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Written Question
Mental Health Services: Finance
Tuesday 29th October 2019

Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans the Government has to introduce a cap investment strategy for NHS mental health trusts.

Answered by Nadine Dorries

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Twickenham (Rt Hon Sir Vince Cable MP) on 17 October to Question 20.


Written Question
Diabetes
Wednesday 23rd October 2019

Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to research conducted by 38 degrees showing that 571 people in Carshalton and Wallington have type 1 diabetes and rely on daily insulin, what assessment his Department has made of the distribution and number of diabetes sufferers in the UK; and what steps his department has taken to secure undisrupted supply of insulin across the UK in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The number of people registered with diabetes at a general practitioner (GP) practice in 2017-18 by clinical commissioning group and diabetes type in England can be found in the attached table.

The Department is doing everything appropriate to prepare for leaving the European Union. We want to reassure patients that our plans should help to ensure the uninterrupted supply of medicines and medical products, including insulin, once we have left the EU.

As part of our EU exit preparations, we are implementing a multi-layered approach to mitigate potential disruption to supply, 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.

All three suppliers of insulin have publicly stated that they have significantly increased their United Kingdom stockpiles, and have met the Government request that they hold at least six weeks’ worth of extra stock in addition to their usual operational stocks.


Written Question
Influenza: Vaccination
Monday 21st October 2019

Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)

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 increase uptake of the flu vaccine by social care staff.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Flu vaccination is recommended for all frontline social care workers. This should be provided by their employer as part of the organisation’s policy for the prevention of the transmission of flu to help protect both staff and those that they care for. To help increase uptake rates for social care workers, NHS England and NHS Improvement have a scheme to complement employers responsibilities so that vaccination is also available for social care and hospice staff from their general practitioner or community pharmacy.

For this coming winter, Public Heath England have developed brand new resources to encourage social care worker vaccination. These resources are available at the following link:

https://campaignresources.phe.gov.uk/resources/campaigns/92-health-and-social-care-workers-flu-immunisation-/overview


Written Question
Radioisotopes: Imports
Monday 21st October 2019

Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the August 2019 British Nuclear Medicine Society's open letter to the Prime Minister on radioisotope delivery, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on the costs of radioisotope delivery of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The Department is doing everything appropriate to prepare for leaving the European Union. We want to reassure patients that our plans should ensure the uninterrupted supply of medicines and medical products, including medical radioisotopes, once we have left the EU.

The Department’s plans include implementing a multi-layered approach to mitigate potential disruption to supply, 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. Further details can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/medicines-and-medical-products-supply-government-updates-no-deal-brexit-plans.

The supply of medical radioisotopes is being handled by dedicated officials, in collaboration with Devolved Administrations, the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories, as these products have particularly short shelf lives and therefore cannot be stockpiled, as well as having complex transport requirements given the radioactivity involved.

The Department, together with other Government Departments and representatives from industry (suppliers and couriers), has also successfully completed an operational testing exercise to help to ensure the uninterrupted flow of medical radioisotopes if the UK leaves the EU without a deal. This has allowed us to test the resilience of the supply chain arrangements for medical radioisotopes.

Prices of medicines often vary due to a wide variety of factors under normal conditions and there is no evidence that the cost of medicines to the NHS are outside of expected ranges. We will continue to monitor this. The UK Government is working closely with the Devolved Administrations, the NHS and suppliers of medical radioisotopes to monitor the costs of radiopharmaceuticals to the NHS in 2019-20.


Written Question
Radioisotopes: Imports
Monday 21st October 2019

Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the joint letter of 1 August 2019 from the British Nuclear Medicine Society and the Royal College of Radiologists to the Prime Minister entitled continued supply of medical radioisotopes in the event of a no-deal Brexit, if the NHS will allocate additional funding to NHS trusts to cover increased costs incurred for the supply of medical isotopes in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The Department is doing everything appropriate to prepare for leaving the European Union. We want to reassure patients that our plans should ensure the uninterrupted supply of medicines and medical products, including medical radioisotopes, once we have left the EU.

The Department’s plans include implementing a multi-layered approach to mitigate potential disruption to supply, 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. Further details can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/medicines-and-medical-products-supply-government-updates-no-deal-brexit-plans.

The supply of medical radioisotopes is being handled by dedicated officials, in collaboration with Devolved Administrations, the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories, as these products have particularly short shelf lives and therefore cannot be stockpiled, as well as having complex transport requirements given the radioactivity involved.

The Department, together with other Government Departments and representatives from industry (suppliers and couriers), has also successfully completed an operational testing exercise to help to ensure the uninterrupted flow of medical radioisotopes if the UK leaves the EU without a deal. This has allowed us to test the resilience of the supply chain arrangements for medical radioisotopes.

Prices of medicines often vary due to a wide variety of factors under normal conditions and there is no evidence that the cost of medicines to the NHS are outside of expected ranges. We will continue to monitor this. The UK Government is working closely with the Devolved Administrations, the NHS and suppliers of medical radioisotopes to monitor the costs of radiopharmaceuticals to the NHS in 2019-20.


Written Question
Radioisotopes: Imports
Monday 21st October 2019

Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the joint letter of 1 August 2019 from the British Nuclear Medicine Society and the Royal College of Radiologists to the Prime Minister entitled continued supply of medical radioisotopes in the event of a no-deal Brexit, if his Department will respond to the concerns raised in that letter about the timely delivery of medical radioisotopes to the North of England, the South West of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The Department is doing everything appropriate to prepare for leaving the European Union. We want to reassure patients that our plans should ensure the uninterrupted supply of medicines and medical products, including medical radioisotopes, once we have left the EU.

