Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to implement the recommendations contained in the Infection Management Coalition White Paper, published in February 2022, which recommends action to (1) address infection prevention, (2) provide rapid treatment of sepsis, (3) address antimicrobial stewardship, and (4) pandemic preparedness, with a single-policy approach.

Several of the recommendations in the Infection Management Coalition’s White Paper are being addressed under the Government’s ‘UK 5-year action plan for antimicrobial resistance 2019 to 2024’, including infection prevention, improving antimicrobial stewardship, and treatment of infections, including sepsis. This wide-ranging programme of work covers activity relating to tackling antimicrobial resistance and addressing infections generally, including sepsis. A copy of the action plan is attached.

The Department continually assesses preparedness plans for infectious disease outbreaks and pandemics to ensure that they remain as robust as possible. This assessment includes, as appropriate, incorporating lessons learnt from exercises that test the readiness of our plans, and from our experience in responding to pandemics, disease outbreaks, and other types of incidents in the United Kingdom.