Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the dementia Moonshot commitment will be delivered as part of the dementia strategy.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
We will set out our plans for dementia in England later this year. The strategy will outline ambitions to increase dementia research and the delivery of the moonshot.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much the NHS will spend on research into the (1) causes, and (2) treatment, of dementia in each of the next five years.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
The Government will invest at least £375 million in neurodegenerative disease research over the next five years to fund projects into a range of diseases, including the causes of and treatments for dementia. The National Institute for Health Research and UK Research and Innovation rely on researchers submitting high-quality applications to access funding. Therefore, details of allocations and timescales are not currently available. All applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what priority is being given by the NHS to the availability of mechanical thrombectomy in the treatment of stroke.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
Thrombectomy is available in 24 centres in England. There are two non-neuroscience centres currently under development to improve access to thrombectomy.
The National Health Service is committed increasing the delivery of mechanical thrombectomy to 10% of cases. The latest data shows that 2.1% of patients are receiving a thrombectomy following a stroke. In early 2022, the NHS will undertake a quality review in England to resolve local barriers to increasing the uptake of thrombectomy.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take to improve palliative care in England.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
NHS England and NHS Improvement’s palliative and end of life care delivery plan focuses on improving access to appropriate services, ensuring the sustainability of providers in the sector and improving the quality of the services received in line with the NHS Long Term Plan. Additionally, Ambitions for Palliative and End of Life Care: A national framework for local action 2021-2026, created by a partnership of 27 organisations across health and social care sets out our vision to improve palliative, end of life and bereavement care in England. A copy of the framework is attached.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to improve (1) the newborn screening programme, and (2) the diagnosis and treatment of rare diseases.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The United Kingdom National Screening Committee (UK NSC) regularly reviews over 100 conditions, including some rare diseases, to ensure that we continue to offer a world class screening programme. In the Newborn Screening Programme, the UK NSC has recently reviewed Adrenoleukodystrophy and is in the process of reviewing 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome to assess its suitability for a population-based screening programme. It is important that the addition of any new conditions to the newborn blood spot programme or any population screening programme, is supported by robust peer-reviewed evidence.
The UK Rare Diseases Framework provides the high-level direction for rare diseases including improving diagnosis rates. The Framework’s priorities will be implemented through nation-specific action plans which will outline the specific commitments from each UK nation.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the (1) Royal College of Nursing, and (2) Nursing and Midwifery Council, about the availability of (a) student nurses, and (b) nursing students, volunteering to be seconded to the NHS; and what has been the outcome of any such discussions.
Answered by Lord Bethell
As a result of the rapidly increasing transmission rates of COVID-19, officials from the Department, NHS England and NHS Improvement and Health Education England held discussions with the Royal College of Nursing and the Nursing and Midwifery Council about the role of nursing students during this wave of the pandemic.
On 14 January 2021, the Nursing and Midwifery Council announced that it was reintroducing the emergency education standards, to enable final year nursing students to opt into paid placements to support the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, dependent on local National Health Service need.
Further guidance on the implementation will be provided by Health Education England and NHS England and NHS Improvement as appropriate.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee about COVID-19 vaccinations; and what has been the outcome of any such discussions.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Government, with NHS England and NHS Improvement, has met with the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee to discuss community pharmacies’ involvement in the COVID–19 vaccination service.
Some pharmacists and members of their team are already working with general practitioners to deliver the vaccine in many areas of the country and, as more supply becomes available, community pharmacies will play a major role in the programme. Since 11 January 2021, some pharmacies have already been administering COVID-19 vaccinations.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress has been made by NHS England in advising on the service specifications for children’s cancer services.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The new children’s cancer service specification will be finalised and published in due course, reflecting the recommendations of Professor Sir Mike Richards which were agreed by NHS England and NHS Improvement’s Board.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures they are taking to improve early diagnosis of Langerhans cell histiocytosis in children.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
NHS England is committed to improving early diagnosis of all cancers. As set out in the NHS Long Term Plan, our ambition is to diagnose 75% of patients with cancer at stage 1 and 2 by 2028.
NHS England is currently revising the service specification for children’s cancer services. A key focus of this piece of work is to strengthen existing clinical networks to continue to support the swift referral of children with suspected cancer to the Children’s Cancer Principal Treatment Centre for diagnosis and treatment planning.