Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to categorise unpaid carers as a priority group when the covid-19 vaccine is rolled out.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) are the independent experts who advise Government on which vaccine(s) the United Kingdom should use and provide advice on prioritisation at a population level. The committee, in their interim advice, have advised that the vaccine first be given to care home residents and staff, followed by people over 80 years old and health and social workers, then to the rest of the population in order of age and clinical risk factors in the initial phase. The prioritisation could change substantially if the first available vaccines were not considered suitable for, or effective in, older adults.
The JCVI and the JCVI sub-committee are currently reviewing evidence on clinical risk factors associated with serious disease and mortality from COVID-19. Following a review of the evidence, the Committee will develop advice on risk groups for any future COVID-19 vaccination programme.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)
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 ensure that NHS patients do not experience significant delays in getting treatment during the covid-19 lockdown.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Throughout the pandemic, patients have been encouraged to come forward for the treatment that they require. National Health Service providers are working hard to continue the recovery of services alongside preparations for winter and dealing with the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic by making full use of available capacity both in the NHS and in contracted independent hospitals.
To support the NHS, the Prime Minister announced £3 billion of extra funding, ensuring the retention of Nightingale hospital surge capacity and continued access to independent hospitals capacity to help meet patient demand. Should a patient’s planned care be disrupted by COVID-19, trusts, working with general practitioner practices, have been asked to ensure that they provide clear communication to patients about how they will be looked after, and who to contact in the event that their clinical circumstances change.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 2 November 2020 to Question 110283, whether egg-free influenza vaccines are being made available to GP practices.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
General practitioners (GPs) are responsible for ordering flu vaccine from suppliers which are used to deliver the national flu programme to adults, with deliveries phased through the season. The Department has procured additional doses of seasonal flu vaccine, including stocks of egg-free cell-based quadrivalent influenza vaccine, to ensure more flu vaccines are available this winter. GPs who have exhausted their own supply are now able to order more flu vaccines from this central stock and is already being delivered across the country.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)
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 (a) improve rates of early diagnosis of neurofibromatosis type 1 and (b) raise public awareness of that condition.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
NHS England and NHS Improvement have commissioned a national specialised service to address the healthcare needs of neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) patients with rare complications that cause major health problems, called complex-NF1. There are two centres responsible for the diagnosis and long-term care of patients with complex NF1, which are based at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust.
These centres also provide education with the National Health Service to raise and maintain awareness of NF1 and are expected to form a relationship with local health and social care providers to help optimise any care for complex NF1 patients provided locally.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)
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 ensure that people who require an egg-free flu vaccine are able to access one.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
It is the responsibility of general practitioners and community pharmacists to order the seasonal flu vaccine for the adult programme directly from suppliers.
Public Health England have provided guidance for healthcare practitioners: Inactivated influenza vaccine 2020 to 2021, which is available at the following link:
This provides advice on when the egg-free cell-based quadrivalent influenza vaccine should be offered.
If an individual has concerns about egg allergies, they should speak to a health professional.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress the Government has made on abolishing hospital car parking charges for disabled people.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is committed to ending unfair hospital car parking charges by making parking free for those in greatest need, including disabled people, with rollout having commenced in some trusts from April and in others on a rolling basis throughout the course of this year, subject to the constraints imposed by the pandemic.
These new requirements are being mandated through the NHS Standard Contract, to make car parking more consistent across England. The 2020/21 contract asked the National Health Service in England to do all it can to implement them from April 2020 and requires it to do so from January 2021.