Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To asks the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the timetable is for the implementation of all of the pilots for first contact physiotherapy practitioners; and when the outcomes of those pilots will be reported.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The First Contact Practitioners (FCP) pilot is part of NHS England’s plan to increase staff working in primary care to help ease pressure on general practice. FCPs are physiotherapists with advance practice, who are able to support patient management in primary care. To date, 41 of 42 physiotherapy practitioner pilot sites have commenced, with a further site scheduled to go live on 1 April 2019.
An evaluation report is due to be completed in spring 2019, which is based on pilot site mobilisation. Evaluation will continue during 2019/20.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the NHS Long Term Plan, what assessment he has made of the effect of developments in digital care on the provision of pain pathway services.
Answered by Steve Brine
The routine assessment and management of pain is a required competency of all healthcare professionals. Many patients with chronic pain can be successfully supported and managed through routine primary and secondary care pain management services. Approaches to treatment are not all pharmacological; education in self-management techniques to aid symptom control may also be appropriate for some patients.
As set out in the NHS Long Term Plan, published on 7 January 2019, low back and neck pain is the greatest cause of years lost to disability, with chronic joint pain or osteoarthritis affecting over 8.75 million people in the United Kingdom. In the Long Term Plan NHS England committed to build on work already undertaken to ensure patients will have direct access to musculoskeletal First Contact Practitioners (FCP). 98% of sustainability and transformation partnerships have confirmed pilot sites for FCP and 55% of pilots are already underway.
NHS England will expand the number of physiotherapists working in primary care networks, enabling people to see the right professional first time, without needing a general practitioner referral. NHS England will also expand access to support such as the online version of ESCAPE-pain, Enabling Self-management and Coping with Arthritic Pain through Exercise, a digital version of the well-established, face-to-face group programme.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to prevent worsening chronicity of pain in people suffering from chronic pain.
Answered by Steve Brine
The routine assessment and management of pain is a required competency of all healthcare professionals. Many patients with chronic pain can be successfully supported and managed through routine primary and secondary care pain management services. Approaches to treatment are not all pharmacological; education in self-management techniques to aid symptom control may also be appropriate for some patients.
As set out in the NHS Long Term Plan, published on 7 January 2019, low back and neck pain is the greatest cause of years lost to disability, with chronic joint pain or osteoarthritis affecting over 8.75 million people in the United Kingdom. In the Long Term Plan NHS England committed to build on work already undertaken to ensure patients will have direct access to musculoskeletal First Contact Practitioners (FCP). 98% of sustainability and transformation partnerships have confirmed pilot sites for FCP and 55% of pilots are already underway.
NHS England will expand the number of physiotherapists working in primary care networks, enabling people to see the right professional first time, without needing a general practitioner referral. NHS England will also expand access to support such as the online version of ESCAPE-pain, Enabling Self-management and Coping with Arthritic Pain through Exercise, a digital version of the well-established, face-to-face group programme.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of the UK population has access to occupational health services.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
In 2014, 51% of employees in Great Britain reported having access to occupational health services.
For information, an occupational health service provides advice and practical support about how to stay healthy in the workplace and how to manage health conditions. For example, access to health care professions, or support or advice for making workplace adjustments.
Employees are not strictly defined but are Great Britain employees aged 16 and over.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to increase the number of occupational health practitioners.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Government’s November 2017 Command Paper ‘Improving lives: the future of work, health and disability’ set out a vision for the reform of occupational health and recognised the critical role of occupational health and other related professions in delivering this.
In line with the commitments in the Command Paper, an Occupational Health Expert Group was appointed to support work in this area. This has included looking at the occupational health workforce to ensure sufficient expert capacity is available in the future. Health Education England, through its National School of Occupational Health, has also been involved in this work.
Ministers have announced their intention to consult on measures to improve access to high quality occupational health later this year.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
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 accessed Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services; what the average waiting time was for a person with Parkinson’s disease from referral to first appointment; and what the recovery rate was for people with Parkinson’s disease following completion of that treatment in 2016-17.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
This information is not held centrally.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many prescription items were dispensed for free in each exemption category in the last period for which figures are available.
Answered by Steve Brine
The information is not held in the format requested.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much the National Institute of Health Research spent on research into mental health interventions for people with Parkinson’s disease who have anxiety and/or depression in each of the five years up to and including 2017.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including Parkinson’s disease and related illness. It is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. 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.
The following table shows NIHR research into mental health interventions for people with Parkinson’s disease who suffer anxiety and or depression over the last five years is approximately £4.9 million. This includes funding for research projects and clinical trials through the NIHR Clinical Research Network:
Financial Year (FY) 2013/14 | FY 2014/15 | FY 2015/16 | FY 2016/17 | FY 2017/18 | Total |
69,386 | 993,419 | 1,107,936 | 1,392,344 | 1,393,003 | 4,956,090 |
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of introducing recommendation prescriptions to (a) reduce pressure on general practice and (b) ensure patients access appropriate over-the-counter treatments.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Department has made no such assessment.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
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 signposting to NHS approved apps to (a) support people to manage their own health and (b) provide evidence-based and validated advice.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The NHS Apps Library, launched in April 2017, helps people to make better choices about the digital health and care tools they use to support them in managing their own health and care in a safe and secure way. It now has over 70 apps and tools uploaded. Each of the apps goes through a rigorous and robust validation process that ensures that the apps meet the high standard of quality, safety and effectiveness that people expect from the National Health Service.
The NHS App is currently in development and is due to launch at the end of 2018, gradually rolling out to patients across the United Kingdom from December. This will enable people to have easier access to a range of health and care services as and when they need them. In future iterations of the app, we are looking to promote additional apps or digital services appropriate to an individual’s need, and which have been approved by the NHS Apps Library.