Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the reasons for the increase in the number of men dying as a result of prostrate cancer.
Answered by Steve Brine
Prostate cancer is a disease that mainly affects men over the age of 55 and the numbers of men diagnosed has increased due to the ageing population. Increased use of the prostate specific antigen blood test in primary care over the last two decades has also resulted in more men being referred to secondary care and an increase in diagnoses of prostate cancer. Cancer survival is now at an all-time high in England and five-year survival for prostate cancer is 88.3%, higher than for most other cancers. NHS England continues to support effective new treatments and diagnostics and implement the ambitious independent Cancer Taskforce strategy and is working closely with leading clinical experts and Prostate Cancer UK to bring the latest research on this disease into practice. Targeted work is also being undertaken to ensure prostate cancer is diagnosed quickly and that everyone receives the best care wherever they live across the country.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent steps he has taken to (a) alleviate the work pressures on mental health staff working in the NHS and (b) ensure that such workers receive effective support and care in the event of mental health illness.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Employers are responsible for taking steps to alleviate the work pressures on mental health staff working in the National Health Service and ensuring they receive effective support and care in the event of mental health illness.
The Government recognises the work pressures NHS staff including mental health staff are under and is proposing to do more to support trusts in alleviating these pressures by, for example, offering NHS staff more opportunities for flexible working, quicker access to mental health services as well as tackling bullying and violence against NHS staff. These initiatives are in addition to NHS England’s NHS Healthy Workforce programme which includes incentives for employers to ensure staff have access to better support for their physical and mental health and wellbeing such as mindfulness apps and mental health talking therapies.
The recently published ‘Stepping forward to 2020/21: The mental health workforce plan for England1 recognises the need to support NHS staff, including those working in mental health. The plan proposes that ‘Thriving at Work2’, the recently published review by Paul Farmer, CEO of Mind and Lord Stevenson, about mental health and employers and should form the basis for Board discussions. This will enable NHS organisations to better support their own staff and increase awareness around mental health issues amongst the workforce. The expectation is that all the recommendations within the mental health workforce plan will be implemented by 2020/21.
The Department continues to commission NHS Employers to support the NHS in improving staff health and wellbeing through advice, guidance and good practice including, for example, their ‘How are you feeling NHS? Toolkit3’ which should help staff check their own emotional wellbeing or speak to and support colleagues with theirs.
Notes:
1https://www.hee.nhs.uk/our-work/person-centred-care/mental-health/mental-health-workforce-plan
2https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/thriving-at-work-a-review-of-mental-health-and-employers
3http://www.nhsemployers.org/howareyoufeelingnhs
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to promote a cross-cutting and comprehensive approach to tackling mental health problems among young people.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
This Government is committed to ensuring comprehensive support for children and young people’s mental health, including investing an additional £1.4 billion by 2020/21.
The Government has committed to publish a Green Paper on children and young people’s mental health by the end of the year, which has been jointly developed with the Department for Education. NHS England, Public Health England and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport have been closely engaged throughout the development process.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will estimate the effect of making available on the NHS bisphosphonates for the treatment of secondary breast cancer on the number of women successfully treated for breast cancer each year.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Information is not available to enable such an estimate to be made.
Although bisphosphonates are not licensed for the treatment or prevention of secondary breast cancer, there is no legal or regulatory barrier to healthcare professionals prescribing them ‘off-licence’ for this purpose on the National Health Service, subject to any local funding policies, if they believe that it is clinically appropriate to do so.
In its clinical guideline on the diagnosis and treatment of early and locally advanced breast cancer (CG80), published in February 2009, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends that bisphosphonates should be offered to patients for the management of breast cancer treatment-induced bone loss subject to certain criteria. NICE is currently updating this guidance and the use of adjuvant bisphosphonates is one of the key areas that will be covered in the update which is expected in July 2018.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what research his Department has undertaken into the barriers clinicians experience in prescribing bisphosphonates for the prevention of secondary breast cancer.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
No such research has been undertaken.
Although bisphosphonates are not licensed for the treatment or prevention of secondary breast cancer, there is no legal or regulatory barrier to healthcare professionals prescribing them ‘off-licence’ for this purpose on the National Health Service, subject to any local funding policies, if they believe that it is clinically appropriate to do so.
In its clinical guideline on the diagnosis and treatment of early and locally advanced breast cancer (CG80), published in February 2009, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends that bisphosphonates should be offered to patients for the management of breast cancer treatment-induced bone loss subject to certain criteria. NICE is currently updating this guidance and the use of adjuvant bisphosphonates is one of the key areas that will be covered in the update which is expected in July 2018.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on (a) best practice and (b) other issues relating to the treatment of breast cancer by bisphosphonates; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Whilst officials in the Department engage regularly with the Northern Ireland Executive, no conversations have specifically been had on bisphosphonates.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has been made of the effectiveness of bisphosphates in the treatment of breast cancer.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
We have made no such assessment.
In its clinical guideline on the diagnosis and treatment of early and locally advanced breast cancer (CG80), published in February 2009, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends that bisphosphonates should be offered to patients for the management of breast cancer treatment-induced bone loss subject to certain criteria.
NICE is currently updating this guidance and the use of adjuvant bisphosphonates is one of the key areas that will be covered in the update which is expected in July 2018.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has had with the UK Parkinson's Excellence Network.
Answered by Jane Ellison
No discussions have taken place between the Ministers of the Department and the UK Parkinson’s Excellence Network.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published the guidance Parkinson's disease in over 20s: diagnosis and management in June 2006, available at:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg35
The guidance advises that people with Parkinson’s disease should have a comprehensive care plan agreed between the individual, their family and/or carers and specialist and secondary healthcare providers and that people with Parkinson’s disease should be offered an accessible point of contact with specialist services. This could be provided by a Parkinson's disease nurse specialist.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on improving access to high-quality services for people affected by Parkinson's disease.
Answered by Jane Ellison
No discussions have taken place between Ministers of the Department and the Northern Ireland Executive on improving access to high-quality services for people affected by Parkinson's disease.
As health is a devolved matter these issues are not regularly discussed between Ministers and their counterparts in the devolved administrations, however research and evidence of best practice is made widely available throughout the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the cost to the NHS was of treating cold-related admissions to hospitals in each year since 2010.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The information is not held centrally.