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, what steps he is taking to improve care for patients with acquired brain injuries.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Through the cross-Government Acquired Brain Injury Strategy, we will improve experiences and outcomes for people who live with acquired brain injury by outlining what survivors of acquired brain injury and their families should expect from public services, including health and care services. We expect to publish the Strategy next year.
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, when he plans to publish the Acquired Brain Injury Strategy.
Answered by Will Quince
We expect to publish the Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) Strategy next year. We remain fully committed to publishing the Strategy so people living with ABI have the best quality of life and outcomes.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Departments has to produce guidelines on the treatment of Huntingdon’s disease.
Answered by Will Quince
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent, expert body responsible for translating evidence into authoritative guidance on best practice for the health and care system in England.
NICE has published a number of guidelines relevant to the management of patients with Huntington’s disease, including on the recognition and referral of neurological conditions and depression in adults with a chronic physical health problem. A NICE guideline on rehabilitation for chronic neurological disorders, including acquired brain injury, is expected to be published in January 2025, and will include a specific category on progressive neurological diseases such as Huntington’s disease.
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 steps his Department has taken to improve the (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment of functional neurological disorders.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is currently developing a guideline on rehabilitation for chronic neurological disorders and acquired brain injury. Functional Neurological Disorders (FND) will be covered in this guideline and NICE expects to publish the final guideline in September 2024. NICE also published the ‘Suspected neurological conditions: recognition and referral’ guideline in 2019, to assist with diagnosis of FND.
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 assessment he has made of the adequacy of the clinical guidance on the (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment of functional neurological disorders.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is currently developing a guideline on rehabilitation for chronic neurological disorders and acquired brain injury. Functional Neurological Disorders (FND) will be covered in this guideline and NICE expects to publish the final guideline in September 2024. NICE also published the ‘Suspected neurological conditions: recognition and referral’ guideline in 2019, to assist with diagnosis of FND.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to establish a taskforce to consider issues faced by people with neurological conditions; and if he will meet with representatives from the Neurological Alliance to discuss the potential merits of creating this taskforce.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department received the petition calling for the establishment of a neurological taskforce from the Neurological Alliance and other stakeholders in June 2023. We are considering that petition. Policy colleagues regularly meet with the Neurological Alliance and have worked closely together to develop an Acquired Brain Injury Strategy, due to be published later this year.
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 recent progress his Department has made on analysing responses to the acquired brain injury call for evidence.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department continues to work on the development of the strategy, based on the feedback from the Call for Evidence, the Patient and Public Voice Reference Group, the Programme Board and the Steering Group.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve services for patients with long term conditions not covered by his Department’s Major Conditions Strategy.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The majority of services for patients with long term conditions are commissioned locally by integrated care boards, who are best placed to plan the provision of service improvement subject to local prioritisation and funding.
The Department will continue work to improve the treatment and care people receive for a range of long term conditions through work such as the ME/CFS Delivery Plan, the Women’s Health Strategy and the Acquired Brain Injury strategy. The Department is also working closely with NHS England on a range of service improvement initiatives, including the Neurosciences Transformation Programme and the Renal Services Transformation Programme.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to develop a strategy supporting (a) research on, (b) treatment advances for and (c) management of conditions that are not covered under the Major Conditions Strategy.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The strategy’s focus is on tackling conditions that contribute most to morbidity and mortality across the population in England including cancers, cardiovascular disease, including stroke and diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, dementia, mental ill health and musculoskeletal conditions.
In addition to the strategy, the Department will continue work to improve the treatment and care people receive for all other conditions through work such as the ME/CFS Delivery Plan, the Women’s Health Strategy and the Acquired Brain Injury strategy.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans for the proposed Major Conditions and Disease Strategy to replace existing disease and condition-specific strategies.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Strategy’s focus is on tackling conditions that contribute most to morbidity and mortality across the population in England including cancers, cardiovascular disease, including stroke and diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, dementia, mental ill health and musculoskeletal conditions.
In addition to the strategy, the Department will continue work to improve the treatment and care people receive for all other conditions through work such as the ME/CFS Delivery Plan, the Women’s Health Strategy and the Acquired Brain Injury strategy.