Health and Social Care

I would like to inform the House that the Government have accepted the advice of the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (SaBTO) and will be introducing additional testing to detect hepatitis B in donated blood from 31 May 2022. The Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive have also accepted the advice of SaBTO.

The safety of people donating and people receiving blood and blood products is the Government’s priority. We have robust safeguards in place that protect both donors and those receiving this potentially lifesaving intervention, which includes testing all donations for possible infections prior to use in transfusion.

In 2019, SaBTO established the occult hepatitis B infection (OBI) working group to consider options for further improving pre-donation testing for hepatitis B. The group considered different testing options to identify those donors who have undetectable levels of the surface antibody to hepatitis B, but do have hepatitis B DNA and a core antibody to hepatitis B. These donors are known as occult donors and have been shown to be able to transmit hepatitis B to blood donor recipients. The OBI working group recommended the introduction of core antibody testing, alongside the current testing, for all current donors once, and then all new and returning donors. SaBTO reviewed the findings of the working group and agreed with the recommendations.

The Government have reviewed the evidence compiled by the OBI working group together with SaBTO’s advice and has accepted the recommendation. The introduction of this new form of testing further improves the rigorous processes we have in place to ensure the health and wellbeing of donors and the safe and consistent supply of blood for patients.

The Department of Health and Social Care is working with NHS Blood and Transplant to implement this change and the overall impact of the changes will be reviewed in 12 months by SaBTO and the Government.

[HCWS45]

Following announcements made by the UK Health Security Agency on 7,14,18 and 20 May, I am writing to inform the House that—as of 12 pm on Monday 23 May 2022—a total of 56 monkeypox cases, in three unlinked incidents, have now been confirmed in the UK. Further cases have been identified worldwide, outside the endemic regions of west and central Africa.

Monkeypox virus in the UK is extremely rare and the detection of monkeypox in unlinked cases indicates community transmission. Prior to May 2022, there were three previous domestically acquired cases—two household transmissions related to an imported case and one healthcare worker related to a separate imported case.

In the coming days, I expect that further cases will be detected by the UK Health Security Agency’s expert diagnostic capabilities, working with NHS services to ensure heightened vigilance among healthcare professionals.

The UK was the first country in the world to identify and report this recent emergence of non-endemic cases to the World Health Organisation, which continues to receive reports of further cases in other countries across the globe.

The infection can be passed on through direct contact with monkeypox skin lesions or scabs; contact with clothing or linens—such as bedding or towels—used by an infected person; and potentially by close respiratory contact via coughing/sneezing by an individual with a monkeypox rash. Monkeypox has not previously been described as a sexually transmitted infection, though it can be passed on by direct contact during sex. A notable proportion of cases have been among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men.

The virus does not usually spread easily between people without close contact and the risk to the UK population remains low.