The Department’s plans include implementing a multi-layered approach to mitigate potential disruption to supply, 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. Further details can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/medicines-and-medical-products-supply-government-updates-no-deal-brexit-plans.

The supply of medical radioisotopes is being handled by dedicated officials, in collaboration with Devolved Administrations, the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories, as these products have particularly short shelf lives and therefore cannot be stockpiled, as well as having complex transport requirements given the radioactivity involved.

The Department, together with other Government Departments and representatives from industry (suppliers and couriers), has also successfully completed an operational testing exercise to help to ensure the uninterrupted flow of medical radioisotopes if the UK leaves the EU without a deal. This has allowed us to test the resilience of the supply chain arrangements for medical radioisotopes.

Prices of medicines often vary due to a wide variety of factors under normal conditions and there is no evidence that the cost of medicines to the NHS are outside of expected ranges. We will continue to monitor this. The UK Government is working closely with the Devolved Administrations, the NHS and suppliers of medical radioisotopes to monitor the costs of radiopharmaceuticals to the NHS in 2019-20.


Written Question
Radioisotopes: Imports
Monday 21st October 2019

Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)

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 implications for his Department's policies of the matters raised in the joint letter of 1 August 2019 from the British Nuclear Medicine Society and the Royal College of Radiologists to the Prime Minister entitled continued supply of medical radioisotopes in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The Department is doing everything appropriate to prepare for leaving the European Union. We want to reassure patients that our plans should ensure the uninterrupted supply of medicines and medical products, including medical radioisotopes, once we have left the EU.

The Department’s plans include implementing a multi-layered approach to mitigate potential disruption to supply, 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. Further details can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/medicines-and-medical-products-supply-government-updates-no-deal-brexit-plans.

The supply of medical radioisotopes is being handled by dedicated officials, in collaboration with Devolved Administrations, the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories, as these products have particularly short shelf lives and therefore cannot be stockpiled, as well as having complex transport requirements given the radioactivity involved.

The Department, together with other Government Departments and representatives from industry (suppliers and couriers), has also successfully completed an operational testing exercise to help to ensure the uninterrupted flow of medical radioisotopes if the UK leaves the EU without a deal. This has allowed us to test the resilience of the supply chain arrangements for medical radioisotopes.

Prices of medicines often vary due to a wide variety of factors under normal conditions and there is no evidence that the cost of medicines to the NHS are outside of expected ranges. We will continue to monitor this. The UK Government is working closely with the Devolved Administrations, the NHS and suppliers of medical radioisotopes to monitor the costs of radiopharmaceuticals to the NHS in 2019-20.


Written Question
NHS: Drugs
Tuesday 8th October 2019

Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of reported customs delays at East Midlands airport on the delivery of category 1 medicines.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The Department is doing everything appropriate to prepare for leaving the European Union. We want to reassure patients that our plans should ensure the uninterrupted supply of medicines and medical products once we have left the EU.

The department, as part of our EU exit preparations, is implementing a multi-layered approach to mitigate potential disruption to supply, 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. Further details can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/medicines-and-medical-products-supply-government-updates-no-deal-brexit-plans

For any products that require air freight, such as some medical radioisotopes, the Department is continuing to work with all suppliers to ensure this is in place ahead of 31 October. The Department can confirm that all relevant suppliers now have plans in place or are already airfreighting into the United Kingdom.

The Department is also undertaking joint operational testing, with key suppliers and other Government Departments (Border Delivery Group, HM Revenue and Customs, Border Force) at East Midlands airport to ensure the uninterrupted flow of goods. This testing includes medical radioisotopes.

The Department is in active communication with the British Nuclear Medicine Society as well as with the Royal College of Radiologists and the UK Radiopharmacy Group.


Written Question
NHS: Procurement
Tuesday 8th October 2019

Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the UK leaving the EU on the cost of procuring equipment in the NHS.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The Department is doing everything appropriate to prepare for leaving the European Union. We want to reassure patients that our plans should ensure the uninterrupted supply of medicines and medical products once we have left the EU.

The sustainability of the National Health Service is an absolute priority for the Government. We recognise that suppliers may incur additional storage costs for stockpiling medicines or switching to air freight as part of preparations for a potential ‘no deal’ EU exit. We have been working closely with industry to minimise costs and support medical suppliers taking part in the contingency programme.

We are also clear that in any negotiations on future trade agreements, we could not agree to any proposals on pricing or access that would put NHS finances at risk or reduce clinician and patient choice.


Written Question
Radioisotopes
Tuesday 8th October 2019

Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with representatives from the British Nuclear Medicine Society on the delivery of medical radioisotopes.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The Department is doing everything appropriate to prepare for leaving the European Union. We want to reassure patients that our plans should ensure the uninterrupted supply of medicines and medical products once we have left the EU.

The department, as part of our EU exit preparations, is implementing a multi-layered approach to mitigate potential disruption to supply, 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. Further details can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/medicines-and-medical-products-supply-government-updates-no-deal-brexit-plans

For any products that require air freight, such as some medical radioisotopes, the Department is continuing to work with all suppliers to ensure this is in place ahead of 31 October. The Department can confirm that all relevant suppliers now have plans in place or are already airfreighting into the United Kingdom.

The Department is also undertaking joint operational testing, with key suppliers and other Government Departments (Border Delivery Group, HM Revenue and Customs, Border Force) at East Midlands airport to ensure the uninterrupted flow of goods. This testing includes medical radioisotopes.

The Department is in active communication with the British Nuclear Medicine Society as well as with the Royal College of Radiologists and the UK Radiopharmacy Group.