Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of when NHS England's waiting times will return to those recorded in February 2020 (1) for all operations and procedures, and (2) for patients waiting for more than a year for non-urgent operations and procedures.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Department is currently making an assessment of National Health Service waiting times in England, including the capacity to return to pre-pandemic levels.
Asked by: Lord Balfe (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 (1) accuracy, and (2) usefulness, of lateral flow tests, following reports that the rate of false positives returned by these tests has increased as the prevalence of COVID-19 has fallen.
Answered by Lord Bethell
New analysis of community testing data shows lateral flow device (LFD) tests to have a specificity of at least 99.9%. For every 1,000 LFD tests carried out, there is less than one false positive result. Rapid testing using LFDs detects cases quickly in under 30 minutes, meaning positive cases can isolate immediately, breaking chains of transmission.
Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Statement by the Minister of State for Care on 24 March (HCWS877), what functions are covered by the term "speciality and associate specialist doctors"; which of these functions had vacancies to improve the (1) recruitment, and (2) percentage of doctors in these posts; what are the "contractual changes" that will deliver improvements to NHS services; and what is the expected percentage increase of the cost of the Speciality and Associate Doctors' Contract Agreement from its implementation to the end of its first full year in operation.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The term ‘specialty and associate specialist’ refers to doctors employed on a number of different medical contracts. They generally require at least four years full time post-graduate training at least two of which must be in a specialty training programme. This group of staff are employed across all specialties and routinely carry out a range of medical functions appropriate to their level of expertise.
We do not collect data on vacancies for doctors by grade. The pay and contract reform agreement delivers a number of changes which will contribute to the improvement of NHS services - for example, reducing the hours paid at enhanced rates will improve flexible service provision and introducing a new senior grade will enable employers to achieve the best skill mix for multi-disciplinary teams. The total cost of the agreement will depend on the number of doctors opting to transfer to the new contracts. In the first year of operation we expect an average cost of 3% per full time equivalent for those who transfer to the new terms and conditions.
Asked by: Lord Balfe (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 clinical impact of GPs directing patients to dedicated blood test centres rather than carrying out such tests at local surgeries during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Bethell
No formal assessment has been made. Offering blood tests has continued throughout the pandemic, with urgent tests being prioritised. However, infection control measures have necessitated changes to the model of delivery in some parts of the country. For some general practitioner practices, their own services will have been able to continue. For other practices, teams may have joined up to create a hub offer to provide extra capacity.
Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that questions for written answer from members of the House of Lords that are allocated to the Department for Health and Social Care are answered on time; and what plans they have to recruit more staff for that purpose.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Department has received an unprecedented number of Written Questions since March 2020. We are working hard to improve our response rate through an iterative written questions recovery plan and performance is now improving at a steady rate. The core Department has increased by a further 400 posts since December 2020, to support the COVID-19 response across all areas.
Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 8 February (HL12760), whether there are any (1) financial, or (2) other, arrangements for private providers to be admitted to their list of COVID-19 test providers; how companies are admitted to that list; and what ongoing inspection takes place to ensure that they meet appropriate standards.
Answered by Lord Bethell
There are no financial or other arrangements for private providers to be added the list of providers. Any provider may submit a self-declaration stating that their full end-to-end process meets the minimum standards set out in legislation. Following the review of these self-declarations by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS), the provider may be added to the list of private testing providers, subject to their meeting the minimum standards. This is the first stage of a three-stage assessment process in order to attain full UKAS accreditation.
Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 8 February (HL12760), what is the weekly number of tests able to be carried out by NHS Test and Trace; what is the estimated number of tests required for the Test to Release for International Travel scheme; and how testing as part of that scheme helps to "safeguard testing capacity”.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Since 15 February, NHS Test and Trace has had the capacity to deliver around 750,000 polymerase chain reaction tests every day. According to Passenger Locator Form data, 61,193 individuals opted-in to Test to Release during the week 15 to 21 February. Testing for Test to Release is delivered only by private testing providers that meet a specific set of minimum standards, therefore the number of individuals that choose to opt-in to Test to Release does not impact on NHS Test and Trace’s ability to deliver tests.
Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 8 February (HL12760), why NHS Test and Trace tests do “not meet the minimum standards required to legally release a traveller from self-isolation upon providing a negative result”; and on what basis they are using lateral flow tests as part of the Test to Release International Travel scheme.
Answered by Lord Bethell
NHS Test and Trace tests are not being used for the Test to Release scheme as this is an optional scheme for international arrivals from non ‘red list’ countries to allow them to shorten their isolation period. NHS Test and Trace testing is for people who have symptoms of COVID-19 or who are clinically advised to take a COVID-19 test. Testing for Test to Release must be a polymerase chain reaction test purchased from a private testing provider.