Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effect on people living with diabetes of the changes to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) guidelines on driving and diabetes given that NICE recommends that healthcare professionals take the DVLA’s guidance into account when offering glucose monitoring technology.
Answered by Steve Brine
Whilst the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is reviewing its approach to glucose monitoring technology, the current provision is that drivers are still required to test using finger prick/capillary glucose values, rather than using values from flash glucose monitoring.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
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 increase the uptake of insulin pumps for people throughout England with type 1 diabetes.
Answered by Steve Brine
Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are responsible for commissioning diabetes services to meet the requirements of their population. In doing so, CCGs need to ensure that the services they provide are fit for purpose, reflect the needs of the local population and are based on the available evidence and take into account national guidelines.
In this case the relevant guidelines are published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence ‘Evidence-based recommendations on continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (insulin pump therapy) for treating type 1 diabetes in adults and children’ is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta151
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason the uptake of structured education programmes among people with type (a) 1 and (b) 2 diabetes in the CCG area of (i) Tameside and Glossop and (ii) North Derbyshire is low; whether he is taking steps to improve that uptake; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Steve Brine
Tameside and Glossop Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has established a Diabetes Improvement Group – working with Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust – to deliver improvements and address issues relating to local diabetes care. A recent presentation to local general practitioners (GPs) included data on primary care performance, including structured education.
The Diabetes Improvement Group has identified structured education as a key project. The National Diabetes Audit data for 2016/17 and 2017/18 show that Tameside and Glossop CCG has referred more than 90% of diabetes patients to structured education.
North Derbyshire CCG is aware of a local issue with coding in GP practice systems and has been working with practices to resolve it. The CCG advises that this will have a positive impact on the recording of diabetes education take-up levels.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer on 2 February 2018 to Question 125524, on Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, for reason that data is not available.
Answered by Steve Brine
NHS Digital holds Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data, however, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome is not classifiable within the ICD10 clinical coding used in HES. Additionally, HES data only captures information on those patients who have received hospital treatment which would not apply for all patients with a diagnosis.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, by what criteria his Department measures the value for money of applications for funding for research into Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), which is funded by the Department, supports health and care research and translates discoveries into practical products, treatments, devices and procedures. The NIHR welcomes research funding applications into any aspect of human health, including complex regional pain syndrome.
The NIHR is committed to maximising the potential impact of research that it funds for patients and the public. Applications to NIHR for research funding are subject to scientific peer review, with awards being made on the basis of value for money, scientific quality and the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services.
Regarding value for money, the costs outlined in an NIHR funding application will be assessed in order to determine whether:
- The proposed costs of the research are reasonable and commensurate with the proposed work involved; and
- The costs to health and care services in supporting the research are reasonable in relation to the likely benefits of the research to decision-makers, patients and the public.
Ensuring that NIHR funded research is published in full is also a vital step in maximising the return on research investment.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many hours of training on Fibromyalgia are included in the syllabus for (a) a medical degree, (b) GP training (c) a nursing degree and (d) a physiotherapy degree.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Department does not hold centrally information on the number of hours of training on specific conditions by profession.
Curricula for undergraduate medical education are set by individual medical schools, emphasising the skills and approaches that a doctor must develop in order to ensure accurate and timely diagnoses and treatment plans for their patients.
The curriculum for training as a general practitioner is set by the Royal College of General Practitioners and educates trainees in identifying and managing those conditions most common to primary care. This curriculum includes outcomes or objectives relating to the management of musculoskeletal problems and core competencies relating to pain management.
All medical education has to meet standards set by the General Medical Council (GMC), which is an independent statutory body. The GMC has the general function of promoting high standards of education and co-ordinating all stages of education to ensure that medical students and newly qualified doctors are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes essential for professional practice.
Education providers that deliver courses such as nursing or physiotherapy must ensure the relevant regulator is satisfied that their proposed course will deliver graduates who possess the required knowledge and expertise of a newly qualified professional. For nursing, education providers must meet criteria set by the Nursing and Midwifery Council. The professional regulator for physiotherapists is the Health and Care Professions Council.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many hours of training on Chronic Pain are included in the syllabus for (a) a medical degree, (b) GP training, (c) a nursing degree and (d) a physiotherapy degree.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Department does not hold centrally information on the number of hours of training on specific conditions by profession.
