Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
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 adequacy of the supply of (a) Lisdexamfetamine and (b) Bupropion Hydrochloride.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department is aware of intermittent supply disruptions affecting Elvanse (lisdexamfetamine) capsules. We continue to work with the respective manufacturer to ensure continuous supply is resumed quickly. However, we can confirm that Elvanse 20mg, 40mg and 60mg capsules are currently in stock and pharmacies should be able to obtain stock via normal wholesaler routes.
We are also aware of a shortage with Bupropion. The resupply date of this product is still to be confirmed. We have issued comprehensive management guidance to healthcare professionals on this shortage in December 2022. Guidance advises on the management of patients who require this medication for both licensed and off-label indications. Clinicians can advise patients on suitable alternative products, and other management options that can be considered. This includes unlicensed bupropion 150mg modified release tablets which have been sourced.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to increase access to thrombectomy treatment for stroke patients.
Answered by Will Quince
Thrombectomy is available in 24 centres in England. The National Health Service is committed to bringing about a tenfold increase in the delivery of mechanical thrombectomy from 1% to 10%. Progress has been made, with latest data showing that 3.3% of patients are receiving a thrombectomy following a stroke.
NHS England are taking steps to increase access to thrombectomy treatment for stroke patients by expanding access, with six centres currently offering 24/7 services, eight services currently providing extended hours and the remainder offering in-hours or a limited service. All thrombectomy providers and integrated stroke delivery networks are actively working to provide access to 24/7 services across England.
In addition, NHS England have worked with the General Medical Council in approving the thrombectomy curriculum and credentials to support non-interventional neuroradiologists to conduct thrombectomy and increase the number of thrombectomies that can be delivered.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
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 children with primary ciliary dyskinesia receive similar care to those with cystic fibrosis.
Answered by Will Quince
The Government is committed to improving the lives of those living with rare diseases such as primary ciliary dyskinesia.
In 2021, the Government published the UK Rare Diseases Framework, providing a national vision for how to improve the lives of those living with rare diseases. The framework lists four priorities collaboratively developed with the rare disease community: helping patients get a final diagnosis faster; increasing awareness of rare diseases among healthcare professionals; better coordination of care; and improving access to specialist care, treatments and drugs.
The framework committed to nation-specific action plans and England published its second Rare Diseases Action Plan in February this year. The framework and action plans are not disease specific, but aim to improve the lives of all people living with rare diseases.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to stop hospitals sending results letters with advertisements for private healthcare included.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department has issued guidance to National Health Service trusts on the promotion of private healthcare to NHS patients, including sending results letters with advertisements for private healthcare included. NHS Identity guidance states that “when NHS Trusts offer private healthcare services, they should market and promote their private healthcare services completely separately. They should not market or promote these services within their NHS communications to patients and the public.”
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the NHS England publication entitled Accelerating genomic medicine in the NHS, published on 12 October 2022, what steps his Department has taken to embed that strategy.
Answered by Will Quince
In October 2022, NHS England published the first NHS Genomics Strategy, Accelerating Genomic Medicine in the NHS, which outlines the vision for embedding genomics in the National Health Service over the next five years.
To date, the NHS Genomic Medicine Service is on track to deliver the commitments outlined in the strategy for 2023/24, including continuing to review the latest scientific evidence to inform and update the National Genomic Test Directory; launching a rapid whole genome sequencing service in October 2022; exploring the introduction of innovative genomic sequencing techniques, which can be applied to a range of clinical applications, including cancer; continuing to extend the use of molecular diagnostics and increasing the number of tests offered; establishing a NHS Data and Digital Board; and progressing work to establish NHS Genomic Networks of Excellence, that will play a key role in bringing together stakeholders to accelerate evidence generation to support future commissioning decisions for innovative genomics services in the NHS.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to improve diabetes care in the Major Conditions Strategy.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Action on diabetes will be included in the Major Conditions Strategy as it is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The strategy will aim to improve care and health outcomes for those living with multiple conditions and an increasingly complex set of needs.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
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 people are able to access face to face appointments with GPs.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
We are investing at least £1.5 billion to create an additional 50 million general practice appointments by 2024 by growing and diversifying the workforce. We have recruited over 29,000 additional primary care staff, and there are nearly 2,000 more doctors in general practice compared to 2019. In the twelve months to April 2023, there were 346.8 million appointments booked across England, up by 38.9 million compared to the twelve months up to April 2019.
The National Health Service is clear that general practices must provide face to face appointments, alongside remote consultations, and patients’ input into consultation type should be sought and their preferences for face-to-face care respected unless there are good clinical reasons to the contrary. The proportion of face-to-face appointments were 70.0% in April 2023, compared to April 2022 (62.9%) it is up by 7.1 percentage points.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
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 reduce the number of underage young people vaping.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
We have regulations in place to discourage underage vaping. The law protects children through restricting sales of vapes to over 18 year olds only, limiting nicotine content, refill bottle and tank sizes, labelling requirements and through advertising restrictions.
However, given the changing circumstances surrounding vapes, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) has launched a call for evidence to identify opportunities to reduce the number of children accessing and using vape products.
The call for evidence has now closed. The Government is currently considering a range of options based on the evidence provided, including potential changes to vaping policy and regulations.
In October 2022, we published new content on the potential risks of vaping for young people on the FRANK and Better Health websites and we have provided input to educational resources produced by partners including the PSHE Association. We will shortly be adding new resources for schools on OHID’s Schools Zone web platform.
We are also developing a new resource pack for schools on vaping which will be made available by July.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Competition and Markets Authority finding in 2022 that Pfizer and Flynn charged the NHS unfairly high prices for phenytoin sodium capsules for over four years, what steps his Department is taking to help prevent the NHS from being overcharged for drugs.
Answered by Will Quince
The United Kingdom has well established systems for controlling costs and ensuring we get value for money for spending on medicines. For unbranded generic medicines the Department relies on competition to keep prices down. This has led to some of the lowest prices in Europe and allows prices to react to the market. In an international market this ensures that when demand is high and supply is low, prices in the UK can increase to help secure the availability of medicines for UK patients.
Where competition does not appear to be working, the Department alerts the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Where the CMA finds that a company has breached competition law by charging excessive prices it can impose a fine as well as order companies to reduce their prices. In those instances, the Department will seek damages and invest that money back into the National Health Service. Investigations and infringements decisions by the CMA are publicly available on the CMA’s website.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
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 potential merits of installing HEPA filter air purifiers in schools and hospitals.
Answered by Will Quince
No specific assessment has been made. However, new guidance in relation to the application to ultraviolet air cleaners and HEPA filters in the National Health Service was published on 9 May 2023 by NHS England which is available at the following link: