Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
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 merits of using medicinal cannabis to treat Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
An initial impact assessment Rescheduling of cannabis-based products for medicinal use under the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 was published alongside The Misuse of Drugs (Amendments) (Cannabis and Licence Fees) (England, Wales and Scotland) Regulations 2018. A copy of this impact assessment is available at the following link:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018/1055/impacts
This set out the approach that the Government proposed to take in assessing the costs and benefits of the change in the law at a population level, with regard to the rescheduling of CBPM. The analysis is limited to the five medical conditions where there is most evidence. These five conditions are multiple sclerosis – pain or muscle spasticity; chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting; severe treatment-resistant epilepsy in children - specifically Dravet Syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome only; chronic pain in adults and appetite and weight loss associated with HIV/AIDS.
To further the evidence-base, the National Institute for Health Research has issued two calls for research in this area and is working with the industry and researchers to ensure that the evidence is developed in a way that will inform decisions on public funding. This research will be open to all good quality proposals covering any indication, including pain and other disorders unresponsive to existing treatments.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to (a) raise awareness about and (b) encourage the use of GP online services.
Answered by Steve Brine
General practitioner (GP) online services is an NHS England programme designed to support GP practices to offer and promote online services to patients, including access to coded information in records, appointment booking and ordering of repeat prescriptions. NHS England works nationally with GPs, clinical commissioning groups, sustainability and transformation partnerships and Integrated Care Systems to drive awareness and uptake.
98.5% of GP practices are able to offer patients access to online services with over 15 million people (26% of the population) making use of these services to manage their health online.
From 2019, the NHS App will enable citizens to access a range of services including booking appointments to see a GP or nurse on their mobile devices providing greater choice over how they access and interact with healthcare services.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
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 raise awareness of the symptoms of toxic shock syndrome.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Advice on toxic shock syndrome is available on the National Health Service website.
I am leading on women’s health and aim to raise awareness of women’s health issues.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
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 progress in reducing mortality rates for lung disease over the last 10 years.
Answered by Steve Brine
Between 2006 and 2015 there was a large decrease in the mortality rate for lung disease for male patients. The mortality rate was 85.9 in 2006, and the latest available comparable rate, for 2016, is 68.9.
The mortality rate has also decreased for female patients between 2006 and 2016. It was 48 in 2006, and the latest comparable rate is 47.1 in 2015.
The evolution of mortality rates has led to an increase in the survival rate for individuals with lung disease. The national lung cancer audit shows an improvement in one-year survival rates and other improvements in care. One-year survival of lung cancer patients reached an all-time high for patients diagnosed in 2015, with 40.7.
In addition, Office for National Statistics figures show a reduction in asthma deaths under 65 over the last 15 years and the Manchester Healthy Lung screening pilot showed enhanced detection of early stage curable lung cancers and other lung problems.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
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 effect of socio-economic status on the incidence of lung disease.
Answered by Steve Brine
The National Health Service is committed to reducing health inequalities in all areas of healthcare, including respiratory diseases.
The most recent outcomes framework figures from NHS Digital show a rise in respiratory mortality for the poorest decile and an improvement in the most affluent decile. Poor quality housing is risk factor for lung disease and lung disease is strongly linked to social deprivation and health inequalities.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
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 effect of the use of personal fitness trackers on the prevention of cardio-vascular conditions.
Answered by Steve Brine
NHS England is working with the National Institute for Health Research, Public Health England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence amongst others to develop suitable evidence generation plans for digital health tools, which will include wearables. Evaluation and evidence gathering is included as part of relevant programmes to help build the currently immature evidence pool in this space.
NHS England and partner organisations have also established assessment criteria for digital tool developers looking at the quality, safety and effectiveness of digital health and care apps or tools. The service is due to go live towards the end of 2018 on the developer apps section of the National Health Service website.
In addition, as part of the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme, NHS England has pilots in hand to test the effectiveness of digital apps in supporting diabetes prevention, which are due to report by the end of 2019. They include consideration of the use of wearable technologies and fitness apps in supporting reduction of diabetes risk. It should be noted that many of the potential benefits of the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme lie in reducing future cardiovascular events.
Cardiovascular disease prevention is also a key theme in NHS England’s Five Year Forward View and their NHS RightCare programme, and both NHS England and Public Health England already have a number of initiatives in place in line with this aim, including the Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Optimal Value Pathway, cross-cutting interventions such as the NHS Health Check, and a new drive announced in September 2017 to prevent heart attacks and strokes by taking a more integrated approach to cardiovascular care.