Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress has been made to establish clinical trials to test the safety and efficacy of unlicensed cannabis-based products for the medical treatment of children with epilepsy.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is developing a programme for two randomised controlled trials into epilepsy in adults and children. The trials will commence as soon as possible and the results will be published once the trials have completed and the findings have been peer reviewed. The NIHR encourages high quality proposals for research in this area as a priority and supports researchers to develop applications.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
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 access to NHS dentistry services in the South West.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
NHS England and NHS Improvement are working with Health Education England and Bristol and Peninsula Dental schools through the South West Dental Reform programme to address the challenges facing National Health Service dentistry in the region. An additional £50 million was provided for NHS dentistry for the final quarter of 2021/22 to provide urgent care for patients. Of this, £4,726,000 was made available to the South West region. From July 2022, NHS England and NHS Improvement have asked all practices to return to pre-pandemic levels of activity, including in the South West region, to improve access.
The Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement are working with stakeholders, including the British Dental Association, on improvements to the NHS dental system and negotiations are currently underway on initial measures. This aims to improve access to NHS dentistry nationally, including in the South West.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
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) reduce joint replacement waiting times within the NHS for people with arthritis and (b) improve support for people with arthritis who are waiting for joint replacement surgery.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
We are prioritising joint replacement surgery through the High Volume Low Complexity programme, which focuses on improving clinical pathways and quality of care. The programme adopts best clinical and operational practice and aims to establish fast-track surgical hubs for high volume elective procedures such as hip and knee joint replacements, reducing waiting times in the process. Additional capacity for surgery is also being made available through a £1.5 billion investment in elective services, such as new surgical hubs and increased bed capacity, including for joint replacement surgery.
The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’, aims to simplify National Health Service pathways for patients and their carers. The pathway improvement programme will focus the most common types of care, including musculoskeletal (MSK) services. NHS England and NHS Improvement are currently working with Versus Arthritis on the development of new MSK pathways and of the MSK strategy. This pain management, personalised care and supporting patients waiting and preparing for surgery. Through collaboration with the British Orthopaedic Association, the British Society for Rheumatology, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance and Versus Arthritis, NHS England and NHS Improvement have developed self-management resources for patients.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
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 access to face-to-face GP appointments in the South West.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
NHS England and NHS Improvement’s guidance states that general practitioner practices must provide face to face appointments, alongside remote consultations. Patients’ input into consultation type should be sought and practices should respect preferences for face-to-face care, unless there are good clinical reasons to the contrary. In May 2022, in the South West National Health Service region 64% of appointments, excluding COVID-19 vaccinations, were conducted face-to-face, compared to 59% in May 2021.
We have made £520 million available to improve access and expand general practice capacity during the pandemic. This is in addition to at least £1.5 billion announced in 2020 to create an additional 50 million general practice appointments by 2024 by increasing and diversifying the workforce.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
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 access to NHS dental care is easily accessible across Somerton and Frome.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
National Health Service dental practices, including those in Somerton and Frome, have been asked to meet as many prioritised needs as possible, focusing on urgent care and care for vulnerable groups, including children, followed by overdue appointments. We have made an additional £50 million available for the remainder of the 2021/22 financial year to allow more patients to obtain access to NHS dental care. Patients in Somerton and Frome can contact the Somerset Dental Helpline for access to urgent dental care appointments.
The Department and NHS England are developing proposals for dental system reform, working stakeholders such as the British Dental Association. The reforms include proposals to improve patient access, reduce health inequalities and make the NHS a more attractive place to work for dentists.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department has on the number of people waiting to access NHS Dental Services in (a) Somerton and Frome, (b) Somerset, (c) the South West and (d) the UK.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The information requested is not held centrally. Appointments for National Health Service treatment are managed directly by dental practices.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
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 attract high quality dental professionals into NHS dentistry across the (a) South West and (b) UK.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
In the South West, NHS England are working with Bristol and Peninsula Dental schools as part of the South West Dental Reform programme to address the challenges facing National Health Service dentistry in the region. The programme is looking at innovative ways to attract dental staff.
NHS England and NHS Improvement are leading on reforms to the current dental contract and wider dental system to make the NHS dental offer more attractive for dentists and their teams. Health Education England has made recommendations in their September 2021 Advancing Dental Care Review to tackle recruitment, retention and attracting dentists into the NHS. These recommendations are being implemented through their Dental Education Reform Programme.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in the context of NHS commissioning services from Virgin Care, what assessment he has made of the potential reduction in services provided by Virgin Care across Somerset following its purchase by Twenty20 Healthcare; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
No specific assessment has been made. However, NHS England and the local clinical commissioning group are ensuring that safe, high quality services are commissioned to meet the needs of their residents.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
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 protect clinically extremely vulnerable children in mainstream education from covid-19, including children under the age of 12, following the easing of restrictions in schools.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Following the results of recent clinical studies which showed that children and young people face a very low risk of serious illness if they catch COVID-19, the United Kingdom Clinical Review Panel recommended that all children and young people should be removed from the Shielded Patient List. As a result, there are no longer any children or young people under the age of 18 who are considered to be clinically extremely vulnerable to COVID-19.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
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 support children with intractable epilepsy until medical cannabis becomes readily available on NHS prescription.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Since January 2020, the Refractory Epilepsy Specialist Clinical Advisory Service has been in place to provide advice and support for doctors in tertiary neuroscience centres, including specialised paediatric neuroscience centres, to optimise the treatment of refractory epilepsy. In September 2019, the cannabis-based medicine Epidyolex was granted a marketing authorisation or licence by the European Medicines Agency, following an assessment of its quality, safety and efficacy. Epidyolex is available on the National Health Service for the treatment of two rare forms of refractory epilepsies in children and adults.
However, guidelines published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence demonstrate a clear need for more evidence to support routine prescribing and funding decisions for unlicensed cannabis-based products for the treatment of refractory epilepsy and other conditions. To help improve the evidence base, the National Institute for Health Research is working with NHS England and clinicians to develop a programme of two clinical trials into refractory epilepsy.