Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the scheduled publication of a shared decision making guideline by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in June 2021, what assessment they have made of the work of (1) NHS England, (2) patient groups and (3) professional bodies, to support shared decision making in health services; and what steps they plance to take to support the implementation of shared decision making across the NHS.
Answered by Lord Bethell
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that patients are explicitly consulted about decisions on service (1) changes, and (2) improvements, as part of NHS Restart.
Answered by Lord Bethell
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the scheduled publication of a shared decision making guideline by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in June 2021, what assessment they have made of the opportunities for integrated care systems to support patients in having more involvement in decisions about their treatment and care; and what plans they have to publish guidance to support this.
Answered by Lord Bethell
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why the (1) Cornwall Partnership, (2) Dorset County Hospital, (3) Great Western Hospitals, (4) Royal Devon and Exeter, and (5) Torbay and South Devon Healthcare, NHS Foundation Trusts have not been awarded any capital funding for upgrades to their accident and emergency departments to prepare for the winter.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Government has already confirmed £300 million for 117 trusts to implement accident and emergency (A&E) upgrades ahead of this winter. Options for a small number of A&Es with more complex estate issues continue to be considered and a further announcement will be made shortly.
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how COVID-19 testing capacity will be prioritised when they reach their target of 200,000 daily tests.
Answered by Lord Bethell
To provide a more comprehensive response to a number of outstanding Written Questions, this has been answered by an information factsheet Testing – note for House of Lords which is attached, due to the size of the data. A copy has also been placed in the Library
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to balance COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 care and treatment; whether those steps include making systemic and consistent testing available for patients and staff; and if not, how they plan to ensure the provision of all care and treatment without such testing.
Answered by Lord Bethell
To provide a more comprehensive response to a number of outstanding Written Questions, this has been answered by an information factsheet Testing – note for House of Lords which is attached, due to the size of the data. A copy has also been placed in the Library
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, if a reliable COVID-19 antibody test is found, (1) which, (2) when, (3) how, (4) by whom, and (5) with what frequency, people will be tested.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Antibody testing is a key part of the Government’s testing programme and will play an increasingly important role as we move into the next phase of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A positive antibody test result indicates that a person has previously had the virus and developed some form of immune response. However, we do not currently know how long an antibody response to the virus lasts, nor whether having antibodies means a person cannot transmit the virus to others. Our understanding of the virus will grow as new scientific evidence and studies emerge.
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - 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 COVID-19 test and trace system on easing the lockdown.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The NHS Test and Trace service forms a central part of the COVID-19 recovery strategy, which seeks to return life to as close to normal as possible, for as many people as possible, in a way that is safe and protects the National Health Service and social care.
Our ability to go further in easing restrictions, or the need to reintroduce further restriction measures, will depend on a range of factors, including most critically whether people following social distancing guidance and regulations. The more people follow the instructions, the safer we will be, and the faster we can safely lift the lockdown.
We are continuously assessing the impact of NHS Test and Trace and making improvements to the system. On 11 June, we published data on the first week of operation of the contact tracing element of the system, and we will be updating this on a weekly basis.
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve access to COVID-19 testing for key workers.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Anyone with symptoms can now get a test, regardless of whether they are an essential worker. Essential workers still have a dedicated access route through the essential worker self-referral portal and are able to access testing through multiple channels such as regional test sites, home testing, mobile testing units, and through the care home portal if they are care home members of staff.
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce systematic regular COVID-19 testing of all NHS and care staff and patients.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Current clinical advice is that asymptomatic testing can be conducted in any setting where clinically appropriate, for outbreak investigation and infection control. For example, we are testing all emergency admissions to hospital, and all care home residents before they are discharged into a social care setting.
For staff, for example, an asymptomatic staff member could be tested when a patient they had been treating unexpectedly tests positive for COVID-19, in order to reduce the risk of spreading infection in healthcare organisations.
It is not always appropriate to routinely test asymptomatic staff, and so we currently suggest a more strategic and specific approach. These decisions are made by local decision makers.