Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that everyone on the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation priority list is able to access covid-19 vaccines promptly in Sutton Coldfield constituency.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Work has taken place to ensure we have the logistical expertise, transport and workforce to roll out a vaccine according to clinical priority, at the speed at which it can be manufactured. The phased vaccination programme, which began on 8 December 2020, will be expanded over the coming weeks and months so that by the end of January, everyone will live within 10 miles of a vaccination centre. In a small number of highly rural areas, the vaccination centre will be a mobile unit.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the availability of covid-19 testing in Sutton Coldfield constituency.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are two Regional Test Sites within 15 miles of Sutton Coldfield: Birmingham Airport and Kelvin Way as well as six Local Test Sites: 60 Villa Street, Mountford Lane Car Park, South Parade Car Park, Birmingham University South Gate Car Park, Saltley Wellbeing Centre Car Park and Summerfield Community Sports Centre Car Park. These sites form part of the extending national network, a total of over 500 by the end of October.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the availability of covid-19 testing for health professionals in the West Midlands.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
All National Health Service staff are eligible for priority testing for COVID-19. For NHS staff access to testing is provided through pillar 1 testing and there is capacity within trusts to ensure staff can get tested. A number of tests are reserved for essential workers, including NHS workers, and they can book a visit to a test site, or order a home test kit if they cannot get to a site, through GOV.UK at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/apply-coronavirus-test-essential-workers
Essential workers can order five test kits for themselves and other symptomatic members of their households. However, for households of more than five the 119 contact centre raise on order on their behalf. A list of essential workers and those who are prioritised for COVID-19 tests is available at GOV.UK at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-getting-tested
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on the effect of local covid-19 restrictions on healthcare workers that rely on childcare provided by extended family members.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is aware of the sacrifices that people in local lockdown are making and the important role key workers are making for our economy. We introduced childcare bubbles in areas where local COVID-19 restrictions are in place, to allow families to share caring responsibilities with another household for children under 14.
NHS England and NHS Improvement have worked with NHS Employers and Department for Education colleagues to publish guidance for National Health Service organisations during COVID-19 in respect to childcare. This guidance encourages employers to be as flexible as possible to support staff with childcare (and caring) responsibilities, utilising their existing local policies. The guidance is available on NHS Employers website at the following link:
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the availability of covid-19 testing for (a) care home staff and (b) care home residents in the West Midlands.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Since the launch of whole care home testing, we have provided over 8 million test kits to over 17,000 care homes in the United Kingdom. We started rolling out regular retesting for residents and staff of care homes for over 65s and dementia from 6 July. This included weekly testing for staff, and every 28 days for residents. Each care home received enough test kits for a month. We are continuing to prioritise care home testing and we are issuing more than 100,000 tests a day to care homes across the country. We have met our 7 September target of providing testing kits to all care homes for older people and people with dementia who have registered for regular retesting kits. In addition, all other care homes have been able to place orders for test kits from 31 August. Since they were eligible to apply for regular repeat testing on 31 August, 4,576 specialist homes in England have applied for tests. Where an outbreak has been identified, we test all staff and residents as a priority, with all those who test negative being tested again four to seven days later.
We have continued to look for options that can reduce delays, such as encouraging care homes to carry out testing throughout the whole week, especially on weekends where this is possible. This will enable us to increase the amount of testing we can do and make full use of the available lab capacity.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish covid-19 testing data by postcode; and when he will be able to begin publishing that data.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data on tests, cases, healthcare and deaths are published daily at 4pm. Positive cases and deaths are at upper tier local authority level.
Record level test and case data (including sex, age, occupation and postcode) is available to all upper tier local authorities who sign data sharing agreements. All now have access.
We are continuing to improve our regular publishing of localised COVID-19 data.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the report published by Public Health England on 2 June 2020 entitled Disparities in the risk and outcomes of covid-19, what steps he is taking to increase protections for BAME communities against covid-19.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Minister for Equalities is working with the Race Disparity Unit and the Department for Health and Social Care to carry forward work to better understand the key drivers of the disparities outlined in the Public Health England report and the relationship between the risk factors. The terms of reference for this work were announced by the Minister on 4 June.
The terms of reference for this work can be accessed from the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/next-steps-for-work-on-covid-19-disparities-announced
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of mental health care provision for transgender people in the West Midands.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
Advancing mental health equalities, is a priority outlined in the Mental Health Implementation Plan 2019/20 to 2023/24. All local health systems are expected to set out how they will specifically reduce health inequalities by 2023/24.
Local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are responsible for commissioning health services which meet the needs of their communities. The majority of CCGs in the West Midlands are part of the Rainbow Badge initiative and actively encourage partners to engage as non-judgemental and inclusive places for people that identify as LGBTQ+. The CCGs are working with general practitioner practices and other partners, to ensure that people who identify as LGBTQ+ feel safe and supported when seeking out general medical care, including mental health support.
All providers and commissioners in the West Midlands are committed to undertaking Equality Impact Assessments as part of the service redesign and planning process. CCGs make decisions within a formal commissioning cycle that includes population needs analysis and public engagement.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure equality in (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment of mental health problems among the LGBT+ community.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
Advancing mental health equalities is a priority outlined in the Mental Health Implementation Plan 2019/20 to 2023/24. All local health systems are expected to set out how they will specifically reduce health inequalities by 2023/24.
To support local Sustainability and Transformation Partnership and Integrated Care System areas in addressing inequalities in access and outcomes for groups with protected characteristics, including LGBTQ+ communities, within their plans, NHS England and NHS Improvement commissioned the Advancing Mental Health Equalities Resource. The resource is a guide for local commissioners and providers to identify and address inequalities in mental health care and is available at the following link:
https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/docs/default-source/improving-care/nccmh/amhe/amhe-resource.pdf
The NHS Long Term Plan also set out a commitment that local Mental Health Support Teams which will be working with children and young people in schools and colleges will be trained to support the mental health needs of LGBTQ+ people.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to introduce covid-19 testing for patients prior to hospital outpatient appointments.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
An operating framework has been published on NHS England’s website which advises on management of urgent and planned services within hospital. In the case of day interventions, testing and isolation is determined locally, based on patient and procedural risk. The framework is available at the following link: