Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has had discussions with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists on its guidance to healthcare professionals relating to the reporting of suspected illegal abortions.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The Ministry of Justice is responsible for the criminal law relating to abortion. However, the overall policy on abortion is the responsibility of the Department for Health and Social Care. Therefore, the Secretary of State for Justice has not had discussions with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists on its guidance for healthcare staff on “Involvement of the police and external agencies following abortion, pregnancy loss and unexpected delivery”.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 30 January (HL1523), what assessment they have made of the impact of the fact that analysis of abortion complications data published by the Department comparing (1) Abortion Notification System data on complications arising from at home medical abortions, and (2) Hospital Episode Statistics inpatient admissions data on abortion complications does not include treatment in both inpatient and outpatient settings following discharge from the abortion service.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made, as high-quality data on outpatient treatment for abortion complications is not available. The analysis reviewed Abortion Notification System and Hospital Episode Statistics data on complications for all abortions. It did not specifically analyse data for complications following at home early medical abortions as Hospital Episode Statistics data on abortion complications does not record where the abortion was performed. Data completion on treatment of women as outpatients following a termination is considerably lower than the data for inpatient treatment. Including the incomplete outpatient data available in our analysis would have produced inaccurate results for this population.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 22 January (HL1523), whether the complication rates referenced include the treatment of women as outpatients following telemedicine abortion complications arising from home use of early medical abortion pills.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The analysis of abortion complications data published by the Department compares Abortion Notification System (ANS) data on complications known to the abortion provider at the time of the patient’s discharge from the abortion service, and Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) inpatient admissions data on abortion complications. It is not recorded on ANS whether the complications reported required inpatient or outpatient treatment.
The analysis does not include HES data on the treatment of women as outpatients following a termination. This is because HES data completeness is considerably higher for inpatient data than outpatient and accident and emergency data. Including the incomplete outpatient data in our analysis would have produced inaccurate results for this population.
Report Apr. 22 2024
Committee: Health, Social Care and Sport CommitteeFound: Stage 1 report on the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill A report on the Stage 1 scrutiny
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what methodology they are using to measure the efficacy and impact on women’s health of the 2022 changes to the Abortion Act 1967, permitting early medical termination of pregnancy taking place in the patient's home.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department works closely with NHS England, the Care Quality Commission and abortion providers to ensure that abortions, including home use of medical abortion pills, are provided safely in accordance with the legal framework set by the Abortion Act 1967. Recently published data does not show an increase in abortion complications following the introduction of home use. The complication rates for Abortion Notification System and Hospital Episodes Statistics data remains similar both before and after the introduction of home use of early medical abortion pills.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 21 February (HL2391), when they expect to publish a definitive analysis of data collected in respect of complications from abortions in England; how such information will be used to inform policy; and why they do not intend to publish it externally.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The report comparing abortion complications data from the Department’s Abortion Notification System and the Hospital Episode Statistics comprised of official statistics in development, and was published externally.
Following the publication, the Department is inviting views from third parties on abortion statistics for England and Wales, including the future publication of abortion complications data via an online user engagement survey, and via email. In regard to the feedback received, it will be reviewed and analysed on an ongoing basis to provide a robust picture of the opinions of those using our statistics, and will inform our decision regarding potential further external publications regarding abortion complications data.
Correspondence Mar. 05 2024
Committee: Health, Social Care and Sport CommitteeFound: Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill 5 March evidence session Letter from HSCS Committee
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 22 January (HL1523), whether the complication rates following the introduction of home use of early medical abortion pills would change if the outpatient treatment of complications were included in the statistics.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The analysis of abortion complications data published by the Department compares Abortion Notification System (ANS) data on complications known to the abortion provider at the time of the patient’s discharge from the abortion service, and Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) inpatient admissions data on abortion complications. It is not recorded on ANS whether the complications reported required inpatient or outpatient treatment.
The analysis does not include HES data on the treatment of women as outpatients following a termination. This is because HES data completeness is considerably higher for inpatient data than outpatient and accident and emergency data. Including the incomplete outpatient data in our analysis would have produced inaccurate results for this population.
Dec. 21 2023
Source Page: All meetings held with the Scottish Abortion Care Providers Network: FOI releaseFound: All meetings held with the Scottish Abortion Care Providers Network: FOI release
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 18 December (HL660), what are the operational reasons for not publishing the abortion statistics for 2022 in England and Wales until April 2024.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 2023 Abortion Statistics for England and Wales will not be published concurrently with 2022 statistics due to the need to collect, analyse and quality assure 2023 data. Work on this analysis will begin after publication of the 2022 statistics.
Publication of the 2022 statistics has been delayed due to a number of significant reasons, including issues associated with moving to a new data processing system, ongoing technical issues with the aspects of the system, and a significant increase in the number of paper HSA4 forms being submitted. Other factors that have delayed publication of the full 2022 statistics include an increased workload following the introduction of longer paper and electronic forms to collect additional information about medical abortion following the amendment of the Abortion Act in 2022 to permit home use of early medical abortion pills up to 10 weeks gestation.
As an interim step, the Department published abortion statistics covering the first six months of 2022 in June 2023.
The report comparing abortion complications data from the Department’s Abortion Notification System and the Hospital Episode Statistics was an experimental one-time publication. It was not the intention that this would become an annual publication. No clinical or other advice was sought prior to this decision. However, the Department is inviting views on abortion statistics for England and Wales via an online user engagement survey as well as via email. We welcome responses on all aspects of abortion statistics, including future of publication of abortion complications data.