Asked by: Simon Kirby (Conservative - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve (a) the diagnosis of dementia and (b) treatment for people with dementia.
Answered by Norman Lamb
This government has set the first ever national ambition on dementia diagnosis that two thirds of the estimated number of people with dementia should receive a diagnosis and appropriate post-diagnosis support by March 2015 so that they can access the right care at the right time.
We have put in place a new Dementia Directed Enhanced Service which has had over 80% take up by general practitioners to reward practices for facilitating timely diagnosis and support for people with dementia.
In October 2012, we made available £50 million capital funding for 2013-14 for the NHS and local authorities to work with providers to create better care environments to help people with dementia live well with the condition.
In the hospital setting, through the Dementia Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) reward (introduced from April 2012), with around 4,000 referrals a month, it is clear that more people with dementia in hospitals are being identified and assessed. Between April 2013 and June 2014 there have been 59,961 referrals as a result of the introduction of this CQUIN goal.
Asked by: Simon Kirby (Conservative - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to improve awareness of dementia among (a) NHS staff, (b) GPs and (c) the public.
Answered by Norman Lamb
All NHS staff looking after people with dementia will go through a dementia awareness programme. Health Education England will provide Tier 1 training to an additional 250,000 staff by March 2015, and will ensure that the tools and training opportunities are available to all staff by the end of 2018.
We have put in place a new Dementia Directed Enhanced Service which has had over 80% take up by general practitioners to reward practices for facilitating timely diagnosis and support for people with dementia.
In May 2014 Public Health England in partnership with Alzheimer’s Society launched the Dementia Friends Campaign, a major social movement to improve dementia awareness. The campaign aims to improve understanding of dementia, and the little things that people can do to help people with dementia live well for longer, by asking people to sign up to become a Dementia Friend. A second burst of campaign activity including TV and online advertising is planned for December. Currently over 400,000 members of the public, employees of commercial partners and public sector staff, including the NHS, have signed up to become Dementia Friends.
Asked by: Simon Kirby (Conservative - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will review his departmental estate in order to reduce costs; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Dan Poulter
The Departmental estate has been undergoing significant rationalisation and cost reduction. In summary the Department and its Arms Length Bodies have reduced our estates and facilities costs from £183.1 million in 2009-10 to £121.7 million in 2012-13.
The latest State of the Estate report (SofTE) reports annually on progress made during the year in improving the efficiency of the Government’s Civil Estate. This is available online at:
www.gov.uk/government/collections/state-of-the-estate
The Department’s Property Delivery Plan, refreshed annually, sets out how the Department will continue to reduce its estate and costs beyond 2015. This plan is due to be reviewed at the end of 2014.
Asked by: Simon Kirby (Conservative - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he has any plans to increase the number of replies within his Department's working day standard; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Dan Poulter
The Department is strongly committed to replying to correspondence within its 18 working day target. In 2013, the Department responded to nearly 50,000 items of correspondence from hon. Members, peers and members of the public, 98% of which were answered within 18 working days.
Asked by: Simon Kirby (Conservative - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will estimate the annual cost to his Department of (a) stationery and (b) postage incurred when sending a ministerial reply to hon. Members; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Dan Poulter
The Department estimates that in 2013 it spent approximately £3,900 on stationery for ministerial replies to hon. Member correspondence.
All parliamentary post is delivered by a Departmental messenger, whose duties include, but are not limited to, delivering hon. Member correspondence. Any correspondence for constituency offices would be sent by post, when requested, but the Department does not record how many replies to hon. Members were sent to constituency offices.
Asked by: Simon Kirby (Conservative - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to increase and improve the availability of (a) free and (b) chargeable WiFi access for patients in NHS hospitals; and how many NHS hospitals in Sussex provide (i) free and (ii) chargeable WiFi access for patients at the most recent date for which figures are available.
Answered by Dan Poulter
The availability of free and chargeable Wi-Fi access for patients is a matter for local National Health Service organisations. There is no centrally collected information on the number of NHS hospitals in England that provide free and chargeable wireless internet access for patients.
Asked by: Simon Kirby (Conservative - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent steps he has taken to reduce obesity; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jane Ellison
We have a well-developed and wide-ranging programme of actions to reduce levels of obesity. These include working with a wide range of partners including Public Health England, NHS England, Government departments including the Department for Education and Department for Transport, and industry through the Public Health Responsibility Deal. Key initiatives include Change4Life, the National Child Measurement Programme, NHS Health Checks, Change4Life Sports Clubs, School Sports Funding and the School Food Plan.
