Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS Continuing Healthcare assessments have taken place after a claimant has died to establish whether that claimant's family or estate are entitled to claim that funding retrospectively.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
In March 2012, deadlines were introduced for requests for an assessment for NHS Continuing Healthcare ‘previously unassessed periods of care’ between 1 April 2004 and 31 March 2012 in England. The deadline for registering for a review of unassessed periods of care during this time period was 31 March 2013, after which approximately 63,000 requests for an assessment were received, with approximately 25,000 resulting in a full assessment.
Individuals, their families, or a representative are currently able to request an assessment from their responsible clinical commissioning group for an NHS Continuing Healthcare ‘previously unassessed period of care’ for periods from 1 April 2012 onwards. Data is not currently held on the number of requests received or assessments carried out for an NHS Continuing Healthcare ‘previously unassessed period of care’ for periods from 1 April 2012 onwards.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many applicants for NHS Continuing Healthcare died before a decision was made on their case by the relevant clinical commissioning group.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
This information is not held.
Data is published on the number of completed NHS Continuing Healthcare assessments in England on the NHS England statistical webpage, however, this does not specify whether or not the individual had died by the time of a decision on NHS Continuing Healthcare eligibility. The data is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/nhs-chc-fnc/2017-18/
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time people with Parkinson’s disease to (a) be assessed for deep brain stimulation and (b) receive deep brain stimulation treatment, in each of the last three years.
Answered by Steve Brine
Information regarding the average waiting time people with Parkinson’s disease to be assessed for deep brain stimulation is not collected. The following table shows the number of finished admission episodes (FAEs) for patients with a primary diagnosis of Parkinson's disease and a main procedure of deep brain stimulation and the mean elective wait for the procedure in the financial years between 2014-15 and 2016-17.
Financial year | FAEs | Mean waiting time (days) |
2014-15 | 135 | 53.64 |
2015-16 | 189 | 69.62 |
2016-17 | 264 | 107.47 |
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS Digital.
Note:
An FAE is the first period of inpatient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FAEs are counted against the year or month in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of inpatients, as a person may have more than one admission within the period.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what provisions are in place for palliative care in privately managed prisons.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
There are five privately managed prison contracts, all of which have provisions in place for palliative care. For those prisons where NHS England holds commissioning responsibility, they commission end of life and palliative care provision, support the prisons’ approach to the local authorities’ assessment and management of social care, and ensure that elderly patients are supported in accessing healthcare services.
NHS England has developed a ‘Dying Well in Custody Charter’, mirroring the community based Dying Well Charter, scheduled to be published this spring.
Information on receiving palliative care from Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service by age is not held centrally.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many prisoners aged over (a) 60, (b) 70 and (c) 80 receive palliative care from Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
There are five privately managed prison contracts, all of which have provisions in place for palliative care. For those prisons where NHS England holds commissioning responsibility, they commission end of life and palliative care provision, support the prisons’ approach to the local authorities’ assessment and management of social care, and ensure that elderly patients are supported in accessing healthcare services.
NHS England has developed a ‘Dying Well in Custody Charter’, mirroring the community based Dying Well Charter, scheduled to be published this spring.
Information on receiving palliative care from Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service by age is not held centrally.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what arrangements Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service has with the NHS in relation to palliative care for prisoners.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
There are five privately managed prison contracts, all of which have provisions in place for palliative care. For those prisons where NHS England holds commissioning responsibility, they commission end of life and palliative care provision, support the prisons’ approach to the local authorities’ assessment and management of social care, and ensure that elderly patients are supported in accessing healthcare services.
NHS England has developed a ‘Dying Well in Custody Charter’, mirroring the community based Dying Well Charter, scheduled to be published this spring.
Information on receiving palliative care from Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service by age is not held centrally.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessments the Government has made of the procedures for the potential repurposing of medicines; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC), supported by the Department, is leading work to develop advice for those organisations and individuals who wish to make use of new indications for existing drugs where research has shown robust evidence for the new indication. This advice takes the form of a report which will provide insights into how the drug regulation system and national bodies can support drug repurposing. The report will include recommendations and next steps be driven forward by the AMRC and the medical research charities. We understand the report is due for publication later this year.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he plans to reply to the letter of 6 October 2017 from the hon. Member for Bridgend on Kernow Clinical Commissioning Group's proposed withdrawal of transport for renal dialysis patients.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Department received the hon. Member’s letter of 6 October on 9 October. The Department responded on 1 November.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve the (a) transparency of publicly-funded medical research and development and (b) accessibility and affordability of medicines developed from public research.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Research can only improve the lives of people or the wider United Kingdom economy if it can be accessed. A culture of openness also improves the quality and relevance of the research we support.
