Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the merits of integrating nutrition and hydration into clinical pathways for patients.
Answered by Steve Brine
NHS England published guidance on ‘Commissioning excellent nutrition and hydration’ in October 2015. This can be found at:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/nut-hyd/
NHS England has no plans to issue any further guidance at this time.
The implementation of this guidance is a matter for the local National Health Service. NHS England has advised that no broader assessment has been made of the merits of integrating nutrition and hydration into clinical pathways for patients or the potential savings to the public purse from the integration of nutrition and hydration into clinical pathways.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that clinical commissioning groups provide access to medical nutrition for all patients in their area for whom it is recommended by clinical guidelines.
Answered by Steve Brine
NHS England published guidance on ‘Commissioning excellent nutrition and hydration’ in October 2015. This can be found at:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/nut-hyd/
NHS England has no plans to issue any further guidance at this time.
The implementation of this guidance is a matter for the local National Health Service. NHS England has advised that no broader assessment has been made of the merits of integrating nutrition and hydration into clinical pathways for patients or the potential savings to the public purse from the integration of nutrition and hydration into clinical pathways.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of wearable health monitoring devices to preventative health care.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
NHS England is working with the National Institute for Health Research, Public Health England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence amongst others to develop plans to generate evidence about the benefits of digital health apps, which will include wearables.
NHS England and partner organisations have established assessment criteria to look at the quality, safety and effectiveness of digital health and care apps.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help local councils improve support for carers in (a) Brigg and Goole constituency and (b) rural communities.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government is committed to continuing to support carers to provide care as they would wish, and to do so in a way that supports their own health and wellbeing, employment and other life chances.
The Government is committed to supporting carers, and doing so in a way that supports them to maintain their own health and wellbeing and other life chances. The Care Act 2014 introduced important new rights for carers putting them on the same footing as the people they care for. This includes legal rights to an assessment of, and support for, their needs where eligible.
Carers are vital partners in our health and care system and that is why carers will be a fundamental part of our upcoming Green Paper on care and support for older people. Ahead of the Green Paper’s publication, the Department will also shortly be publishing an Action Plan on carers, setting out a cross-Government programme of targeted work to support carers over the next two years.
The Government is also committed to supporting local areas to better plan and prioritise public services for the benefit of their local populations, including those living in rural communities.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to implement a blockchain enabled patient record system, similar to standard practice in Estonia.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Department does not currently plan to implement Blockchain enabled-patient records. The Department is currently assessing the potential benefits of Blockchain along with a number of other innovative, emerging technologies.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to increase the awareness of the dangers of obesity to children and young people.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Government’s Childhood Obesity Plan launched in August 2016 will help children and families to recognise and make healthier choices and be more active. Key measures in the plan include the soft drinks industry levy, the sugar reduction and wider reformulation programme and helping children to enjoy an hour of physical activity every day.
Public Health England's social marketing campaign, Change4Life aims to help families and children in England to eat well and move more. The campaign has enjoyed considerable success and high levels of engagement. Since its launch in 2009 more than four million people have signed up to Change4Life and it now has more than 200 national partners. Change4Life materials, digital apps and resources incentivise and encourage behaviour change through providing simple ideas, tips and swaps. Through this campaign the Government, the National Health Service, local authorities, businesses, charities, schools, families and community leaders can all play a part in improving children’s diets and activity levels.
The Healthy Child Programme is the key universal public health service, delivered by health visitors, for improving the health and wellbeing of children. Its goals are to identify and treat problems early, help parents to care well for their children, change health behaviours and protect against preventable diseases. The programme is evidence-based and aims to prevent problems in child health and development and contribute to a reduction in health inequalities.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department has taken to reduce HIV infection rates.
Answered by Steve Brine
England is on course to achieving the UNAIDS 90-90-90 targets; 90% of people living with HIV infection are diagnosed, 90% of people diagnosed are receiving treatment, and 90% of people receiving treatment are virally. England is also one of the first countries to see a substantial decline in new HIV diagnoses among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men as well as a longer term decline in new HIV diagnoses among black African heterosexual men and women.
These declines reflect considerable increases in HIV testing, earlier initiation of treatment following HIV diagnosis, high levels of condom use and increasing availability of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).
Activities commissioned to reduce transmission of HIV infection include: national HIV prevention campaigns for populations most at-risk of HIV; NHS England and Public Health England (PHE) have launched the world’s largest PrEP implementation trial; the PHE HIV Prevention Innovation Fund supports voluntary sector organisations offering innovative ways of addressing high risk behaviours; national HIV self-sampling service where individuals order kits on-line and return self-taken specimens by post for laboratory testing.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to increase routes into nursing.
Answered by Steve Barclay
Broadening routes into nursing is a priority for the Department. That is why we have developed the new Nursing Associate role and the Nurse Degree Apprenticeship which will open up routes into the registered nursing profession for thousands of people from all backgrounds and allow employers to grow their own workforce.
In 2017, 2,000 trainee Nursing Associates began training on a Health Education England pilot programme across 35 test sites in England. Applications to the pilots proved to be extremely popular with over 8,000 healthcare support workers applying for a place.
Following success of the first year of Nursing Associate pilot programmes, my Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care announced in October 2017 plans to train 5,000 Nursing Associates through the apprentice route in 2018 and a further 7,500 in 2019.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to ensure people with Huntington's disease have appropriate access to emerging treatment methods.
Answered by Steve Brine
Patients with Huntington's disease have access to a range of services including the services of their general practitioner, associated health professionals neurology services, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, local mental health services for sufferers and their families, palliative care where appropriate and online resources, including factsheets.
A new drug for treatment of Huntington’s disease was recently trialed in humans for the first time, in groundbreaking research supported by the Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). Early results suggest that the new drug, known as IONIS-HTTRx, can successfully silence the faulty gene, lowering levels of the harmful huntingtin protein in the nervous system and slowing progression of the illness. The study was supported by the NIHR University College London Hospitals (UCLH) Biomedical Research Centre, the NIHR UCLH Clinical Research Facility and the NIHR Clinical Research Network. The research team now intends to move quickly to a larger trial to further confirm their findings.
The Accelerated Access Review (AAR) was launched to make recommendations to the Government on speeding up access for National Health Service patients to innovative and cost-effective new medicines, diagnostics, medical technologies and digital products. On 3 November 2017, the Government published its response to the AAR. The response sets out how the Government will work with industry and healthcare organisations to implement the recommendations made by the review. The response is available online at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/accelerated-access-review-response
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department has taken to extend beyond 2018 the NHS England guidance on commissioning excellent nutrition and hydration; and if he will ensure that nutrition is prioritised for patients who need it to help manage long-term conditions and comorbidity.
Answered by Steve Brine
The NHS England guidance ‘Commissioning Excellent Nutrition and Hydration (2015-2018)’ supports commissioners to develop strategies and address issues related to improvements in delivery and commissioning of nutrition and hydration needs in acute services and the community. The guidance has been developed in conjunction with key partners including the British Dietetic Association and the British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition. NHS England has no plans to issue any further guidance at this time. Commissioners will be expected to continue to give due regard to the existing guidance, which remains relevant.