Covid-19: Response

Baroness Bull Excerpts

Tuesday 19th May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell]

I am afraid I did not hear the full question from the noble Baroness, but if I understood her correctly, she referred to track and trace. I reassure her that we are putting a huge amount of resources into that surveillance. It is true that surveillance does not currently exist. We do not have the facilities that some Asian countries, such as Taiwan and South Korea, had following SARS, about which we now know so much. We are putting the correct resources in place, and we hope very much to have a detailed local and demographic understanding of where and how the disease is progressing. That information is essential to beating it.

[Baroness Bull (CB)]

My Lords, many people in learning disability care services have very complex care needs that make them vulnerable to Covid-19. Indeed, recent numbers from the CQC showed that the provisional number of deaths reported across all settings where autistic people and/or people with learning disabilities may live was 175% greater than expected over the month from 10 April. When will the welcome extension of testing to all care settings announced today roll out? Can he confirm that regular testing will be available, given the potential of the virus to be spread between care homes by so-called bank staff filling temporary vacancies?

[Lord Bethell]

The noble Baroness is entirely right that the deaths of those with learning difficulties have been one of the most disturbing and sad aspects of this disease. We are focused very much on ensuring that we protect those with learning difficulties, such as those with autism, in whatever way we can. With regard to recurrent testing, the tests that we have are not a limitless resource and we have to prioritise them. Although we have massively increased the number of tests that we have, it is not possible to test millions of people on a very regular basis with hundreds of thousands of tests. However, we are using them intelligently and prioritising areas where there are infection control problems. We believe that that is the most effective way of using our resources.