Under the Freedom of Information Act, We Write to Request the Following Information

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST

FOI request into service provision and access to treatment for Rheumatoid Arthritis patients

Name: Sandra Greenway

Position: Information Governance Officer

Acute trust: Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust

Email: [email protected]

Please return your completed response to:

Benjamin Wheatley Insight PA 52 Grosvenor Gardens London SW1W 0AU

Email: [email protected] Tel: 020 7054 9965

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 we request the following information:

Section 1: Clinical Homecare in the treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis

1. How many patients with rheumatoid arthritis receive treatment through a clinical homecare pathway? Majority and practically all on subcutaneous preparations

2. Which treatments can patients with rheumatoid arthritis access through clinical homecare? All subcut biologics and some subcut methotrexate.

3. Please enclose the results of available patient satisfaction surveys of clinical homecare services that the trust has received from rheumatoid arthritis patients. None held

Section 2: Treatment using biologic Disease-Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drugs (bDMARDs)

4. Please provide a breakdown of the different treatments used by the trust to treat patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Traditional DMARDS, Biologics including all antiTNFs, Rituximab, Tocilizumab and Abatacept

1 | P a g e 5. Please provide an annual breakdown of the number of patients with rheumatoid arthritis receiving each drug identified in question 4. . We don’t know exact split between these groups but have around 600 of all patients on biologics including RA, Psoraitic and ankylosing spondylytis.

Section 3: Best Practice Tariff for Early Inflammatory Arthritis

6. Is your trust implementing the best practice tariff for early inflammatory arthritis? No, but we follow the principles of early and aggressive therapy.

Section 4: Specialist rheumatology staff

7. How many consultant rheumatologists are employed by the trust? 5

8. How many consultant rheumatologists are employed by the trust per rheumatology patient? Occupied Beds of Emergency Patients with Primary Diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis – 2010/11

site Occupied Bed Days Good Hope 11 Heartlands 82 Solihull 18 Grand Total 111 During 2010/11 there were 7,054 individual patients seen in Rheumatology clinics, generating a total of 16,627 attendances

9. How many specialist rheumatology nurses are employed by the trust? 5

10. How many specialist rheumatology nurses are employed by the trust per rheumatology patient?

Occupied Beds of Emergency Patients with Primary Diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis – 2010/11

site Occupied Bed Days Good Hope 11 Heartlands 82 Solihull 18 Grand Total 111 During 2010/11 there were 7,054 individual patients seen in Rheumatology clinics, generating a total of 16,627 attendances

11. Has the trust increased or decreased the number and capacity of specialist rheumatology staff in the years 2010/11, 2011/12, 2012/13, 2013/14? Increased the consultant number, middle grade number and specialist and biologic nurse numbers

12. How many patients with rheumatoid arthritis were proactively offered psychological support? If deemed appropriate request GP to organise.

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Section 5: General

13. What is the total number of unplanned inpatient bed days, as a result of rheumatoid arthritis, in hospitals within the catchment area of the CCG? Please provide figures since 2010.

14. What is the total amount spent by the trust on rheumatoid arthritis? a. Please provide a breakdown of this expenditure £80,000 approx - Emergency Patients with Primary Diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis £1.8 million approx – outpatient clinics

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