Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of precision medicine on the (a) life expectancy and (b) quality of life of people living with motor neurone disease.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government’s 10-Year Health Plan sets out our vision for a future where genomic information and insights are fundamental to healthcare, enabling precision medicine, predictive prevention, and personalised treatment, including for people with motor neurone disease.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has selected tofersen for treating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis caused by SOD1 gene mutations as a topic for guidance development through its Highly Specialised Technology (HST) programme. The HST programme appraises medicines for the treatment of very rare, and often very severe diseases, and evaluates whether they can be considered a clinically and cost-effective use of National Health Service resources. If a positive recommendation is made, then NHS commissioners will be under a legal duty to fund the treatment for all eligible patients in England.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
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 improve the (a) training and (b) awareness of healthcare professionals in (i) diagnosing and (ii) supporting people with (A) myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome and (B) long COVID.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department published the final myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), delivery plan on 22 July. The plan focusses on boosting research, improving education and attitudes, and bettering the lives of people with this debilitating disease.
To support healthcare professionals in the diagnosis and management of ME/CFS, as set out in the ME/CFS Final Delivery Plan, the Department has worked with NHS England to develop an e-learning programme on ME/CFS for healthcare professionals, with the aim of supporting staff to be able to provide better care and improve patient outcomes. All three sessions of the e-learning programme are now available on the NHS.UK website, with sessions one and two having universal access whilst the third session is only available to healthcare professionals, at the following link:
https://learninghub.nhs.uk/catalogue/mecfselearning?nodeId=7288.
The Medical Schools Council will promote the NHS England e-learning programme on ME/CFS to all United Kingdom medical schools and will encourage those medical schools to provide undergraduates with direct patient experience of ME/CFS. The General Medical Council (GMC) is the regulator of medical schools, and it is important that education is reenforced at different stages of medical training. Royal colleges play an important role in this. The GMC has included ME/CFS in the content map for the new national exam, so all medical schools will need to teach it as a subject.
There is also targeted advice for healthcare professionals to manage long COVID. Patients should be managed according to current clinical guidance, such as that published and updated by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, which is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/NG188
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
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 help (a) increase awareness of and (b) shorten diagnosis times for Postural Tachycardia Syndrome.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
To improve awareness of postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS) amongst healthcare professionals, and specifically general practitioners (GPs), the Royal College of General Practitioners provides training on PoTS as part of its Syncope toolkit, which is available at the following link:
https://elearning.rcgp.org.uk/course/view.php?id=500
The Syncope toolkit includes an e-learning module, a podcast, and a webinar, and provides GPs with information about the diagnosis and management of PoTS. The webinar gives GPs the opportunity to hear the lived experience perspective of a patient representative from PoTS UK.
The National Institute for Care Excellence has also published a clinical knowledge summary on the clinical management of blackouts and syncope, that provides advice for clinicians in the United Kingdom on best practice in the assessment and diagnosis of PoTS. This was last updated in November 2023, and is available at the following link:
https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/blackouts-syncope/diagnosis/assessment/
We are investing in additional capacity to deliver appointments to help bring waiting times down. The Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, sets out the specific productivity and reform efforts needed to return to the constitutional standard, that 92% of patients to wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment, by March 2029.
We surpassed our pledge to deliver an extra two million elective appointments, having now delivered 5.2 million additional appointments in our first year of Government. Waiting lists are coming down, as they have fallen by over 206,000 since July 2024.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
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 ensure Mounjaro, also called tirzepatide, is available to people who meet the clinical criteria for weight management.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) estimated that approximately 3.4 million people are eligible for tirzepatide, known by the brand name Mounjaro, to treat obesity. Integrated care boards (ICBs) have a legal duty to make NICE-recommended medicines available to the eligible population alongside the appropriate behavioural and lifestyle support.
The National Health Service is rolling out access to tirzepatide, prioritising those with the greatest clinical need. Approximately 220,000 people are expected to benefit in the first three years of implementation. The NHS is developing and testing new models of care, including community-based services and digital technologies, and will speed up the roll out if possible. Progress on the NHS rollout of tirzepatide will be reviewed by NICE in three years.
NHS England is providing support for NHS ICBs, including providing:
- additional funding to support the delivery of services within primary care and the cost of obesity medicines in line with interim commissioning guidance; and
- a centrally funded wraparound care service ‘Healthier You: Behavioural Support for Obesity Prescribing’ to refer patients to.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to tackle illegal driving instructors; and what steps he is taking to increase public awareness on the requirement for driving instructors to be approved by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) takes matters of illegal driving instruction extremely seriously. DVSA strives to stamp out illegal driving instruction by targeting offenders and working in conjunction with the local Police force to identify and ultimately, when appropriate, prosecute those involved in this type of criminality.
DVSA’s Counter Fraud and Investigation team thoroughly investigate allegations of illegal driving instruction and always looks to validate any information it is provided with during any investigations. Depending on the information available, DVSA may proceed directly to an investigation or conduct targeted roadside checks, often involving the police, to identify ongoing illegal instruction. The outcomes of DVSA’s investigations can range from issuing a warning to pursuing prosecution.
Information for those wanting to start driving lessons is available on DVSA’s ‘Ready to Pass?’ website on GOV.UK. DVSA advises candidates that anyone teaching them to drive for payment must be either a qualified and approved driving instructor or a trainee driving instructor. There is also further information for candidates on how to find your nearest driving instructors.
DVSA advises candidates to check that their driving instructor is displaying their badge in their windscreen, which shows they are registered with DVSA, this could either be a green badge if they are fully qualified or a pink badge if they are a trainee instructor.
Individuals who have not been through the approved driving instructor process pose a very real threat to road safety. It also damages the reputation and credibility of the driver training industry. DVSA recommends that anyone with concerns about a possible illegal driving instructor follow the advice on GOV.UK: Report an illegal driving instructor.