The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2014-04-30.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of potential geographical variations in the handling of individual funding requests for the prescription of Duodopa to patients with Parkinson’s disease.
Norman Lamb
We have made no such assessments.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of take-home naloxone in reducing the number of opiate-related deaths across the UK in conjunction with the training and educational programmes within the prison services.
Jane Ellison
From July 2009 to February 2010, the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (now part of Public Health England (PHE)) ran a trial at 16 pilot sites around England in which carers and relations of opiate misusers were trained to respond to overdoses and use the antidote naloxone and basic life support techniques.
A report[1] on the trial was published in 2011, and it was clear that naloxone appeared to help save lives. The report said that there were 18 overdoses where carers used naloxone and two where they applied basic life support. All the drug users survived the overdose. The trial included people who were about to leave prisons, and the report covers some of the issues around this.
There is currently a trial running on the effectiveness of giving prisoners naloxone when they leave prison, which has yet to report.
Some prisons currently supply prisons with take-home naloxone as part of their post-release support. PHE does not hold the data centrally.
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs has recommended that naloxone be made more widely available, and the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency has undertaken a consultation with the field on implementing this recommendation. There will be no further policy announcements on naloxone until the report on this consultation is published.
[1] Full report available at http://www.nta.nhs.uk/uploads/naloxonereport2011.pdf
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2014-04-30.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of time spent by clinicians on producing and administering individual funding requests for the prescription of Duodopa to patients with Parkinson’s disease.
Norman Lamb
We have made no such assessments.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the incidence of opiate-related overdoses among people recently released from prison.
Jane Ellison
People who have recently been released from prison are at a greater risk of overdose. A 2005 report on drug-related mortality among newly released offenders (1998-2000) showed that male prisoners in the study were about 29 times more likely to die than males in the general population.
The Department of Health and Ministry of Justice have funded a joint initiative to improve the “through the gate” provision for prisoners who are dependent on drugs and alcohol. Ten prisons in the North West are currently piloting a range of innovative interventions to provide more intensive support and supervision for people leaving custody which include the use of peer mentors, recovery housing services and take-home naloxone as they return to the community.
Public Health England has also published a checklist to support local authorities with commissioning services and interventions that help to prevent overdose, as part of a wider treatment and harm reduction system.
The Integrated Drug Treatment System (IDTS) programme, implemented in prisons between 2006 and 2010, sought to improve the standard and quality of drug treatment in prisons. One of the key drivers for this programme was the need to reduce drug-related deaths among people who had been recently released from prison.
Through IDTS, prisoners could get access to evidence-based opioid substitution treatment in prison, which they could continue in the community after release. The extent in which this was successful in reducing drug-related overdose deaths will be one of the themes in the IDTS evaluation, which will be published next year.
The principles of IDTS continue to be adopted by local partners responsible for commissioning health services.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2014-05-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the proportion of deaths from (a) liver disease and (b) viral hepatitis which were preventable in the last year for which figures are available.
Jane Ellison
Liver disease registered as the underlying cause of death, accounts for 2% of all deaths in England and 3% if all mentions are counted. Viral liver disease is registered for less than 0.1% of all deaths.
The main liver viral hepatitides are; A, B, C, D, E. Occasionally, other viruses cause hepatitis. Most people with hepatitis clear the virus after an acute infection. Death from acute viral hepatitis is very rare, a very small number of patients will be referred for liver transplantation. A proportion of deaths from chronic hepatitis B maybe preventable by vaccination and treatment. A proportion of deaths from chronic hepatitis C may be preventable by antiviral therapies. A significant proportion of hepatitis B and C is acquired outside the United Kingdom and therefore it is important to identify people carrying the viruses and offer treatment and vaccination to the close contacts of people with chronic hepatitis as appropriate.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2014-05-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he discussed liver disease with his Department’s Chief Medical Officer in the last 12 months; what the content of those discussions was; and if he will make a statement.
Jane Ellison
A wide variety of issues, including liver disease, are discussed at regular meetings between the Chief Medical Officer and my Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State. As these meetings are not routinely minuted it is not possible to specify at which meetings liver disease was discussed, or the specific contents of individual meetings. There have been no meetings specifically focused on liver disease between the Chief Medical Officer and the Secretary of State within the last 12 months.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2014-05-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how his Department will take into account NHS England’s responsibility for commitments in the UK Strategy for Rare Diseases in its delivery of the strategy as a whole.
Jane Ellison
NHS England recently published its statement of intent showing how it will play its part in delivering the UK Strategy for Rare Diseases in England. A more detailed plan will be built into NHS England’s five year strategy for specialised services.
The UK Rare Disease Forum, supported by the Department, will monitor activity against the 51 commitments outlined in the UK Strategy for Rare Diseases. It will report progress to the health ministers of the four UK countries.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2014-05-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when NHS England plans to publish its report on specialised service derogations; and what additional steps it is taking to ensure compliance.
Jane Ellison
NHS England advises that the publication date has yet to be determined. However, the report will not be published until after the pre-election period for the forthcoming local authority and European Parliamentary elections is completed on 22 May 2014.
NHS England continues to work with their Area Teams on ensuring that all providers have robust plans for delivering services that meet the service specification.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2014-05-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when his Department has held meetings with external organisations to discuss a strategy for combating liver disease since 11 May 2010; if he will place minutes of those meetings in the Library; and if he will make a statement.
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.
My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health has not met any external organisations to discuss a strategy for combating liver disease since 11 May 2010. The Secretary of State and current Ministers at the Department have not met with representatives of people living with liver disease since September 2012.
NHS England and Public Health England are supporting clinical commissioning groups and local authorities to reduce premature mortality by providing commissioners with a suite of tools to help them maximise the best possible outcomes for their local communities such as Local Authority Profiles. These can help local authorities and clinical commissioning groups identify the significance of liver disease in their local area compared with the rest of the country and the actions they could prioritise to tackle it.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2014-05-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many finished consultant episodes relating to liver disease there have been for patients aged (a) under and (b) over 18 years old in (i) England and (ii) each parliamentary constituency in England in each year since 1997-98.
Jane Ellison
The information is not collected centrally in the format requested. A count of finished consultant episodes with a primary diagnosis of liver disease for patients aged 0-17 and over 18 years old, by primary care trust of residence and England in total for the years 1997-98 to 2012-13 has been placed in the Library.