Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to end deaths from asthma.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In the initial report, Major conditions strategy: case for change and our strategic framework, the Department developed a strategic framework on how our approach to health and care delivery can evolve to improve outcomes and better meet the needs of 6 major health conditions, including those with chronic respiratory disease (CRD). As part of the overall strategy for CRD management, we have incentivised primary care, through the general practice contract, to monitor and provide support for those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma, including through annual reviews, a personalised action plan, appropriate inhaler optimisation and advice on smoking cessation.
NHS England published the NHS Long Term Plan in 2019, which set out the commitments and objectives for the National Health Service for the next 10 years, in relation to CRD. NHS England is working with a range of partners to improve outcomes across the care pathway. This includes supporting local systems to offer NHS funded tobacco treatment services, building on the £2.3 billion investment in additional diagnostic capacity and the establishment of Community Diagnostic Centres; working with key partners to introduce a range of resources and measures that promote high quality and low carbon inhaler use; publishing a National Bundle of Care for Children and Young People with Asthma to support local systems with the management of asthma care and; widening and making access to specialist care through the delegation of specialist asthma services to ICB commissioning responsibilities.
NHS England is also focused on making more respiratory-specific data available to all regions and systems, ensuring there is greater consistency in the use of data and metrics to enable meaningful comparison, and to identify areas that may need additional support for improvement. NHS England also looks forward to the publication of the updated National Institute for Health and Care Excellence asthma guideline later this year and will promote and support its implementation.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of access to (a) specialist care provision and (b) review for asthma patients.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Fewer than 5% of all people with asthma have severe asthma or uncontrolled asthma. For these people, systematic assessment by a specialist multidisciplinary severe asthma team has been shown to improve patient outcomes, for instance with a reduction in exacerbations and oral corticosteroids use, a reduction in health care utilisation, and an improvement in quality of life, regardless of the use of biologic drugs.
Severe asthma services form part of NHS England’s specialised commissioning responsibilities. Specialised respiratory services are subject to joint commissioning or delegation to integrated care boards from April 2024, which will support integrated pathways between specialised and non-specialised services. Recent work contributed to by NHS England, to support capacity within specialised severe asthma services, included the development of a severe asthma toolkit and an Accelerated Access Collaborative on improving pathways for identification and management of patients with severe asthma. Regular asthma reviews, at least annually, are recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence within its guideline on the diagnosis, monitoring, and chronic management of asthma.
The provision of annual asthma reviews is one of the indicators within the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) for general practices in England. The objective of the QOF is to improve the care patients are given by rewarding practices for the quality of care they provide to their patients, based on several indicators across a range of key areas of clinical care and public health. The latest published data for 2022/23 shows that 62.9% of people on the asthma register received a review in the past 12 months. This has steadily increased since 2020/21, the earliest date from which data is available, as this is when the indicator definition was updated. Further information on the public health profile of patients with asthma is available at the following link:
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will (a) issue guidance and (b) provide resources to local authorities to help tackle household air pollution.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Government is taking significant and wide-ranging action to drive improvements to air quality, as set out in our Environmental Improvement Plan, including by providing over £883 million to help local authorities develop and implement local nitrogen dioxide reduction plans, and to support those impacted by these plans.
The Government has published guidance for private and social landlords on understanding and addressing the health risks of damp and mould, following the tragic death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak from a severe respiratory condition due to prolonged exposure to mould in his home, and is additionally investing £10 million into the Healthy Homes pilots, working with selected local authorities to test measures to improve enforcement on damp and mould in private rented sector housing, while boosting the capability and capacity of enforcement teams in the greatest areas of housing and health need. Further information on the guidance for private and social landlords is available at the following link:
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she is taking steps to promote asthma research through the use of (a) data and (b) AI.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department funds research on health and social care through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including asthma. The NIHR Respiratory Translational Research Collaboration has a dedicated asthma theme which includes research on diagnostics, monitoring, and digital health interventions to manage asthma. The NIHR has further encouraged research using data science and artificial intelligence approaches through the Artificial Intelligence in Health and Care Award, jointly funded with NHS England and the NHS Accelerated Access Collaborative since 2020.
We also note that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE’s) guideline committee made several recommendations on diagnosing and monitoring asthma, and for managing chronic asthma when the 2017 guideline was published. A further new recommendation for research was made when the guideline was updated in 2020. It is therefore possible that the NICE will make further recommendations for research when its updated asthma guideline is published later this year.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of cannabis use on violent crime.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
No recent assessment has been made. Cannabis is controlled as a Class B drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 as there is clear scientific and medical evidence that cannabis is a harmful drug which can damage people’s mental and physical health, and harms individuals and communities.