Curricula for undergraduate medical education are set by individual medical schools, emphasising the skills and approaches that a doctor must develop in order to ensure accurate and timely diagnoses and treatment plans for their patients.
The curriculum for training as a general practitioner is set by the Royal College of General Practitioners and educates trainees in identifying and managing those conditions most common to primary care. This curriculum includes outcomes or objectives relating to the management of musculoskeletal problems and core competencies relating to pain management.
All medical education has to meet standards set by the General Medical Council (GMC), which is an independent statutory body. The GMC has the general function of promoting high standards of education and co-ordinating all stages of education to ensure that medical students and newly qualified doctors are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes essential for professional practice.
Education providers that deliver courses such as nursing or physiotherapy must ensure the relevant regulator is satisfied that their proposed course will deliver graduates who possess the required knowledge and expertise of a newly qualified professional. For nursing, education providers must meet criteria set by the Nursing and Midwifery Council. The professional regulator for physiotherapists is the Health and Care Professions Council.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many hours of training on complex regional pain syndrome are included in the syllabus for (a) a medical degree, (b) GP training, (c) a nursing degree and (d) a physiotherapy degree.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Department does not hold centrally information on the number of hours of training on specific conditions by profession.
Curricula for undergraduate medical education are set by individual medical schools, emphasising the skills and approaches that a doctor must develop in order to ensure accurate and timely diagnoses and treatment plans for their patients.
The curriculum for training as a general practitioner is set by the Royal College of General Practitioners and educates trainees in identifying and managing those conditions most common to primary care. This curriculum includes outcomes or objectives relating to the management of musculoskeletal problems and core competencies relating to pain management.
All medical education has to meet standards set by the General Medical Council (GMC), which is an independent statutory body. The GMC has the general function of promoting high standards of education and co-ordinating all stages of education to ensure that medical students and newly qualified doctors are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes essential for professional practice.
Education providers that deliver courses such as nursing or physiotherapy must ensure the relevant regulator is satisfied that their proposed course will deliver graduates who possess the required knowledge and expertise of a newly qualified professional. For nursing, education providers must meet criteria set by the Nursing and Midwifery Council. The professional regulator for physiotherapists is the Health and Care Professions Council.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to classify complex regional pain syndrome as a long-term condition; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Steve Brine
Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) has been a recognised medical condition for over 150 years. It is a debilitating, painful condition in a limb, associated with sensory, motor, skin and bone abnormalities, and there is no cure. Although in some cases sufferers make gradual recovery, for others the condition is ongoing. A long-term condition (LTC) can be defined as a condition that cannot be cured but can be managed through the use of medication and/or therapy, and by that definition CRPS is an LTC.
In terms of awareness, NHS Choices provides useful information and advice for the public on CRPS; its symptoms and causes and treatment. To support clinicians in diagnosing and managing the condition, guidance on CRPS is available from authoritative professional sources, including the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases, one of the leading centres in the United Kingdom for CRPS. More information on these CRPS resources can be found at the following links:
www.nhs.uk/conditions/complex-regional-pain-syndrome/
www.rcplondon.ac.uk/guidelines-policy/pain-complex-regional-pain-syndrome
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support his Department provides to healthcare professionals to diagnose of complex regional pain syndrome.
Answered by Steve Brine
Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) has been a recognised medical condition for over 150 years. It is a debilitating, painful condition in a limb, associated with sensory, motor, skin and bone abnormalities, and there is no cure. Although in some cases sufferers make gradual recovery, for others the condition is ongoing. A long-term condition (LTC) can be defined as a condition that cannot be cured but can be managed through the use of medication and/or therapy, and by that definition CRPS is an LTC.
In terms of awareness, NHS Choices provides useful information and advice for the public on CRPS; its symptoms and causes and treatment. To support clinicians in diagnosing and managing the condition, guidance on CRPS is available from authoritative professional sources, including the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases, one of the leading centres in the United Kingdom for CRPS. More information on these CRPS resources can be found at the following links:
www.nhs.uk/conditions/complex-regional-pain-syndrome/
www.rcplondon.ac.uk/guidelines-policy/pain-complex-regional-pain-syndrome