Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what research his Department has commissioned on the efficacy of mindfulness-based therapies in the treatment of (a) stress, (b) depression and (c) other mental health conditions in the last five years; and which organisation conducted each such research project.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Department funds health and care research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including mindfulness-based therapies for the treatment of mental health conditions. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.
The NIHR is the largest funder of mental health research in the United Kingdom and it has considerable investments in translational, clinical and applied mental health research. NIHR investment in mental health research for 2017/18 was £74.8 million. In the last five years the NIHR has funded a number of studies investigating mindfulness-based therapies for a range of mental health conditions across its research programmes, biomedical and applied research centres and research fellowships. These range from a trial of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for people with mild to moderate depression to a study which is evaluating the effects of mindfulness and connection with nature on chronic stress and well-being in deprived areas.
The attached table provides details of these studies, including which organisation conducted each project.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS staff were qualified to treat patients with mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy in each of the last three years.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The information requested is not collected centrally.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how UK mindfulness research centres and universities have contributed to the development of NHS mindfulness-based practice and therapies.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The Department is not aware of how United Kingdom mindfulness research centres and universities may have contributed to the development of National Health Service mindfulness-based practice and therapies.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of patients treated for mental health disorders in NHS facilities received (a) drugs, (b) psychological therapy, (c) mindfulness meditation and (d) a combination of such approaches in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The information requested is not collected centrally.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much the NHS has spent on (a) anti-depressant drugs and (b) mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy in each year for which data is available.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
Information on how much the National Health Service has spent on antidepressant drugs is not collected in the format requested.
Information on expenditure on mindfulness-based therapies provided through NHS Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services is not separately identifiable and cannot be provided.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much the Government spent on research into (a) anti-depressant drug treatment and (b) mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Department funds health and care research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including mental health. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. The NIHR is the largest funder of mental health research in the United Kingdom. It has considerable investments in translational, clinical and applied mental health research. NIHR investment in mental health research for 2017/18 was £74.8 million.
The latest spend figures for research on antidepressant drug treatment and mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy are as follows:
Antidepressant drugs:
Financial Expenditure | ||
2017/18 | 2018/19 | |
NIHR Programmes total spend | £2,558,406.14 | £3,269,938.30 |
Mindfulness - based therapy
Financial Expenditure | ||
2017/18 | 2018/19 | |
NIHR Programmes total spend | £206,648 | £308,645.22 |
It should be noted that the spend figure on antidepressants will include studies where anti-depressants are repurposed for use in treating other conditions or where an anti-depressant will be being compared to a non-pharmacological intervention.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the (a) efficacy and (b) cost of the use of (i) anti-depressant drugs and (ii) mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy and mindfulness cognitive behaviour therapy.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is responsible for the regulation of medicines used in the United Kingdom, including efficacy. Anti-depressant medicines licensed in the UK have been approved after robust supporting data has been submitted to demonstrate the quality, safety and efficacy of the product for the condition it is intended to treat. For a medicine to be licenced, the benefit to risk balance should be positive.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) examines evidence of clinical and cost effectiveness when providing guidelines and recommendations of treatment. Presently, mindfulness-based therapy is only recommended for the treatment of depression in adults. NICE pathways bring together everything NICE says on a topic. The pathway for depression, including antidepressant treatment, is available at the following link:
https://pathways.nice.org.uk/pathways/depression
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with representatives of universities on research into mindfulness-based therapies; and what research projects his Department has funded into mindfulness-based therapies in the last three years.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
No such discussions have taken place.
The Department funds health and care research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).
In the last three years, the NIHR has funded a number of studies investigating mindfulness-based therapies for a range of conditions from depression to chronic pelvic pain; and for individuals throughout the life course, including learning mindfulness in schools and mindfulness interventions for mood and cognitive functioning in older adults.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the (a) efficacy and (b) cost of mindfulness-based therapies in treating (i) attention deficit disorder, (ii) hyperactivity and (iii) other mental health conditions.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
No such assessment has been made.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) examines evidence of clinical and cost effectiveness when providing guidelines and recommendations of treatment. Presently, mindfulness-based therapy is only recommended for the treatment of depression in adults.
The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme was set up to deliver evidence based psychological therapies, including mindfulness-based therapies, as recommended by NICE, for the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders but information is not available broken down by therapy type.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many applications for research into mindfulness-based therapies were (a) accepted and (b) rejected by the Medical Research Council in each of the last three years.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
In the last three years the Medical Research Council has funded one project relevant to mindfulness-based therapies. £149k was awarded in 2018 to researchers based at the University of Bristol for two years to evaluate a multi-stage intervention to improve foster carers mental health and well-being.
The number of applications and success rates for projects relevant to mindfulness-based therapies cannot be provided. All applications to UK Research and Innovation are submitted in confidence and when research topics are specialised in nature, releasing information on the number of applications may result in Research Organisations and applicants potentially being identified.