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  • Guto Bebb – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Guto Bebb – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Guto Bebb on 2015-10-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department has taken to increase awareness of prostate cancer.

    Jane Ellison

    The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) advises Ministers and the National Health Service in all four countries about all aspects of screening policy and supports implementation. In 2010, the UK NSC recommended against a screening programme for prostate cancer as there was no clear evidence that the benefit to screen for prostate cancer outweighed the harms. The UK NSC re-affirmed this decision in 2012 and is in the process of reviewing this policy currently.

    The School of Health and Related Research at the University of Sheffield performed an option appraisal for the UK NSC based on the latest trial evidence for screening for prostate cancer in 2013. A number of screening strategies were considered including annual screening in men aged 50 to 74 years. The overall survival benefit with all strategies was small and outweighed by the harms of over diagnosis and the adverse effects of over treatment.

    Public Health England (PHE) ran a local pilot campaign for six weeks in 2014, specifically targeting prostate cancer within Black African-Caribbean men, because of their significantly increased risk of developing prostate cancer. The campaign ran in six London boroughs. In addition, PHE will be running a national campaign on “Blood in Pee” in early 2016. This is primarily aimed at bladder and kidney cancer but blood in the urine can also be a sign of prostate cancer.

  • Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-10-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the recommendations of the Lancet Commission on liver disease, published in November 2014.

    Jane Ellison

    NHS England is responsible for the overall national approach to improving clinical outcomes for people with liver disease. It is adopting a broad strategy to reduce premature mortality, including mortality from liver disease, and is working jointly with stakeholders to make sure that patients with liver disease are supported. In addition, Public Health England is working with stakeholders to develop a liver disease framework and is also working closely with the Lancet Commission.

  • Guto Bebb – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Guto Bebb – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Guto Bebb on 2015-10-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what representations he has received on the availability of comparative information on and screening for prostate cancer.

    Jane Ellison

    The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) advises Ministers and the National Health Service in all four countries about all aspects of screening policy and supports implementation. In 2010, the UK NSC recommended against a screening programme for prostate cancer as there was no clear evidence that the benefit to screen for prostate cancer outweighed the harms. The UK NSC re-affirmed this decision in 2012 and is in the process of reviewing this policy currently.

    The School of Health and Related Research at the University of Sheffield performed an option appraisal for the UK NSC based on the latest trial evidence for screening for prostate cancer in 2013. A number of screening strategies were considered including annual screening in men aged 50 to 74 years. The overall survival benefit with all strategies was small and outweighed by the harms of over diagnosis and the adverse effects of over treatment.

    Public Health England (PHE) ran a local pilot campaign for six weeks in 2014, specifically targeting prostate cancer within Black African-Caribbean men, because of their significantly increased risk of developing prostate cancer. The campaign ran in six London boroughs. In addition, PHE will be running a national campaign on “Blood in Pee” in early 2016. This is primarily aimed at bladder and kidney cancer but blood in the urine can also be a sign of prostate cancer.

  • David Amess – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    David Amess – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-10-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much the NHS spent tackling the effects of sight loss in each of the last three years.

    Alistair Burt

    No specific assessment has been made of the trends in the cost of treating sight loss and eye health problems.

    However, the table below shows expenditure for ‘problems of vision’ for primary care trusts (PCTs) for 2011-12 and 2012-13 and for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) for 2013-14.

    Expenditure on problems of vision, 2011-12 to 2013-14

    Commissioner

    Year

    Total £ billion

    PCTs

    2011-12

    2.26

    PCTs

    2012-13

    2.30

    CCGs

    2013/14

    1.61

    Note:

    1 This figure does not include services directly commissioned by NHS England, such as primary eye care services. NHS England is currently reviewing expenditure data on their directly commissioned services.

  • David Amess – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    David Amess – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-10-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of trends in the costs of treating sight loss and eye health problems.

    Alistair Burt

    No specific assessment has been made of the trends in the cost of treating sight loss and eye health problems.

    However, the table below shows expenditure for ‘problems of vision’ for primary care trusts (PCTs) for 2011-12 and 2012-13 and for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) for 2013-14.

    Expenditure on problems of vision, 2011-12 to 2013-14

    Commissioner

    Year

    Total £ billion

    PCTs

    2011-12

    2.26

    PCTs

    2012-13

    2.30

    CCGs

    2013/14

    1.61

    Note:

    1 This figure does not include services directly commissioned by NHS England, such as primary eye care services. NHS England is currently reviewing expenditure data on their directly commissioned services.

  • David Amess – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    David Amess – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-10-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the proportion of medical research spending which is spent on eye disease.

    Joseph Johnson

    The UK Clinical Health Research Analysis (2015) shows that, in 2014, the combined government spend on medical research into eye disease, development and function was £15.1m, or 1.2% of public funding on health research. The report is available at http://www.hrcsonline.net/pages/uk-health-research-analysis-2014 (page 95).

    The Research Councils account for approximately half of this expenditure and support research in response to proposals from the academic community. They welcome high quality applications for support into any aspect of human health which are judged in open competition with other demands on funding. Awards are made according to their scientific quality and importance to human health.

    “

  • Maggie Throup – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Maggie Throup – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maggie Throup on 2015-10-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will assess the (a) potential effect on the number of antibiotic and (b) potential change in annual prescription and dispensing costs prescriptions of using C-reactive protein testing for patients presenting with respiratory tract infections in primary care.

    George Freeman

    We have no plans to do so.

    The UK Government is committed to tackling antimicrobial resistance. The UK Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy, published in September 2013, proposed strong, cross-government action to manage this problem. The UK strategy recognises the central part diagnostics, like C-reactive protein tests, play in getting the right antibiotic drug to the right patient at the right time. A working group is actively looking at what can be done to improve diagnostic services.

  • David Amess – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    David Amess – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-10-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of people likely to have age-related macular degeneration in 2050.

    Alistair Burt

    The Department has made no estimate of the number of people likely to have age-related macular degeneration in 2050.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Sadiq Khan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2015-10-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, on how many occasions patients were granted weekend leave in each mental health hospital in London in each month since 1 January 2015.

    Alistair Burt

    The information is not available in the format requested. The information in the attached table shows episodes of leave starting on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday for each London mental health trust, between 1 January 2015 to July 2015.

    The attached table is provided by the Health and Social Care Information Centre.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Sadiq Khan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2015-10-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many admissions there were to psychiatric inpatient wards for psychosis in each year from 2010 to 2015.

    Alistair Burt

    Data for admissions to psychiatric inpatient wards for psychosis in England is provided in the following table:

    Count of finished admission episodes (FAEs) with a primary diagnosis of psychosis in England, 2010-11 to 2014-15

    Year

    FAEs

    2010-11

    12,852

    2011-12

    13,150

    2012-13

    14,221

    2013-14

    14,658

    2014-15

    14,856

    Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre

    Notes: Data for 2014/15 is provisional.

    Activity is in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector.