Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to meet with fibromyalgia charities and organisations.
Answered by Steve Brine
Ministers at the Department regularly meet with charities and organisations to discuss many issues. However there are no current plans to meet with fibromyalgia charities and organisations.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of carers in (a) the UK, (b) England, (c) Scotland, (d) Wales and (e) Northern Ireland.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The most recent data from the 2011 census shows that the number of carers are:
- United Kingdom wide – 6.5 million
- England – 5.4 million
- Scotland – 492,000
- Wales – 370,000
- Northern Ireland – 214,000
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
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 tackle the stigma faced by BAME people living with HIV to help ensure they engage with medical professionals.
Answered by Steve Brine
In 2015, Public Health England (PHE) collaborated with the sexual health charity, the Family Planning Association, on the ‘People Living with HIV Stigma Survey UK’ to identify the stigma and discrimination experienced by people living with HIV in healthcare settings, faith settings, the workplace, and with intimate partners, family and friends. Results were disseminated via scientific manuscripts, medical conferences, and publicly available reports. Positive Voices, a recurring, nationally representative survey of people living with HIV, was last undertaken by PHE in 2017. It included questions on stigma and discrimination in healthcare settings. Dissemination of results is ongoing, including a community-led report on stigma: ‘Changing Perceptions: Talking about HIV and Attitudes’, and the production of publicly available reports, local reports, presentations and scientific manuscripts. These reports aim to change perceptions about living with HIV.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps she is taking to tackle the stigma faced by BAME people living with HIV to help ensure they engage with medical professionals.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Minister for Women and Equalities leads on policy relating to women, sexual orientation and transgender equality. We encourage organisations that provide HIV prevention and treatment services to proactively engage with the BAME lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender population.
The LGBT Action Plan includes a commitment on tackling HIV transmission, AIDS and HIV-related deaths. Public Health England are disseminating results from their ‘Positive Voices’ survey to tackle the stigma and discrimination faced by people living with HIV.
Public Health England and the Department for Health and Social Care are responsible for sexual health policy. The Government Equalities Office work with those departments to tackle health inequalities faced by LGBT people, including those who are BAME.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
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 ensure that BME people living with HIV have the information they need about their condition.
Answered by Steve Brine
NHS England is responsible for commissioning high quality HIV treatment and care. Patient representatives are involved as part of the clinical reference group and this helps in understanding what information all patients would like. Within the service specification for HIV, there is no prescriptive direction for providers on what information to provide; information provided is personalised to the person. Further information is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/b06-spec-hiv-serv.pdf
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is doing to ensure that women with HIV have the information they need to manage menopause.
Answered by Steve Brine
NHS England is responsible for commissioning high quality HIV treatment and care. Patient representatives are involved as part of the clinical reference group and this helps in understanding what information all patients would like. Within the service specification for HIV, there is no prescriptive direction for providers on what information to provide; information provided is personalised to the person. Further information is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/b06-spec-hiv-serv.pdf
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
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 the use of cannabidiol treatment for people with fibromyalgia.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Department has made no assessment of the potential merits of the use of cannabidiol as a treatment for fibromyalgia.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care of 21 June 2018, Official Report, column 232WH, on ME: Treatment and Research, what steps his Department has taken to collaborate with the Department for Work and Pensions on guidance for healthcare professionals for the assessment of people with ME.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Department is not directly responsible for producing training and clinical guidance for healthcare professionals. Such guidance is a matter for organisations such as National Institute for Health and Care Excellence or clinical professional organisations such as the Royal College of Physicians.