Asked by: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)
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 ensure that Minor Injuries Units are signposted where appropriate to callers to the 111 service in Worcestershire.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Patients using the NHS 111 online service or calling NHS 111 will speak to a trained adviser, or if required a clinician, who will ask questions about the injury and any symptoms the patient is experiencing to identify the most appropriate treatment. This includes being invited to attend a face-to-face appointment at their local minor injuries unit.
Asked by: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many oximeters have been purchased by NHS England for the treatment of covid-19.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
NHS England and NHS Improvement have purchased a total of 324,811 oximeters through the NHS Supply Chain to support blood oxygen monitoring, including identification of ‘silent hypoxia’ and rapid patient deterioration at home of patients with COVID-19 or suspected COVID-19.
Asked by: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to reply to Question 38910 tabled on 22 April 2020 by the hon. Member for West Worcestershire, on his policy on wearing masks.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question 38910 on 5 August.
Asked by: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to reply to Question 63335 tabled on 23 June 2020 by the hon. Member for West Worcestershire, on his plans to use the independent health sector.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer of 28 July to Question 63335.
Asked by: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the implications for his policies of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advice that the public should wear a homemade cloth face covering outside the home where it is difficult to maintain social distancing.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Since 11 May, we have advised people to wear face coverings in enclosed spaces where they cannot easily social distance and might come into contact with people they do not normally meet, and from Friday 24 July, members of the public must wear a face covering when visiting a shop or supermarket in England.
In addition, the Government is running a major proactive communications campaign on face coverings to alert the public where they are now required to wear face coverings and educate the public on how to correctly wear one.
United Kingdom advice on face covering follows advice from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies. As always, we are committed to following the evidence and will keep reviewing evidence from around the world and update our position as and when we need to.
Asked by: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the covid-19 contract for all inpatient capacity in England with the Independent Healthcare Providers Network expires; and whether he plans to renew it.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
National Health Service patients are benefitting from an unprecedented partnership with private hospitals in the United Kingdom as we battle the COVID-19 outbreak. The Government has provided additional funding to the NHS to allow them to continue to use additional hospital capacity from the independent sector until the end of March 2021.
Asked by: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many ventilators are available in Worcestershire; and when more ventilators will be delivered.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
At the start of the COVID-19 outbreak in March there were more than 8,000 mechanical ventilators in hospitals across the United Kingdom. As of 27 May, we have around 14,000 mechanical ventilators available to National Health Service patients. In addition, there are also 10,344 non-invasive ventilators available to the NHS across the UK which were not available before the start of the crisis in mid-March plus a further 73 from the private healthcare sector.
Mechanical ventilators are allocated pro rata between England and the devolved administrations, but then within each nation decisions of where to send ventilators are based on clinical need. In England hospitals can make a bid for ventilators and these are discussed and allocated with regional NHS England and NHS Improvement teams. Two of the new mechanical ventilators have been sent to Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.