Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the announcement by NHS England of 4 December 2016 on a large-scale clinical trial of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention, how his Department plans to review progress during that trial; whether his Department plans to publish interim results of that trial; and whether his Department plans to fully commission PrEP before the end of the trial in the event that preliminary evidence shows it to be (a) effective at reducing HIV transmission, (b) cost effective and (c) affordable.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
NHS England and Public Health England are working to finalise the clinical trial protocol and trial governance. This will determine the appropriate research framework for reviewing progress during the trial and publication of interim results. This will also clarify the amount and duration of drug used for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).
Decisions concerning future commissioning will be taken once answers to the key outstanding questions become available, such as what may be the extent of PrEP uptake by those at high HIV-risk and the duration of use.
Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the announcement by NHS England of 4 December 2016 on a large-scale clinical trial of pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV prevention, whether the reference to 10,000 people over three years means 10,000 people for up to three years each.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The clinical trial protocol of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is not yet finalised and one of the areas the trial is intended to investigate is the duration of PrEP for those at highest risk.
Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the announcement by NHS England of 4 December 2016 for a large scale clinical trial of pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV prevention, what steps he plans to take to ensure that high risk groups not in regular contact with sexual health and genito-urinary medicine clinics access that trial.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The arrangements for the clinical trial on pre-exposure prophylaxis are being developed between NHS England and Public Health England. Issues around reaching high risk groups and eligibility criteria will be addressed as part of that planning.
NHS England will take steps to monitor the impact of the trial on costs of antiretroviral drugs for post exposure prophylaxis.
Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the announcement by NHS England of 4 December 2016 for a large scale clinical trial of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention, if he will make it his policy to monitor the prescriptions rates of post-exposure prophylaxis after sexual exposure (PEPSE) during the three year PrEP trial in order to assess the effect of increased PrEP use on (a) the demand for PEPSE and other post-exposure prophylaxis and (b) the effect on costs to the NHS of potential changes in PEPSE and other post-exposure prophylaxis prescriptions.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The arrangements for the clinical trial on pre-exposure prophylaxis are being developed between NHS England and Public Health England. Issues around reaching high risk groups and eligibility criteria will be addressed as part of that planning.
NHS England will take steps to monitor the impact of the trial on costs of antiretroviral drugs for post exposure prophylaxis.
Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the announcement by NHS England of 4 December 2016 for a large scale clinical trial of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention, what the eligibility criteria will be for people to enrol on that trial.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The arrangements for the clinical trial on pre-exposure prophylaxis are being developed between NHS England and Public Health England. Issues around reaching high risk groups and eligibility criteria will be addressed as part of that planning.
NHS England will take steps to monitor the impact of the trial on costs of antiretroviral drugs for post exposure prophylaxis.
Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the announcement by NHS England of 4 December 2016 for a large scale clinical trial of pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV prevention, what (a) his estimate is of the total number of people judged to be at high risk of HIV transmission and (b) steps he plans to take in the event that more people seek access to the trial than the 10,000 planned participants announced.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Based on data covering HIV testing and sexually transmitted infections in men who have sex with men using genito-urinary medicine services, Public Health England has estimated the number at risk of HIV transmission to be around 13,000. The role of the clinical trial is to improve estimates of clinical need.
The clinical trial protocol is being finalised which will confirm the number of people who can be enrolled.
Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 21 October 2016 to Question 48541, when and where the refreshed local transformation plans will be published; and what steps his Department will take to monitor how effectively those plans support the delivery of mental health services to children and young people.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
From 2016-17 children and young people’s mental health is being mainstreamed as part of the normal NHS England planning cycle so that Local Transformation Plans are integrated into the wider Sustainability and Transformation Planning (STP) process.
Local health economies have come together to develop STPs for their areas until 2020-21. Local areas will publish their plans shortly.
STPs are expected to include actions to improve and invest in mental health services in line with the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health published by NHS England. Local areas submitted their plans on 21 October and NHS England is working with them to ensure that these measures have been adequately reflected.
Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to require clinical commission groups to start collecting data on the number of children who have been abused and need therapeutic support.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
We are investing in new data sources on both mental health prevalence and service use. From January 2016, the new Mental Health Services Dataset began to collect data for both adults and children, including data on outcomes, length of treatment, the source of referral, location of appointment and demographic information. This includes seeking to improve available data on the prevalence of child abuse and related mental health issues, using the national children and adolescent mental health survey, as well as data collection specifically on the prevalence of child sexual abuse. This collection will start in targeted settings where people who are sexually abused are more likely to be seen: for example in children and adolescent mental health service, adult mental health, maternity and public health services (contraceptive and sexual health clinics, substance misuse, school nurses, and health visiting).
NHS Digital is working with Departmental officials and with clinicians to develop the technical capability and data collection will start to be rolled out from the beginning of the next financial year. The data collection will help clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to better plan services for people who have been abused.
All CCGs have already produced Local Transformation Plans (LTPs) to transform their local offer to improve children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing. These Plans cover the full spectrum of mental health issues; from prevention and improving access to support and care for existing and emerging mental health problem to ensuring that inpatient services are available for those who need them, including therapeutic support for children who have been abused. From 2016-17 children and young people’s mental health is being mainstreamed as part of the normal NHS England planning cycle so that LTPs are integrated into the wider Sustainability and Transformation Planning process.
Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will publish the number of (a) hospital and (b) community care service doctors working in the NHS by nationality.
Answered by Philip Dunne
NHS Digital publishes data on the nationality of doctors working in the National Health Service in England. This is a self-reported field within the NHS human resources and payroll system, the electronic staff record.
This data is published twice a year and the next set will be published in December 2016 showing the position at September 2016.
The latest data is for March 2016 and is available from NHS Digital’s website at the following link:
http://content.digital.nhs.uk/article/2021/Website-Search?q=nationality&go=Go&area=both
Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress his Department has made on reaching a decision on NHS England's commissioning responsibilities for drugs capable of preventing HIV infection in high-risk groups.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
In September the Court of Appeal heard an appeal against an earlier judgement of the High Court, which ruled that NHS England does have powers to commission pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for people at risk of contracting HIV. Judgement is still awaited. No decisions on commissioning of PrEP have yet been made.