Jane Ellison MP: NHS England works in partnership with local commissioners and providers to ensure people with long-term conditions, such as hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), are supported to live healthily and independently and are empowered to take better control over the care they receive.
The majority of patients with HS can be managed through routine access to primary and secondary care, including dermatology clinics, which is responsibility of the local National Health Service commissioners. Treatment and management of the condition involves antibiotics, antiseptic washes and immunosuppressive treatments such as steroids or ciclosporin, which a general practitioner may prescribe.
For those patients with the more serious forms of HS, referral to a specialised dermatology service may be appropriate. NHS England commissions services for people with rare and complex skin conditions, including HS, and has set out what providers must have in place in order to offer specialist dermatology care. This supports equity of access to a high quality service for patients wherever they live. These services may provide more intensive therapies with the involvement of a range of health and care professionals, subject to a patient’s needs. More information can be found by viewing the specialised dermatology service specification at the following link:
www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/a12-spec-dermatology.pdf
Rosie Cooper MP: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress has been made by NHS England on the production of a commissioning policy for treatments associated with hidradenitis suppurativa; what the proposed scope of that policy is; and when he expects that policy to have been fully developed.
Jane Ellison MP: NHS England works in partnership with local commissioners and providers to ensure people with long-term conditions, such as hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), are supported to live healthily and independently and are empowered to take better control over the care they receive.
The majority of patients with HS can be managed through routine access to primary and secondary care, including dermatology clinics, which is responsibility of the local National Health Service commissioners. Treatment and management of the condition involves antibiotics, antiseptic washes and immunosuppressive treatments such as steroids or ciclosporin, which a general practitioner may prescribe.
For those patients with the more serious forms of HS, referral to a specialised dermatology service may be appropriate. NHS England commissions services for people with rare and complex skin conditions, including HS, and has set out what providers must have in place in order to offer specialist dermatology care. This supports equity of access to a high quality service for patients wherever they live. These services may provide more intensive therapies with the involvement of a range of health and care professionals, subject to a patient’s needs. More information can be found by viewing the specialised dermatology service specification at the following link:
www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/a12-spec-dermatology.pdf
15th September
Jim Shannon MP: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make available on the NHS the skin cancer injection treatment Opdivo.
In the absence of guidance from NICE, it is for commissioners to make decisions on whether to fund new medicines based on an assessment of the available evidence.
14th September
Carolyn Harris MP: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the timeline is for the NICE Single Technology Appraisal of nivolumab for the treatment of melanoma.
www.nice.org.uk/guidance/indevelopment/gid-tag515
NICE is also developing technology appraisal guidance on the use of nivolumab in combination with ipilimumab (Yervoy) for the treatment of melanoma and expects to issue final guidance in September 2016.
In the absence of guidance from NICE, it is for commissioners to make decisions on whether to fund new medicines based on an assessment of the available evidence.
We take the issue of ensuring rapid access to innovative therapies very seriously, which is why we have launched an Accelerated Access Review to make recommendations to Government on speeding up access for National Health Service patients to innovative and cost effective new medicines, diagnostics and medical technologies.
7th September
NHS England is responsible for the operational management of the Cancer Drugs Fund. It has taken a decision not to consider new drugs like nivolumab, at this stage, whilst consideration is given to new ways of working and to ensure that the Fund remains within budget.
We understand that NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence will shortly be consulting jointly on a proposed new system for commissioning cancer drugs.
The Government remains committed to the Fund which has so far helped over 72,000 people in England access the cancer drugs their doctors recommend for them.
Carolyn Harris MP: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had with NHS England on providing additional funding for skin cancer specialist nurses.
Jane Ellison: NHS England has published a service specification for adult skin cancer services which sets out what the National Health Service must have in place to offer high quality skin cancer treatment, care and support. Clinical nurse specialists (CNSs) are an integral part of the support for patients diagnosed and treated for cancer. We know from the Cancer Patient Experience Survey that patients with a CNS report a better experience.
CNSs feature in all the cancer peer review measures on which multi-disciplinary teams (MDTs) in hospitals are assessed, including skin cancer MDTs. The expectation is that providers have CNSs in place for each tumour area.
20th July
Carolyn Harris MP: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had on the availability of new treatments for (a) skin cancer patients and (b) patients with advanced melanoma.
George Freeman MP: A number of drugs for the treatment of skin cancers including melanoma are licensed and are available for use on the National Health Service, subject to funding decisions by the relevant commissioner.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended a number of drugs for skincancers and melanoma and is currently developing technology appraisal guidance on several new treatments. In addition, NICE is developing a clinical guideline on the assessment and management of melanoma and its final guidance is expected to be published later this month.
We take the issue of ensuring rapid access to innovative therapies very seriously, which is why we have launched an Accelerated Access Review to make recommendations to Government later in the year on speeding up access for NHS patients to innovative and cost effective new medicines, diagnostics and medical technologies.
Margaret Ritchie MP: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the timetable is for his Department’s analysis of the data from the skin cancer Be Clear on Cancer pilot.
Early results from the pilot are encouraging and are currently being evaluated. PHE can confirm that there will be a full and final evaluation report published for the local skin cancer pilot campaign as soon as possible, when analysis of all metrics is complete. However, in advance of a final evaluation report, PHE aims to publish an interim report containing the public awareness and knowledge levels and the results from the analysis of cancer waiting times data during summer 2015.