Cannabis continues to be the most commonly used drug and around 21% of adults starting treatment between 2021 and 2022 said they had a problem with cannabis. Cannabis poses a large number of serious health risks, including psychological disorders such as psychosis and respiratory illness, particularly given recent increases in potency.
We know from Dame Carol Black’s landmark review into drugs that there are clear links between the trade in illicit drugs and violence and exploitation.
Illicit drug use also makes our communities less safe, with links to anti-social behaviour in public spaces.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential (a) viability and (b) merits of creating a national indoor air quality observatory to monitor (i) levels and (ii) the potential health effects of indoor air pollution.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department continues to work collaboratively across the Government to address the impact of air pollution. We are taking significant and wide-ranging action to drive improvements to air quality, as set out in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ Environmental Improvement Plan. The United Kingdom Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) Cleaner Air Programme also aims to help reduce people’s exposure to air pollution, tackle disparities in exposure, and improve outcomes for all, including through increasing the evidence base and improving awareness and understanding of the health impacts of air pollution. The UKHSA has published a study quantifying the health burden in the population of England from key respiratory conditions associated with residential exposures to damp, mould, and formaldehyde.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of household air pollution on (a) health outcomes and (b) NHS capacity and resources.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The UK Health Security Agency published a study quantifying the health burden in the population of England from key respiratory illness or conditions associated with residential exposures to damp, mould, and formaldehyde. In 2019, the presence of damp, mould, or both was associated with approximately 5,000 cases of asthma, and approximately 8,500 lower respiratory infections among children and adults. Residential formaldehyde exposure was associated with approximately 4,000 cases of childhood asthma among children.
Exposure to indoor air pollutants can trigger or exacerbate asthma, other respiratory or cardiovascular conditions, and may even have carcinogenic effects. Damp and mould have been associated with respiratory health outcomes, such as exacerbation of asthma, respiratory infections, and allergies. The National Health Service has not made an assessment of the potential impact of household air pollution on NHS capacity and resources.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they will assess (1) wider productivity, and (2) economic benefits, when considering new immunisation programmes for infant respiratory syncytial virus.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The independent Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advises the Department on the approach to vaccination and immunisation. The JCVI evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) programme was based on the health benefits of an infant RSV programme and the potential healthcare cost savings from preventing cases and hospitalisations.
The Department did not ask the JCVI to complete an assessment of wider productivity and economic benefits of an immunisation programme, and the Department did not assess this separately for RSV.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of infant respiratory syncytial virus on (1) paediatric intensive care bed capacity, (2) NHS elective care capacity, (3) GP visits, and (4) economic productivity.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has not made specific assessments of the impact of infant respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) on paediatric intensive care bed capacity, National Health Service elective care capacity, and general practice visits, as RSV is often accompanied by other respiratory viruses and bacterial infections, and it is therefore difficult to measure the exact contribution of RSV. Neither has the Department assessed the wider productivity and economic benefits of RSV specifically.
The NHS plans for a wide range of scenarios ahead of each winter, and will continue to adapt plans based on respiratory infections surveillance, including RSV, and NHS activity data. This includes specialised commissioning led winter surge planning for paediatric critical care, as well as wider winter planning. For RSV specifically, this includes the annual immunisation programme, which continues to be managed and reviewed in accordance with advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). For 2024 to 2025, preparedness may include rolling out a new RSV vaccination programme following the JCVI’s recommendations issued in September 2023, subject to approval from the Department.
The health impact of infant RSV was assessed in a scientific paper published in Lancet Regional Health Europe in January 2024, and has been assessed previously in scientific papers published by Public Health England and others. This work contributed to the JCVI’s assessment of RSV’s impact, and advice to implement an immunisation programme to prevent infant RSV.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has she made of the potential merits of a men's health strategy for the economy.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Whilst no specific assessment has been made, we are already taking action to address the health issues that disproportionately impact men. This includes through policies announced on International Men’s Day, such as the appointment of a Men’s Health Ambassador, to raise the profile of men’s health issues. The Major Conditions Strategy will also focus on improving health outcomes linked to major condition areas like cancer, cardiovascular, and chronic respiratory diseases that disproportionately impact men.