Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
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 to ensure that there are sufficient numbers of Parkinson’s specialist nurses.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, backed by more than £2.4 billion over the next five years, the National Health Service will focus on expanding the number of clinicians, including nurses, who train to take up enhanced and advanced roles, and work as part of multidisciplinary teams with the right skills to meet the changing needs of patients. The ambition is to train at least 3,000 advanced practitioners in 2024 and 2025 across all specialties, and to increase the number in training to 5,000 a year by 2029. The Long Term Workforce Plan also sets out actions and reforms needed to improve workforce supply and retention.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
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 to ensure that Parkinson’s specialist nurses are retained in the profession.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, backed by more than £2.4 billion over the next five years, the National Health Service will focus on expanding the number of clinicians, including nurses, who train to take up enhanced and advanced roles, and work as part of multidisciplinary teams with the right skills to meet the changing needs of patients. The ambition is to train at least 3,000 advanced practitioners in 2024 and 2025 across all specialties, and to increase the number in training to 5,000 a year by 2029. The Long Term Workforce Plan also sets out actions and reforms needed to improve workforce supply and retention.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what measures are in place to ensure informed consent in clinical trials.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are legal measures in place to ensure informed consent in clinical trials, through the Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations 2004. Parental consent for clinical trials investigating medicines which involve children is also legislated for via the same Regulations.
Promoting and ensuring transparency is central to the role of the Health Research Authority to facilitate safe and ethical research as defined in the Care Act 2014. This includes clinical trials involving children.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many nurses have worked in NHS community health services on average in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England publishes Hospital and Community Health Services workforce statistics for England. These include staff working for hospital trusts and integrated care boards, but excludes staff working for other providers such as in primary care, general practice or social care. This data is drawn from the Electronic Staff Record, the human resources system for the National Health Service.
The latest statistics on NHS nursing workforce by area of nursing and care setting can be found in the link below within the ‘Nurses by Setting’ worksheet:
Within this data there are nurses working in community settings within several staff groups including community health nurses, community learning disability nurses, community mental health nurses, and as health visitors.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 7 March 2024 to Question 15636 on Blood Cancer: Drugs, on what date her Department first became aware of challenges presented by the appraisal of combination therapies; and what solutions her Department is considering with NHS England to ensure continued equal access to combination medicines for multiple myeloma across the UK.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), and the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) worked closely with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) over a number of years on the CMA’s statement on combination therapies, published in November 2023.
The steps taken by the CMA provide a clear commercial position that means that deals involving multiple drugs licensed by different companies can now be agreed under specific circumstances. This has been welcomed by the ABPI as an opportunity to unlock the door to more transformative combination therapies on the National Health Service.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support exists for those with (a) Huntington’s disease and (b) other complex neurological conditions.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning most services for people with neurological conditions, including those with Huntington’s disease. At a national level, NHS England commissions the specialised elements of neurological care that patients may receive from 27 specialised neurological treatment centres across England. NHS England’s RightCare toolkit and Getting It Right First Time programme aim to improve care for people with neurological conditions, by reducing variation and delivering care more equitably across England.
New optimal clinical pathways for a range of neurological conditions were developed by the National Neurosciences Advisory Group, which ceased operation in 2022. These pathways set out what good treatment, care, and support should look like across a range of neurological conditions. They also help to guide and facilitate the commissioning of high-quality, effective neurology services by ICBs. The optimal clinical pathway for movement disorders outlines the care pathway that patients with Huntington’s disease should receive. Further information on the optimal clinical pathways are available at the following link:
https://www.nnag.org.uk/optimum-clinical-pathways
The Department funds research on neurological conditions through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and between 2018/19 and 2022/23, the Department spent £272.1 million on research into neurological conditions. This covers research into conditions such as Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, and multiple sclerosis. In 2022/23, the most recent year for which we have data, the Department, via the NIHR, spent £65.3 million on research into neurological conditions.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will have discussions with NHS England on the effectiveness of its Commercial Framework in tackling challenges presented by the appraisal and reimbursement system when applied to combination medicines and medicines with multiple indications.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of the 2024 voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing, access, and growth, NHS England has committed to undertake two consultations on its Commercial Framework for New Medicines. The first of these will be launched in summer 2024 and will align with the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) statement on combination medicines. In addition, it will be more explicit about the approach taken for assessing the eligibility of medicines treating multiple indications to qualify for indication specific pricing mechanisms.
Following the first consultation, a revised framework will be published by the end of 2024, and engagement with pharmaceutical companies and patient groups on these issues is already taking place.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information her Department holds on the number of non-invasive pre-natal tests branded as NIFTY and manufactured by BGI Group have been sold in the UK.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department and NHS England do not hold information on the sales within the United Kingdom of the non-invasive pre-natal tests branded as NIFTY, manufactured by BGI Group. The NHS Supply Chain, who manage the sourcing, delivery, and supply of healthcare products, services, and food for National Health Service trusts and healthcare organisations across England, develop procurement frameworks which enable NHS organisations to buy goods and services from suppliers. NHS Supply Chain has confirmed that non-invasive pre-natal tests branded as NIFTY and manufactured by BGI Group, are not on their procurement framework.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding her Department has given to Stonewall since 2019.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our financial records show a total sum of £6,000 paid to Stonewall between the years 2019 to 2020, as part of the Diversity Champions annual membership. This is broken down into £3,000 between 1 January 2019 and 31 December 2019, and £3,000 between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2020. As of February 2021, the Department’s membership with Stonewall lapsed, with no further payments made from 2021 to date.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of her Department's drug strategy on the number of people who are in (a) drug and (b) alcohol treatment.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
By January 2024 there were an additional 9,907 adults in treatment for drugs and 9,908 adults in treatment of alcohol problems, when compared to the start of the drugs strategy in March 2022. Additionally, over the same period, there were an extra 2,650 children and young people receiving specialist support for drug and alcohol problems.
The number of prison leavers referred to community-based drug and alcohol services engaging in treatment within three weeks of release has risen to a high of 52% in January 2024, up from 36% in March 2022. Additionally, in 2023/24 we engaged over 10,000 people who sleep rough, or who are at risk of sleeping rough, in support for rough sleeping drug and alcohol treatment teams, with over 9,000 people supported by these specialist teams while in treatment.