Asked by: Paul Burstow (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 2 March 2015 to Question 224950, what communications NHS England has received from (a) hon. Members and (b) other interested parties on each treatment currently due for consideration through NHS England's specialised commissioning prioritisation process.
Answered by Jane Ellison
NHS England advises that this information is not collected in a way that would allow for a break-down in the way requested.
Asked by: Paul Burstow (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the remit is of NHS England's Specialised Commissioning Oversight Group; what plans NHS England has for the future of that Group; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jane Ellison
NHS England’s Specialised Commissioning Oversight Group has a remit to:
- provide assurance to NHS England that specialised commissioning strategic priorities are being met through operational delivery;
- drive the continuous improvement of standards and outcomes;
- reduce reduction of variation and inequalities for specialised commissioning; and
- provide assurance that there are robust systems and processes in place for the monitoring and assurance of Specialised Commissioning.
NHS England has advised that the current plans are to continue the group as established.
Asked by: Paul Burstow (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 2 March 2015 to Question 224947, for what reasons the data requested is aggregated over the three years 2012-14; and if he will provide the figures for (a) 2012, (b) 2013 and (c) 2014 separately.
Answered by George Freeman
I regret that the information in my answer of 2 March 2015 was not provided in the format requested. I apologise for this oversight.
The information is shown in the table1.
| 2012 | 2013 | 2014 |
Patient organisations | 46 | 39 | 40 |
Manufacturers | 18 | 22 | 32 |
Professional organisations | 58 | 47 | 49 |
Other organisations | 23 | 12 | 13 |
1 Some organisations will be involved in more than one year.
Source: National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
Asked by: Paul Burstow (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 2 March 2015 to Question 224941, on which occasions the (a) Clinical Priorities Advisory Group has rejected a recommendation made by a clinical reference group and (b) Directly Commissioned Services Committee has rejected a recommendation made by the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group; what estimate NHS England has made of the average length of time between a clinical reference group making a recommendation and a final decision being made by the Directly Commissioned Services Committee; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Directly Commissioned Services Committee has been disbanded as a governance committee within NHS England. The Specialised Services Oversight Group (SCOG) now makes the final decisions regarding Clinical Priorities Advisory Group (CPAG) recommendations. The average time between the Clinical Reference Group recommendation being made at CPAG and SCOG making a decision is two weeks.
Final decisions on commissioning policies are often subject to discussion between the Clinical Reference Group and CPAG. Recommendations from Clinical Reference Groups may be modified and re-proposed before a final decision.
Asked by: Paul Burstow (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer to Question 224981 of 2 March 2015, how the implementation by NHS England of policies differs when they are (a) official, (b) officially expired but maintained and (c) officially expired but not maintained; what steps NHS England takes to ensure that relevant parties are notified that policies are being maintained once they have officially expired; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by George Freeman
NHS England has advised that, if a clinical policy is no longer considered required, for example, due to the publication of final technology appraisal guidance by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, then the policy is removed from its website and NHS England teams and hospitals are made aware of this through internal communications.
NHS England notifies other relevant parties through its Clinical Reference Groups’ registered stakeholders.
Asked by: Paul Burstow (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 2 March 2015 to Question 224949, on what date NHS England began reviewing its policy on individual funding requests; which parties are contributing to that review; when he expects the review to conclude; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by George Freeman
NHS England has advised that it will be reviewing its policy on individual funding requests during 2015 and the timescale of this review will be determined in the coming weeks.
NHS England will consider how the policy will be reviewed and who will be involved.
Asked by: Paul Burstow (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 2 March 2015 to Question 224941, what the precise recommendation made by the Clinical Reference Group referred to in that Answer was; whether that recommendation related to (a) in year or (b) ongoing routine commissioning; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by George Freeman
NHS England has advised that its Neuroscience Clinical Reference Group’s recommendation was to approve the clinical policy to support the routine commissioning of levodopa-carpidopa intestinal gel for advanced Parkinson’s disease and to go out to full public consultation.
The recommendation related to an in year commissioning decision.
Asked by: Paul Burstow (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer to Question 224945 of 2 March 2015, what estimate he has made of the number of decisions taken by screening panels which are made in error; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by George Freeman
NHS England has advised that decisions taken by screening panels are made in accordance with its interim commissioning policy on individual funding requests, which is available at:
www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/cp-03.pdf
Its individual funding request screening panels are skilled, experienced and trained in their role and NHS England does not consider that any decisions are made in error.
Asked by: Paul Burstow (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer to Question 224943 of 2 March 2015, whether minutes exist for each meeting of the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group (CPAG) prior to February 2015; if he will publish the agendas of all CPAG meetings undertaken to date; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jane Ellison
NHS England has advised that minutes do exist for each meeting of the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group (CPAG).
NHS England has advised that they intend to routinely publish minutes and the agendas of CPAG meetings in the future, and are considering how to make available minutes of previous meetings.
Asked by: Paul Burstow (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer to Question 224953 of 2 March 2015, whether Duodopa was considered for funding by NHS England for routine funding in the 2013-14 financial year.
Answered by George Freeman
NHS England has advised that the draft clinical policy for recommending the funding of Duodopa was presented and considered in 2014-15. Before this time, the commissioning responsibility for Duodopa rested with clinical commissioning groups.