Asked by: Annette Brooke (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2015 to Question 222670, on what grounds the removal of cancer drugs from the national Cancer Drugs Fund list can be appealed; and by when such appeals must be made.
Answered by George Freeman
NHS England has advised that any request for a formal review of a decision made by the national Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) panel to remove a drug from the national CDF list can be made in line with NHS England’s Standard Operating Procedures for the Fund. Any request for a review of a panel decision must be made by the clinician or pharmaceutical industry representative that made the original application for inclusion on the list.
Requests must be lodged within 20 working days of the original decision being notified.
Asked by: Annette Brooke (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2015 to Question 222671, what recommended alternatives to (a) eribulin, (b) lapatinib and (c) everolimus are available to treat breast cancer; and what clinical benefits each alternative offers in terms of (i) progression free survival, (ii) overall survival, (iii) quality of life and (iv) toxicity.
Answered by George Freeman
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended a number of drugs for the treatment of advanced and metastatic breast cancer through its technology appraisals and a clinical guideline. These include:
- anthracyclines
- docetaxel
- vinorelbine
- capecitabine
- gemcitabine in combination with paclitaxel
- tamoxifen
- trastuzumab
Further information on each of these, together with the evidence base for NICE’s recommendations, can be found in NICE’s updated clinical guideline on advanced breast cancer (CG81) at:
Asked by: Annette Brooke (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether further discussions are planned between NHS England and the pharmaceutical industry before drugs are removed from the Cancer Drugs Fund list on 12 March 2015.
Answered by George Freeman
NHS England has advised that A Cancer Drugs Fund Working Party has been established to review the future sustainability of the Fund and funding cancer drugs in general. The pharmaceutical industry is represented on this group.
The removal of cancer drugs from the national Cancer Drugs Fund list is subject to a written review/complaint procedure and NHS England anticipates that a number of applications will be made under those processes.
Asked by: Annette Brooke (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of breast cancer patients who will be affected by the removal of (a) eribulin, (b) lapatinib, and (c) everolimus from the Cancer Drugs Fund list on 12 March 2015.
Answered by George Freeman
NHS England has advised that all patients currently being treated with eribulin, lapatinib or everolimus through the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) will continue with their treatment. Furthermore, clinicians will continue to be able to apply for individual patients to receive these drugs on an exceptional basis.
Based on current applications received for these drugs, NHS England estimates that, on an annual basis, 1,730 patients treated with these drugs will be affected.
NHS England has also advised that there are alternatives available for all these drugs within either baseline commissioning or the CDF. The purpose of NHS England’s recent review is to ensure that the very latest drugs are available to patients. The CDF has already helped over 60,000 patients.
Asked by: Annette Brooke (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what representations he has received on the provision of psychiatric inpatient beds for people with learning disabilities in Dorset.
Answered by Norman Lamb
A search of the Department’s Ministerial correspondence database has not identified any items of correspondence received since 1 June 2014 about the provision of psychiatric inpatient beds for people with learning disabilities in Dorset.
This figure represents correspondence received by the Department’s Ministerial correspondence unit only.
Asked by: Annette Brooke (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that care home residents can obtain information and advice before they agree to pay a top-up fee for care home accommodation, in accordance with choice of accommodation regulations under the Care Act 2014; and what guidance he is giving to local authorities on their role in providing such information and advice.
Answered by Norman Lamb
The Care and Support Statutory Guidance to local authorities was issued in October. Annex A of the Guidance sets out what local authorities are expected to do under the Care Act 2014 regarding choice of accommodation, including top-up payments. Specific guidance on information and advice about this is contained in paragraphs 51 and 52 of the Guidance.
Under section 4 of the Care Act 2014 a local authority must establish and maintain a service for providing people in its area with information and advice in relation to care and support. Local authorities should facilitate access to financial information and advice provided independently of the local authority to support people in making informed financial decisions.
Where a ‘top-up’ arrangement is being considered a local authority must provide the person who plans to make the payment with sufficient information and advice to help them understand their responsibilities, liabilities and the consequences if the arrangement breaks down, before they enter into a top-up agreement.
Asked by: Annette Brooke (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress he has made on the development of a population-based measure to help determine the numbers of older people who report feeling lonely; and how this measure will build on the measures already contained in the Public Health and Adult Social Care Outcomes Frameworks.
Answered by Norman Lamb
Public Health England has commissioned the Institute of Health Equity to undertake a rapid review of the evidence around social isolation across the lifecourse. A publication, aimed at NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups and local authorities, will describe who is at risk of social isolation, at what stage of life, what impact this has on health inequalities and what works to reduce social isolation in the groups identified.
The Department considered a number of data sources that could provide data for a population-based measure of loneliness. The Department has not found a measure that would provide local authorities with sufficient information for action. The Department remains interested in exploring how the issue can be measured in the general population in a way that will support local authorities, and will retain the existing measure of social isolation in both the Public Health Outcomes Framework and the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework.
Asked by: Annette Brooke (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how his Department's plans to develop a measure to record levels of loneliness will help services to establish whether more work is required to tackle loneliness amongst older men.
Answered by Norman Lamb
Public Health England has commissioned the Institute of Health Equity to undertake a rapid review of the evidence around social isolation across the lifecourse. A publication, aimed at NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups and local authorities, will describe who is at risk of social isolation, at what stage of life, what impact this has on health inequalities and what works to reduce social isolation in the groups identified.
The Department considered a number of data sources that could provide data for a population-based measure of loneliness. The Department has not found a measure that would provide local authorities with sufficient information for action. The Department remains interested in exploring how the issue can be measured in the general population in a way that will support local authorities, and will retain the existing measure of social isolation in both the Public Health Outcomes Framework and the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework.
Asked by: Annette Brooke (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department and NHS England are taking to ensure that local autism diagnostic pathways are improving outcomes for adults with autism locally.
Answered by Norman Lamb
The Department is currently seeking views on proposed new statutory guidance for local authorities and National Health Service organisations to support the implementation of Think Autism, the update to the 2010 adult autism strategy.
The consultation looks at issues including the identification and diagnosis of autism in adults, and the proposal that NHS England local audit teams should look at people’s experiences of the diagnostic process locally and assure themselves that this is acceptable. The consultation period began on 7 November and closes on 19 December 2014.
Responses are invited from a wide range of people and groups, including adults with autism, families and carers, health and social care organisations that plan, commission and provide services for autism and their families. The Department intends to issue the statutory guidance in February 2015.
Local authority areas will also report back on progress they are making on autism diagnosis and other issues in Public Health England’s forthcoming national autism self-assessment exercise on implementing the Adult Autism Strategy.
Asked by: Annette Brooke (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure professional awareness of diagnostic pathways will be prioritised among (a) health bodies and (b) local authorities in the statutory guidance on implementing the adult autism strategy.
Answered by Norman Lamb
The Department is currently seeking views on proposed new statutory guidance for local authorities and National Health Service organisations to support the implementation of Think Autism, the update to the 2010 adult autism strategy.
The consultation looks at issues including the identification and diagnosis of autism in adults, and the proposal that NHS England local audit teams should look at people’s experiences of the diagnostic process locally and assure themselves that this is acceptable. The consultation period began on 7 November and closes on 19 December 2014.
Responses are invited from a wide range of people and groups, including adults with autism, families and carers, health and social care organisations that plan, commission and provide services for autism and their families. The Department intends to issue the statutory guidance in February 2015.
Local authority areas will also report back on progress they are making on autism diagnosis and other issues in Public Health England’s forthcoming national autism self-assessment exercise on implementing the Adult Autism Strategy.