22nd October 2013 – Topical questions: Oral Answers to Questions on Health

Duncan Hames (Chippenham, Liberal Democrat) said –

A written answer from the former Minister, my hon. Friend Anna Soubry, to my recent parliamentary question has on this subject revealed that people living in the south-west of England are three times as likely to contract Lyme disease as those in the rest of the country, yet I have a constituent doing what he calls drug runs to the rest of Europe to access the medicines necessary to tackle his symptoms.

Will the Minister meet me to discuss how we can ensure the continuing availability of treatments for Lyme disease on the NHS?

Jane Ellison (Battersea, Conservative) Minister for Public Health answered-

I learned a great deal about Lyme disease in the course of answering my first parliamentary questions, so I would be very happy to meet my hon. Friend to have that discussion.

The big questions is – what has the Minister learned in the course of her first parliamentary questions, and is it an accurate reflection of the situation? Will she be aware why patients are driven abroad?

LDA has offered to brief Duncan Hames and can do the same for any other MP who wishes for a balanced, accurate view of the situation.

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