Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support is in place for people with psychosis.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
It is for individual integrated care boards to commission mental health services, including those for people with psychosis, in order to meet the needs of their local population.
We have introduced waiting times standards for early intervention in psychosis services and are expanding and transforming National Health Service mental health services, backed by additional investment of £2.3 billion a year by March 2024 to enable an extra 2 million people in England to access NHS funded mental health support.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department are taking to support people with (a) Huntington's Disease and (b) other complex neurological conditions.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Specialised elements of neurological care are provided through the 25 specialised neurological treatment centres across England. NHS England’s neuroscience transformation programme (NSTP) is developing several optimal pathways for neurology services, which includes Huntington's disease. The NSTP is also developing a new definition for ‘specialised’ neurology. The NSTP will provide integrated care systems with the tools, information and resources they will need to drive the transformation in their neurology services.
In addition, the neuropsychiatry service specification is in development, which will outline the multi-disciplinary approach to caring for patients with complex neurological conditions.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress NHS England has made on developing a neuropsychiatry service specification.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Neuropsychiatry services fall within the remit of NHS England Specialised Services and are listed in the Prescribed Specialised Services Manual, Version 6 which was published on 22 March 2023.
The Neurology Clinical Reference Group (CRG) and its clinical members are currently scoping the breadth and nature of neuropsychiatry provision across England. It is expected that more detailed work will commence and be part of the Neurology CRG workplan in 2024/25.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made on determining the successful bids for the government's New Hospital Programme.
Answered by Will Quince
We received 128 expressions of interest for new hospitals and the Government has now confirmed that five of these schemes will join the New Hospital Programme.
These hospitals all have significant amounts of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete, and have been independently assessed as unsafe to operate beyond 2030. Government is therefore prioritising these major rebuilds. Considering this, the Government is not inviting further schemes to join the programme at this time. Going forward, new schemes will be considered through a rolling programme of capital investment in hospital infrastructure to secure the building of new hospitals beyond 2030.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress his Department has made on analysing responses to the acquired brain injury call for evidence.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department continues to work on the development of the strategy, based on the feedback from the Call for Evidence, the Patient and Public Voice Reference Group, the Programme Board and the Steering Group.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that prevention is central to NHS dental care.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Prevention is crucial to the work of the health and social care system, including in dentistry, and everyone has a role to play. The Office for Health Improvements and Disparities (OHID) has published an evidence-based toolkit, ‘Delivering Better Oral Health - an evidence-based toolkit for prevention’, for dental practice teams to support preventive advice and treatment for their patients available at the following link:
Water fluoridation is a safe public health intervention to improve the oral health of both adults and children and helps to tackle inequalities. The Health and Care Act will make it simpler to expand water fluoridation schemes across England. We announced funding to begin expansion, subject to consultation, across the North-East of England.
We know that good oral health in the early stages of childhood is likely to lead to better long-term dental health. There is good evidence for the effectiveness of daily supervised toothbrushing programmes in schools and early year settings, particularly in deprived areas. Such schemes can be commissioned by local authorities or the National Health Service and exist across the country.
Following the implementation of ‘Our plan for patients’, we are planning to announce additional reforms of the NHS Dental System shortly.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support his Department provides for (a) people diagnosed with fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva and (b) their families.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There is no specific prescribed service for treatment of fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP). However, children with FOP are cared for by National Health Service paediatric rheumatologists and/or geneticists with input from other clinicians as required. For patients with rare diseases such as FOP, expert centres provide clinical guidance, support and advice to patients, their families and carers.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve international collaboration on research into (a) slowing the symptoms of and (b) finding a cure for fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva.
Answered by Will Quince
The United Kingdom is committed to building international connectivity so that data and expertise can be shared for the benefit of people living with rare diseases. International collaboration is a cross cutting theme of the UK Rare Diseases Framework and we continue to engage with initiatives such as the Horizon Europe Partnership on Rare Diseases and the World Health Organization Global Network for Rare Diseases. The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). In the last five years, the NIHR has supported the delivery of eight studies relating to Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva via NIHR infrastructure, which includes research on potential treatments.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to support research on (a) slowing the symptoms of and (b) finding a cure for fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). In the last five years the NIHR has supported the delivery of eight studies relating to Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva via NIHR infrastructure which includes research on potential treatments.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that there is adequate focus on cancer in the Major Conditions Strategy.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Major Conditions Strategy will draw on previous work on cancer, including over 5,000 submissions provided to the Department as part of our Call for Evidence last year. We will continue to work closely with stakeholders, citizens and the National Health Service to identify actions for the Strategy that will have the greatest impact.