Our national ambition for a downward trend in excess weight in adults and children by 2020 requires collective action by Government, businesses, health and care professionals, and individuals.
Asked by: Simon Kirby (Conservative - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people in (a) Brighton Kemptown constituency, (b) Brighton and Hove and (c) Sussex have gained access to cancer drugs through the Cancer Drugs Fund in each year of that Fund's operation.
Answered by Norman Lamb
Prior to April 2013, information on the Cancer Drugs Fund was administered through clinical panels based in each strategic health authority and data on the number of patients who accessed treatment through the Fund in each constituency, city and county was not collected. Information on the number of patients who accessed treatment in South East Coast Strategic Health Authority (SHA) and England in 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13 is shown as follows:
| Number of patients funded in 2010-11 | Number of patients funded in 2011-12 | Number of patients funded in 2012-13 | Total number of patients funded since October 20101 |
South East Coast SHA | 306 | 1,241 | 1,426 | 2,973 |
England | 2,780 | 11,798 | 15,456 | 30,034 |
1 Some individual patients may be double-counted where a patient has received more than one drug treatment through the Cancer Drugs Fund
Source:
Information provided to the Department by SHAs
NHS England has had oversight of the Fund since April 2013 and publishes information on patient numbers routinely on its website at:
www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/pe/cdf/
Information published by NHS England shows that in 2013-14, 4,725 patients in the South of England region and 19,282 patients in England accessed treatment through the Fund. In addition, 89 individual cancer drugs fund request applications were approved by the Cancer Drugs Fund panel in the South of England region.
Asked by: Simon Kirby (Conservative - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of living in damp homes on the health of (a) children in general and (b) asthmatic children; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Dan Poulter
The effect on health of living in cold and damp housing is well known. Evidence suggests that children living in cold and damp housing environments are disproportionately affected. Children living in cold homes, which are more likely to be damp, are more than twice as likely to suffer from a variety of respiratory problems than children living in warm homes1. Significant negative effects of cold housing are evident in terms of infants' weight gain, hospital admission rates, developmental status, and the severity and frequency of asthmatic symptoms.
It is estimated that 1.1 million children have asthma in the United Kingdom2. We do not know what proportion of these asthmatic children can attribute to living in a damp home to the severity of their condition.
Public Health England (PHE) has an asthma research programme that includes analyses of environmental samples to identify important components including bioaerosols, chemicals and pollutants with the potential to modify asthma risk.
The Cold Weather Plan for England 20133 identifies groups at greater risk of harm from cold weather including people living in houses with mould. Flooded properties are also at risk from damp and mould growth following flooding events. PHE in its Guidance on Recovery from Flooding, essential information for frontline responders4, acknowledges that there is medical evidence linking prolonged exposure to high levels of mould with exacerbation of asthma in some individuals.
1Marmot Review Team (2011) The Health Impacts of Cold Homes and Fuel Poverty
2APPG Respiratory Health (2014) Report on inquiry into respiratory deaths:
www.blf.org.uk/Page/Report-on-inquiry-into-respiratory-deaths
3Public Health England (2013) The Cold Weather Plan. Protecting Health and Reducing Harm from Cold Weather:
www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/252838/Cold_Weather_Plan_2013_final.pdf
4Public Health England (2014) Guidance on Recovery from Flooding – essential information for frontline responders:
www.hpa.org.uk/webc/HPAwebFile/HPAweb_C/1317140798239
Asked by: Simon Kirby (Conservative - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will estimate how many autistic children there were in the most recent five year period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Norman Lamb
The Department for Education collects data on children's special educational needs. The following table shows those children in schools in the last five years whose primary need was autistic spectrum disorder. These figures will not include pre-school children with autism, children with autism who have a different primary special educational need, or those not in receipt of special educational support. The Special Needs and Autism Project which studied prevalence of disorders of the autism spectrum in children in South Thames reported in 2006 that prevalence of all autistic spectrum disorders was 116.1 per 10,000 (or 1.161%).
2009 | 51,160 |
2010 | 56,260 |
2011 | 61,570 |
2012 | 66,195 |
2013 | 70,780 |
The new arrangements for joint commissioning for children and young people with special educational needs and disability, to be introduced from September, provide an effective framework for clinical commissioning groups and local authorities to work together on single, co-ordinated assessments to meet the needs of children with autism and other special educational needs, focusing on the outcomes which make a difference to the child and their families.