Asked by: David Mackintosh (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people diagnosed with dementia have access to appropriate treatment and support.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Dementia is a key priority for the government.
That is why in February 2015, the Prime Minister launched his new Challenge on Dementia 2020 to make sure that dementia care, support, awareness and research are transformed by 2020. The Challenge Implementation Plan, published in March 2016, set out the actions partners across health and care will take to ensure commitments in the 2020 Challenge are delivered. These include:
― every person diagnosed with dementia having meaningful care following their diagnosis, which supports them and those around them;
― information made available locally on post-diagnosis services and how these can be accessed;
― access to relevant advice and support to help and advice on what happens after a diagnosis and the support available through the journey; and
― carers of people with dementia being made aware of and offered the opportunity for respite, education, training, emotional and psychological support so that they feel able to cope with their caring responsibilities and to have a life alongside caring.
Alongside the Implementation Plan the Department has published, together with key dementia stakeholders, a “Joint Declaration on Post-Diagnostic Dementia Care and Support”. This sets out the key principles of good quality post-diagnostic care for people with dementia. All partners across the health and social care system are working to deliver services in line with the Joint Declaration and Implementation Plan.
Asked by: David Mackintosh (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on average patient waiting times of the use of closed waiting lists at GP surgeries.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The Department has not assessed waiting times for appointments, as each practice decides how to operate in order to meet the contractual requirement to meet the reasonable needs of their patients. The needs of patients can vary considerably from one practice to another.
NHS England does not routinely collect data on either general practitioner (GP) appointment or GP registration waiting times. NHS England is currently establishing a new collection process to gather information on closed patient lists routinely. Therefore, it is not able currently to assess the impact of a practice closing their list on appointment waiting times.
Practices may only close their lists to new patients with the approval of NHS England.
NHS England works with GP practices to ensure patient lists remain open wherever possible. It is possible that the reasons for closing a practice list impact on the flow of appointments to existing patients e.g. with the sudden loss of a GP, but such effects will often be temporary.
Any patient struggling to find a practice accepting new patients can contact NHS England’s Customer Contact Centre for support.
Asked by: David Mackintosh (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that all people diagnosed with HIV have access to (a) pre-exposure prophylaxis and (b) other treatments.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a new use of HIV drugs which has shown clinical effectiveness in research trials at preventing HIV in people at high risk of getting HIV such as men who have sex with men and people with HIV-positive partners. PrEP would not be suitable for people who already have diagnosed HIV. However, in July 2015, NHS England approved a significant new investment in a ‘Treatment as Prevention’ programme whereby HIV drugs are offered to all newly diagnosed patients whatever their CD4 count. Previously, treatment would begin when the CD4 count has declined to 350 cells/mm3 or less. This will significantly decrease the chance of HIV transmission between individuals and also reduces the risk of illness in the person with HIV.
The National Health Service continues to deliver excellent HIV treatment and care for people with HIV with referrals into services within two weeks of diagnosis.
Asked by: David Mackintosh (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent steps his Department has taken to increase awareness of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension.
Answered by Jane Ellison
One of the main symptoms of pulmonary aterial hypertension (PAH) is shortness of breath. An awareness campaign focusing on the symptoms of breathlessness to support earlier diagnosis of related conditions was piloted by Public Health England in early 2015. The results of the regional phase of the campaign are currently being evaluated.
Furthermore, the NHS England PAH centres provide a continuing education programme at both postgraduate and undergraduate levels to educate doctors about this rare condition and the national Clinical Reference Group works closely with the PAH Patients Association to increase public awareness.
Asked by: David Mackintosh (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will add pulmonary arterial hypertension to the conditions which are exempt from prescription charges.
Answered by Alistair Burt
There are no plans to change the list of medical conditions which provide exemption from prescription charges.
Other extensive exemption arrangements are in place, in England, including those based on low income, which support those who cannot afford to pay for their prescriptions. For those who need multiple prescriptions and do not qualify for exemption, Prescription Prepayment Certificates (PPC) can be purchased, which allow someone to claim as many prescriptions as needed. A 12 month PPC costs £104 and benefits anyone who needs 13 or more prescriptions a year.
