Tag: Flick Drummond

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Flick Drummond on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the serum folate levels in women of child-bearing age were in the latest results of the National Diet and Nutrition Survey; and how that figure compares to the World Health Organisation thresholds.

Jane Ellison

Results from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS), published in March 2015, show that the mean serum folate level in women of child bearing age (16-49 years) was 20nmol/l. Approximately 16.5% of women in this age group fell below the published World Health Organization threshold for biochemical folate deficiency however, as a result of methodological difficulties the threshold needs to be adjusted to be comparable with the laboratory method used to measure folate in NDNS. The adjusted threshold will be higher than the published threshold and so the percentage of women with serum folate levels below the adjusted threshold is expected to be higher than the published value. A note setting out these points was published on 17 February 2016, alongside the NDNS report.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Flick Drummond on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of trends in the number of women of child-bearing age taking folic acid supplements over the last five years.

Jane Ellison

Public Health England has not made an assessment of the impact of trends in folic acid supplement use in recent years. We continue to encourage women to take a folic acid supplement from before they are pregnant to the 12^th week of pregnancy, and include this in all appropriate public health messaging.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Flick Drummond on 2016-07-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure that access to a timely autism diagnosis is included in the next Clinical Commissioning Group Investment and Assessment Framework.

David Mowat

To support local areas in addressing long waits, NHS England, supported by the Department and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, initiated a series of visits to clinical commissioning groups and local authorities. These visits aimed to develop a better idea of the challenges in securing timely autism diagnosis across all ages, looking at the variability in diagnosis times and sharing good practice to help areas to improve their service. NHS England submitted a report on the visits to the 16 June meeting of the Cross Government Autism Programme Board, which includes representatives of autism third sector organisations and people who have autism. NHS England will have further discussions with relevant organisations over the summer about actions in their report, including on the Clinical Commissioning Group Improvement and Assessment Framework, before reporting back to the Autism Programme Board.

In parallel, as recommended by the independent Mental Health Taskforce, the Department is undertaking a five year plan for the development of mental health data to be published by the end of the year. The plan will set out future requirements and timings for developing data to inform pathways of care, which will include requirements for autism in the Health and Social Care Information Centre Mental Health Services Data Set. Data on referrals or appointments for an autism diagnostic assessment are not currently captured in published mental health data.