Asked by: Baroness Morgan of Cotes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many veterans were granted access to Headley Court in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
Since 2016, veterans with amputation-related complications can be referred by the NHS to the Complex Prosthetics Assessment Clinic (CPAC) at the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre, which relocated from Headley Court to the Stanford Hall Rehabilitation Estate in 2018. To date, 41 patients have been seen at the CPAC since it began. A breakdown of patients by year is not available.
Asked by: Baroness Morgan of Cotes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many veterans requested but were refused access to Headley Court in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Veteran referrals and requests for DMRC treatment can be received in many different ways, for which there is no central record. Consequently, an answer to this question cannot be provided.
Asked by: Baroness Morgan of Cotes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans his Department has to grant veterans access to Stanford Hall for rehabilitation purposes.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC) mission is to provide sick and injured Service personnel the rehabilitation they require to be able to return to duty or transition back into civilian life, at which point the NHS becomes responsible for their care.
The access policy at the new DMRC Stanford Hall remains unchanged from that previously in place at DMRC Headley Court, in that there is no provision generally for veterans to access the facility. We have, however, in collaboration with the NHS, established a specialist clinic whereby NHS Limb Fitting Centres can refer selected veterans (who are ex-DMRC patients) back to the DMRC for assistance with the management of amputation-related complications.
This Complex Prosthetics Assessment Clinic (CPAC) has also been used to identify suitable candidates (serving and veterans) for the LIBOR-funded MOD/NHS osseointegration surgical pilot. After surgery all these patients (including veterans) are rehabilitated at the DMRC. We are also currently exploring options for a limited expansion of the CPAC eligibility criteria to include those non-amputee patients that have been fitted with medical devices such as offload braces.
Asked by: Baroness Morgan of Cotes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which railway stations were considered for Access for All funding in Control Period 6 but were not successful.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Department for Transport asked the industry to nominate stations for the new funding by 16 November last year, and received nominations for over 300 stations. In the Loughborough constituency, Loughborough Station was nominated unsuccessfully as it was made step-free under Access for All in 2011/12. Neither Barrow-Upon-Soar nor Sileby Stations were nominated.
In total 73 stations are set to benefit from this funding by 2024. This is in addition to the 24 Access for All projects that are currently in design or construction.
Asked by: Baroness Morgan of Cotes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of ring-fencing Medical Research Council funds for biomedical research on myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) in order to ensure that overall research funding for ME is proportional to that spent on research into similarly prevalent health conditions.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
I refer my rt. hon. Friend to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for North West Norfolk on 20th March 2019 to Question 231931.
Asked by: Baroness Morgan of Cotes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with medical training bodies on ensuring that training programs for doctors, nurses and other health professionals include the most up to date guidance on diagnosis and appropriate treatment of myalgic encephalomyelitis.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
There have been no recent discussions between Departmental Ministers and training bodies for doctors, nurses or other health professionals about myalgic encephalomyelitis.
National Health Service employers are responsible for ensuring staff they employ are trained to the required standards to deliver appropriate treatment for patients.
Asked by: Baroness Morgan of Cotes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the debate of 24 January 2019 on Appropriate ME Treatment, what recent discussions his Department has had with NICE on the potential merits of fast-tracking the release of the revised NICE guideline on myalgic encephalomyelitis due to be published in October 2020.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Department has had no such discussions. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent body and responsible for developing its guidelines in accordance with its published methods and processes. NICE expects to publish its final updated guideline in October 2020 with a consultation on draft guidance starting in April 2020.
Asked by: Baroness Morgan of Cotes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the debate of 24 January 2019 on Appropriate ME Treatment, what recent discussions his Department has had with NICE on the potential merits of issuing an interim warning on the potential dangers of graded exercise therapy as a treatment for myalgic encephalomyelitis prior to issuing its revised guideline myalgic encephalomyelitis in October 2020.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Department has had no such discussions. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent body and responsible for developing its guidelines in accordance with its published methods and processes. NICE expects to publish its final updated guideline in October 2020 with a consultation on draft guidance starting in April 2020.
Asked by: Baroness Morgan of Cotes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, which nations that have trade agreements with the EU have agreed to continue those agreements with the UK after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by George Hollingbery
Discussions with all partner countries have demonstrated a commitment to finding a pragmatic way to ensure continuity of our existing international agreements.
As part of the Withdrawal Agreement, the EU agreed to notify its treaty partners that the UK be treated as a Member State for the purposes of EU international agreements during the Implementation Period (IP). This includes trade agreements.
A number have already publicly welcomed this approach (Library deposit of 13 September DEP2018-0926 provides a list of countries). Others are, understandably, waiting for the notification to be issued before responding formally.
The Government will continue to do the responsible thing and prepare for all eventualities with partner countries, including a ‘no deal’ scenario. However, when we reach agreement will depend on the progress of these ongoing discussions. The Government will inform Parliament and the public when agreements are signed.
Asked by: Baroness Morgan of Cotes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has taken steps to encourage Clinical Commissioning Groups and local authorities to jointly commission (a) short breaks for respite and (b) other children’s palliative care services.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
NHS England and the Department expects clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and local authorities to work collaboratively to commission appropriate respite and palliative care services for children with life-limiting conditions, to make the most efficient and effective use of health and social care funding.
NHS England’s ‘Choice Commitment for end of life care’ document recognises that children’s palliative care is particularly dependent on this good collaboration between clinical and non-clinical services across a variety of settings. NHS England has also provided support to CCGs in this area in the form of a joint NHS 10 Point Efficiency Plan with NHS Improvement.
NHS England is also working with colleagues across the National Health Service and local authorities to ensure the health and care needs of specific patient groups, including children’s palliative care services, are planned collaboratively where appropriate. This includes working with commissioners, clinicians, voluntary, community and social enterprises, local authorities and people with lived experience to refresh the children’s palliative and end of life care service specification and the commissioning pathway to reflect collective responsibilities across health and social care. Work will continue on this until spring 2019.