Asked by: Flick Drummond (Conservative - Meon Valley)
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 implications for his policies of the joint statement by over 75 national organisations calling for the appointment of a Commissioner for Older People and Ageing.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Education)
We have no current plans to make a specific assessment.
Asked by: Flick Drummond (Conservative - Meon Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department has issued to healthcare professionals on wearing facial coverings in the presence of clinically vulnerable patients who request them to do so while delivering care.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Face coverings have been required in healthcare settings throughout the pandemic, as set out in the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) guidance. The United Kingdom IPC Cell monitor and review emerging evidence and continue to recommend universal masking in healthcare settings in IPC measures.
To accompany the updated IPC guidance with new COVID-19 pathogen-specific advice for health and care professionals, on 1 June 2022, the National Health Service advised that universal masking should be considered in settings where patients are at high risk of infection due to immunosuppression, such as oncology or haematology. This should be guided by local risk assessment. Face coverings should be worn by all care workers and encouraged for visitors in care settings and when providing care in people’s homes.
Asked by: Flick Drummond (Conservative - Meon Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of funding raised by the Health and Social Care Levy will be allocated to supporting primary healthcare.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
NHS England and NHS Improvement will set out allocations to local systems through annual planning guidance in due course.
Asked by: Flick Drummond (Conservative - Meon Valley)
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 maximise covid-19 vaccination uptake among front-line health and care staff.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
NHS England publishes data on the number of COVID-19 vaccinations in total since vaccinations began and to the current eligible population on a weekly basis. Published data shows 80% of care home staff have received their first dose of the vaccine and the latest weekly data published 22 April 2021 shows over 65% of National Health Service trust health care workers in the NHS Electronic Staff Record have received the second dose of their vaccine or 945,776 out of 1,378,502. The data available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/covid-19-vaccinations/
The NHS, with local and regional delivery partners, is encouraging people in all communities to come forward and accept the offer of vaccination. On 13 February we published the UK COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake Plan. A priority for the uptake strategy is to increase the rate of vaccination amongst health and social care staff. We know that the reasons health and social care workers feel hesitant include a lack of knowledge about the vaccine, misinformation and mistrust of Government and perceptions of equality and discrimination in health and public services. We are working at a local and national level to give health and social care workers information about the vaccine in a format that connects with them, to share information from trusted, local leaders who understand people’s specific circumstances and to ensure there is appropriate outreach from clinicians and their vaccine services.
COVID-19 vaccines are not currently mandated for any groups, but the Government strongly encourages health and social care workers to be vaccinated in order to protect those that they care for. On 14 April, Government launched a five-week consultation to inform decision making about whether to make vaccination a condition of employment for staff working in older adult care home providers. The consultation was launched as, despite efforts to address concerns among the adult social care workforce, vaccine uptake amongst care home workers remains lower than the recommended level to minimise COVID-19 outbreaks. All care home workers, including those aged 16 and 17 years old, who would like to be vaccinated can contact their general practitioner.
Asked by: Flick Drummond (Conservative - Meon Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of covid-19 vaccine uptake rates among (a) NHS staff and (b) staff in care homes.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
NHS England publishes data on the number of COVID-19 vaccinations in total since vaccinations began and to the current eligible population on a weekly basis. Published data shows 80% of care home staff have received their first dose of the vaccine and the latest weekly data published 22 April 2021 shows over 65% of National Health Service trust health care workers in the NHS Electronic Staff Record have received the second dose of their vaccine or 945,776 out of 1,378,502. The data available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/covid-19-vaccinations/
The NHS, with local and regional delivery partners, is encouraging people in all communities to come forward and accept the offer of vaccination. On 13 February we published the UK COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake Plan. A priority for the uptake strategy is to increase the rate of vaccination amongst health and social care staff. We know that the reasons health and social care workers feel hesitant include a lack of knowledge about the vaccine, misinformation and mistrust of Government and perceptions of equality and discrimination in health and public services. We are working at a local and national level to give health and social care workers information about the vaccine in a format that connects with them, to share information from trusted, local leaders who understand people’s specific circumstances and to ensure there is appropriate outreach from clinicians and their vaccine services.
