Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to improve services for people with neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s.
Answered by Baroness Manzoor
NHS England established the National Neurology Advisory Group (NNAG) with the Neurological Alliance which led the development of a national collaborative clinical leadership model, bringing together key stakeholders such as Parkinson’s UK, a range of national clinical leaders and patient groups with the aim to seek alignment between programmes in NHS England, arm’s length bodies and system partners and to guide the strategic development of work to improve outcomes for people living with neurological conditions including Parkinson’s.
Throughout 2018, the NNAG has organised a number of condition specific meetings with the aim of defining what good neurology looks like for patients with neurological conditions including Parkinson’s, and identifying the barriers to achieving that.
NHS England also supports local transformation through their national programmes, as highlighted in the NHS Long Term Plan. NHS RightCare has published a number of intelligence tools and resources to support reduction in unwarranted variation in neurology services. For 2018/19, 37 of 195 clinical commissioning groups submitted delivery plans that include neurological problems as improvement projects as part of their NHS RightCare programmes. Of these 37, six systems have explicitly referenced Parkinson’s in their delivery plans. Interventions in these plans primarily focus on ensuring that patients are linked into end of life care recording and reviewing effective primary prescribing of Parkinson’s disease drugs.
NHS England Specialised Commissioning has also recently approved a national review of specialised adult neuroscience services, working alongside and closely with the Getting It Right First Time programme.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what recent discussions have taken place between the NHS and the Department of Health and Social Care about the costed breakdown of proposed cuts to the national budget of NHS Continuing Healthcare; whether they intend to provide a detailed rationale to account for the planned reductions in spending; and if so, whether they will publish that rationale.
Answered by Baroness Manzoor
The Department works closely with NHS England and has regular discussions about NHS Continuing Healthcare.
NHS Continuing Healthcare expenditure is forecast to increase over the period to 2020/21. The identified £855 million efficiency opportunity is not predicated on changes to the National Framework in respect of eligibility or on limiting the care packages available.
There should be no quota or cap on access to NHS Continuing Healthcare funding and NHS England does not aim to reduce spending on NHS Continuing Healthcare, but to reduce the rate of growth of expenditure. NHS England understands that there is variation on how individual clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are commissioning these services, and the NHS Continuing Healthcare Strategic Improvement Programme will be developing a range of commissioning tools to support CCGs in this role to deliver more efficient services.
The detailed rationale is published in the Treasury Minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Twelfth to the Nineteenth reports from Session 2017-19. The extract is as follows:
“CHC expenditure (after efficiencies) is forecast to increase over the period to 2020/21, and the identified efficiency opportunity is not predicated on changes to the National Framework in respect of eligibility or on limiting the care packages available.
How any efficiency is delivered in practice will of course be determined by CCGs locally, consistent with their statutory duties and national guidance in respect of access to CHC. National modelling based on variations in CHC expenditure and practice suggests the following notional efficiency opportunities in 2020/21, amounting to circa £855 million, which it is anticipated will inform local commissioning decisions:
A copy of the Treasury Minutes is attached.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of people in England receive free prescriptions.
Answered by Baroness Manzoor
The information is not available in the format requested. Information collected by the NHS Business Services Authority relates to prescription items dispensed in the community.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether prescriptions collected using the pre-payment certificate are recorded in their statistics as prescriptions that are dispensed free of charge; and if so, what percentage of free prescriptions are collected using the pre-payment certificate.
Answered by Baroness Manzoor
The information is not available in the format requested. Information collected by the NHS Business Services Authority relates to prescription items dispensed in the community.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of all paid for prescriptions are paid for (1) on collection, and (2) by the prescription prepayment certificate.
Answered by Baroness Manzoor
The information is not available in the format requested. Information collected by the NHS Business Services Authority relates to prescription items dispensed in the community.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve access to timely and appropriate support for people with Parkinson's disease who are experiencing anxiety or depression.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
As set out in Implementing the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health the expansion of Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services will focus on people with long term conditions, including neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s, and/or medically unexplained symptoms. New psychological therapy provision will see physical and mental health care provision co-located. Therapy will be integrated into existing medical pathways and services – either primary care, or secondary care services including neurology.
Although the majority of people with Parkinson’s can be cared for through routine access to primary and secondary care, NHS England commissions the specialised elements of Parkinson’s care that patients may receive from 24 specialised neurological treatment centres across England. Within these centres neurological multidisciplinary teams ensure patients can access a range of health professionals, including neurologists, neurosurgeons, clinical nurse specialists, psychologists, and that they can receive specialised treatment and support, according to their needs.
The Neurology Advisory Group will ensure that there is system alignment and a national approach when considering the recommendations, which will be of benefit to patients.
NHS England is also working with the Neurological Alliance, following the publication on 5 July 2017 of their report on mental health and neurological conditions, Parity of esteem for people affected by neurological conditions: meeting the emotional, cognitive & mental health needs of neurology patients.
A copy of the report is attached.