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Wollaston ‘concerned’ about NHS England cutting travel vaccines from prescriptions

Chair of the Health Committee Dr Sarah Wollaston has urged chief executive of NHS England Simon Stevens for clarity over what vaccines will still be prescribed by the health service for Brits going abroad.

Back in March, NHS England announced plans to save money by no longer offering low-value medicines like sun lotion and travel vaccines on prescription.

Since then, documents released by the government have shown correspondences between Wollaston and Stevens which reveal that the Conservative MP is “concerned” the NHS may no longer fund vaccines against diphtheria, polio and tetanus (DPT), as well as typhoid hepatitis A and cholera.

The letter from Wollaston, dated 8 August but released this week, reads: “It has been brought to my attention that as part of this review the NHS may cease to fund vaccines for overseas travel which protect against DPT, typhoid, hepatitis A, and cholera.

“I understand that these vaccinations are predominantly provided to people travelling to the Indian sub-continent and Asia.

“I am concerned that the public health consequences of altering the availability of travel vaccines may outweigh any financial savings that could be accrued as a result of this measure.”

The Health Committee chair also outlined a number of questions to put to Stevens, including what the savings to the public purse were from the change, as well as what assessment has been made of the number of people who can travel without immunisation. She also questioned what consideration has been given by NHS England to the public interpretation of describing travel vaccines as low-value prescription items.

In response, Stevens explained that the medicines Wollaston referred to were not included in the consultation that will decide what vaccines should be routinely prescribed in primary care.

“The items specified in the consultation are not currently commissioned by the NHS for the purposes of travel,” the CEO wrote in his response.

Currently, the consultation includes vaccines for hepatitis B, Japanese encephalitis, menigitis ACWY, yellow fever, tick-borne encephalitis, rabies and BCG.

“Given that the vaccines you refer to in your letter are not affected by the consultation, and that the consultation vaccines that currently should not be prescribed on the NHS for the purposes of travel, I am unable to answer the detailed questions you raise in the letter,” Stevens continued.

“However, a parliamentary drop-in session will be confirmed to your office as soon as it is finalised.”

On top of that, he stated that careful consideration was being given to ensure that particular groups of people were not disproportionately affected, and that principles of best practice on clinical prescribing were being adhered to.

“NHS England has also asked Public Health England to separately conduct a review of the travel vaccines which you refer to in your letter, and which are currently available on the NHS,” Stevens concluded.