The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is funded through the Department to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research. The NIHR invests over £1 billion into health and public health research and is committed to “adding value in research” by maximizing the potential impact of research that it funds for patients and the public. This means ensuring that it answers the right questions (including effectiveness and cost effectiveness of interventions), delivers research efficiently and publishes results in full in an accessible and unbiased way.
Full and open access to the knowledge generated by research is of the utmost importance to the NIHR. Our commitment to transparency, our NIHR Journals Library, open access policy, and our endorsement of the World Health Organization joint statement on the disclosure of results ensures that ideas and knowledge derived from publicly funded research are made available and accessible for public use.
The Government works to improve accessibility and affordability of medicines, whether funded through public research or in the private sector, through a number of activities involving a range of parties.
The Health Service Medical Supplies (Costs) Act 2017 (the Act) amends the NHS Act 2006 to:
- Put beyond doubt that the Secretary of State can require companies in the statutory scheme to make payments to control the cost of health service medicines;
- Enable the Secretary of State to require companies to reduce the price of an unbranded generic medicine, or to impose other controls on that company’s unbranded medicine, even if the company is in the voluntary scheme, currently the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme 2014, for their branded medicines; and
- Enable the Secretary of State to make regulations to obtain information on sales and purchases of health service products from all parts of the supply chain, from manufacturer to pharmacy, for defined purposes.
The Government will respond shortly to the Accelerated Access Review (AAR). The AAR made recommendations to get transformative drugs and treatments to patients faster whilst ensuring the National Health Service gets value for money and remains at the forefront of innovation.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) technology appraisal guidance and the associated funding requirement plays an important role in ensuring that patients have access to cost-effective new medicines, including medicines developed from public research.
The NIHR provides support for the development of new medicines, primarily through its investment in early translational research infrastructure in the NHS and through a range of research funding programmes.
The funding provided for the NIHR research infrastructure provides the expertise and facilities the NHS needs for first-class research, which health and life sciences industry researchers can access at any stage of the clinical development process. This helps drive faster translation of basic science discoveries into tangible benefits, for patients and the health system and has been specifically designed to close the gaps in translation identified in the Cooksey review in 2006.
All NIHR research infrastructure actively supports contract and collaborative research with the life sciences industry, and supports the commercialisation of new research and related technologies, including through spin-outs and licensing arrangements. This supports the translation of new medicines and helps grow new companies (including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)). This helps ensure the UK remains one of the best places to develop and launch innovative medicines, technologies and diagnostics, benefitting patients and the health system.
NIHR research programmes generate high quality evidence on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of medicines for the NHS and public health services, including informing NICE guidance. The NIHR funds a number of programmes, of which The Health Technology Assessment programme is the largest. It funds independent research about the effectiveness, costs and broader impact of healthcare treatments and tests for those who plan, provide or receive care in the NHS. The NIHR also funds the Invention for Innovation (i4i) Programme that supports collaborative research and development projects in medtech SMEs, universities and the NHS on the development of innovative medical technologies by de-risking early stage projects that have a strong potential for acceptance for use in the NHS, as well as make them attractive to follow-on funders and investors.
The NIHR Innovation Observatory (NIHRIO) applies state-of-the-art data analytics to explore trends in health innovation across drugs, medical technologies, diagnostic tools and healthcare services. Using digital tools, NIHRIO appraises and supplies timely information to stakeholders including the Department, policymakers, academia and industry, so that developments leading to better and more cost effective healthcare can be identified.
The Department is also working alongside the Association of Medical Research Charities and a number of their members to look at how information from medical research into medicines can be translated more systematically to marketing authorisations and into patient care.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to promote opportunities for patients to participate in clinical research; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The development of new and better treatments would not be possible without patients and the public taking part in research, and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is committed to their active involvement in National Health Service, public health and social care research. In 2015/16, more than 605,000 people participated in clinical research studies through the NIHR Clinical Research Network. INVOLVE, the NIHR’s national advisory group on patient and public involvement in research, help members of the public to advise on NIHR research, helps to identify and prioritise research topics, assess funding proposals, and carry out and disseminate findings. INVOLVE is also at the forefront of a growing international public involvement movement seeking to collectively promote and advance public involvement in health and social care research around the world.
The Government also supports the work of the James Lind Alliance, which brings patients, carers, clinicians and medical research charities together to identify and prioritise research topics. In addition, we fund the UK Clinical Trials Gateway and Join Dementia Research to enable patients and clinicians to find out about clinical trials that may be of interest to them.