Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of awareness campaigns for ovarian cancer and delivering a shorter diagnostic pathway.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is currently running a campaign focusing on increasing earlier diagnosis of a range of abdominal and urological cancers, including ovarian cancer, which was previously conducted in 2020 and 2021. In 2021 a survey of the target audience showed that knowledge of the key symptoms of abdominal and urological cancer increased by 6% during the campaign.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential benefits of community pharmacies carrying out (a) blood pressure monitoring and (b) other NHS-funded health checks.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) 2019-24 five-year deal set the Government’s intention to nationally commission a range of evidence based clinical services in community pharmacy. Since 2019, several clinical services have been introduced including minor illness referrals from GPs and NHS111 and blood pressure checks. The Blood Pressure Checks Service was launched in October 2021 and enables community pharmacies to identify patients at risk of hypertension and measure their blood pressure. By June 2022 over 8,000 pharmacies had signed up to deliver the service and over 400,000 blood pressure checks were delivered between October 2021 and August 2022.
In September, the Government announced the agreement with the sector for the remainder of the five-year deal backed by a one-off investment of £100 million. Under the agreement we will further expand the range of clinical services offered in community pharmacy. Community pharmacists will be able to manage and initiate contraception and provide extra support to patients newly prescribed antidepressants. In addition, urgent emergency care settings will be able to refer patients to a community pharmacist for a minor illness consultation or an urgent medicine supply.
In addition to services commissioned nationally, Integrated Care Boards or NHS England regional teams can commission pharmaceutical services locally, and Local Authorities can commission community pharmacies to provide public health services to meet the needs of their populations, including the NHS Health Check.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the clinical guidance on the (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment of functional neurologic disorders.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
There are no plans to make a specific assessment. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent organisation responsible for developing evidence-based guidance for the health and care system. NICE has produced clinical guidance to support clinicians in the diagnosis of functional neurological disorder (FND). The ‘Suspected neurological conditions: recognition and referral’ guideline, published in 2019, addresses the initial assessment of symptoms and signs which might indicate a neurological condition, including FND. The guideline is available at the following link:
www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng127
NICE is also developing a guideline on rehabilitation for chronic neurological disorders, which will include FND. NICE expects to publish the final guideline in December 2023.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of Op COURAGE.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
No specific assessment has bee made. However, as of April 2022, there have been more than 19,000 referrals to Op COURAGE. This includes 19,673 referrals to the Transition, Intervention and Liaison Service since April 2017; 2,533 referrals to the Complex Treatment Service since April 2018; and 1,121 referrals to the High Intensity Service between 2020 and April 2022. From April 2023, an integrated Op COURAGE service will be available, incorporating the three current strands into a single service.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase awareness of melanoma.
Answered by James Morris
The National Health Service ‘Help us help you’ campaign focuses on the barriers which prevent people from seeking advice for symptoms in all cancer types. The symptoms of melanoma are not a specific focus in this campaign, as it is more likely to be diagnosed at an early stage than many other cancer types. Those searching for NHS advice online on the potential signs of melanoma will be directed to the appropriate information and encouraged to consult their general practitioner as soon as possible.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) improve access to NHS hearing aids and (b) reduce waiting times for those aids by working with high street providers.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are responsible for the provision of and access to hearing aids for mild to moderate hearing loss in the local population. In 2018, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) issued guidance, ‘Hearing loss in adults: assessment and management’, which aims to improve hearing loss services, including provision of hearing aids. The guidance brings together evidence, standards and case studies to encourage best practice across England. We expect CCGs to have regard to NICE’s guidance when commissioning National Health Service audiology services.
NHS Supply Chain is the main provider of equipment and consumables to the NHS. However, NHS providers are free to source from other suppliers.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve levels of dementia diagnosis.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
NHS England and NHS Improvement are continuing to monitor monthly trends in the dementia diagnosis rate. The national target is for more than 66% of people living with dementia to receive a formal diagnosis. Following the impact of the pandemic, in March 2022 the diagnosis rate increased to 62%.
In 2021/22, we allocated £17 million to address dementia waiting lists and increase the number of diagnoses. NHS England and NHS Improvement made this funding available to clinical commissioning groups in June 2021. In 2022/23, NHS England will provide funding to support general practitioners in pilots on the approaches to diagnosing dementia for people living with advanced dementia in a care home setting. We will set out plans for dementia in England later this year. The strategy will focus on the specific health and care needs of people living with dementia and their carers, including dementia diagnosis.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to establish a domestic supply of Bedrocan oil for children suffering with severe epilepsy.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Domestic manufacture of Bedrolite oil has now been established. The Dutch Government has agreed to allow continued supply of Bedrocan oils against United Kingdom prescriptions until 1 July 2022 to allow domestic manufacture of Bedrocan oils used by patients in the UK to be established. The Department continues to work with the Dutch Government, the Home Office and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to ensure the uninterrupted supply of Bedrocan oils beyond this period.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to encourage consultants to prescribe medicinal cannabis to children with severe drug resistant epilepsy.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The prescription of any medicine is a clinical decision. The Government has enabled the prescription of cannabis-based products for medicinal use (CBPMs) where it is clinically appropriate.
The licensed cannabis-based medicine Epidyolex is routinely prescribed for two forms of epilepsy. However, clinical guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence demonstrate a clear need for further evidence to support routine prescribing and funding decisions for unlicensed CBPMs. We continue to encourage manufacturers of these products to conduct research and we are working with regulatory, research and National Health Service partners to establish clinical trials to enable evidence based prescribing decisions.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on the manufacture of bedrocan oil in the UK.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The current producer of Bedrocan oils in the Netherlands and the chosen United Kingdom commercial partner are progressing the technology transfer agreement to manufacture three Bedrocan oils - Bedica, Bedrolite and Bedrocan - in the UK. The UK manufacturer has been inspected by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and Home Office to obtain the necessary regulatory approvals and has agreement in principle to produce herbal medicines of this type following the successful production of Bedrolite oils.
The Dutch Government has agreed to allow continued supply of all three Bedrocan oils against UK prescriptions for existing patients for a further three months until 1 July 2022. This should allow for domestic production to be established and approved for all three oils.