Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will publish the waiting times from the point of a GP referral for a diagnosis of a patient with suspected Parkinson's Disease to the date of an appointment with a neurologist or geriatrician, by Integrated Care Board for the latest period for which that data is available.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Information is not held centrally on the waiting times from the point of general practice (GP) referral for a diagnosis of suspected Parkinson’s disease, to the date of appointment with a neurologist or geriatrician, by integrated care board.
Similarly, information is not held centrally on how many people with Parkinson’s disease are on waiting lists for a referral for diagnosis from a neurologist or geriatrician in each integrated care board area.
GP referrals are not classified by suspected diagnosis, so data is not available in the form requested. Not all patients referred to a neurologist or geriatrician with suspected Parkinson’s disease will go on to receive a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, while some receive other diagnoses.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the amount of funding allocated to the research of Parkinson's disease over the next five years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including Parkinson’s disease. Future funding allocated to research into Parkinson’s disease, and into other aspects of human health, will depend on the volume and quality of proposals received from the research community, with the level of spending outlined in the end of year accounting.
The Department, through the NIHR, invested £12.2 million into Parkinson’s research over five financial years, ending in 2022/23. The NIHR has supported a broad portfolio of Parkinson’s research and, in the last year alone, supported the conduct of 114 studies relating to Parkinson’s disease through the NIHR Clinical Research Network. For example, the NIHR is investing £3 million in the PD MED clinical trial, which investigates the efficacy of different drugs in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. The usual practice of the NIHR is not to ring-fence funds for expenditure on particular topics.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department has taken to improve care for people with Parkinson's disease.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I would like to thank my Honourable friend who is a tireless campaigner on this issue.Asked by: Scott Benton (Independent - Blackpool South)
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 implications for his policies of the finding on page 4 of the report entitled Every minute counts, published by Parkinson's UK in September 2023, that 42% of patients with Parkinson's who are admitted to hospital get their medication on time every time.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Within secondary care, hospital providers are responsible for ensuring that patients within hospital settings, including those with Parkinson’s disease, receive the appropriate medication on time.
NHS England has published a RightCare toolkit which aims to address challenges in providing services for those with progressive neurological conditions, including Parkinson’s disease. The toolkit provides advice on medicine optimisation, highlighting the importance of timely administration of specific drugs, such as Levodopa, in acute and community health settings.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions she has had with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency on the average licensing approval decision timelines for (a) generic and (b) biosimilar medicines to treat Parkinson's disease.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is taking urgent action to deliver improvements to decision timescales in established medicines, including those indicated to treat Parkinson’s disease. Last week we approved additional licences for this critical area. Whilst no specific discussions have taken place between the MHRA and my Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on this matter, we are taking significant steps to assess applications for medicine approval within statutory timeframes and will always prioritise applications according to public health need.
We are working to reduce timelines by bringing in additional resources and developing processes that will result in significantly improved response times, while protecting patient safety. The measures we are putting in place are already resulting in significant improvements, and we will continue to publish monthly updates providing applicants with transparent information on expected timescales. As an effective regulator, we are committed to the highest of standards of performance and delivering the right outcomes for patients and public health.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she is taking steps with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to reduce the time taken to license (a) generic and (b) biosimilar medicines to treat Parkinson's disease.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is taking urgent action to deliver improvements to decision timescales in established medicines, including those indicated to treat Parkinson’s disease. Last week we approved additional licences for this critical area. Whilst no specific discussions have taken place between the MHRA and my Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on this matter, we are taking significant steps to assess applications for medicine approval within statutory timeframes and will always prioritise applications according to public health need.
We are working to reduce timelines by bringing in additional resources and developing processes that will result in significantly improved response times, while protecting patient safety. The measures we are putting in place are already resulting in significant improvements, and we will continue to publish monthly updates providing applicants with transparent information on expected timescales. As an effective regulator, we are committed to the highest of standards of performance and delivering the right outcomes for patients and public health.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of issuing warm home prescriptions to patients with Parkinson's disease.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have made no specific assessment. The Government recognises that warm home prescription schemes can be effective in helping to protect vulnerable people and households from the health impacts of living in a cold home. These schemes are good examples of local collaboration between the National Health Service, local government, and other partners.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer by the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work to the Question from the hon. Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun on 13 November 2023, Official Report, column 371, when he plans to contact Parkinson's UK to arrange a meeting to discuss Work Capability Assessments.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I have recently met with individuals diagnosed with Parkinson’s, and we continue to engage with a range of clinical experts and charities specialising in disability and health conditions as well as representatives from national organisations to understand the experiences of people with Parkinson’s going through the Work Capability Assessment.
Asked by: Scott Benton (Independent - Blackpool South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the report by Parkinson's UK entitled Every minute counts, published in September 2023, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policies of the proportion of patients with Parkinson's admitted to hospital who always receive their medication on time.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Within secondary care, hospital providers are responsible for ensuring that patients within hospital settings, including those with Parkinson’s disease, receive the appropriate medication on time.
NHS England has published a RightCare toolkit which aims to address challenges in providing services for those with progressive neurological conditions, including Parkinson’s disease. The toolkit provides advice on medicine optimisation, highlighting the importance of timely administration of specific drugs, such as Levodopa, in acute and community health settings.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help ensure patients diagnosed with Parkinson's disease receive an appointment with a specialist within six weeks.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guidance, Parkinson’s disease: Diagnosis and management in primary and secondary care, updated in 2017, sets out best practice for clinicians in the identification and treatment of Parkinson’s disease in line with the latest available evidence. The guidance states that if Parkinson’s disease is suspected, people should be referred quickly and without treatment to a specialist with expertise in the differential diagnosis of this condition.
We expect integrated care boards (ICBs) and National Health Service trusts to have due regard to relevant NICE guidelines. It is the responsibility of ICBs to make available the appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, in line with these NICE guidelines.
More generally, cutting waiting lists is one of the Prime Minister’s top priorities. We are making good progress on tackling the longest waits, to ensure patients get the care they need when they need it. Ambitions to eliminate long waits were set out in the elective recovery plan, with the overall aim of eliminating waits of over a year for elective care, by March 2025.
To facilitate this across elective services, we are increasing activity, with plans to spend more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25. This includes expanding capacity through the creation of a new network of community diagnostic centres, and maximising all available independent sector capacity.