Blog

  • Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Cameron on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had to ensure that chronic pain management is adequately included in the education of healthcare professionals and medical students.

    Jane Ellison

    Health Education England is responsible for providing national leadership on education, training and workforce development in the National Health Service in England. The professional regulators, such as the General Medical Council, set the standards and outcomes for education and training and approve training curricula. Higher Education Institutions are responsible for ensuring the programmes they provide allow students to meet these standards and outcomes. Royal colleges, such as the Royal College of General Practitioners also have responsibility for developing curricula for doctors and nurses, in particular postgraduate curricula. This process ensures that healthcare professionals have the knowledge, skills and attitudes to provide high quality patient care, including in pain management, which is a required competency of all healthcare professionals.

    Many patients with chronic pain can be successfully supported and managed through routine primary and secondary care pain management services. It is important that patients with the most serious pain management issues are able to access specialist care. A patient whose pain is particularly difficult to manage may be referred to a specialised pain management service. Under the care of an expert multidisciplinary team, patients may be offered specialised pain management programmes specifically and more complex drug treatments.

    To support clinicians in the management of pain, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published several clinical guidelines on the treatment and management of different types of pain, such as migraine and back pain, as well as technical guidance on specific treatments, such as the use of opiates in palliative care and deep brain stimulation for chronic pain.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of food labelling on reducing the (a) calorie intake and (b) weight of people.

    Jane Ellison

    Feedback from consumers consistently indicates that clear food labelling helps people to make healthier choices. For example, the United Kingdom voluntary front of pack nutrition labelling scheme, recommended by UK Health Ministers in June 2013, incorporates percentage Reference Intakes information, together with the levels of energy kcal/kJ and four colour-coded nutrients: fat, saturates, sugars and salt. This helps consumers judge how much energy and nutrients a portion of the labelled food will contribute to their overall diet, and also enable them to compare products.

    The scheme is based on extensive consumer research and is the result of a full written public consultation, followed by collaboration with the food industry and groups representing consumers and public health interests to develop it.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people have been diagnosed with tinnitus in each of the last five years.

    Jane Ellison

    This information is not collected. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence estimates that around six million people in the United Kingdom have some form of tinnitus with about 600,000 experiencing it to an extent that it affects their quality of life.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people have been diagnosed with meningitis in each of the last five years.

    Jane Ellison

    Public Health England (PHE) collects data on laboratory confirmed cases of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) which is a major cause of bacterial meningitis in England. The data do not distinguish between IMD presentation as meningitis or septicaemia. National data on the number of cases of IMD in England are published by PHE based on the number of laboratory confirmed cases.

    Table 1: Number of laboratory confirmed cases of IMD in England by epidemiological year: 2010/11 to 2014/15.

    2010/11

    2011/12

    2012/13

    2013/14

    2014/15

    Cases of IMD

    1,009

    730

    769

    636

    724


    Source:     PHE Health Protection Report, 2015

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many (a) heart, (b) lungs, (c) liver, (d) kidney and (e) cornea transplant donations there have been in each of the last five years.

    Jane Ellison

    The information requested is in the following tables.

    Data extracted from the UK Transplant Registry as at January 2016 on all United Kingdom deceased organ donors in each of the last five financial years.

    2010/11

    2011/12

    2012/13

    2013/14

    2014/15

    Total

    Number of deceased organ donors

    1,010

    1,088

    1,212

    1,320

    1,282

    5,912

    Number of organs donated:

    Hearts

    126

    136

    144

    204

    175

    785

    Lungs

    362

    366

    413

    450

    391

    1,982

    Livers

    712

    783

    825

    932

    924

    4,176

    Kidneys

    1,889

    2,032

    2,265

    2,469

    2,387

    11,042

    Corneas

    340

    359

    378

    461

    401

    1,939

    Source: NHS Blood and Transplant

    Data extracted from the UK Transplant Registry as at January 2016 on all UK living organ donors in each of the last five financial years*.

    Living Donors

    2010/11

    2011/12

    2012/13

    2013/14

    2014/15

    Total

    Kidney

    1,021

    1,006

    1,067

    1,114

    1,049

    5,257

    Liver

    21

    38

    31

    28

    38

    156

    Source: NHS Blood and Transplant

    *Not including those transplants where the recipient receives an organ (s) from a donor, but is able to donate one of their organs to another.

  • Kevin Hollinrake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Kevin Hollinrake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Hollinrake on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2016 to Question 20185, on what date his Department plans to publish the consultation and make an announcement on payment schemes for people affected by contaminated blood products.

    Jane Ellison

    The consultation on payment schemes for people given infected blood products was launched on 21 January 2016, on the same day I made an oral statement to the House, Official Report, columns 1583-85. The consultation is available at gov.uk.

  • Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he plans to publish the report on the Mutuals in Health Pathfinder Programme.

    Ben Gummer

    In accordance with the Terms of Reference agreed at the start of the programme when he was Minister, the expert panel submitted the findings and recommendations of the Mutuals in Health Pathfinder Programme to the Government through an internal report.

    This is currently being considered by the Government.

  • Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Cameron on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to improve the care of, and better respond to, NHS patients with chronic pain.

    Jane Ellison

    Health Education England is responsible for providing national leadership on education, training and workforce development in the National Health Service in England. The professional regulators, such as the General Medical Council, set the standards and outcomes for education and training and approve training curricula. Higher Education Institutions are responsible for ensuring the programmes they provide allow students to meet these standards and outcomes. Royal colleges, such as the Royal College of General Practitioners also have responsibility for developing curricula for doctors and nurses, in particular postgraduate curricula. This process ensures that healthcare professionals have the knowledge, skills and attitudes to provide high quality patient care, including in pain management, which is a required competency of all healthcare professionals.

    Many patients with chronic pain can be successfully supported and managed through routine primary and secondary care pain management services. It is important that patients with the most serious pain management issues are able to access specialist care. A patient whose pain is particularly difficult to manage may be referred to a specialised pain management service. Under the care of an expert multidisciplinary team, patients may be offered specialised pain management programmes specifically and more complex drug treatments.

    To support clinicians in the management of pain, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published several clinical guidelines on the treatment and management of different types of pain, such as migraine and back pain, as well as technical guidance on specific treatments, such as the use of opiates in palliative care and deep brain stimulation for chronic pain.

  • Gerald Kaufman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Gerald Kaufman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gerald Kaufman on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he intends to answer the letter to him dated 19 November 2015 with regard to Mr R Short.

    Alistair Burt

    I responded to the hon. Member’s letter of 19 November 2015 on 21 January 2016.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will undertake an inquiry into the value for money of the PFI deal which funded the building of Calderdale Royal Hospital.

    Alistair Burt

    We have no plans to undertake such an inquiry. This Government launched an initiative in 2011 to extract savings and optimise value for money in operational private finance initiative (PFI) contracts. This included a pilot exercise at a major NHS PFI scheme which resulted in guidance with appropriate methodology and lessons learned being issued to all relevant NHS trusts in 2012. The Department has specialist officials to assist trusts in implementing the guidance.