Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support he is offering to patients on home dialysis who face higher energy bills as the result of their treatment.

Certain specialised services in the National Health Service, including home Haemodialysis, do include the provision of financial support to offset energy costs faced by patients using medical equipment at home. It is for individual commissioned providers to agree the process for the reimbursement of utility costs for Haemodialysis patients at a local level and manage their budgets autonomously.

The Department does not have a policy on energy costs at this time. However, the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England are supporting the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero’s review of energy rebate schemes that are currently available for users of medical equipment at home; as well as supporting the Department of Energy’s policy development work in this area which they plan to publish for low-income vulnerable energy consumers post April 2024.