COVID-19 vaccines are not currently mandated for any groups, but the Government strongly encourages health and social care workers to be vaccinated in order to protect those that they care for. On 14 April, Government launched a five-week consultation to inform decision making about whether to make vaccination a condition of employment for staff working in older adult care home providers. The consultation was launched as, despite efforts to address concerns among the adult social care workforce, vaccine uptake amongst care home workers remains lower than the recommended level to minimise COVID-19 outbreaks. All care home workers, including those aged 16 and 17 years old, who would like to be vaccinated can contact their general practitioner.
Asked by: Flick Drummond (Conservative - Meon Valley)
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 support care homes in financial difficulty but not deemed by the CQC to be a risk or a priority which will not now receive an additional CQC inspection for more than a year.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Local authorities are best placed to understand and plan for the care needs of their populations. Under the Care Act 2014 they are required to shape their local markets, and ensure that people have a range of high-quality, sustainable and person-centred care and support options available to them, so that they can access the services that best meet their needs. We have made £4.6 billion available to local authorities so they can address pressures on local services.
The Care Act 2014 also provides for the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to monitor the financial health of the largest and most difficult-to-replace adult social care providers. This allows the CQC to warn local authorities if a provider is likely to fail for financial reasons and gives local authorities time to stand up their contingency plans.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic the CQC has adapted its way of working in order to continue to deliver its core regulatory role of keeping people safe during challenging circumstances. This has included developing a range of tools to identify providers that needed extra support and undertaking additional Infection Prevention and Control inspections in care homes.
Asked by: Flick Drummond (Conservative - Meon Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department is putting in place to provide covid-19 vaccinations to (a) hospice staff and (b) hospice volunteers.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has advised that for phase one of the COVID-19 vaccine programme, the vaccine first be given to care home residents and staff and those aged over 80 years old, followed by frontline health and social care workers, and then to the rest of the population in order of age and clinical risk factors.
As set out in Public Health England’s Green Book, which contains the latest information on vaccines and vaccination procedures, frontline healthcare workers include those working in independent, voluntary and non-standard healthcare settings, such as hospices. Temporary staff, including those working in the COVID-19 vaccination programme, students, trainees and volunteers who are working with patients must also be included.
Asked by: Flick Drummond (Conservative - Meon Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make additional support available to care homes as a result of increasing insurance premiums and mortgage costs.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
We recognise that the adult social care sector is facing significant pressures in light of the pandemic and we are working closely across Government and with care providers to better understand the impact of cost increases across the sector. We have already made £4.6 billion of support available to local authorities so they can address pressures on local services caused by the pandemic, including in adult social care. In addition, we have made £1.1 billion available to social care, the majority for care homes, to support them with additional infection prevention and control costs related to Covid-19, and a further £149 million to help with additional costs of testing
As part of the 2020 Spending Review, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that the Government will provide councils with access to an additional £1 billion for social care next year and we also expect to provide them with estimated funding of around £3 billion to help manage the impact of COVID-19 across their services, including in adult social care and to compensate for income losses.
Asked by: Flick Drummond (Conservative - Meon Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has plans to increase the level of the (a) personal expense allowance and (b) minimum income guarantee in line with the 2020 benefits up-rating.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The financial allowances including the personal expense allowance and minimum income guarantee rates are reviewed annually.
Future funding for social care will be set out at the next spending review.
Asked by: Flick Drummond (Conservative - Meon Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the costs to the NHS and social care system of treatment for (a) alcohol abuse, (b) obesity and (c) viral hepatitis in each of the last five years.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Data on costs is not available in the format requested. However the health costs associated with alcohol misuse are estimated to cost the National Health Service in England around £3.5 billion each year and the latest estimate of the cost to the NHS in England of overweight or obesity related ill-health is £5.1 billion each year.
Data is not available by cause of condition to provide an expenditure estimate requested for viral hepatitis.