Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance is provided to clinicians on advising patients recently diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease; and whether that guidance recommends that patients be given a leaflet from Parkinson's UK.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guidelines on Parkinson’s disease in adults include recommendations for communication with people with Parkinson's disease, and their carers. The guidelines do not specify a particular leaflet, such as the one from Parkinson’s UK, but they do recommend that: communication with people with Parkinson's disease should aim towards empowering them to participate in judgements and choices about their own care; discussions should aim to achieve a balance between providing honest, realistic information about the condition, and promoting a feeling of optimism; because people with Parkinson's disease may develop impaired cognitive ability, and communication problems, they should be provided with both oral and written communication throughout the course of the disease, which should be individually tailored and reinforced as necessary, in a consistent manner; family members and carers should be advised about their right to a carer assessment, assessment for respite care, and other support; people with Parkinson's disease should have a comprehensive care plan agreed between the person, their family members and carers as appropriate, and specialist and secondary healthcare providers; and people with Parkinson's disease should have an accessible point of contact with specialist services, such as a Parkinson's disease nurse specialist.
The exact information that is provided to a newly diagnosed Parkinson’s patient will vary, but would usually include referral to a Parkinson’s nurse. Information about local support groups would usually be provided by the Parkinson’s nurse. The Department will explore whether anything further can be done to improve the provision of post-diagnosis patient information for those with Parkinson’s disease.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will publish the waiting times from the point of a GP referral for a diagnosis of a patient with suspected Parkinson's Disease to the date of an appointment with a neurologist or geriatrician, by Integrated Care Board for the latest period for which that data is available.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Information is not held centrally on the waiting times from the point of general practice (GP) referral for a diagnosis of suspected Parkinson’s disease, to the date of appointment with a neurologist or geriatrician, by integrated care board.
Similarly, information is not held centrally on how many people with Parkinson’s disease are on waiting lists for a referral for diagnosis from a neurologist or geriatrician in each integrated care board area.
GP referrals are not classified by suspected diagnosis, so data is not available in the form requested. Not all patients referred to a neurologist or geriatrician with suspected Parkinson’s disease will go on to receive a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, while some receive other diagnoses.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people with Parkinson's Disease are on waiting lists for a referral for diagnosis to a neurologist or geriatrician in each Integrated Care Board area as of 23 April 2024.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Information is not held centrally on the waiting times from the point of general practice (GP) referral for a diagnosis of suspected Parkinson’s disease, to the date of appointment with a neurologist or geriatrician, by integrated care board.
Similarly, information is not held centrally on how many people with Parkinson’s disease are on waiting lists for a referral for diagnosis from a neurologist or geriatrician in each integrated care board area.
GP referrals are not classified by suspected diagnosis, so data is not available in the form requested. Not all patients referred to a neurologist or geriatrician with suspected Parkinson’s disease will go on to receive a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, while some receive other diagnoses.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 28 March to Question 19968 on Medicine: Training, if her Department will review the changes to the allocation process administered by the UK Foundation Programme with regard to the distances that medical students are requested to move for their placements.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The allocation process for the UK Foundation Programme this year was changed to a Preference Informed Allocation method. This new process saw applicants being given a computer-generated rank, and the removal of the requirement to sit the Situational Judgement Test. When confirming the move to the new system last year, Health Education England, now part of NHS England, set out that once implemented it would be kept under constant review to make sure it is working well for applicants.
All 9,702 eligible applicants for the 2024 foundation programme were allocated to a foundation school, with 75% of those applicants getting their first preference. This is an improvement on last year, when 8,655 applicants were placed, and 71% got their first preference. Because of this, new posts must be created, with appropriate experience for foundation doctors, and the correct level of supervision is required. Foundation schools and their local trusts are working hard to ensure that high quality training posts are available for all applicants. The foundation programme aims to give students as much notice as possible on their allocation to a foundation school, which is why allocations occur in early March.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the compatibility of the UK Foundation Programme timelines for allocating placements with the commitment that newly qualified staff will be given six weeks to relocate.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The allocation process for the UK Foundation Programme this year was changed to a Preference Informed Allocation method. This new process saw applicants being given a computer-generated rank, and the removal of the requirement to sit the Situational Judgement Test. When confirming the move to the new system last year, Health Education England, now part of NHS England, set out that once implemented it would be kept under constant review to make sure it is working well for applicants.
All 9,702 eligible applicants for the 2024 foundation programme were allocated to a foundation school, with 75% of those applicants getting their first preference. This is an improvement on last year, when 8,655 applicants were placed, and 71% got their first preference. Because of this, new posts must be created, with appropriate experience for foundation doctors, and the correct level of supervision is required. Foundation schools and their local trusts are working hard to ensure that high quality training posts are available for all applicants. The foundation programme aims to give students as much notice as possible on their allocation to a foundation school, which is why allocations occur in early March.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to encourage (a) train operating companies and (b) station car park contractors to (i) conduct and (ii) publish equality impact assessments detailing the steps they plan to take to support people that are digitally excluded.
Answered by Huw Merriman
Charging and payment methods for car parking at stations is a commercial decision for train operators and Network Rail. Train operators are responsible for considering the equalities impacts of operational changes on issues such as this, as set out in the 2018 ‘Station Car Parking Good Practice Guide for Train Operators’. The Department expects that train operators should consider each station’s needs and customer base when making decisions on charging at the car parks they manage.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of whether the NHS workforce plan should be updated by NHS England to reflect the staffing needs of the eight new children and young people's gender services regional centres.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
No specific formal assessment has been made. Gender medicine is a highly specialised field of medicine, and NHS England are actively working to recruit more staff for the new regional children and young people gender identity services. NHS England has also been working closely with other professional bodies to develop tailored training for these professionals. NHS England will commission the required professional training curriculum and competencies framework, not just for staff working in the new gender services, but also for clinicians working in secondary, primary, and community care. It is expected that this will also help to increase the support for children and young people, ensuring they receive a more holistic model of care.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 26 March 2024 to Question 19419 on Infant Mortality: Certification, what her planned timetable is for extending the scheme to pregnancy losses before 1 September 2018.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
On 22 February 2024, we launched the Baby Loss Certificate service, fulfilling our commitment in the Women’s Health Strategy. We recognise that some people will wish to obtain a certificate for a baby loss that happened in the past. It is currently open to pregnancy losses since 1 September 2018, and we will extend this to earlier losses as soon as we can.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the report by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman entitled End-of-life care: improving 'do not attempt CPR' conversations for everyone, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the recommendation that for advance care planning conversations the primary care electronic patient record needs to be (a) the single place for holding (i) end-of-life care plans and (ii) Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation records and (b) accessible across all health settings.
Answered by Helen Whately
The Department will respond to the report by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman entitled End-of-life care: improving 'do not attempt CPR' conversations for everyone, in due course.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the report by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman entitled End-of-life care: improving 'do not attempt CPR' conversations for everyone, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the recommendation that NHS England should expand the number and type of staff who can formally support Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation conversations in multiple settings.
Answered by Helen Whately
The Department will respond to the report by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman entitled End-of-life care: improving 'do not attempt CPR' conversations for everyone, in due course.