Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has conducted research to establish the effectiveness of treatments for cytomegalovirus.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Department commissions research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and is the largest public funder of health research in the United Kingdom. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including human cytomegalovirus (HCMV). These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. In all disease areas, the amount of NIHR funding depends on the volume and quality of scientific activity.
The NIHR has recently funded a number of research projects on treatments for HCMV. These include a study on the use of adoptive cellular therapy in combination with the standard best available antiviral drug therapy for the treatment of CMV, and a study to assess the safety and efficacy of Maribavir treatment in transplant recipients with HCMV.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the costs incurred to NHS England each year of treating cytomegalovirus.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
This information is not held centrally. The range of procedures and diagnoses that may cover cytomegalovirus mean it is not possible to provide a cost of treatment.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
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 increase (a) awareness of and (b) education on cytomegalovirus among pregnant women.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
Health visitors and midwives, together with other health care professionals including general practitioners and general practice nurses provide advice and guidance to families at contacts in the pre-conception period, pregnancy and throughout early childhood.
To support direct clinical advice from health care professionals, Public Health England’s Start4Life social marketing programme informs parents-to-be and parents about cytomegalovirus via its Information Service for Parents subscription email service. This includes links to the National Health Service website, and information on preventative measures, including good hand hygiene. Start4Life also provides this messaging through its social media channels.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
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 increase (a) awareness of and (b) education on cytomegalovirus among parents and children.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
Health visitors and midwives, together with other health care professionals including general practitioners and general practice nurses provide advice and guidance to families at contacts in the pre-conception period, pregnancy and throughout early childhood.
To support direct clinical advice from health care professionals, Public Health England’s Start4Life social marketing programme informs parents-to-be and parents about cytomegalovirus via its Information Service for Parents subscription email service. This includes links to the National Health Service website, and information on preventative measures, including good hand hygiene. Start4Life also provides this messaging through its social media channels.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
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 improve the (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment of cytomegalovirus in infants and children.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
Experts advise that cytomegalovirus (CMV) remains difficult to diagnose because in the majority of cases the baby presents normally at birth.
In 2017, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecology (RCOG) published an update for the treatment of congenital CMV infection, acknowledging that therapeutic options such as antiviral therapy are still being evaluated within the research setting. The RCOG will consider whether the paper needed to be updated.
Departmental officials will be meeting the charity CMV Action next month to discuss their recommendations to prevent, diagnose and intervene.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
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 19 January 2018 to Question 122358 on Orkambi: Republic of Ireland, whether he has had further discussions with his Irish counterpart on the cost-effectiveness of Orkambi in treating cystic fibrosis.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Department has had no further discussions with the Republic of Ireland in relation to Orkambi.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
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 19 January 2018 to Question 122336 on Orkambi, whether he has made an estimate of the potential savings accruing to the public purse from reduced hospital admissions in the event that Orkambi is made available on the NHS.
Answered by Steve Brine
As stated in my answer on 19 January 2018, the Department has made no estimate.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much of the £365 million perinatal mental health fund has been allocated to the development of psychological support services in neonatal units; and how many neonatal units have benefited from that perinatal mental health funding.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
All specialist inpatient and community perinatal mental health services commissioned as part of the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health transformation programme, which is backed by a £365 million investment covering the period from 2015/16 to 2020/21, are for women in the perinatal period with moderate to severe mental illness. This includes women accessing neonatal units. By April 2019, all clinical commissioning groups in the country will have at least one specialist community perinatal mental health service, and therefore all neonatal units will be able to draw on the expertise of the staff at these services.
NHS England has also invested in multidisciplinary perinatal mental health clinical networks across the country to drive forward change, focusing on collaborative working to develop local, integrated pathways and support early identification of those at risk of mental illness in the perinatal period to enable better outcomes for women in all communities.
Mothers with a baby in a neonatal unit and also accessing specialist perinatal mental health community teams are equally able to engage with the perinatal mental health care pathway.
Further information about the pathway is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/perinatal-mental-health-care-pathway.pdf
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many neonatal units are able to provide parents with access to a trained mental health professional to support their mental health and wellbeing when their baby is born needing neonatal care.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The information requested is not available.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
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 ensure that all children with life-limiting conditions have access to an advance care plan, as recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Local commissioners, who are responsible for delivering the majority of children’s palliative and end of life care, should take the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence guidance into account when planning services for local populations.
To support implementation of the guidance NHS England commissioned Together for Short Lives, a leading children’s end of life care charity, to examine services across the country to identify best practice in implementation of the guidance, as well as barriers, through interviews with local NHS services. Together for Short Lives have now provided a suite of solutions to enable local areas to meet the needs of children at the end of life. More information about this work can be found at the following link: