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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-04-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of people in the UK who are affected by post-polio syndrome; what steps are being taken to fund (a) treatment of and (b) research into that condition; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison

It is estimated that there are around 120,000 people living in the United Kingdom who survived polio when they were younger. Although some of these have or will develop post-polio syndrome (PPS), it is not known exactly how many polio survivors are affected and estimates vary.

Commissioning of services for PPS is a local matter. People with PPS can usually be managed through routine access to primary or second care provided via a general practitioner (GP) or consultant. Treatment will depend on the severity of a patient’s condition, but care may involve: pain relieving medication; physiotherapy; dietary and exercise advice; and counselling or cognitive behavioural therapy.

Although not currently funding any research into PPS, the National Institute for Health Research welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including PPS. 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 below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-04-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the cost of his Department’s recent consultation on infected blood was; how many responses that consultation received from (a) people with Stage 1 hepatitis C, (b) people with Stage 2 hepatitis C, (c) people with HIV, (d) people with HIV and hepatitis C, (e) the widows and widowers of those affected and (f) other people; and how many full-time equivalent staff have been allocated to running that consultation.

Jane Ellison

The main costs associated with the consultation on reform of the infected blood payment schemes were for printing of the consultation document and postage of letters to inform all 3,482 scheme registrants, and 180 hon. Members, of the launch of the consultation. This amounted to £7,177 and was taken from the Department’s own budgets. A core team of three civil servants, with senior management input, is developing the new payment scheme and the consultation is integral to their work. Thirteen additional staff members, from across the Department, are helping to analyse the consultation responses.

Information on the respondents’ status was collected as part of the consultation but it was not obligatory to provide it and neither was it collected in the way asked in this question.

Consultation responses are still being analysed, however to date, the number of respondents by category are;