Asked by: Karen Bradley (Conservative - Staffordshire Moorlands)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when funding for the Integrated Health Care Hubs in North Staffordshire will be made available to the Integrated care board in North Staffordshire.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust is currently developing the business cases for the North Staffordshire Integrated Health Care Hubs, and is responsible for driving them through the usual assurance and approval processes. NHS England and the Department will consider these cases once received from the trust.
Asked by: Karen Bradley (Conservative - Staffordshire Moorlands)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has taken steps to implement the recommendations of the report entitled Improving non-emergency patient transport services: Report of the non-emergency patient transport review published by the NHS in August 2021.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has published updated Patient Transport Service (PTS) eligibility criteria, guidance on the universal offer of transport support for patients attending in-centre haemodialysis, and has shared numerous guidance documents with the system including on commissioning, contracting and core standards, minimum training standards, and national mobility categories.
A new national data collection has also been introduced and, allowing for a national and Integrated Care System view of PTS within the NHS, to understand the provider landscape and provide assurance on performance and spend.
Asked by: Karen Bradley (Conservative - Staffordshire Moorlands)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what is the range of rates for transport expenses that can be claimed by patients attending in-centre haemodialysis.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data is not held centrally on the range of rates for transport expenses that can be claimed by patients attending in-centre haemodialysis.
Asked by: Karen Bradley (Conservative - Staffordshire Moorlands)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to align the separate national digital proof of covid-19 vaccination status systems of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland so that information on vaccine status can be shared throughout the UK, in particular for people who are registered with a GP in one nation and due to work received the covid-19 vaccination in a different nation.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
We are continuing to work closely with the devolved administrations to ensure that a United Kingdom-wide approach is developed where possible. The adoption of a UK-wide COVID Pass letter has been agreed with the devolved administrations, which includes each nation’s health service logo. England and Wales launched the letter in early July, with Northern Ireland and Scotland to follow by late July.
Information for those vaccinated in England but registered with a general practitioner (GP) in Wales or Scotland is already in place. We are working with officials to ensure the cross-border data is in place for those vaccinated in Wales and Scotland but registered with a GP in England by late July. Work is underway to find a solution for cross border vaccinations with Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Karen Bradley (Conservative - Staffordshire Moorlands)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward the rollout of the covid-19 vaccine to (a) internet and phone engineers and (b) other key workers who need to enter residential premises to carry out their work.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is the independent body made up of scientists and clinical experts who advise the Government on prioritisation of vaccines at a population level. For phase one, the JCVI has prioritised nine priority groups primarily based on age and clinical risk factors in order to meet the Government’s aim of continuing to reduce morbidity, mortality and to protect the National Health Service and social care system.
For phase two of the COVID 19 vaccination programme, the JCVI published its interim advice on 26 February, setting out that the most effective way to minimise hospitalisations and deaths is to continue to prioritise people by age, rather than by occupation. Age is assessed to be the strongest factor linked to mortality, morbidity and hospitalisations and because the speed of delivery is crucial as we provide more people with protection from COVID-19. If internet and phone engineers and other key workers who need to enter residential premises to carry out their work are captured in phase one due to age or clinical need, then they will be vaccinated accordingly. However, there are currently no plans to specifically vaccinate by occupation.
Asked by: Karen Bradley (Conservative - Staffordshire Moorlands)
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 Staffordshire County Council to tackle the rapid rise in demand for local testing for covid-19 in Staffordshire Moorlands.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Test and Trace system has built a testing capacity of more than 700,000 tests a day, from a starting point of 2,000 a day in March. Community asymptomatic testing is a major new tool to help identify and isolate individuals who have COVID-19 but do not have symptoms and may inadvertently be spreading the virus.
We are already working intensively with local authorities, including Staffordshire Moorlands, to ensure their community testing programmes are appropriately targeted during lockdown to continue to identify more positive cases and get them to isolate in order to break chains of transmission
On 10 January, it was confirmed that regular testing for people without symptoms of COVID-19 will be made available across the country from that week, with the eligibility of the community testing programme expanded to cover all 317 local authorities.
Asked by: Karen Bradley (Conservative - Staffordshire Moorlands)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the scope of support bubbles to allow elderly couples to form a support bubble with their family.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The eligibility criteria for support bubbles were extended when the local restriction tiers were re-introduced on 2 December include households with a child under one year old; households with a disabled child under five years old who requires continuous care; or a household with a single adult carer or a child carer looking after someone who requires continuous care. As such, unless a member of an elderly couple is the only adult in their household who does not need continuous care as a result of a disability, they are currently unable to form a support bubble.
We recognise that not everyone who would like to form a support bubble is able to do so. These difficult decisions must be taken because the formation of a support bubble and therefore the ability to have close contact with those you do not live with carries transmission risks. As a result, the eligibility criteria has necessarily been limited to smaller households most in need of support that cannot be facilitated through other means.
Asked by: Karen Bradley (Conservative - Staffordshire Moorlands)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will permit hospitality businesses in areas with tier 3 covid-19 restrictions to operate with the same restrictions as those in tier 2 areas.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The Government is keeping the restriction measures under continual review and will only make changes if the data and science supports it.
Asked by: Karen Bradley (Conservative - Staffordshire Moorlands)
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 potential merits of opening swimming pools for treatment of mental and physical health issues during the November 2020 covid-19 lockdown.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The national restrictions are designed to get the ‘R’ rate under control through limiting social contact and reducing transmissions. As part of this package, from 5 November until 2 December indoor and outdoor leisure will need to close.
People are still allowed to leave their homes for exercise and recreation outdoors, on their own, with their household, with their support bubble or with any one person. Our guidance for the public on the mental health and wellbeing aspects of COVID-19 recognises how important exercise can be for a person’s mental health physical health and includes tips on how to stay physically healthy.