Asked by: David Mackintosh (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to raise awareness amongst healthcare professionals of complex regional pain syndrome.
Answered by Jane Ellison
To raise awareness amongst healthcare professionals and help them recognise the symptoms complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) published a clinical guideline on the diagnosis, referral and management of the condition in May 2012. The guideline can be found at the following link:
www.rcplondon.ac.uk/guidelines-policy/pain-complex-regional-pain-syndrome
More general information on CRPS can be found on the National Health Service Choices website, alongside advice about living with chronic pain and links to patient support groups and organisations such as the British Pain Society:
www.nhs.uk/Conditions/complex-regional-pain-Syndrome/Pages/Introduction.aspx
The routine assessment and management of pain is a required competency of all healthcare professionals. Many patients with long term chronic pain, such as those with CRPS, can be successfully supported and managed through routine primary and secondary care pain management services. In addition to the RCP guideline, other sources of evidence based guidance to support clinicians includes the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guideline on the pharmacological management of neuropathic pain, which is relevant to the care of patients with CRPS.
www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg173
it is important that patients with the most serious pain management issues are able to access specialist care. A patient whose pain is particularly difficult to manage may be referred to a specialised pain management service. Under the care of an expert multidisciplinary team, patients may be offered specialised pain management programmes specifically for CRPS and more complex drugs treatments.
Asked by: David Mackintosh (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to help sufferers of complex regional pain syndrome.
Answered by Jane Ellison
To raise awareness amongst healthcare professionals and help them recognise the symptoms complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) published a clinical guideline on the diagnosis, referral and management of the condition in May 2012. The guideline can be found at the following link:
www.rcplondon.ac.uk/guidelines-policy/pain-complex-regional-pain-syndrome
More general information on CRPS can be found on the National Health Service Choices website, alongside advice about living with chronic pain and links to patient support groups and organisations such as the British Pain Society:
www.nhs.uk/Conditions/complex-regional-pain-Syndrome/Pages/Introduction.aspx
The routine assessment and management of pain is a required competency of all healthcare professionals. Many patients with long term chronic pain, such as those with CRPS, can be successfully supported and managed through routine primary and secondary care pain management services. In addition to the RCP guideline, other sources of evidence based guidance to support clinicians includes the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guideline on the pharmacological management of neuropathic pain, which is relevant to the care of patients with CRPS.
www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg173
it is important that patients with the most serious pain management issues are able to access specialist care. A patient whose pain is particularly difficult to manage may be referred to a specialised pain management service. Under the care of an expert multidisciplinary team, patients may be offered specialised pain management programmes specifically for CRPS and more complex drugs treatments.
Asked by: David Mackintosh (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to encourage research into a cure for complex regional pain syndrome.
Answered by George Freeman
The Department's National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.
The researcher-led workstream of the Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation programme (funded by the Medical Research Council and managed by the NIHR) is currently funding a £0.7 million trial of low-dose intravenous immunoglobulin treatment for CRPS.
The NIHR Clinical Research Network is recruiting patients to studies of mycophenolate treatment for longstanding CRPS and electrical sensory discrimination therapy for relief of chronic pain in CRPS.
Asked by: David Mackintosh (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve support for children and young people with mental health issues.
Answered by Alistair Burt
After publishing Future in mind in March this year, The Department is working closely with NHS England and other partners to improve children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing. This is a major priority of the Government.
The first major step for achieving sustainable, system-wide transformation is the development of local transformation plans in line with proposals put forward in Future in mind. On 3 August 2015, NHS England published guidance requiring all clinical commissioning groups to develop these plans, working across the NHS, health and wellbeing boards, public health, local authority, youth justice and education sectors. These plans should cover the full spectrum of interventions: from prevention to support and care for existing, or emerging mental health problems, as well as transitions between services and addressing the needs of the most vulnerable. A national programme of work to support local transformation is under way, which includes tackling stigma, improving data and information to inform greater transparency and accountability and developing a specialist and stronger workforce.