia, to ensure the health and social care system can reliably access safe, effective, and innovative medical technologies. To accelerate the introduction of innovative medical solutions, we are working with stakeholders at pace to implement solutions to streamline and join-up the innovation adoption pathway, from providing clear signals to industry on the innovation we need, to reforming regulation, comparative assessment, and with clearer procurement pathways.
In October 2023, the Government announced £30 million of investment in the Health Tech Adoption and Acceleration Fund. The fund is supporting integrated care systems to invest in the latest technology to help cut waiting lists, speed up diagnosis, and deliver new and improved ways to treat patients. Thanks to this fund, tens of thousands of patients at risk of kidney disease will be able to get tested from the comfort of their own homes. In February 2024, the Government announced eight innovative tech companies who will be supported to bring their devices to market through the Innovative Devices Access Pathway (IDAP). One of the technologies allows chemotherapy patients to self-test at home, using a finger-prick blood test, for neutropenic sepsis. Another is a smartphone app that delivers exercises, cognitive behaviour therapy, and targeted physical activity in a personally customisable format to help patients manage multiple sclerosis.