Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether their long-term plan for social care in England will focus on (1) whole system reform, or (2) protecting people from having to sell their homes to pay for care.
Answered by Lord Bethell
We recognise there is a need for long-term reform in social care. Therefore, we are reviewing options and have invited cross-party talks to find the best solutions to these complex questions. We will put forward a plan following those talks.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to include people with Parkinson's disease on the list of those clinically extremely vulnerable to COVID-19.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Expert doctors in England have identified specific medical conditions that, based on what we knew about the virus so far, place someone at greatest risk of severe illness from COVID-19. These were signed off by the United Kingdom Senior Clinicians Group, including the four UK Chief Medical Officers and clinical leadership at NHS England and NHS Improvement, NHS Digital and Public Health England. The list of conditions is kept under review and there are no plans at present to add Parkinson's disease to it.
General practitioners and hospital specialists are able to add individual people with Parkinson’s disease onto the shielded patients list on a case by case basis if it is their clinical judgement that the person is clinically extremely vulnerable.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they are putting in place to restart safely social care services that stopped because of social distancing measures, including (1) respite care, and (2) day centres; how any such plans are being communicated to users of social care services; and what guidance they have provided to local authorities on the safe restart of those services.
Answered by Lord Bethell
We recognise the crucial role that day services and respite care play to provide care, support and respite for carers.
Decisions on the running and re-opening of day services are made on a local basis.
We are working with the Social Care Institute of Excellence, local government and other key sector partners, to publish guidance soon which will support local authorities and providers to restart day services. In addition, Public Health England is developing guidance on the use of personal protective equipment in community settings, which will be applicable to day services.
Local authorities and service providers should have maintained contact with carers and service users throughout the lockdown. They will now be discussing arrangements to reintroduce care packages including where possible respite care and breaks.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what lessons they have learned from the rapid operation of COVID-19 clinical trials; and what plans they have to use that learning after the COVID-19 pandemic to speed up the approval process for all clinical trials.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The response to the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that the United Kingdom healthcare research and approvals system has the agility and flexibility to respond efficiently to a national crisis. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the Health Research Authority (HRA) instigated procedures for rapid scientific advice, reviews and approvals for COVID-19 trials, prioritising these and authorising them in about one week.
As of 2 July, the MHRA has authorised a total of 61 trials for the treatment or prevention of COVID-19 in an average of nine days. A total of 50 trials for the treatment or prevention of COVID-19 have been approved by both the MHRA and the HRA in an average of 12 days. Both the MHRA and the HRA have also produced guidance on regulatory flexibilities available to clinical trial sponsors and proportionate approaches so that trials could be run as efficiently as possible.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that mental health services will be able to meet any excess demand from people with Parkinson's disease who have not been able to access psychological services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The National Health Service has issued guidance to services to support them in managing demand and capacity across inpatient and community mental health services and keeping services open for business.
There is broad consensus that there is the potential for an increase in demand and we are working with the NHS, Public Health England and other key partners to gather evidence and assess the potential longer-term mental health impacts and plan for how to support mental health and wellbeing throughout the ‘recovery’ phase.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures are in place to support the carers and family members of those people with Parkinson's disease who have experienced distressing hallucinations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Bethell
As set out in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guideline Parkinson’s disease in adults, published in July 2017, symptoms such as hallucinations are an increased risk for people taking some Parkinson’s disease medications. The guidance sets out that people with Parkinson’s disease should have a comprehensive care plan agreed between themselves, their family members and carers and specialist and secondary healthcare providers. A copy of the guidance is attached.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what additional support is in place for the carers and family members of those people with Parkinson's disease dementia and dementia with Lewy bodies who may be experiencing greater levels of distress following the COVID-19 lockdown.
Answered by Lord Bethell
We recognise the crucial role that unpaid carers play in supporting people with conditions like dementia, especially during the pandemic.
On 8 April we published COVID-19 guidance for unpaid carers in an online only format on GOV.UK to support carers during the pandemic, which includes general advice on infection control and caring where someone has symptoms.
We have commissioned research through the National Institute for Health Research on the best ways to mitigate the psychological and social impact of COVID-19 on people with dementia living in the community and their family carers. Work has already started with phased outputs to August 2020.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the COVID-19 pandemic, (1) what measures are in place to restart outpatient clinics while ensuring that those who visit do not contract the virus, and (2) how these measures are being communicated to patients.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Whilst routine treatments were suspended to provide capacity to treat COVID-19 patients, we are now working closely with the National Health Service and other partners to restart these in a safe way, with excellence in infection prevention and control as a key principle. Guidance has already been issued on this, and approaches are being tailored at local level according to local capacity and local demand, with the most urgent services being restarted first.
The NHS ‘Help us to help you’ media campaign encourages all patients in need of urgent or emergency medical care to seek appropriate treatment.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services have provided telephone and video appointments in place of face-to-face appointments between the start of the COVID-19 lockdown on 23 March and 15 June.
Answered by Lord Bethell
We are unable to provide the data as requested.
The information on whether appointments take place face-to-face or by phone or video is only available in the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies annual publications. This information covering the period 1 April 2019 - 31 March 2020 is due to be published on 30 July 2020.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that people with Parkinson's disease will have continued access to psychological therapies until the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Bethell
National Health Service mental health services have remained open for business throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, including delivering support digitally and over the phone where possible. In doing so, the NHS has been clear on the importance of maintaining face to face care for those patients who need it, and of patient choice in determining suitability for digital appointments.
When delivering face to face appointments, mental health services are expected to follow the latest guidance on the use of personal protective equipment in healthcare settings to support infection prevention and control. Services will be further enabled by the roll out of the NHS Test and Trace service to reduce transmission risk and deliver face to face services in as safe a way as possible.