Asked by: Anne Marie Morris (Conservative - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of (a) customer service and (b) complaints procedures provided by firms on the list of travel covid-19 test providers approved by her Department.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The Department has completed a rapid review of all private testing providers including their online terms and conditions and customer service. However, we are unable to provide further details of these assessments as they relate to the ongoing development of Government policy.
Asked by: Anne Marie Morris (Conservative - Newton Abbot)
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 tackle the challenges of providing healthcare in remote and rural areas.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The development of integrated care systems will create a new method of responding to and tackling local challenges, such as delivering healthcare in remote and rual areas. NHS England continues to work with trusts to develop a standard model of delivery in smaller acute hospitals which serve rural populations as part of the NHS Long Term Plan.
Asked by: Anne Marie Morris (Conservative - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on its work on NHS pensions to remove disincentives for professionals to stay in their professions for longer.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government addressed the annual allowance taper issue in March 2020 by increasing thresholds by £90,000, removing all staff with earnings below £200,000 from scope. This restores the incentive to continue working or take on additional work for the majority of previously affected staff, with an estimated 96% of general practitioners and 98% of consultants now out of scope of the taper based on their National Health Service earnings
NHS England and NHS Improvement are implementing a programme to help employers to engage with senior staff to improve understanding of pension tax and to address concerns. NHS Employers has published guidance on the approaches employers can take locally to support staff who wish to continue working up to and beyond retirement age.
Asked by: Anne Marie Morris (Conservative - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the social care White Paper.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
We are committed to the delivery of world-leading health and social care across the whole of the United Kingdom and our announcement of 7 September 2021 marked an important step on the journey to reforming adult social care. We will work with care users, providers, and other partners to develop these plans and publish further detail in a white paper for reform later this year.
Asked by: Anne Marie Morris (Conservative - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to make a decision on the future of Teignmouth Hospital.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Following the original request to refer from Devon County Council Health and Adult Care Scrutiny Committee on 25 March 2021, the Department has been in regular correspondence with them to secure additional information needed to assess whether to refer this case to the Independent Reconfiguration Panel. This information has now been received and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care will make a decision in due course.
Asked by: Anne Marie Morris (Conservative - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether there are any barriers to people receiving one covid-19 vaccination in Scotland and one in England.
Answered by Maggie Throup
COVID-19 vaccines authorised for use are commensurate across the United Kingdom and are recognised by NHS England and NHS Improvement. Data sharing agreements are in place to ensure health records of individuals vaccinated outside of their home nation can access their proof of vaccination via the relevant health authority.
Asked by: Anne Marie Morris (Conservative - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the (a) rate of false positives in PCR tests in the 90 days after contracting covid-19 and (b) impact of the accuracy of PCR tests on people travelling and being required to quarantine on return.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The false positive rate of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test is very low at 0.005%. This does not change in the 90 days following infection as false positives are caused by external factors such as contamination during sampling and laboratory processing.
Public Health England has not made a formal assessment of the impact of the accuracy of PCR tests on people travelling and being required to quarantine on return. The day two PCR test aims to identify COVID-19 infection that has been incubating during the duration of the travel. In order to test positive at or before day two, it is likely that individuals were infected in advance of their journey. PCR therefore provides an accurate way of identifying and containing travel-associated COVID-19 cases to prevent onward transmission.
Asked by: Anne Marie Morris (Conservative - Newton Abbot)
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 a consistent message across Government communication channels that there is no legal requirement to self-isolate if notified by the NHS covid-19 phone app.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As cases continue rising it is vital that people are aware of their personal risk so that they can make informed decisions on their behaviour to protect those around them. The NHS COVID-19 app is doing exactly what it was designed to do - informing close contacts of someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 that they are at risk and advising them to isolate. Our communications campaigns and messaging across government reflects the latest scientific advice about the importance of self-isolation. The NHS COVID-19 app continues to be an important tool in response to the pandemic.
Asked by: Anne Marie Morris (Conservative - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 2 June 2021 to Question 6412 on Coronavirus: Vaccination, when his Department plans to publish the vaccine strategy.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
We are currently reviewing the proposed timetable for publication and we will provide more information in due course.
Asked by: Anne Marie Morris (Conservative - Newton Abbot)
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 Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation on the potential merits of reducing the gap between first and second covid-19 vaccinations to three-to-six weeks; and whether there is sufficient vaccine supply to meet that arrangement.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Currently, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommends an interval of eight weeks between doses of all the available COVID-19 vaccines. On 14 May, we amended the interval of second doses for the most vulnerable cohorts who were offered a vaccine in phase one of the programme, from 12 weeks to eight weeks. The eight week dose interval was applied to all eligible cohorts from 6 July.
Current evidence shows that a longer dose interval produces a better immune response. As such, the JCVI has advised against reducing the dose interval further in order to maximise the effectiveness of the vaccination programme. The JCVI regularly reviews its advice taking into account new data and evidence on the effectiveness of the programme and epidemiological situation.