§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what steps she is taking to ensure that medical, nursing and other staff are properly trained in the counselling of both patients suffering from Huntington's chorea and their families.
§ Dr. OwenAdvice has been issued in the past to doctors on genetic counselling for inherited disorders such as Huntington's chorea and I am currently reviewing ways in which such counselling services might be more effectively provided for potential sufferers from this disease. Professional staff employed in the National Health Service already receive training in the provision of supportive care to those suffering from diseases of this kind and their families. In order to improve the availability of information about the disease the Department has arranged for copies of booklets prepared by the Association to Combat Huntington's Chorea to be placed in the libraries of postgraduate medical centres.
§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what hospital care is available to those seriously affected by Huntington's chorea.
§ Dr. OwenThose sufferers requiring long-term hospital care are usually admitted to either neurological, younger disabled or psychiatric units, depending on the nature and extent of their disabilities
§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what research into the cause and possible cure of Huntington's chorea is now being carried out; and where this is being done.
801W
§ Dr. OwenAs I told my hon. Friend the Member for Derby, North (Mr. Whitehead) on 7th November—[Vol. 899, c.359–60.]—a wide range of basic neurological work which could advance the knowledge of the nature of Huntington's chorea is being promoted by the Medical Research Council. The major part of the research programme at the MRC Neurochemical Pharmacology Unit is concerned with studies of the biochemical changes underlying the disease; while other biomedical investigations are in progress at the MRC Brain Metabolism Unit and in the Division of Molecular Pharmacology at the National Institute of Medical Research. The Department of Social Medicine at Edinburgh University is engaged on a project on the incidence and family distribution of the disease. The Department is also supporting from its own research funds a project in the National Health Service on various aspects of the disease. The greater part of this research forms part of basic research programmes and costs relating specifically to the disease are not available.