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 level of uptake of the most recent flu vaccine.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
Cumulative influenza vaccine uptake is collected and evaluated by Public Health England (PHE) nationally and locally. The 2018 to 2019 season included the extension of the childhood programme to all those aged nine rising to 10 years old as well as the phased delivery of the newly licensed adjuvanted vaccine for those aged 65 and over.
The national school-age vaccination programme achieved the highest levels of vaccine uptake since it started (60.8%, 2,461,563/4,051,698 in 2018/19, compared to 59.5% in 2017/18 1,998,538/3,360,997). Vaccine uptake for the pre-school children’s influenza vaccine programme has also increased further compared to previous seasons. The following table shows uptake figures for 2018/19 and 2017/18.
Uptake in adult target groups was similar or slightly lower compared to recent seasons and further work is needed to identify underpinning reasons so that uptake can be improved.
Comparison of flu uptake in groups vaccinated in general practice.
Group | 2018/19 | 2017/18 |
65 and over | 72.0% 7,260,596/10,087,873/- | 72.9% 7,309,125/10,032,613 |
At risk | 48.0% 3,276,592/6,820,919 | 49.7% 3,353,724/6,742,316 |
Pregnant | 45.2% 293,359/649,233 | 47.0% 318,057/676,159 |
Two and three year olds combined | 44.9% 593706/1,322,663 | 44.0% 585791/1,330,150 |
The frontline health care workers with direct patient care saw the highest uptake since the programme started in 2002/3 (70.3% in 2018/19 738488/1,051,038).
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 estimate his Department has made of the costs which will be accrued as a result of the cost of changing stamps bearing the UK's ISO mark for animal products from EC to GB if the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
As part of preparations for leaving the European Union, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has taken steps to change the United Kingdom’s health and identification marks so that products of animal origin can continue to be exported to the EU and non-EU countries, should the UK leave the EU in a no deal situation.
FSA operational staff apply the health mark, sometimes referred to as the health stamp to meat carcases to indicate that the product has been inspected and passed fit for human consumption. The FSA has procured and distributed new health marks to all its operational staff located in England and Wales at an approximate cost of £50,000.
Further guidance on the form of the new health and identification mark is publicly available on the FSA’s website at the following link:
https://www.food.gov.uk/business-guidance/eu-exit-changes-to-health-and-identification-marks
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, how many and what proportion of officials in his Department took sick leave for reasons relating to stress in the last 12 months; what proportion that leave was of total sick leave taken in his Department; and what the cost was to his Department of officials taking sick leave over that period.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The number of employees in the Department from 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019 who were absent due to mental health reasons, including stress was 46, this represented 3% of the total workforce. The proportion of sickness absence related to mental health reasons, including stress, was 22% of the overall sickness absence for the Department for the same time period.
The estimated cost to the Department from 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019 for employees taking sickness absence, is estimated at £936,927.
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, how many staff in his Department who were transferred or seconded to work (a) in other departments or (b) on other departmental briefs on preparations for the UK to leave the EU, have since returned to his Department.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The number of individuals who have been transferred or seconded to work in preparations for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union in other government departments is not recorded. Though we keep a record of Department of Health and Social Care members of staff who are out on loan or secondment, we do not record whether they are going to work on EU Exit. As of 23 April 2019, the Department has a total of 80 employees who are either out on loan or on secondment.
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, whether his Department has plans to involve patient organisations in setting the success factors for the 2019 Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access as part of the first operational review meeting.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
The Department has engaged with patient organisations on multiple occasions as part of the negotiation and implementation of the voluntary scheme. The Department is currently working closely with NHS England and the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry to develop success factors for the 2019 voluntary scheme and will keep patient groups informed on progress.
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 (a) increase public consultation on the creation of interim guidance for medicinal cannabis and (b) ensure patient and health professional organisations are engaged in the Department’s working group on medicinal cannabis.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
The Department does not have a standing working group on medicinal cannabis. It has, however, held a number of engagement events with representatives of patients and health professionals in relation to this policy.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has been commissioned to update and replace interim clinical guidelines on the prescribing of cannabis-based products for medicinal use by October 2019. NICE has consulted with a wide range of stakeholders on the draft scope of the guidelines, including a stakeholder workshop held on 6 November 2018, which was attended by patient and health professional organisations. NICE is expected to issue a public consultation on draft guidelines, which will commence in summer 2019. Anyone interested in this topic, who wants to be involved in the consultation process, can register as a stakeholder at www.nice.org.uk by searching “GID-NG10124”.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 1 May to Question 246433, which products purchased in preparation for the UK leaving the EU without a deal his Department had to dispose of as a result of expiry dates being before 29 March 2019.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
There are no products purchased by the Department in preparation for leaving the European Union without a deal that have had to be disposed of as a result of expiry dates before 29 March 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, pursuant to the Answer of 2 May 2019 to Question 247544, if the Government will conduct a review of its policy of charging commercial, public sector and charitable organisations to access patient data.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
As stated in response to Question 247544, organisations may seek to recover the costs of processing and providing data. This position remains under review.
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 ensure that patient and health professional organisations are engaged in the Department's working group on medicinal cannabis.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
The Department has held a number of engagement events with representatives of patients and health professionals in relation to this policy.
The Department has also arranged three meetings with stakeholders, ahead of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence publishing its guidelines on the prescribing of cannabis-based products for medicinal use in October 2019. These meetings are attended by relevant Government departments, public bodies including advisory committees and professional clinical organisations. The purpose of these meetings is to make sure work, already commissioned to implement policy on medicinal cannabis, continues to align in the interim period before the guidelines are issued.
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, if his Department will take steps to allow patient-led and third sector organisations to obtain patient data free of charge in order to populate data registries.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Commercial, public sector and charitable organisations access patient data from a range of organisations and link it for research purposes. Data are provided for free but a charge may be made to cover the costs of processing and providing the data in a format ready for use.
We are keeping this position under review.