Tag: David Amess

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-06-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he has made an assessment of how the uptake rate for cervical screening in England compares to that in the rest of Europe.

Jane Ellison

NHS England closely monitors the coverage rates for cervical screening in all age groups. NHS England is committed to improving coverage and reducing variation between all age groups.

Local NHS England commissioners analyse coverage rates within their area and work with general practices to improve coverage by sharing best practice. In addition a primary care cancer screening best practice guide has been developed jointly with the transforming cancer services team, clinical commissioning groups and local authority public health representatives.

NHS England is working in partnership with Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Cancer Support on the ACE (Accelerate, Coordinate, Evaluate) Programme aiming to generate knowledge about effective approaches to achieve earlier diagnosis. A number of ACE test sites are evaluating approaches to increase screening rates in a range of groups.

A range of research studies are also underway, such as Imperial College conducting a randomised controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of texting non-responders on improving coverage. In addition, the Department’s Behavioural Insight team has undertaken a trial to investigate the use of behavioural insights to optimise the content of the invitation letter for cervical screening. Results are due shortly.

The Independent Cancer Taskforce recognised the importance of screening for cervical cancer and the potential of the new human papillomavirus (HPV) test in their report, Achieving World-Class Cancer Outcomes, published in July 2015. NHS England has appointed Cally Palmer as National Cancer Director to lead the implementation of the strategy, and an implementation plan outlining the key first steps for the national cancer programme was published on 12 May. In addition, the routine HPV vaccination programme, offering immunisation to girls aged 12-14 years, is expected to reduce the already low rates of cervical cancer in these young women and allow them to be protected for years to come.

Ministers welcome cervical cancer prevention week and we are fully supportive of the work Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust does to raise awareness of cervical cancer and the importance of cervical screening for eligible women.

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report, Health at a Glance 2015: How does the United Kingdom compare?, the UK has cervical screening rates well above the OECD average. Further information is available at:

https://www.oecd.org/unitedkingdom/Health-at-a-Glance-2015-Key-Findings-UK.pdf

http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/download/8115071ec053.pdf?expires=1465810879&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=102E30B1A256588EDD14918B5BE3AA4C

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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 on treating age-related macular degeneration in each of the last three years.

Alistair Burt

From the data collected it is not possible to identify how much was spent specifically on treating patients with age-related macular degeneration.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-11-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what conclusions he wants the Vienna talks on the Syria crisis to reach.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We hope that the 30 October Vienna meeting is the start of an international process, alongside talks between the Syrian parties, which will lead to transition away from Assad in line with the Geneva communiqué of 2012.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-12-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much money will be devolved to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to coincide with the transfer of obesity surgery commissioning responsibilities from NHS England to CCGs in April 2016; and what NHS England spent on such services in (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2015-16.

George Freeman

Any transfer of budget from NHS England to devolved areas will be on the basis of existing contractual activity.

For England, the expenditure against morbid obesity for adults totalled £50.36 million in 2014/15.

NHS England is not able to provide a figure for devolvement on 1 April 2016 as the basis for calculating the figures is still being discussed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-01-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that teachers are paid a fair wage and receive appropriate training and support in countries hosting Syrian refugees in the vicinity of that country.

Mr Desmond Swayne

At the Conference on Supporting Syria and the Region being held in London on 4^th February, we want the international community to agree a new goal that all Syrian refugee children and affected host country children are in education – formal school or non-formal – by the end of 2016/17. Equally, for inside Syria, it is our aim to increase access to good quality schooling or other learning opportunities such as self-learning and non-formal education. In neighbouring countries we will also increase access to vocational or skills training and higher education for children and youth.

At the Conference our ambition is that international donors, governments from countries in the region hosting refugees, non-governmental organisations and the private sector come together to agree a set of reciprocal financial and policy commitments. The UK and co-hosts are working with donors and other partners to secure increased funding for education under the UN-led appeals for 2016 and longer term, multi-year education funding commitments to ensure sustainability. We are also working with refugee hosting governments in particular to agree the policy commitments necessary to turn increased funding into delivery on the ground.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what representations he has received on the effect of changes in the timetable of C2C services.

Claire Perry

In addition to the representations made by my Honourable Friend, the Department has received 30 representations on the effect of changes in the timetable of C2C services.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-03-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the findings of the Annual Report of the National Clinical Audit for Rheumatoid and Early Inflammatory Arthritis, published on 22 January 2016, on timely access to patient education, what steps he is taking to provide patients with rheumatoid and early inflammatory arthritis self-education and self-management tools.

Jane Ellison

National Clinical Audits are commissioned and managed on behalf of NHS England by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP). Audits help drive improvement by providing local trusts with individual benchmarked reports on their performance against a range of measures, feeding back comparative findings to help participants identify necessary improvements for patients

The first annual report of the national clinical audit of rheumatoid and early inflammatory arthritis was published on 22 January 2016. The report identifies that although most services offer prompt educational support and agree targets for treatment with their patients, performance against criteria for referral and assessment could be improved. Since the audit, HQIP has reported that a number of trusts have successfully reconfigured their services in order to improve patient care. More information can be found at the following link:

www.hqip.org.uk/national-programmes/a-z-of-nca/arthritis-rheumatoid-and-early-inflammatory

To help clinicians to identify the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and make prompt referrals to specialists, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published Rheumatoid arthritis: The management of rheumatoid arthritis in adults, in 2009. This best practice guideline sets out the signs and symptoms of the disease and emphasises the need for early diagnosis with urgent referral to a specialist rheumatologist on suspicion of RA. For those diagnosed with the condition, the guidance also recommends they should be offered the opportunity to take part in educational activities, including self-management programmes.

The NICE RA quality standard (QS), published in 2013, is based on the NICE guideline, and one of the seven quality statements recommends that people with suspected RA are assessed in a rheumatology service within three weeks of referral. However, whilst providers and commissioners must have regard to these standards in planning and delivering services, they do not provide a comprehensive service specification and are not mandatory.

Regarding the establishment of early arthritis clinics, the configuration of services, including decisions to such arthritis clinics, is a matter for the local National Health Service.

The latest monthly workforce statistics published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre showed that, as of November 2015, there were 563 full time equivalent rheumatology consultants employed in the NHS. This is an increase of 119 (26.8%) since May 2010. The recruitment and retention of staff is matter for local NHS services.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-07-06.

To ask the Prime Minister, if the Government will bring forward legislative proposals to give Parliament a veto on proposed future military action.

Mr David Cameron

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Filton and Bradley Stoke (Mr Lopresti) during my Oral Statement on the Report of the Iraq Inquiry on 6 July 2016, Official Report, column 904.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what arrangements are in place for assessing a patient’s eye health on discharge from hospital.

Alistair Burt

Prior to hospital discharge every patient will have a discharge assessment which will look at their ongoing healthcare needs and in light of that an individual care plan will be established.

These plans are formed in line with each individual hospital’s discharge policy, which will vary.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2015 to Question 13645, (a) how and (b) by whom each head teacher was selected to work with her Department on improving the provision of PSHE in schools; and if she will make a statement.

Edward Timpson

The Department for Education regularly speaks to a wide range of head teachers, academy chief executives, teachers and subject associations. We invited a group of headteachers and PSHE practitioners to work with us on improving the quality of PSHE.

These individuals were selected because of the high quality provision in their schools. The list of contributors will be known when the report is published.