Asked by: Chris Kane (Labour - Stirling and Strathallan)
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 (a) support research into and (b) promote awareness of (i) Guillain-Barré Syndrome, (ii) Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy and (iii) other related inflammatory neuropathies.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to improving the lives of those living with rare diseases, such as rare inflammatory neuropathies. The UK Rare Diseases Framework sets out four priorities, collaboratively developed with the rare disease community, which include increasing awareness of rare diseases among healthcare professionals and improving access to specialist care, treatments, and drugs. We remain committed to delivering under the framework and will publish an annual England action plan in 2025.
Pioneering research is an underpinning theme of the UK Rare Diseases Framework, and the Department funds and supports research into rare diseases through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). In the last five financial years, multiple studies, including one that is currently live, on rare inflammatory neuropathies have been supported by NIHR infrastructure.
The NHS Genomics Education Programme is working to increase overall awareness of rare diseases among healthcare professionals. Guillain-Barré syndrome, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, and other inflammatory neuropathies are part of the core training curriculum for neurology trainees, for which competency has to be demonstrated before being placed on the specialist register.
Asked by: Chris Kane (Labour - Stirling and Strathallan)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has has been made on ensuring appropriate treatment for people suffering from epilepsy; and what steps he has taken to implement the 2018 review by Dame Sally Davies on the therapeutic and medicinal benefits of cannabis based products.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are a range of anti-seizure medications that can be prescribed for the treatment of epilepsy that have been shown to be effective at reducing the number of seizures a person experiences. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance on epilepsies in children, young people, and adults, provides clinicians with evidence-based advice around starting a patient on anti-seizure medication. It outlines that clinicians should develop an individualised anti-seizure medication treatment strategy with their patient, taking safety considerations into account, and regularly monitoring and reviewing their patient’s medications. The NICE guidance also includes recommendations on non-pharmacological treatments for epilepsy, such as adhering to a ketogenic diet.
In June 2018, Professor Dame Sally Davies, the former Chief Medical Officer for England and Chief Medical Advisor to the Government, published a review to explore the therapeutic benefits of cannabis-based products for medicinal use. Professor Davies recommended ‘that the whole class of cannabis-based medicinal products be moved out of Schedule 1 of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001’.
Following advice from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, the Government accepted the recommendation and amended the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 (the 2001 Regulations) and Misuse of Drugs (Designation) Order 2015. This introduced a legal route for cannabis-based products for medicinal use to be prescribed by doctors on the General Medical Council specialist register, in the strictly controlled circumstances required by the 2001 Regulations, without the requirement for a Home Office licence
There are no outstanding actions from the review.
Asked by: Chris Kane (Labour - Stirling and Strathallan)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS prescriptions for cannabis based products there have been in each year since 2018.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the total number of National Health Service prescriptions for licensed cannabis-based medicines, namely Nabilone, Sativex, and Epidyolex, dispensed in the community in England against an NHS prescription between January 2018 to September 2024:
Time period | Items |
2018 | 2,591 |
2019 | 2,636 |
2020 | 2,674 |
2021 | 2,973 |
2022 | 4,003 |
2023 | 5,192 |
2024 | 4,326 |
Total | 24,395 |
Source: NHS Business Services Authority
Note: data for 2024 is from January to September.
Data on unlicensed cannabis-based medicines is withheld in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulations, due to the number of items attributed being to fewer than five patients, and an enhanced risk of the release of patient identifiable information.