NHS Specialised Services

Jim Fitzpatrick Excerpts

Thursday 15th January 2015 Westminster Hall

[Jim Fitzpatrick (Poplar and Limehouse) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair this afternoon, Sir David. I am sure you took huge pleasure from your ennoblement. I am also sure that you took some pleasure from West Ham’s good cup win on Tuesday night—at least we are both smiling as a result of that experience.

I congratulate the hon. Member for St Austell and Newquay (Stephen Gilbert) on the strong case that he made to the Minister. I look forward to hearing the responses of both Front Benchers to that contribution in due course. It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce), who made an eloquent plea on behalf of the RSA in her constituency and nationally.

I will raise two issues. The first is sickle cell disease, an issue raised with me by two constituents who suffer from that condition and are worried that the change to local commissioning might affect the care that they receive. I promised that I would mention their concerns in my contribution today, and a simple statement of reassurance from the Minister would be very welcome.

The second issue I wish to raise—in greater depth but not too lengthily—is neurological and headache services. We have corresponded on the issue before, so I will just remind the Minister that I am chair of the all-party group on primary headache disorders. I should acknowledge the assistance that the all-party group receives from the Migraine Trust, which offers great support through Wendy Thomas, its chief executive, and Drew Lindon, who acts as our administrative secretary.

The all-party group recently concluded an inquiry into headache services in England. The Minister has a copy of our report, and I hope the shadow Minister has one as well. I put on the record my thanks to the parliamentary participants in the inquiry, as well as to the witnesses—many of them eminent clinicians—and to Hannah Verghese of the Migraine Trust, who all gave up their time to make sure that the sessions were useful and worthwhile and that the report would be a useful tool for the Government and for anybody interested in the issue.

I will not go into any real detail, but the report’s main conclusions were that there are large gains to be made in the NHS by treating headache appropriately—gains for the patient, for the NHS and for the wider economy. The report also makes well the argument for the need for

“a national strategy to improve the provision for headache sufferers in England.”

There is a lot of good provision on the ground, but it needs to be more evenly spread across the country.

Our report makes 10 recommendations. Again, I will not go into detail about them all but members of the group would like to meet the Minister and/or his officials at some point over the next few months to discuss the issues. We will also put a bid in to meet the shadow Minister and his colleagues; given that the general election is coming up, he might well be sitting in the Minister’s position in only a few months—certainly many of us expect that to happen—either as part of a new ministerial team running the country or perhaps sharing the running of the country with others, in which case the Minister might still be there. At any rate, we want to take the issue forward and would be grateful to engage with both Front-Bench teams. I have corresponded with the offices of the Minister and the Secretary of State for Health, on 12 January and 23 July last year, respectively, raising some of the issues that we have identified.

Headache disorders cost the UK economy an estimated £5 billion to £7 billion per annum. They are the most common neurological reason for accident and emergency attendance, with more than 19,000 finished emergency admissions in 2012-13. Indeed, 90% of the public are affected by a headache at some point, and approximately 6 million people live with migraines. In 2012, the Public Accounts Committee identified that 70% of clinical commissioning groups have not produced a needs assessment of people with neurological conditions and have no plans to do so.

The Minister will have seen the Neurological Alliance’s report, “The Invisible Patients”, which included the findings that only 14.7% of CCGs have assessed local costs relating to the provision of neurology services; only 20.4% of CCGs have assessed the number of people using neurological services and only 26.2% have assessed the prevalence of neurological conditions in their area; and only 33% of CCGs obtain vital feedback from patients about the neurological services that they commission. The report sets out a number of recommendations in response, which I am sure the Minister has seen.

I should declare an interest: I am a sufferer of trigeminal neuralgia. I have personally accessed the neurology services of the Barts Health NHS Trust, and had neurosurgery at the National Hospital for Neurosurgery and Neurology at Queen square in 2009. I am grateful to all the clinicians who assisted me, as well as to the Trigeminal Neuralgia Association UK—TNA UK—a charity that tries to help suffers and their families and campaigns on the condition.

In conclusion, we need a national strategy, including an appropriate and targeted public awareness campaign for primary headache disorders, as well as better diagnosis and treatment by GPs, specialised clinics and clearly defined local headache pathways. If we had that, the burden of headache disorders might finally receive the attention that the all-party group thinks would be helpful for individuals, the NHS and society.

Time is short before the general election, but I repeat my request for a meeting, which, I assure the Minister, would not take long. We would be grateful if he found half an hour in his diary before the end of March. We extend that request to the shadow Minister as well, so that we can take these issues forward and try to give greater assurance to those who are suffering that matters are being taken seriously.