Asked by: Lord Sharkey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will appoint a National Clinical Director for Rare Diseases following the integration of NHS England into the Department of Health and Social Care.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Working under the UK Rare Diseases Framework, the Government is committed to improving the lives of those living with rare diseases. NHS England and the Department are strongly supportive of clinical leadership and recognise the critical need to incorporate clinical expertise into our work. The national clinical directors are a key part of this approach and play an important role in policy development and implementation.
We are currently in the initial phases of scoping and designing a new integrated Department that aims to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of our healthcare system. As part of this process, we are carefully considering the future role of national clinical directors. While no specific decisions have been made yet, we are open to considering the benefit of appointing a National Clinical Director for Rare Diseases following the integration of NHS England into the Department, subject to funding arrangements.
Asked by: Lord Sharkey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking or plan to take to increase the volume of clinical research undertaken within NHS England.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department funds research and research infrastructure, which supports patients and the public to participate in high-quality research across the United Kingdom, through the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR).
Development and delivery of research in the pharmaceutical sector is supported and enabled nationwide through NIHR infrastructure, including the NIHR Research Delivery Network, the NIHR Clinical Research Facilities, the NIHR Biomedical Research Centres, and the newly designated NIHR Commercial Research Delivery Centres. These all support the delivery of clinical research through facilities, staff resource, collaborations, and funding.
In order to maximise our potential to be a world leader and develop a more competitive, efficient, and accessible clinical research system, the Department is committed to implementing recommendations from the Lord O'Shaughnessy independent review of commercial clinical trials in full. We expect these efforts to attract more commercial investment in clinical research and yield a broad and diverse portfolio of clinical trials in the UK, to provide innovative treatment options for patients.
Asked by: Lord Sharkey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of (1) paediatric cystic fibrosis centres, and (2) adult cystic fibrosis centres, in England employed (a) a social worker, and (b) a clinical psychologist, as part of their multi-disciplinary team, for each year since 2015.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Lord Sharkey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Kamall on 17 March (HL7072), what the (1) mean, (2) median, and (3) maximum, waiting times were for patients who had been coded as having received a specialised service in (a) February 2020, and (b) the most recent period for which figures are available; and how many had waited longer than 18 weeks before receiving their treatment in each period.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
The information requested on mean and maximum waiting times is not held. In February 2020, the estimated median waiting time for admitted treatment was 14.6 weeks, with 10,272 patients having waited more than 18 weeks for treatment. The estimated median waiting time for non-admitted treatment was 9.4 weeks, with 18,018 patients having waited more than 18 weeks for treatment.
In January 2022, the estimated median waiting time for admitted treatment was 13.7 weeks, with 7,705 patients having waited more than 18 weeks for treatment. The estimated median waiting time for non-admitted treatment was 10.7 weeks, with 21,868 patients having waited more than 18 weeks for treatment.
This data includes those patients referred to services directly commissioned by NHS England.
Asked by: Lord Sharkey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many patients were waiting for elective treatment for which NHS England’s specialised services function was responsible in (1) February 2020, and (2) the latest month for which figures are available; how many of these patients had already waited over 18 weeks; and what was the (a) mean, and (n) median, waiting time for those patients in each time period.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
The data is not available in the format requested. Patients are coded as receiving a specialised service after their treatment has taken place, therefore the number of patients waiting for specialised services is not available.