Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of introducing a national cerebral palsy register to record incidences of the condition and improve the provision of treatment for people affected.
Answered by Steve Brine
No assessment has been made. NHS England is responsible for securing high quality outcomes for people with cerebral palsy, and it has advised that there are currently no plans to establish a national register of children with the condition.
PACE, the charity which supports children and families affected by motor disorders such as cerebral palsy indicates that the current United Kingdom incidence rate of cerebral palsy is around one in 400 births and that approximately 1,800 children are diagnosed with cerebral palsy every year.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
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 support the implementation of the NICE Quality Standard on cerebral palsy in children and young people.
Answered by Steve Brine
Quality standards (QS) are important in setting out to patients, the public, commissioners and providers what a high quality service should look like in a particular area of care. Whilst providers and commissioners must have regard to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) QS in planning and delivering services, they do not provide a comprehensive service specification and are not mandatory.
The NICE QS: Cerebral palsy in children and young people was published on 10 October 2017. This standard covers the diagnosis, assessment and management of cerebral palsy and comprises four Quality Statements which describe high quality cerebral palsy care that can be used for the measurement and improvement of services locally. These statements are drawn from existing, evidence based guidance; in this case NICE’s cerebral palsy clinical guideline, published in January 2017. Both the QS and guideline can be found at the following links:
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to increase the number of neuromuscular care advisors for people with muscle-wasting conditions.
Answered by Steve Brine
NHS England is responsible for commissioning specialised neurological services, including some services for patients with neuromuscular disorders. NHS England has published a service specification for neurological care that includes an exemplar service specification for neuromuscular conditions which sets out what providers must have in place to offer evidence-based, safe and effective services. The service specification for neurological care can be found at the following link:
www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/d04-neurosci-spec-neuro.pdf
NHS providers, working with local area teams, may establish patient access to neuromuscular care advisers if they consider it would benefit service provision and such decisions are a local matter.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve access to specialist psychology support for people with muscle-wasting conditions.
Answered by Jane Ellison
With regards to the National Health Service in Scotland, as healthcare is a devolved issue, the Department cannot comment.
NHS England commissions specialised neurological services at a national level, including those with muscle-wasting conditions. The neurosciences service specification sets out what designated specialised providers must have in place to offer evidence-based, safe and effective care. Patients should have access to a multidisciplinary team (MDT) to assess, diagnose and provide support. The MDT will include neuromuscular consultants, neuromuscular physiotherapists, psychologists, specialist nurses, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists and other health professionals.
The specification further sets out that neuromuscular clinics need to identify those at risk of respiratory problems and refer for specialist respiratory assessment and monitoring.
The specification can be found at the following link:
www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/d04-neurosci-spec-neuro.pdf
A separate specification covers services for children.
www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/e09-paedi-neurology.pdf
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
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 the provision of specialist respiratory care for people with muscle-wasting conditions; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jane Ellison
With regards to the National Health Service in Scotland, as healthcare is a devolved issue, the Department cannot comment.
NHS England commissions specialised neurological services at a national level, including those with muscle-wasting conditions. The neurosciences service specification sets out what designated specialised providers must have in place to offer evidence-based, safe and effective care. Patients should have access to a multidisciplinary team (MDT) to assess, diagnose and provide support. The MDT will include neuromuscular consultants, neuromuscular physiotherapists, psychologists, specialist nurses, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists and other health professionals.
The specification further sets out that neuromuscular clinics need to identify those at risk of respiratory problems and refer for specialist respiratory assessment and monitoring.
The specification can be found at the following link:
www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/d04-neurosci-spec-neuro.pdf
A separate specification covers services for children.
www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/e09-paedi-neurology.pdf