Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help support people diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
To support the provision of optimal support for people with multiple sclerosis (MS) and other neurological conditions, NHS England has established the Neuroscience Transformation Programme, a multi-year, clinically led programme aimed at improving specialised adult neuroscience services in England and developing a new model of integrated care for neurology services.
The Neuroscience Transformation Programme seeks to support emerging regional teams in addition to Integrated Care Systems in the National Health Service, through establishing a ‘what good looks like’ for specialised neuroscience services for a local population.
NHS England has also established the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) national programme, which is designed to improve the treatment and care of patients through in-depth, clinically led review of specialties to examine how things are currently being done and how they could be improved.
The GIRFT National Specialty Report on Neurology, published in September 2021, focuses on improving access to care and ensuring services are available close to patients’ homes where feasible. The report highlights differences in how services are delivered and highlights examples of local good practice to improve patient services nationally.
NHS systems should also continue to implement the guidance set out in the Progressive Neurological Conditions RightCare Toolkit, which was developed in collaboration with key stakeholders such as the MS Trust and the MS Society. The Toolkit supports improvements to pathways for progressive neurological patients, ensuring that commissioners focus on quicker and more accurate diagnoses and increasing the availability of neurorehabilitation, reablement, and psychosocial support.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to support research into the potential impact of menopause on people with multiple sclerosis.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department commissions research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR funds research on menopause, but it is not currently funding any specific research into the potential impact of menopause on people with multiple sclerosis.
The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and we want to ensure that we answer the most important research questions and address topics that make the biggest difference to patients, and the public. On 18 October 2023, World Menopause Day, the James Lind Alliance (JLA) launched a Priority Setting Partnership focused on menopause. This initiative engages women who have experienced menopause as well as healthcare professionals, to identify research priorities. This will result in the creation of a public Top 10 list that researchers can access and consider as a focus for their work. The final priority setting process will be a full day workshop facilitated by the JLA in October 2024.
Nov. 12 2008
Source Page: Cost effective provision of disease modifying therapies for people with multiple sclerosis. Health Service Circular 2002/004. 29 p.Found: Cost effective provision of disease modifying therapies for people with multiple sclerosis.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that PIP assessors take into account the hidden symptoms of multiple sclerosis when making their assessments; and what recent assessment he has made of the impact of the PIP assessment process on the mental health of people with multiple sclerosis.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Assessments for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) are carried out by qualified health professionals (HPs), who receive training in assessing the impacts of a variety of disabilities including multiple sclerosis (MS), to ensure they are familiar with the clinical aspects of the conditions and their impact on daily functions.
HPs have access to Condition Insight Reports (CIRs) which are developed specifically to enable them to gain further insight into clinical and functional information, relating to specific conditions. Both Capita and Independent Assessment Services (IAS), who conduct PIP assessments on behalf of the department, hold CIRs on MS, which have been produced for them by representative groups.
DWP recognises that attending an assessment can be a stressful experience, which is why claimants are not invited to attend a face-to-face, telephone or video assessment where there is sufficient paper evidence to determine benefit entitlement.
Companions are also encouraged to attend and can play an active role in the assessment to support individuals or help them manage any anxiety they may feel.
Jul. 15 2009
Source Page: Personal Health Budget pilot programme: provisional pilot sites. 4 p.Found: sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, Parkinson™s disease, stroke) Berkshire West NHS continuing healthcare
Nov. 18 2008
Source Page: Tables showing fixed award cases in payment durations for a) disability living allowance and b) attendance allowance as at May 2008, broken down by main disabling condition.Found: ----200*Stroke Related1200.0700.0200*----2100.0Frailty300*200*200*100*---800.0Epilepsy--100*----100*Multiple
Found: Cross -Party Group Registration Form Name of Cross -Party Group Cross -Party Group on Multiple
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of women who (a) have and (b) do not have multiple sclerosis attended (i) cancer screening appointments, (ii) mammograms and (iii) cervical screening appointments in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
National Health Service screening programmes do not collect data on an individual’s long-term condition, and therefore no data is available on what proportion of women who have multiple sclerosis, participate in cancer screening programmes.
Under the Equality Act 2010, and the Health and Social Care Act 2012, NHS screening providers have a legal duty to make sure screening services are accessible to everyone, including people with long term conditions, who may have issues with access.
The following table provides data on the percentage of coverage for the three cancer screening programmes, breast, cervical and bowel, within the age groups invited for NHS screenings, in England over the last five years:
| 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 |
Breast Screening – ages 50 to 71 years old | 74.9% | 74.6% | 74.2% | 64.2% | 65.3% | 66.4% |
Cervical Screening – ages 25 to 64 years old | 71.4% | 71.9% | 72.2% | 70.2% | 69.9% | 68.7% |
Bowel Screening – ages 60 to 74 years old | 59.2% | 59.5% | 60.5% | 64.3% | 66.1% | 70.3% |
Note: Data for bowel cancer screening is not separated based on sex.