Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much Government funding is being spent on research to help tackle the symptoms of Huntington’s disease.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department funds research on health and social care through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). In 2020/21, the Government’s expenditure on dementia and neurodegeneration research, including Huntington’s disease, was £77 million.
In the last five years, the NIHR directly funded two studies into Huntington’s disease with a total award value of £316,267. Additionally, the NIHR has supported the delivery of over 35 studies relating to Huntington’s disease via the Clinical Research Network infrastructure, including 12 specifically focusing on symptom management.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will ask mental health trusts to ensure that their eligibility criteria include patients with organic brain disorders, such as Huntington’s disease, to help those people access mental health support services where mental health is the presenting symptom.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Access to mental health services is based on clinical need, including for people with organic brain disorders such as Huntington’s disease. The NHS Long Term Plan commits an additional £2.3 billion a year to expand mental health services in England by 2023/24. This includes increasing access to National Health Service talking therapies through Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) to ensure that 1.9 million adults, including those with Huntington’s disease, can receive support for conditions such as anxiety and depression.
The NHS is developing the IAPT services include a focus on people with long term conditions. The IAPT - long term conditions services have been established to support integrated pathways between IAPT services and physical health for people with long term conditions, including neurological conditions. All integrated care systems are expected to commission IAPT services integrated into physical healthcare pathways as part of IAPT expansion plans locally.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 27 September 2022 to Question 51448, on Muscular Dystrophy: Research (a) whether the NIHR plans to fund research into the cause and potential treatments for Distal Myopathy-5 and ADSSL1 Myopathy and (b) if she will make an assessment of research being undertaken in other countries into this disease.
Answered by Will Quince
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has no plans to issue any specific commissioned calls for research. The NIHR welcomes applications for funding into any area of health and care research. Research proposals in all areas compete for the funding available. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards based on the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. There are no plans to make a comparative assessment of specific research being undertaken in other countries.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 27 September 2022 to Question 51448 on Muscular Dystrophy: Research, whether the National Institute for Health and Care Research has plans to undertake research into the (a) cause of and (b) potential treatments for (i) Distal Myopathy-5 and (ii) ADSSL1 Myopathy.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
It is not usual practice for the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and other research funders to ring-fence funds for expenditure on particular topics. Research proposals in all areas compete for the funding available. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards made based on the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. Research into the cause of and potential treatments for Distal Myopathy-5 and ADSSL1 Myopathy would be subject to a successful bid for the NIHR’s research funding.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 28 July 2022 to Question 39768 on Numed Healthcare: Medical Equipment, whether Numed Inc Products has indicated to NHS Supply Chain whether it intends to stop importing any equipment specifically made for the treatment of children with heart disease.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Numed Inc Products gave notice to NHS Supply Chain in August 2022 that there are two cardiac products it intends to discontinue in the European Union and the United Kingdom in February and May 2024. While two of these products are no procured through via NHS Supply Chain, it is engaging with the company to ensure that any products required remain available.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of NHS Trusts have a six month termination clause in contracts for the supply of clinical waste services.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The information requested is not collected centrally. Contractual decisions are made by individual trusts locally and the Department does not mandate terms of each contract.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what research is being undertaken into the (a) cause of and (b) potential treatments for Distal Myopathy-5 and ADSSL1 Myopathy.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Department funds the majority of research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR has not funded any research into the cause and potential treatments for Distal Myopathy-5 and ADSSL1 Myopathy in the last five years.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 16 June 2022 to Question 11557 on Numed Healthcare: Medical Equipment, whether NHS Supply Chain has received communication from Numed Inc Products’ United Kingdom distributor as of 19 July 2022.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
NHS Supply Chain has received routine communication from NuMED Inc Products’ United Kingdom distributor.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
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 improve the (a) identification and (b) treatment of pancreatic cancer.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
NHS England and NHS Improvement are accelerating access to cancer diagnosis and treatment, through non-symptom specific pathways and the new Faster Diagnosis Standard. In addition, we are investing £2.3 billion in community diagnostic centres and endoscopy services in the next three years, to improve the diagnosis and the detection of cancers, including pancreatic cancer.
The current ‘Help us help you’ campaign focuses on the barriers to earlier presentation across all cancer types. A further campaign is planned later in 2022 to address abdominal and urological symptoms, which can include symptoms relevant to pancreatic cancer.
NHS England and NHS Improvement have commissioned a new audit of pancreatic cancer services to support the National Health Service to identify and address variation in access to treatment. NHS England and NHS Improvement have worked with Pancreatic Cancer UK to raise awareness of Pancreatic Enzyme Replacement Therapy and shared guidance with Cancer Alliances.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to help ensure that NuMed Healthcare will not cease to import equipment made for the treatment of children with heart disease from the US after January 2023.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
NHS Supply Chain has not received communication from NuMed Inc Products’ United Kingdom distributor on potential disruptions to the supply of paediatric cardiology devices, once new regulatory requirements come into effect on 1 July 2023. Due to the large volume of suppliers and the array of specialised products available under NHS Supply Chain’s framework, the incoming regulation changes are not expected to cause supply or resilience issues within the National Health Service as there are suitable alternatives available.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is currently finalising the response to the public consultation on future medical device regulation, which will outline the new regulatory requirements from 1 July 2023 and appropriate transitional arrangements. The consultation considered routes to market for medical devices once regulatory changes take place and any proposals will be outlined in the response. Officials are engaging with industry stakeholders on the future approach to regulating medical devices.