The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what rules govern the movement of senior NHS staff to private sector organisations.
Ben Gummer
There are no central rules governing the movement of senior National Health Service staff into the private sector although local contracts may include restrictions aimed at preventing staff exploiting their knowledge of the NHS for commercial advantage.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he plans to reply to the letter to his Department from the hon. Member for Ashfield of 4 January 2016 on the GP surgery in Underwood.
Alistair Burt
I replied to the hon. Member on 28 January.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Jones on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with (a) East Lancashire and (b) Blackburn and Darwen clinical commissioning groups on the cost of outsourced mental health services.
Alistair Burt
No Ministers in the Department have held such discussions with East Lancashire and Blackburn and Darwen Clinical Commissioning Groups.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many Health and Wellbeing boards have identified in their strategic plans loneliness as an issue needing to be tackled.
Alistair Burt
Health and wellbeing boards are responsible for preparing joint strategic needs assessments (JSNAs) which should assess the health and care needs of the entire local population. As such, the JSNA offers a valuable opportunity for localities to review how current local services address loneliness.
The Government has not highlighted or prioritised any specific groups or area of need over another as this would risk undermining the purpose of JSNAs as being objective, comprehensive and most importantly locally-owned assessments.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will ensure continued Government funding for the Neurology Intelligence Network through NHS England and Public Health England.
Jane Ellison
Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS England’s Medical Director, has undertaken a review of the National Clinical Director (NCD) resource designed to focus clinical advisory resources on areas where major programmes of work are currently being taking forward, or areas identified as priorities for improvement. As a result NHS England has proposed to change the way in which clinical advice is received in speciality areas in the future.
Where there will no longer be a specific NCD role, NHS England will secure expert clinical advice from its clinical networks, through its relationships with professional bodies and by appointing clinical advisors. For neurology, it is planned that advice will be provided through a range of sources such as: clinical leads and members of the NHS England-funded neurology clinical networks; the Neurology Clinical Reference Group; and the Royal Colleges. It is expected that these new arrangements will be in place from 1 April 2016.
The Neurology Intelligence Network (NIN) is a joint partnership programme between Public Health England (PHE) and NHS England to support the generation and dissemination of neurology-related health intelligence. The NIN, which is currently funded by PHE, faces no change to its current resource for the next financial year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of adults in (a) Calder Valley, (b) West Yorkshire and (c) England have been diagnosed with dementia in each of the last 10 years.
Jane Ellison
Information is not available in the format requested.
The number of people recorded on the practice dementia disease register is available in the Quality and Outcomes Framework, published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre, from 2006/07, when dementia indicators were introduced into the framework. The proportion of patients diagnosed is not available but the numbers of people on the dementia register are available. This is a measure of prevalence rather than incidence.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had with (a) NICE and (b) NHS England on the availability of Erbitux for metastatic colorectal cancer patients.
George Freeman
The Department has regular discussions with both NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) on a wide range of issues including the availability of cancer drugs.
NICE is currently updating its technology appraisal guidance on the use of Erbitux (cetuximab) for colorectal cancer along with guidance on another drug Vectibix (panitumumab) (TA240) for previously untreated metastatic colorectal cancer. The anticipated publication date for NICE’s final updated guidance is April 2016.
NHS England is responsible for the operational management of the Cancer Drugs Fund. Erbitux is available in England through the Fund for the first line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer subject to certain criteria including those indications not approved under TA176.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people with epilepsy have been offered a personalised care plan since 2013 in accordance with the Department of Health’s mandate to NHS England; and what steps he is taking to increase the number of such people.
Jane Ellison
This information is not available in the format requested. The GP Patient Survey measures the number of patients with a long term condition (LTC) who say they have care and support plans.
NHS England advises that information from the patient survey for 2013/14 shows that of the 9,540 people with epilepsy that responded, 15% (1,463) reported they had a care plan, whilst 79% said no and 6% did not know. This survey does not record the number of people who were offered a care plan but did not feel they needed or wanted one.
As set out in our Mandate to NHS England, all patients with a LTC should be offered a personalised care plan.
To deliver this, NHS England is implementing the House of Care model for care planning, which takes into account the expertise and resources of the people with LTCs and their communities to provide a holistic approach to their lives and help them achieve the best outcomes possible.
NHS England has developed tools and guidance on personalised care planning and provided examples of delivery for the local National Health Service. They have also provided a LTC dashboard providing a wealth of data about LTCs in each local area, helping clinical commissioning groups to plan services for local people.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how the Accelerated Access Review will ensure that people with epilepsy will have access to drugs found by whole genome sequencing to be effective in treating the cause of their individual epilepsy.
George Freeman
The Accelerated Access Review, chaired by Sir Hugh Taylor, will make recommendations to government on reforms to accelerate access for National Health Service patients to innovative medicines and medical technologies making our country the best place in the world to design, develop and deploy these products. The terms of the reference for the review focus on faster access to innovations, which may include drugs identified through whole genome sequencing as effective for the treatment of epilepsies affecting individual patients.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had with NHS England on its decision not to renew the position of National Clinical Director for Adult Neurology from March 2016.
Jane Ellison
Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS England’s Medical Director, has undertaken a review of the National Clinical Director (NCD) resource designed to focus clinical advisory resources on areas where major programmes of work are currently being taking forward, or areas identified as priorities for improvement. As a result NHS England has proposed to change the way in which clinical advice is received in speciality areas in the future.
Where there will no longer be a specific NCD role, NHS England will secure expert clinical advice from its clinical networks, through its relationships with professional bodies and by appointing clinical advisors. For neurology, it is planned that advice will be provided through a range of sources such as: clinical leads and members of the NHS England-funded neurology clinical networks; the Neurology Clinical Reference Group; and the Royal Colleges. It is expected that these new arrangements will be in place from 1 April 2016.
The Neurology Intelligence Network (NIN) is a joint partnership programme between Public Health England (PHE) and NHS England to support the generation and dissemination of neurology-related health intelligence. The NIN, which is currently funded by PHE, faces no change to its current resource for the next financial year.