Asked by: Lord Colwyn (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to extending the Nursing Agencies' VAT concession to all healthcare workers in the UK.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
The Government has no plans to extend the Nursing Agencies VAT concession to all healthcare workers in the UK.
Asked by: Lord Colwyn (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they expect to announce the appointment of a new Chief Dental Officer.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
NHS England is currently engaged in the process to appoint a new Chief Dental Officer and will make an announcement in due course.
Asked by: Lord Colwyn (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will publish each NHS England local area team's commissioning guidelines and referral criteria for (1) orthognathic surgery, (2) dental implants for head and neck cancer patients, (3) dental implants for hypodontia patients, (4) orthodontic treatment within Special Care Dentistry, and (5) intravenous sedation within Special Care Dentistry.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
NHS England intends to publish national guidance covering Orthodontics, Special Care Dentistry, Oral Surgery/Oral Medicine, and Restorative dentistry. NHS England’s intention is that this guidance will be published in 2015 and will supersede all local guidance.
Asked by: Lord Colwyn (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, for each region of England in each of the last five years, what has been the cost to the National Health Service of dental implants for patients with (1) head and neck cancer, and (2) hypodontia.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The attached table provides a count of Finished Consultant Episodes (FCEs) by Strategic Health Authority from 2008-09 to 2012-13 for patients with a primary diagnosis of either head or neck cancer1 or anodontia2 with a main or secondary operative procedure of a dental implant.
Information on the cost to the National Health Service of dental implants for patients with head or neck cancer or hypodontia is not available in the format requested. The most relevant information is shown in the following table and is from reference costs, which are the average unit cost to NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts of providing defined services in a given financial year to NHS patients.
These costs include dental implants and other similar procedures, but do not distinguish between procedures on patients with diagnoses of head or neck cancer or hypodontia.
Table: Estimated costs of dental implants and other clinically similar procedures
| Unit cost per finished consultant episode £ |
Intermediate Mouth or Throat Procedures | 296 |
Major Dental Procedures | 649 |
1 It is unlikely that a dental implant would be carried out on the same episode as another treatment for cancer, so the count for head and neck cancer is likely to be a substantial undercount. This is because the implant is unlikely to occur until the cancer treatment was completed. If this is the case, the cancer code would not be recorded on the episode where the dental implant took place.
2 The diagnosis of anodontia includes but is not exclusive to those diagnosed with hypodontia.
Asked by: Lord Colwyn (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, for each region of England in each of the last five years, how many patients with (1) head and neck cancer, and (2) hypodontia, have received treatment with dental implants.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The attached table provides a count of Finished Consultant Episodes (FCEs) by Strategic Health Authority from 2008-09 to 2012-13 for patients with a primary diagnosis of either head or neck cancer1 or anodontia2 with a main or secondary operative procedure of a dental implant.
Information on the cost to the National Health Service of dental implants for patients with head or neck cancer or hypodontia is not available in the format requested. The most relevant information is shown in the following table and is from reference costs, which are the average unit cost to NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts of providing defined services in a given financial year to NHS patients.
These costs include dental implants and other similar procedures, but do not distinguish between procedures on patients with diagnoses of head or neck cancer or hypodontia.
Table: Estimated costs of dental implants and other clinically similar procedures
| Unit cost per finished consultant episode £ |
Intermediate Mouth or Throat Procedures | 296 |
Major Dental Procedures | 649 |
1 It is unlikely that a dental implant would be carried out on the same episode as another treatment for cancer, so the count for head and neck cancer is likely to be a substantial undercount. This is because the implant is unlikely to occur until the cancer treatment was completed. If this is the case, the cancer code would not be recorded on the episode where the dental implant took place.
2 The diagnosis of anodontia includes but is not exclusive to those diagnosed with hypodontia.
Asked by: Lord Colwyn (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, for each region of England in each of the last five years, what has been the cost to the National Health Service of orthognathic treatment.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
Due to a lack of specific procedural codes, it is not possible to identify the number of patients who have undergone orthognathic treatment or the cost of this treatment from the data held by the Health and Social Care information Centre or the Department.
Asked by: Lord Colwyn (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many patients have undergone orthognathic treatment in each region of England in each of the last five years.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
Due to a lack of specific procedural codes, it is not possible to identify the number of patients who have undergone orthognathic treatment or the cost of this treatment from the data held by the Health and Social Care information Centre or the Department.
Asked by: Lord Colwyn (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of emerging immuno-oncology treatments and their impact on patient survival and the design of National Health Service cancer services.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) provides advice to the National Health Service on the clinical and cost-effectiveness of drugs and treatments. We understand that at least one immuno-oncology treatment, sipuleucel-T for prostate cancer, is currently being appraised by NICE. Further information is available at:
www.nice.org.uk/guidance/indevelopment/GID-TAG346
Asked by: Lord Colwyn (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the relationship between the quality of survival experienced by National Health Service cancer patients and the rates of length of survival of such patients.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
We know that more people are living with and beyond cancer and we recognise that a number of those people will have a reduced quality of life as a consequence of their cancer or its treatment.
There are a number of pieces of work set up to address those problems. Macmillan Cancer Support published the first stage of its ‘Routes from Diagnosis’ work earlier this year, developed in conjunction with Public Health England and Monitor Deloitte. In addition, the national cancer patient experience survey and a programme of tumour specific patient reported outcome surveys are giving us valuable insight directly from people affected by cancer.
Based on the work of the National Cancer Survivorship Initiative, there is a current programme of work being delivered by NHS England in collaboration with Macmillan Cancer Support to embed a number of these priorities into mainstream commissioning. This is formally supported by reference to the Cancer Recovery Package in the recently published Five Year Forward View.
Asked by: Lord Colwyn (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the sub-committee of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation which is investigating extending the human papillomavirus immunisation programme is expected to publish its conclusions and recommendations.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) Human papilloma virus (HPV) sub-committee will report its findings to JCVI following consideration of ongoing studies by Public Health England on the impact and cost-effectiveness of extending HPV vaccination to men who have sex with men (MSM) and/or adolescent boys.
It is expected that the MSM modelling study will be completed at the end of 2014 at the earliest, and the adolescent boys modelling study will be completed at the end of 2015 at the earliest. The JCVI will then consider the findings of the HPV subcommittee before deciding what advice or recommendations can be made.