Asked by: Chris Leslie (The Independent Group for Change - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will direct West London Mental Health Trust to consider mothballing or other alternatives to dismantling the Corsellis Brain Collection.
Answered by George Freeman
Started in the early 1950s by Professor Nick Corsellis at Runwell Hospital, in recent years the Corsellis Collection of brain pathology specimens has been managed and maintained by West London Mental Health Trust (WLMHT). The excess costs of maintaining the collection can only be supported by WLMHT from funds received for patient care. Therefore WLMHT has decided to dispose of the collection by seeking expressions of interest in the brain tissue of value for research, mainly sub-collections of the less common pathologies, and to respectfully dispose of that tissue for which no scientific purpose could be envisaged.
WLMHT has received expressions of interest, but none in taking the complete collection. The original timescale for closure was by the end of March 2016, but WLMHT will support a further three months activity to meet the additional requests for tissue samples. The collection will close by the end of June.
The Department and NHS England have not made any specific assessment of the contribution of the collection to medical research and health improvement in the United Kingdom, or undertaken any specific analysis of the potential effect on medical research of dismantling the collection.
The Medical Research Council supports a range of brain tissue banks which have been set-up around specific disorders and diseases generally to collect post-mortem brain tissue from consented donors.
Asked by: Chris Leslie (The Independent Group for Change - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of the contribution of the Corsellis Brain Collection to medical research and health improvement in the UK; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by George Freeman
Started in the early 1950s by Professor Nick Corsellis at Runwell Hospital, in recent years the Corsellis Collection of brain pathology specimens has been managed and maintained by West London Mental Health Trust (WLMHT). The excess costs of maintaining the collection can only be supported by WLMHT from funds received for patient care. Therefore WLMHT has decided to dispose of the collection by seeking expressions of interest in the brain tissue of value for research, mainly sub-collections of the less common pathologies, and to respectfully dispose of that tissue for which no scientific purpose could be envisaged.
WLMHT has received expressions of interest, but none in taking the complete collection. The original timescale for closure was by the end of March 2016, but WLMHT will support a further three months activity to meet the additional requests for tissue samples. The collection will close by the end of June.
The Department and NHS England have not made any specific assessment of the contribution of the collection to medical research and health improvement in the United Kingdom, or undertaken any specific analysis of the potential effect on medical research of dismantling the collection.
The Medical Research Council supports a range of brain tissue banks which have been set-up around specific disorders and diseases generally to collect post-mortem brain tissue from consented donors.
Asked by: Chris Leslie (The Independent Group for Change - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what analysis his Department or NHS England has undertaken of the potential effect on medical research of dismantling the Corsellis Brain Collection; and if he will place any such analysis in the Library.
Answered by George Freeman
Started in the early 1950s by Professor Nick Corsellis at Runwell Hospital, in recent years the Corsellis Collection of brain pathology specimens has been managed and maintained by West London Mental Health Trust (WLMHT). The excess costs of maintaining the collection can only be supported by WLMHT from funds received for patient care. Therefore WLMHT has decided to dispose of the collection by seeking expressions of interest in the brain tissue of value for research, mainly sub-collections of the less common pathologies, and to respectfully dispose of that tissue for which no scientific purpose could be envisaged.
WLMHT has received expressions of interest, but none in taking the complete collection. The original timescale for closure was by the end of March 2016, but WLMHT will support a further three months activity to meet the additional requests for tissue samples. The collection will close by the end of June.
The Department and NHS England have not made any specific assessment of the contribution of the collection to medical research and health improvement in the United Kingdom, or undertaken any specific analysis of the potential effect on medical research of dismantling the collection.
The Medical Research Council supports a range of brain tissue banks which have been set-up around specific disorders and diseases generally to collect post-mortem brain tissue from consented donors.
Asked by: Chris Leslie (The Independent Group for Change - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the value of surplus land held by his Department.
Answered by Dan Poulter
As part of the Government’s land disposal programme, the Department of Health has sold land with capacity for more than 3,200 houses, against a target of 3,609. Our current estimate of the value of surplus land remaining, held by this Department, is £54.8 million.
Asked by: Chris Leslie (The Independent Group for Change - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what briefing his Department gave to the media ahead of his speech to the King's Fund on 13 November 2014 in relation to surplus land held by his Department.
Answered by Dan Poulter
The Department did not provide any briefing to media in relation to land held only by the Department.
Asked by: Chris Leslie (The Independent Group for Change - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 21 January 2015 to Question 221099, and with reference to his speech to the King's Fund on 13 November 2014 in which he cited the claim by the London Health Commission that the total value of surplus NHS estate in the capital is worth £1.5 billion, what information he holds on the evidential basis of that claim; what assessment he has made of whether that claim is compatible with the data given in the Answer; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Dan Poulter
The London Health Commission figure relates to property assets owned by National Health Service organisations in London. The data given in Question 221099 represented only land and buildings owned nationally by the Department. The two data sets can therefore not be compared.