Asked by: Robin Walker (Conservative - Worcester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the health benefits of (a) regular supported activity for people with long-term neurological conditions and (b) the commissioning of services to support such activity.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Department has made no such specific assessment. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommends the involvement of physiotherapists in the management of a range of neurological conditions including Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis and motor neurone disease. The commissioning of services to provide supported physical activity, such as that provided by physiotherapists, is a local matter, as are the vast majority of services for neurological conditions.
Asked by: Robin Walker (Conservative - Worcester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the cost effectiveness of providing 24-hour mental health support to A&E departments.
Answered by Alistair Burt
In 2014, the Royal College of Psychiatrists made an assessment of the national provision of liaison psychiatry, the services that provide mental health support to Emergency Departments. This followed a commitment that the College made in the mental health Crisis Care Concordat.
The Government’s Mandate to NHS England states that access to crisis services, for an individual must be “at all times as accessible, responsive and as high quality as other health emergency services. This includes ensuring the provision of adequate liaison psychiatry services in emergency departments.”
NHS England has adopted these aims in Putting Patients First, its business plan for 2014/15 – 2016/17, and will take them forward as part of its Parity of Esteem programme. This year, £30 million investment is to be targeted on effective models of liaison psychiatry in a greater number of acute hospitals.
Achieving better access to mental health services by 2020 set the expectation that, by 2020, all acute trusts will have in place liaison mental health services for all ages appropriate to the size, acuity and specialty of the hospital.
Asked by: Robin Walker (Conservative - Worcester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which A&E departments in (a) Worcestershire and (b) the West Midlands have 24-hour mental health support.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The information requested is not collected centrally.
Asked by: Robin Walker (Conservative - Worcester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his policy is on screening all men for prostate cancer at the age of 50; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) advice on prostate cancer screening/prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing in men over the age of 50 is that a systematic population screening programme is not recommended. This recommendation is currently being reviewed as part of the UK NSC's regular review cycle and is due to be completed by November 2015. The UK NSC first reviewed the evidence for a national prostate screening programme in 1997 and again in 2010. The reviews did not show clear evidence that prostate cancer screening using the PSA test was more beneficial than harmful, and showed a risk of over-diagnosis.
The UK NSC says that PSA testing can be performed on request, and information is provided on the risks and benefits by the Prostate Cancer Risk Management Programme.
Asked by: Robin Walker (Conservative - Worcester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what annual funding per head of population was provided to the South Worcestershire Clinical Commissioning Group in each of the last five years; and what the average such spend was on all Clinical Commissioning Groups in England.
Answered by Dan Poulter
NHS England has responsibility for clinical commissioning group (CCG) allocations.
CCGs have only existed since April 2013, so there is only information regarding South Worcestershire CCG allocations for years 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16, as detailed in the following table:
| Allocation per head 2013-14 (£) | Allocation per head 2014-15 (£) | Allocation per head 2015-16 (£) |
South Worcestershire CCG | 1,023 | 1,040 | 1,052 |
Average CCG | 1,115 | 1,133 | 1,147 |
A copy of the detailed CCG allocations for 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16, published by NHS England on 20 December 2013, has already been placed in the Library and is also available at:
www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/ccg-allocation-big-table-v2.pdf