Asked by: Thelma Walker (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many Care Commissioning Groups (CCGs) have reached a 75 per cent formal diagnosis rate for dementia; and what support his Department plans to provide CCGs that have not reached that target.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The national commitment for the dementia diagnosis rate is two-thirds of the estimated population living with dementia to have a formal diagnosis. At the end of April 2018, 116 of 195 clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) had met the two-thirds national standard.
A national diagnosis rate of at least 66.7% was initially achieved at the end 2015, and this has been maintained ever since. The current national dementia diagnosis rate is 67.3% (April 2018).
NHS England recognises that CCGs have varying levels of need for support based on their performance against the indicators, and has developed a support offer to assist areas in improving dementia services including diagnosis rates.
Asked by: Thelma Walker (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
What steps the Government is taking to improve child health outcomes.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Government wants children and young people to get the best start in life, and recognises the lasting impact this has on their health outcomes. We take a `life course’ approach which includes early years support so that children are ready to learn.
We have ambitious plans to reduce infant mortality and childhood obesity, improve children and young people’s mental health, and deliver a world-leading immunisation programme.
Asked by: Thelma Walker (Labour - Colne Valley)
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 people diagnosed with foetal alcohol syndrome.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Government recognises that Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) can have a significant impact on the early years development of children, their behaviours and their life chances. Early intervention services can help reduce some of the effects of FASD and prevent some of the secondary disabilities that result. Responsibility for commissioning these services lies with clinical commissioning groups.
The United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers’ low risk drinking guidelines provide the public with the most up to date scientific information to help people make informed decisions about their own drinking. The guideline for women who are pregnant or think they could become pregnant, is that the safest approach is not to drink alcohol at all, to reduce risks to the baby to a minimum.
Asked by: Thelma Walker (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have been diagnosed with foetal alcohol syndrome in each of the last seven years.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Hospital Episode Statistics database contains counts of hospital episodes and attendances rather than people. The following table shows a count of finished admission episodes (FAEs) in England with a primary or secondary diagnosis of foetal alcohol syndrome 2010-11 to 2016-17.
Year | FAEs |
2010-11 | 212 |
2011-12 | 270 |
2012-13 | 252 |
2013-14 | 272 |
2014-15 | 286 |
2015-16 | 349 |
2016-17 | 361 |
It should be noted that this should not be described as a count of people as the same person may have been admitted on one or more occasions.
Asked by: Thelma Walker (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to reduce its use of single-use plastics .
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
In our 25 Year Environment plan the Government outlined a range of measures on how we will reduce the amount of plastic in circulation through reducing demand for single-use plastic. This included a commitment to removing all consumer single use plastics from the central government estate offices.
Asked by: Thelma Walker (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Government's mandate to NHS England for 2018-19, published on 20 March 2018, for reasons the elective surgery waiting time of 18 weeks and the emergency waiting time of 4 hours will not be met until 2020.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Layla Moran MP) on 28 March 2018 to Question 133890.
Asked by: Thelma Walker (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Government's mandate to NHS England for 2018-19, published on 20 March 2018, what plans his Department has to ensure that the elective surgery and emergency waiting times will be maintained at levels set out in previous years' mandates to NHS England.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The 2018/19 mandate sets out the formal expectation that the National Health Service will meet the agreed constitutional standards on referral to treatment (RTT) and accident and emergency (A&E) waiting times.
The Government expects the NHS to deliver the actions set out in the NHS Planning Guidance for 2018/19 in full as key steps towards fully recovering the performance against these core access standards at the levels they are currently set (RTT 92% and A&E 95%).
We gave the NHS top priority in the 2017 budget with an additional £2.8 billion of funding for the NHS between 2017-18 and 2019-20, and this has been reflected in the mandate. It takes overall funding for the NHS to over half a trillion pounds between 2015 and 2020.
Asked by: Thelma Walker (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number of doctors who have been awarded bonuses by clinical commissioning groups limiting the number of patients they refer to hospital; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Steve Brine
NHS England confirms that no bonuses have been paid.
Asked by: Thelma Walker (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number of doctors who have been awarded bonuses by clinical commissioning groups for limiting the number of patients they refer for cancer screening; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Steve Brine
NHS England does not hold this information.
NHS England does not support bonus payments to general practitioners for reducing referrals.
Asked by: Thelma Walker (Labour - Colne Valley)
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 12 March 2018 to Question 130778 on Nabiximols, what progress his Department has made on reducing the cost of the drug Sativex.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Department has had no discussions on reducing the cost of Savitex. The decision to prescribe and fund a licensed treatment on the National Health Service is taken by the relevant clinician and commissioner (such as NHS England or individual clinical commissioning groups) based on the individual needs of the patient.
When the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published its guideline on the treatment of adults with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2014, it recommended that Sativex should not be offered as an option to treat spasticity in people with MS because it is not a cost effective treatment. NICE is responsible for determining whether its guidance should be updated following the publication of any significant new evidence.