Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help support people diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
To support the provision of optimal support for people with multiple sclerosis (MS) and other neurological conditions, NHS England has established the Neuroscience Transformation Programme, a multi-year, clinically led programme aimed at improving specialised adult neuroscience services in England and developing a new model of integrated care for neurology services.
The Neuroscience Transformation Programme seeks to support emerging regional teams in addition to Integrated Care Systems in the National Health Service, through establishing a ‘what good looks like’ for specialised neuroscience services for a local population.
NHS England has also established the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) national programme, which is designed to improve the treatment and care of patients through in-depth, clinically led review of specialties to examine how things are currently being done and how they could be improved.
The GIRFT National Specialty Report on Neurology, published in September 2021, focuses on improving access to care and ensuring services are available close to patients’ homes where feasible. The report highlights differences in how services are delivered and highlights examples of local good practice to improve patient services nationally.
NHS systems should also continue to implement the guidance set out in the Progressive Neurological Conditions RightCare Toolkit, which was developed in collaboration with key stakeholders such as the MS Trust and the MS Society. The Toolkit supports improvements to pathways for progressive neurological patients, ensuring that commissioners focus on quicker and more accurate diagnoses and increasing the availability of neurorehabilitation, reablement, and psychosocial support.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take steps to ensure that PIP assessors receive adequate training relating to (a) Parkinson’s disease, (b) multiple sclerosis, (c) Crohn’s disease and (d) colitis.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Personal Independence Payment assessments are carried out by qualified health professionals (HPs), who receive comprehensive training in assessing functional capability relating to both physical and mental health conditions, including Parkinson’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, and Colitis.
HPs have access to a range of resources and experienced clinicians to support them in assessing individuals with specific conditions. Assessment providers engage with medical experts, charities, and relevant stakeholders to strengthen their training programmes.
This year’s Health & Disability White Paper committed to developing the skills of HPs. As a result, the department began a proof of concept to match an individual’s primary health condition to a HP who has professional experience in their condition. In addition to their professional experience, HPs will also take part in training to specialise in the functional impacts of specific health conditions.
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 taken steps to invest in research for early detection of neurological conditions.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to supporting research into the early detection of neurological conditions and funds such research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and UK Research and Innovation. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including research for early detection of neurological conditions. It is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made based on the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.
The NIHR delivers the Clinical Research Network Neurological Disorders Speciality Group, which supports clinical research in the National Health Service in epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, headache, neuro-muscular disease, neurological infections, and the normal development of the nervous system. By promoting high quality clinical research, the group aims to increase the understanding of the causes of these conditions, and improve the prevention, detection, care and treatment for people suffering from them. The NIHR has also supported studies relating to the early detection of neurological conditions, such as Project Rhapsody which investigated the clinical feasibility of using artificial intelligence-based deep audio and language processing techniques to diagnose neurological and psychiatric diseases.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that PIP assessors take into account the hidden symptoms of multiple sclerosis when making their assessments; and what recent assessment he has made of the impact of the PIP assessment process on the mental health of people with multiple sclerosis.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Assessments for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) are carried out by qualified health professionals (HPs), who receive training in assessing the impacts of a variety of disabilities including multiple sclerosis (MS), to ensure they are familiar with the clinical aspects of the conditions and their impact on daily functions.
HPs have access to Condition Insight Reports (CIRs) which are developed specifically to enable them to gain further insight into clinical and functional information, relating to specific conditions. Both Capita and Independent Assessment Services (IAS), who conduct PIP assessments on behalf of the department, hold CIRs on MS, which have been produced for them by representative groups.
DWP recognises that attending an assessment can be a stressful experience, which is why claimants are not invited to attend a face-to-face, telephone or video assessment where there is sufficient paper evidence to determine benefit entitlement.
Companions are also encouraged to attend and can play an active role in the assessment to support individuals or help them manage any anxiety they may feel.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
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 an (a) adequate and (b) equitable supply of Sativex for people with multiple sclerosis to integrated care boards.
Answered by Will Quince
There are currently no reported supply issues concerning the licensed cannabis-based medicine Sativex. The Department has well-established processes to manage and mitigate medicine supply issues, working closely with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the pharmaceutical industry, NHS England, Devolved Governments and others operating in the supply chain, to help prevent shortages and to ensure that the risks to patients are minimised when they do arise.
The decision on whether to prescribe Sativex must be taken by a specialist clinician on a case-by-case basis and funding of this medicine is subject to local National Health Service decisions.
On 6 September 2021, NHS England issued a reminder to NHS trusts and commissioners (now integrated care boards) of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance relating to Sativex and their responsibilities. Data from the NHS Business Services Authority indicates that dispensing of this drug in the community has almost doubled between September 21 (205 items) to March 2023 (402 items), according to the latest available data.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the last five years; and if he will provide a breakdown of those figures by age and gender.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information is not held in the format requested.
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 he is taking steps to support the development of artificial intelligence in brain imaging.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department is funding the AI in Health and Care Award which has provided £123 million to 86 artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. The Award was created to accelerate the testing and evaluation of some of the most promising AI technologies that can support clinicians.
One of the areas supported by the AI Award is brain imaging. We are currently evaluating the Brainomix e-Stroke Suite, a CE-marked set of tools that uses artificial intelligence methods to interpret acute stroke brain scans, and helps doctors make the right choices about treatment and the need for specialist transfer of patients. E-stroke suite is currently deployed in nine stroke networks in the United Kingdom. We are also funding the first real world testing of Qure.ai’s qER, a triage and notification AI tool that prioritises head CT scans with critical abnormalities such as a bleed, fracture, mass effect or midline shift for priority review by a radiologist and Icometrix’s icobrain which uses AI on MRI scans to track the progress of multiple sclerosis.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has had discussions with people with Multiple Sclerosis on the adequacy of (a) informal observations, (b) the 50 percent rule and (c) the 20-meter rule for determining Personal Independence Payment awards.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) was established in collaboration with a wide range of experts and following a comprehensive public consultation between 2010-2012 with stakeholders, including the Multiple Sclerosis Society.
As referenced in my responses on 21 April 2023, UIN181230, and 24 April 2023, UIN181064:
More recently the department ran a series of events with charities (including the MS Society on 30 September 2020) which helped to shape Future Support: The Health and Disability Green Paper.
Many of the changes set out in Transforming Support: The Health and Disability White Paper aim to improve our assessment of fluctuating conditions, such as the way we use medical evidence, and developing the capability of our assessors. We will also explore options for introducing a new way of gathering evidence of fluctuation in a person’s condition before their assessment.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment the Government has made of the effectiveness of (a) the 20-metre rule, (b) informal observations and (c) the 50 per cent rule for accurately assessing the impact of Multiple sclerosis during Personal Independence Payment assessments.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
As referenced in my responses on 21 April 2023, UIN181230, and 24 April 2023, UIN181064:
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 his Department is taking to help increase public understanding of multiple sclerosis .
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published specific guidance to improve awareness and understanding about multiple sclerosis, as well as guidance on suspected neurological conditions more broadly.
NICE promotes its guidance via its website, newsletters and other media.