Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he has taken to raise awareness among clinical commissioning groups of their responsibilities related to the commissioning of bisphosphonates for the indication and prevention of secondary breast cancer.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Manual for Prescribed Specialised Services 2016/17 describes which elements of specialised services are commissioned by NHS England and which by clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). For specialist cancer services, the Manual makes clear that CCGs are responsible for commissioning adjuvant drug treatments, for example, drugs affecting bone metabolism including bisphosphonates. The Manual is available at:
www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2016/06/pss-manual-may16.pdf
Decisions about the commissioning and funding of bisphosphonates for the treatment and prevention of secondary breast cancer are taken by local CCGs which are best placed to know what local need exists.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many new roles are to be created at his Department through the DH2020 programme.
Answered by David Mowat
The launch of the new Departmental structure, as part of the DH 2020 Programme, is focused on how the Department is going to operate in the future to deliver on its priorities. As a result, all roles in the structure are classified as new to ensure that the structure is aligned to Departmental priorities. The new structure will mean that the Department has the right skills across the organisation to deliver its agenda and can operate in a more agile way.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what support his Department is providing to clinical commissioning groups to improve provision for post-acute stroke care.
Answered by David Mowat
NHS England’s National Clinical Director for Stroke is working with the strategic clinical networks, urgent and emergency care networks, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and Sustainability and Transformation Plan areas on how stroke care, including post-acute care, is best delivered to their local communities.
The Cardiovascular Disease Outcomes Strategy and the National Stroke Strategy both recognise that stroke services which incorporate psychological care deliver the best outcomes for stroke survivors. The National Stroke Strategy recommends that stroke survivors should be routinely screened for mood and cognition after their stroke. In addition, the latest national clinical guideline for stroke, published by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) in October 2016, sets out that that psychological therapy is an important component of stroke care. The guideline can be found at:
https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/guidelines-policy/stroke-guidelines
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s quality standard on stroke also reflects the importance of psychological care for stroke survivors.
However, NHS England recognises that access to psychological support is still not consistently available for all stroke survivors who need it. It is exploring how to improve the use of existing resources to ensure that stroke survivors receive the psychological and emotional support they need. One of these resources is the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme, which is rolling out services across England offering interventions for people with depression and anxiety disorders. Many areas now have these programmes.
There has been a significant growth in the availability of early supported discharge (ESD) teams over recent years. Over 80% of CCGs now commission ESD and 74% of hospitals have access to these services.
Although this is encouraging progress, NHS England recognises there is more to do. In collaboration with the RCP stroke programme and the strategic clinic networks, it is working with CCGs to support areas where improvement is needed.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to encourage better access to early supported discharge for stroke patients.
Answered by David Mowat
NHS England’s National Clinical Director for Stroke is working with the strategic clinical networks, urgent and emergency care networks, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and Sustainability and Transformation Plan areas on how stroke care, including post-acute care, is best delivered to their local communities.
The Cardiovascular Disease Outcomes Strategy and the National Stroke Strategy both recognise that stroke services which incorporate psychological care deliver the best outcomes for stroke survivors. The National Stroke Strategy recommends that stroke survivors should be routinely screened for mood and cognition after their stroke. In addition, the latest national clinical guideline for stroke, published by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) in October 2016, sets out that that psychological therapy is an important component of stroke care. The guideline can be found at:
https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/guidelines-policy/stroke-guidelines
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s quality standard on stroke also reflects the importance of psychological care for stroke survivors.
However, NHS England recognises that access to psychological support is still not consistently available for all stroke survivors who need it. It is exploring how to improve the use of existing resources to ensure that stroke survivors receive the psychological and emotional support they need. One of these resources is the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme, which is rolling out services across England offering interventions for people with depression and anxiety disorders. Many areas now have these programmes.
There has been a significant growth in the availability of early supported discharge (ESD) teams over recent years. Over 80% of CCGs now commission ESD and 74% of hospitals have access to these services.
Although this is encouraging progress, NHS England recognises there is more to do. In collaboration with the RCP stroke programme and the strategic clinic networks, it is working with CCGs to support areas where improvement is needed.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to encourage clinical commissioning groups to commission psychological support for stroke survivors.
Answered by David Mowat
NHS England’s National Clinical Director for Stroke is working with the strategic clinical networks, urgent and emergency care networks, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and Sustainability and Transformation Plan areas on how stroke care, including post-acute care, is best delivered to their local communities.
The Cardiovascular Disease Outcomes Strategy and the National Stroke Strategy both recognise that stroke services which incorporate psychological care deliver the best outcomes for stroke survivors. The National Stroke Strategy recommends that stroke survivors should be routinely screened for mood and cognition after their stroke. In addition, the latest national clinical guideline for stroke, published by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) in October 2016, sets out that that psychological therapy is an important component of stroke care. The guideline can be found at:
https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/guidelines-policy/stroke-guidelines
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s quality standard on stroke also reflects the importance of psychological care for stroke survivors.
However, NHS England recognises that access to psychological support is still not consistently available for all stroke survivors who need it. It is exploring how to improve the use of existing resources to ensure that stroke survivors receive the psychological and emotional support they need. One of these resources is the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme, which is rolling out services across England offering interventions for people with depression and anxiety disorders. Many areas now have these programmes.
There has been a significant growth in the availability of early supported discharge (ESD) teams over recent years. Over 80% of CCGs now commission ESD and 74% of hospitals have access to these services.
Although this is encouraging progress, NHS England recognises there is more to do. In collaboration with the RCP stroke programme and the strategic clinic networks, it is working with CCGs to support areas where improvement is needed.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of care and treatment available to patients diagnosed with motor neurone disease.
Answered by David Mowat
NHS England is responsible for securing high quality care for patients with neurological conditions, including motor neurone disease (MND). All services for people with MND are commissioned nationally, in line with NHS England’s neurosciences service specification. This sets out what providers must have in place to deliver high quality specialised neurological care. Specialist care can include a range of services such as counselling and emotional support, respiratory care, speech and language therapy, physiotherapy, respiratory secretion management, neurorehabilitation, physiotherapy and palliative care. Drugs can be used for symptom management, but riluzole is the only pharmacological drug licensed in the United Kingdom to slow the progression of MND.
NHS England also commissions augmentative and alternative communication aids to restore communication for people who cannot use speech, including people with MND. Specifications for neurosciences and augmentative and alternative communication aids can be found at the following links:
www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/spec-services/npc-crg/group-e/e04/
www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2016/03/aac-serv-spec-jan-2016.pdf
On 24 February 2016, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published a new best practice guideline on the assessment and management of MND. The guideline can be found at the following link: