Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the potential increase in covid-19 cases of all variants in England over the next month.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The University of Warwick and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine have undertaken modelling of the estimated levels of all variants in England in the next month. This predicts that cases of COVID-19 will decrease throughout January, to a level similar to that seen in November 2021.
Omicron is the dominant COVID-19 variant in the United Kingdom. For those cases which have the relevant genetic test, 93% are consistent with the Omicron variant. With no new variants currently circulated widely elsewhere in the world, the risk of a new variant becoming dominant in the next month is very low.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to increase hospital bed capacity in winter 2021-22 for all health pressures on hospitals.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The National Health Service is working with local authorities and partners to release the maximum number of beds through ensuring that medically fit patients can be discharged home as soon as possible, seven days a week. The use of non-acute beds in the local health and care system is also being maximised, including in hospices, hotels, community beds and the independent sector. The NHS is also expanding the use of ‘virtual wards’ and ‘hospital at home’ models of care, allowing for patients to be safely cared for in their own homes and creating additional bed capacity in hospitals. NHS trusts are also reviewing plans to expand general and acute and critical care bed capacity in hospitals as needed, learning lessons from the pandemic to date.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the difference in risk of serious illness from covid-19 is of having a booster vaccination for someone who has previously had two doses of the vaccine.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Early data suggests that vaccine effectiveness against hospitalisation and severe illness after two doses is 72%, compared to 88% following a booster dose. Analysis will continue as the booster programme progresses, including monitoring the duration of protection of booster doses against a range of disease outcomes.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will model the potential impact of the omicron covid-19 variant on NHS England hospital admissions based on South African levels of serious cases relative to total cases.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has no plans to do so as demographics, co-morbidities, past-infection and immunisation statuses in the two countries differ. However, the UKHSA is currently estimating the severity of the Omicron variant related infections in England to understand the likely ongoing demand for healthcare. This is in its early stages as a reasonable period of observation is required to fully understand the evolution of the Omicron variant in sufficient numbers of people across all ages and immunity status over time.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will list the drugs the NHS can use to treat covid-19 patients.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The following therapeutics are available to patients hospitalised with COVID-19 and in the community setting:
- Dexamethasone;
- Tocilizumab;
- Ronapreve; and
- Sotrovimab.
The following antivirals are available to patients in both hospital and community settings:
- Remdesivir;
- Molnupiravir; and
- PF-07321332
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to increase bed numbers in NHS England hospitals over the next two years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
No formal assessment has been made of the trend in the level of bed capacity in the National Health Service (NHS) in England over the last two years. The number of beds in hospitals in the NHS in England is an operational matter for the NHS. NHS bed capacity is not fixed and can be flexed to meet changes in demand, including for COVID-19.
Over the last two years, during the pandemic, a number of measures have been put in place to support an increase in the number of available beds in the NHS, particularly to create capacity to treat COVID-19 patients. NHS England and NHS Improvement is undertaking the largest ever seasonal flu vaccination programme, alongside COVID-19 booster vaccinations, to reduce the level of hospital admissions and to free up additional hospital beds. The Government has also provided an additional £478 million to the NHS for this financial year to continue the enhanced hospital discharge programme, helping patients get home from hospital as soon as possible, and freeing up additional beds. This also applies to elective care, with a move towards more operations being done on an outpatient basis, removing the need for patients to stay overnight in hospital, freeing up beds as well as tackling backlogs.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the trend in the level of bed capacity in NHS England over the last two years; and whether there has been an increase in bed capacity in that period in response to covid-19 and tackling backlogs.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
No formal assessment has been made of the trend in the level of bed capacity in the National Health Service (NHS) in England over the last two years. The number of beds in hospitals in the NHS in England is an operational matter for the NHS. NHS bed capacity is not fixed and can be flexed to meet changes in demand, including for COVID-19.
Over the last two years, during the pandemic, a number of measures have been put in place to support an increase in the number of available beds in the NHS, particularly to create capacity to treat COVID-19 patients. NHS England and NHS Improvement is undertaking the largest ever seasonal flu vaccination programme, alongside COVID-19 booster vaccinations, to reduce the level of hospital admissions and to free up additional hospital beds. The Government has also provided an additional £478 million to the NHS for this financial year to continue the enhanced hospital discharge programme, helping patients get home from hospital as soon as possible, and freeing up additional beds. This also applies to elective care, with a move towards more operations being done on an outpatient basis, removing the need for patients to stay overnight in hospital, freeing up beds as well as tackling backlogs.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
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 the number of hospital beds that will be needed for cases of the Omicron variant of covid-19 in January based on the latest forecasts.
Answered by Maggie Throup
In the absence of any data on disease severity or the likely transmission rates in the community, it is not possible to make any reliable estimates of predicted future hospitalisation rates or the number of hospital beds required for cases of the Omicron COVID-19 variant. As data on transmission rates becomes clearer over time and the initial hospitalisations allow assessment of severity and care needs, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) will be able to generate projections of predicted future hospitalisation rates. The UKHSA and NHS England and NHS Improvement are working together to collate this data as quickly as possible.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of operations that the NHS will procure in private hospitals over the next three months.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
No estimate has been made. Since 1 April 2021, national contracting with independent sector providers has come to an end and commissioning has returned to local arrangements. It is therefore the decision of local National Health Service commissioners and trusts to contract with independent providers for the capacity they require.
Through the Elective Recovery Fund, £2 billion has been made available for tackling backlogs in treatment this year, part of which will be used to fund systems for independent sector capacity above 2019/20 levels. The partnership between the NHS and independent sector will continue to play a role in both dealing with the pandemic and securing elective recovery.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what happened to the beds and medical equipment from the Nightingale hospitals.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Total projected funding for the Nightingale hospital programme was ring-fenced at £466 million. National Health Service providers are currently auditing the accounts for 2020/21 and the final spending outturn will be published in due course.
NHS England and NHS Improvement advise that regions were responsible for co-ordinating the redistribution of assets including beds and medical equipment from the Nightingale hospitals. Each host trust is responsible for managing a list of these assets. The remaining surplus stock has been collected and made available for national redistribution under the existing warehousing, asset tracking and logistics contracts.