Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, in the light of their response to the report by the House of Commons Defence Select Committee, The use of Lariam for military personnel (4th Report, Session 2015–16), whether, if Lariam is to be supplied to a member of the Armed Forces, the prescribing doctor always actively checks a box to confirm that alternative drugs have been offered to that individual; and if not, when they expect to achieve 100 per cent compliance with that target.

The Government's updated policy on Preventing Malaria in UK Armed Forces Personnel (Joint Service Publication 950, Part 1, Leaflet 3-3-1) makes it explicit that, if dispensed from a military source, all antimalarial drugs can only be prescribed after a face-to-face assessment with an appropriately trained and regulated healthcare professional has taken place.

The Official Statistic of 16 November 2017, Mefloquine Prescribing in the Armed Forces, shows that between 1 April and 30 September 2017, there were 40 prescriptions for mefloquine out of a total of 6,221 antimalarial prescriptions. Of those 40 prescriptions, 32 had an electronic coded entry on Defence Medical Information Capability Programme for a face-to-face assessment. However, this does not necessarily mean that 8 individuals did not have a face-to-face assessment. If the healthcare professional recorded it as free text rather than using a coded checkbox then it will not appear in the dataset. Of the 40 prescriptions, 28 had an electronic coded entry recording that an alternative antimalarial to mefloquine had been offered. Again, this does not necessarily mean that 12 individuals did not have an alternative offered, for the reasons previously stated.

Given healthcare professionals are permitted to record any part of a consultation in free text, it might be that a face-to-face assessment, or record of alternative antimalarials being offered, will not be recorded through an electronic coded entry in 100 per cent of cases.