Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they anticipate to return to funding general practice to 11 per cent of the total NHS budget.
Answered by Lord Kamall
There is no target on the proportion of the National Health Service budget allocated for the funding of general practice. In 2019, we invested an additional £4.5 billion in primary medical and community care by 2023/24. In February 2020, we committed at least a further £1.5 billion until 2023/24 for the recruitment of additional staff in general practice.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many General Practitioners they forecast to be in practice in 2030.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The information requested is not held centrally. However, we are working to increase the general practice workforce, address the reasons why doctors leave the profession and encourage them to return to practice.
The updated GP Contract Framework for 2020/21 also provides new retention schemes and continued support for existing schemes to retain general practitioners. We are also working with the National Health Service and the profession to understand what further support may be required and to improve the working environment.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps the NHS is taking to administer a COVID-19 booster vaccine, together with the annual flu vaccine, this autumn.
Answered by Lord Kamall
NHS England and NHS Improvement have advised that National Health Service systems should maximise opportunities to jointly promote and administer vaccinations where possible and clinically advised, particularly where this improves patient experience and uptake.
The enhanced service specification for the COVID-19 vaccination programme also states that, where it is operationally expedient, administration with the flu vaccine may be provided. Individuals are offered COVID-19 and flu vaccines when eligible and in some instances, a short delay between vaccines will ensure that more individuals receive both vaccines, such as in care homes. Vaccination sites have been asked to use their discretion to maximise these opportunities.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the numbers of GPs retiring in the next few years; and what steps they are taking to address this.
Answered by Lord Kamall
No specific assessment has been made as the decision to retire can be influenced by many factors. We are working to support and increase the general practice workforce, address the reasons why doctors leave the profession and encourage them to return to practice.
The updated GP Contract Framework for 2020/21 announced a new retention schemes and continued support for existing schemes to allow more general practitioners (GPs) to remain in the National Health Service. We are also working with the NHS and the profession to understand how GPs’ working environment can be improved.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the level of COVID-19 infections on (1) pharmacies, and (2) GP surgeries.
Answered by Lord Kamall
No specific assessment has been made of the impact of the level of COVID-19 infections on pharmacies and general practitioner (GP) surgeries.
However, to support community pharmacies during the pandemic, we reprioritised services, removed some administrative tasks, enabled working behind closed doors and allowed flexibility in opening hours and closures. If required, these measures can be reintroduced.
In addition to £520 million made available to improve access and expand general practice capacity during the pandemic, we established a £250 million Winter Access Fund to allows patients to see or speak to GPs and their teams. In 2020, we announced £1.5 billion to create an additional 50 million general practice appointments by 2024 by increasing and diversifying the workforce.
General practices have remained open throughout the pandemic, offering face to face appointments to those who need them as well as telephone and online consultations. Practices now offer triage and remote consultations alongside face-to face appointments, in order to see as many patients as possible, while protecting staff and patients from infection risks.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the regulations limiting the number of patients able to wait in consulting rooms in healthcare settings have been lifted.
Answered by Lord Kamall
There are currently no regulations limiting the number of patients able to wait in consulting rooms in healthcare settings.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of staff shortages on the (1) NHS, and (2) care sector, in terms of treating patients and those in care.
Answered by Lord Kamall
No formal assessment has been made. Safe staffing levels remain the responsibility of local clinical and other leaders, supported by national guidance and regulated by the Care Quality Commission.
The monthly workforce statistics for October 2021 show that there over 1.2 million full time equivalent staff in the National Health Service. Since October 2020, there are 4,800 more doctors, over 10,900 more nurses and over 44,700 more NHS Health and Community Hospital Services staff in total. We are on schedule to deliver 50,000 more nurses by the end of this Parliament and we have funded an additional 1,500 undergraduate medical school places each year for domestic students in England.
We have provided £462.5 million to local authorities and social care providers for recruitment and retention in the sector, expanded the Health and Care Visa to include care workers and we have launched the Made with Care recruitment campaign, running until March 2022.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the level of absence amongst (1) NHS staff, and (2) carers, over the last month attributed to COVID-19.
Answered by Lord Kamall
In the month to 5 January 2022, the average daily number of staff absent from work in National Health Service hospital trusts for COVID-19 related reasons was 30,637. This compares to a peak of over 100,000 absences per day in April 2020 and over 50,000 absences per day in January 2021.
The Department does not hold data on the number of carers absent from work due to COVID-19 over the last month. The Department collects data on COVID-19 related absence among staff in care homes and domiciliary care, which is currently being collated and validated for future publication.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why they stopped funding workplace testing for COVID-19; and whether that decision will be kept under review.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Workplace testing ended in England at the end of July and employers were encouraged to direct their employees to order home tests from GOV.UK, collect from local pharmacies or order via the 119 service. The introduction of these citizen-direct testing channels meant that workplace testing was no longer required. Workplace testing will continue in some sectors where there is a particular need and the Department will continue to monitor any issues in other sectors. We have also announced that we will deliver tests to workplaces to allow 100,000 workers in priority, critical roles to test daily for the next five weeks. Roll out started from Monday 10th January. Tests will be separate from public sectors who already have a testing allocation with UK Health Security Agency, such as adult social care or education, and separate to those delivered to pharmacies and homes, so those channels will not be impacted by the new scheme.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they plan to lift social distancing regulations to allow an increase in face to face appointments at GP surgeries.
Answered by Lord Kamall
On 14 October, the UK Health Security Agency published an online review into changes to COVID-19 infection prevention and control guidance to help ease pressure on the National Health Service, Recommendation 4: a more flexible approach to patient consultations in primary care and general practice. The review states that face to face consultations should be permitted where this is safe for patients and staff, whilst recognising that telephone and video consultations continue to have an important role. Physical distancing can be reduced from two metres to one metre with appropriate mitigations, such as the continued use of face coverings or masks.