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  • Melanie Onn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Melanie Onn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Melanie Onn on 2015-11-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many permanent gastroenterologist consultants were employed in the NHS in the last six years.

    Ben Gummer

    The following table shows the number of permanent gastroenterologist consultants employed in the National Health Service in England in the last six years. The figures are taken from the NHS hospital and community health services (HCHS) monthly workforce statistics, which are published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre.

    NHS HCHS Gastroenterology Consultants in England

    full-time equivalent

    July 2010

    July 2011

    July 2012

    July 2013

    July 2014

    July 2015

    713

    797

    838

    882

    921

    1, 005

    Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre, NHS HCHS monthly workforce statistics, July 2015

  • Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Thomas-Symonds on 2015-11-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with clinical commissioning groups on commissioning of off-patent drugs for use in new indications.

    George Freeman

    NHS England supports the national commissioning system in England, including the provision of guidance to the service, where appropriate.

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) does not routinely appraise drugs outside their licensed indications. Where drugs are not appraised by NICE, it is the responsibility of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to decide how drugs should be funded locally, in line with any guidance from NHS England. The Department has produced no guidance and had no discussions with CCGs on off-label drug use.

    Many thousands of patients benefit from the use of off-patent drugs, off-label, every day in the National Health Service. NICE publishes Evidence Summaries on unlicensed and off-label medicines. These provide a summary of the published evidence for selected unlicensed or off-label medicines that are considered to be of significance to the NHS, usually when there is no licensed medicine for the condition requiring treatment or no licensed medicines are appropriate for a significant proportion of people requiring treatment.

  • Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Thomas-Symonds on 2015-11-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department has provided for clinical commissioning groups on the commissioning of off-patent drugs for use in new indications.

    George Freeman

    NHS England supports the national commissioning system in England, including the provision of guidance to the service, where appropriate.

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) does not routinely appraise drugs outside their licensed indications. Where drugs are not appraised by NICE, it is the responsibility of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to decide how drugs should be funded locally, in line with any guidance from NHS England. The Department has produced no guidance and had no discussions with CCGs on off-label drug use.

    Many thousands of patients benefit from the use of off-patent drugs, off-label, every day in the National Health Service. NICE publishes Evidence Summaries on unlicensed and off-label medicines. These provide a summary of the published evidence for selected unlicensed or off-label medicines that are considered to be of significance to the NHS, usually when there is no licensed medicine for the condition requiring treatment or no licensed medicines are appropriate for a significant proportion of people requiring treatment.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-11-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of NHS treatment measures to deal with antibiotic resistant infections; and if he will make a statement.

    Ben Gummer

    Patient safety is of primary importance to the National Health Service. An integral part of this focus on safety is work to prevent the spread of antimicrobial resistance and preserve the effectiveness of antibiotics that are currently effective against resistant infections.

    There is mandatory surveillance of resistant infections such as meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridium difficile and E.coli within the NHS and data are published by Public Health England on a monthly basis. This transparency of data has ensured that NHS organisations are focused on minimising the number of resistant infections, and identifying and dealing with patients suffering from such resistant infections appropriately.

    The NHS has also implemented a Public Health England screening protocol to identify people suffering from carbapenem resistant infections so that adequate treatment measures can be implemented in a timely way. Carbapenems are a powerful group of broad spectrum (penicillin-related) antibiotics.

    The NHS vaccination programmes have also proved effective at tackling resistance through reducing the incidence of certain diseases. NHS England will continue to work with Public Health England to implement the national vaccination programmes successfully.

    In addition, to these existing measures, we are introducing a set of indicators which specifically focusses on resistant infections. These indicators will enable NHS organisations to identify their priorities concerning resistance and take appropriate local action. To support this we will highlight to NHS organisations key actions they can take. These include best practice on controlling levels of resistance and reducing levels of antimicrobial prescribing, and guidance on general infection prevention and control standards.

  • Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Thomas-Symonds on 2015-11-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with NICE on conducting health technology appraisals for off-patent drugs that have been proven to be effective in new indications.

    George Freeman

    My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State has had no discussions with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) on the subject of technology appraisals for off-patent drugs in new indications. NICE does not routinely appraise drugs outside their licensed indications.

    NICE does, however, issue evidence summaries which summarise the published evidence for selected unlicensed or off-label medicines that are considered to be of significance to the NHS, where there are no clinically appropriate licensed alternatives. They support decision-making on the use of an unlicensed or off-label medicine for an individual patient, where there are good clinical reasons for its use, usually when there is no licensed medicine for the condition requiring treatment, or the licensed medicine is not appropriate for that individual. Examples of evidence summaries can be found at:

    http://www.nice.org.uk/advice?type=esuom

    “

  • Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-11-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what financial support his Department has provided for research into antibiotic resistance in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

    George Freeman

    The information requested is not available. The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and the Department’s Policy Research Programme (PRP). Spend on research funded directly by the NIHR is categorised by Health Research Classification System (HRCS) health categories. There are no HRCS health sub-categories, and no category or sub-category for antibiotic resistance.

    On 18 November 2015 the NIHR announced funding for 16 studies relating to antimicrobial resistance with an investment of over £15.8 million to date, with funding of further projects expected during 2015.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-11-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many cases of infection in NHS hospitals have been attributed to antibiotic resistant infections in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

    Ben Gummer

    Public Health England (PHE) collects data only on key pathogens and antimicrobials identified from positive blood specimens reported through hospital laboratories and infection control teams. Data is not collected in a format that allows attribution of antibiotic resistance to all cases of infection in National Health Service hospitals. It is therefore not possible to determine a total number of infections attributed to antibiotic resistance in each of the last five years. PHE is working, with partner organisations, to address antimicrobial resistance through the implementation of the UK Five Year Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy.

  • Christina Rees – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Christina Rees – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christina Rees on 2015-11-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had with the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry on the Off-patent Drugs Bill.

    George Freeman

    The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry attended and contributed to the Department’s Roundtable Event of February 2015 ‘Translating evidence in to clinical practice’ which gathered key stakeholders including Breast Cancer Now and other charities, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the British Generic Manufacturers Association, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and many other NHS organisations.

  • Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Thomas-Symonds on 2015-11-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for which drugs he is the marketing authorisation holder; and under what circumstances he became the marketing authorisation holder for each such drug.

    George Freeman

    The Secretary of State currently holds a market authorisation for one drug, Healthy Start Children’s Vitamins Drops.

    This product was originally granted a licence in 1972 as licence of right. The reasons for this likely stem from the need to ensure supply of this product when a commercial supply of a similar product could not be procured.

  • Tania Mathias – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tania Mathias – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tania Mathias on 2015-11-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department has taken steps to recover costs to the NHS resulting from the actions of Hungarian journalist Ani Horvath as part of an investigation of fraud in the European Health Insurance Cards scheme.

    Ben Gummer

    The Department is undertaking a major piece of work to examine and identify areas for improvement in all the administrative systems relating to European Economic Area healthcare payments (incoming and outgoing), including the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) scheme.

    If an EHIC is used fraudulently, the Department will seek to recover the full cost of treatment from the card holder.

    The Department takes any allegations of fraud and abuse seriously and has been working with the NHS on an on-going basis to detect and tackle any suspected fraud and error since the introduction of the online EHIC application system in 2006.