Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data he holds on the treatments available for people with Parkinson’s disease in each region of the UK.
Answered by Steve Brine
NHS England commissions the specialised elements of Parkinson’s care that patients may receive from 25 specialised neurological treatment centres across England. NHS England has published a service specification setting out what providers must have in place to deliver specialised neurological care. This supports equity of access to high quality services for patients wherever they live. The specification can be found at the following link:
www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/spec-services/npc-crg/group-d/d04/
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance ‘Parkinson’s disease: Diagnosis and management in primary and secondary care’, updated in 2017, sets out best practice for clinicians in the identification and treatment of Parkinson’s disease in line with the latest available evidence.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect on just in time delivery arrangements for medical devices of the UK leaving the EU Customs Union; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The Government is working to mitigate the impact of any potential delays at borders in the unlikely event of a no-deal outcome to our negotiations on exiting the European Union. Our planning aims to ensure that from the day the United Kingdom leaves the EU, we will have the necessary resources and contingencies in place to maintain uninterrupted supplies of medical devices, including those delivered to National Health Service trusts on a just in time basis.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many UK-based notified bodies for medical devices have registered under the EU Medical Devices Regulations 2017; how many of those bodies were registered under previous regulations; what assessment he has made of the effect on the NHS in the event that insufficient notified bodies register; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
There are currently four United Kingdom-based notified bodies designated under the Directive 93/42/EC on medical devices and Directive 98/79/EC on in vitro diagnostic medical devices. Of these four UK notified bodies, one is also designated Directive 90/385/EEC on active implantable medical devices. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is the designating authority in the UK and is responsible for designating and monitoring the performance of UK notified bodies. This includes undertaking regular audits of their activities.
New European Union Regulations for medical devices (Regulation 2017/745) and in vitro diagnostic medical devices (Regulation 2017/746) entered into force in May 2017, with Regulation 2017/745 fully applying from May 2020 and Regulation 2017/746 fully applying from May 2022. Each notified body will need to apply for separate designation under these Regulations. No notified body in the UK, or across the EU, is currently designated under either Regulation.
The new Regulations substantially strengthen the regulatory framework for medical devices and in vitro diagnostic devices and the MHRA recognises the importance of having competent notified bodies in place in sufficient time to ensure continuity of supply of products to the UK market.
To this end, the MHRA has been engaging with UK notified bodies on an ongoing basis to ensure that sufficient resources are in place and to ensure notified bodies are prepared for the designation process. The MHRA is also providing expert auditors to support the process of joint assessment of notified bodies under the new legislation across the EU to support the consistent application of the new Regulations across all EU Member States.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS Continuing Healthcare assessments have taken place after a claimant has died to establish whether that claimant's family or estate are entitled to claim that funding retrospectively.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
In March 2012, deadlines were introduced for requests for an assessment for NHS Continuing Healthcare ‘previously unassessed periods of care’ between 1 April 2004 and 31 March 2012 in England. The deadline for registering for a review of unassessed periods of care during this time period was 31 March 2013, after which approximately 63,000 requests for an assessment were received, with approximately 25,000 resulting in a full assessment.
Individuals, their families, or a representative are currently able to request an assessment from their responsible clinical commissioning group for an NHS Continuing Healthcare ‘previously unassessed period of care’ for periods from 1 April 2012 onwards. Data is not currently held on the number of requests received or assessments carried out for an NHS Continuing Healthcare ‘previously unassessed period of care’ for periods from 1 April 2012 onwards.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many applicants for NHS Continuing Healthcare died before a decision was made on their case by the relevant clinical commissioning group.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
This information is not held.
Data is published on the number of completed NHS Continuing Healthcare assessments in England on the NHS England statistical webpage, however, this does not specify whether or not the individual had died by the time of a decision on NHS Continuing Healthcare eligibility. The data is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/nhs-chc-fnc/2017-18/
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time people with Parkinson’s disease to (a) be assessed for deep brain stimulation and (b) receive deep brain stimulation treatment, in each of the last three years.
Answered by Steve Brine
Information regarding the average waiting time people with Parkinson’s disease to be assessed for deep brain stimulation is not collected. The following table shows the number of finished admission episodes (FAEs) for patients with a primary diagnosis of Parkinson's disease and a main procedure of deep brain stimulation and the mean elective wait for the procedure in the financial years between 2014-15 and 2016-17.
Financial year | FAEs | Mean waiting time (days) |
2014-15 | 135 | 53.64 |
2015-16 | 189 | 69.62 |
2016-17 | 264 | 107.47 |
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS Digital.
Note:
An FAE is the first period of inpatient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FAEs are counted against the year or month in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of inpatients, as a person may have more than one admission within the period.