Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jo Churchill and Paul Holmes

Tuesday 13th April 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Jo Churchill)]

We are continuing to work with the NHS and the wider scientific community to understand better the long-lasting effects of covid-19 infection and the potential treatments. We are committed to supporting patients suffering from long covid. Specialist NHS assessment services have opened across England, and the “Your COVID Recovery” website contains support and provides a personalised programme for people recovering from covid-19, following a clinical consultation. More than £30 million of funding has already been committed to research projects and a further £20 million was made available on 25 March.

[Paul Holmes [V]]

I pay tribute to all NHS and military staff who are administering vaccines across the UK, including to my mum and dad last week. The Minister knows of the debilitating and lasting effects of long covid. She has just outlined the funding elements that she proposes to put forward. Will she tell us whether she might set up a specific taskforce to look at more research into the damage that long covid causes and the effects that it has on so many people?

[Jo Churchill]

We are already taking strong action in this area; we have already worked hard and are taking long covid seriously. We are listening to patients, taking a patient-first approach, working with the NHS and the wider scientific community, and engaging with the Royal College of General Practitioners to better understand the disease, which is physiological and neurological. It is different for different people, and therefore treatments need to be different for different people. We are working on ensuring that we have the best post-covid assessment care and the best pathways.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jo Churchill and Paul Holmes

Tuesday 23rd June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Jo Churchill]

There are lessons to be learned; that is essence of my hon. Friend’s question. I have met both Cally Palmer and Professor Peter Johnson throughout the crisis, and our focus on cancer has remained. Ensuring that we deliver on the long-term plan is a key objective, and I am sure that my hon. Friend will work with me on that.

[Paul Holmes (Eastleigh) (Con)]

What steps his Department is taking to support the health and social care workforce during the covid-19 outbreak.