Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
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 review the use of locum GPs in the North East of England.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
County Durham Clinical Commissioning Group has reported that there is not a workforce issue in primary care in the area and that general practice is managing well with a high proportion of consultations now provided over the phone or online. Locums are being used where required in the short term where there are shortages. At a national level, general practitioner (GP) locums as well as returners and substantive GPs wishing to increase their hours are providing additional patient care within the NHS 111 COVID-19 Clinical Assessment Services.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of annual breast cancer screening for people aged 45 and under who have previously had breast cancer.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published guidance on ‘Early and locally advanced breast cancer: diagnosis and management’ in July 2018 which details how follow-up breast screening should occur. It is recommended that annual mammography should be offered to all people who have had breast cancer, until they enter the NHS Breast Screening Programme in England at age 50. Details of the guidance can be found at the following link:
www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng101/chapter/Recommendations#followup
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment NICE has made of the potential medical benefits of cannabis-based medicinal products for treatment of chronic pain; and whether NICE is considering extending licencing of those products for that purpose.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
On 11 November 2019, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published clinical guidelines on the prescribing of cannabis-based medicinal products for people with intractable nausea and vomiting, chronic pain, spasticity and severe treatment-resistant epilepsy. The guidelines recommend that cannabis-based medicinal products are not offered to manage chronic pain in adults and that cannabidiol only be offered as part of a clinical trial. NICE recognises the lack of evidence to support the use of these medicines and recommends that further research is carried out on the clinical and cost effectiveness as an add-on treatment for persistent treatment-resistant neuropathic pain and chronic pain in adults, children and young people. Further information and the clinical guidelines are available on the NICE website at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/indevelopment/gid-ng10124
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
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 potential merits of having a single three digit phone line joining together his Department, charities and other organisations for people suffering from mental health problems.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We have made no such assessment.
The NHS Long Term Plan commits to implementing age-appropriate mental health crisis care support, 24 hours a day through NHS 111 by 2023/24.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
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 people with intellectual disability are not wrongly diagnosed as having dementia.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Diagnosis for dementia is only undertaken by clinical professionals. For example, a general practitioner (GP) in the first instance. If the GP is unsure about the diagnosis, they will refer the individual to a specialist for further tests.
To help promote and maintain best practice for diagnosing dementia, and ensure accurate diagnoses, NHS England has developed and published guidance aimed at GPs and practice nurses, as well as guidance on what good quality assessment and dementia diagnosis looks like. The guidance is available at the following links:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/dementia-revealed-toolkit.pdf
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
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) tackle the over-prescribing of medicines and (b) ensure reviews of prescriptions are carried out for people who have been on medication for prolonged periods of time.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has asked Dr Keith Ridge, the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England, to carry out a review into overprescribing of medicines.
The review is due to report in spring 2020. It will align with and build on the emerging Medicine Safety Programme and Public Health England’s independent review into ‘dependence and withdrawal associated with some prescribed medicines’, published in September 2019, which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prescribed-medicines-review-report
To support appropriate prescribing, the 2020/21 GP contract will introduce new requirements for primary care networks (PCNs) to undertake Structured Medication Reviews (SMRs), which will help to address overprescribing of medicines. From 1 April 2020, each PCN will use appropriate tools to identify and prioritise patients who would benefit from an SMR.