Asked by: Lord Lilley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the cost of training (1) a doctor, and (2) a nurse; and how much of that cost is covered by student loans.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Personal Social Services Research Unit (PSSRU) at the University of Kent estimates that the cost of training an individual doctor from the beginning of medical school through to the end of the foundation training programme is approximately £327,000. This includes salaries paid to the trainee during the foundation stage while they are working, living expenses and other costs of training. This includes costs borne by both the wider National Health Service and the individual undertaking the training.
PSSRU estimate the cost of training a nurse to be approximately £67,000. These estimates are published in their Unit Costs of Health and Social Care Manual.
The maximum amount that can be borrowed in student loans by an individual medical student is between £74,000 and £93,000 for a five-year course, depending on the individual’s living arrangements. From year five of an undergraduate course, and from year two of a graduate-entry course, medical students can also access the NHS Bursary. This is non-repayable and comprises payment for tuition fees and, where eligible, further grants and allowances.
The maximum amount that can be borrowed in student loans by an individual nursing student is between £53,000 and £67,000 for a three-year course, depending on the student’s living arrangements. In addition, since September 2020, all eligible nursing, midwifery and allied health profession students have received a non-repayable training grant of a minimum of £5,000 per academic year.
Asked by: Lord Lilley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many nurses joined the Nursing and Midwife Council Register from countries graded by the World Health Organisation as having fewer nurses than the global median in the most recent year for which figures are available
Answered by Lord Kamall
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is the independent regulator of nurses, midwives, and nursing associates in the United Kingdom. The following table shows the number of nurses, midwives, and nursing associates joining the NMC’s register from each country with fewer nursing and midwifery personnel per 10,000 people than the global median in the year ending 31 March 2022.
Bahrain 4
Bangladesh 1
Barbados 18
Belize 17
Cameroon 17
China 6
Colombia 3
Egypt 13
Eswatini 9
Ethiopia 1
Gambia 12
India 9,769
Iran 19
Iraq 1
Jamaica 115
Jordan 12
Kenya 461
Lebanon 20
Lesotho 18
Malawi 7
Malaysia 20
Namibia 11
Nepal 210
Niger 1
Nigeria 3,010
Pakistan 112
Saint Lucia 13
Sri Lanka 14
Tanzania 1
Tunisia 1
Turkey 2
Uganda 30
Zambia 57
Zimbabwe 913
Notes:
1. The World Health Organization publishes a measure of the number of nurses per 10,000 population. The median for their measure, unweighted by countries population is 35.07 nursing and midwifery personnel per 10,000 population.
2. Countries below the median level of nursing and midwifery personnel per 10,000 population where there were no joiners to the NMC register are excluded.
Asked by: Lord Lilley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many applications for nursing courses were (1) received, (2) accepted, and (3) refused, places in (a) 2019, (b) 2020, and (c) 2021, at universities in England.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The following table shows the number of applications made to a nursing course and subsequent acceptances in England in 2019, 2020 and 2021. Data on the number of applications refused is not held centrally.
2019 2020 2021
Applications 128,810 145,925 181,645
Acceptances 23,630 29,740 30,185
Source: Universities and Colleges Admissions Service undergraduate sector-level end of cycle data resources 2021.
Note:
An applicant can make up to five separate course applications. Only one place can be accepted.
Asked by: Lord Lilley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many nurses were recruited from overseas in (1) 2019, (2) 2020, (3) 2021, and (4) in the last 12 months for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Kamall
This information is not collected in the format requested. While the National Health Service Electronic Staff Record collects self-reported data on nationality, this does not show where staff were trained or the country in which they were a resident at the time of recruitment.
Asked by: Lord Lilley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to use the Everyday Discrimination Scale as recommended in the Review of Health and Social Care Leadership published on 8 June; and if so, what evidence they have that it provides useful objective evidence.
Answered by Lord Kamall
All seven recommendations in Leadership for a collaborative and inclusive future have been accepted by the Government. This includes positive equality, diversity and inclusion action, where the report encourages the use of the Everyday Discrimination Scale as a useful tool to support leaders and teams to address discrimination in the workplace.
The scale was developed by a Harvard University professor, which has been used globally to address issues through specific questions and considerations. However, the use of the scale is not being mandated in the National Health Service and social care. The Department considers this as one of a number of tools available to health and social care workers to ensure a welcoming and supportive environment.
Asked by: Lord Lilley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much was spent recruiting nurses from overseas on accommodation, flights, quarantine and administration, excluding salaries, in the most recent year for which figures are available
Answered by Lord Kamall
The information requested on money spent on recruiting nurses from overseas is not collected centrally.
Asked by: Lord Lilley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the statement by the Secretary of State for Transport that "due to the incubation period of this disease, and even using highly accurate tests, the capture rate of those carrying COVID-19 may be as low as seven per cent" on 7 September (HC Deb, cols 366–7), what scientific evidence was used to calculate the capture rate; what is the period to which that capture rate applies; and what assessment they have made of the utility of using tests to identify potentially infected (1) staff, or (2) visitors, before they enter nursing homes.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The assessment of the capture rate was made from a mathematical model developed by Public Health England (PHE). The 7% capture is for those infections in asymptomatic travellers that were infected before travel and were incubating infection during travel.
This finding is for asymptomatic travellers irrespective of the prevalence of infections in the country that the traveller is arriving from and is independent of the period of the year that it is applied to. This is based on the high sensitivity and specificity of current laboratory-based Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and PHE has not identified any technology that has better detection rates that would change these findings.
Testing in care homes is an important part of keeping staff and residents safe in the COVID-19 response. It means those who test positive can be isolated, reducing the number of people who can spread the virus and protecting the most vulnerable.
PHE has conducted a number of prevalence studies in health care workers using reverse transcription-PCR which informs assessment of potentially infected staff. The assessment of the risk posed by visitors to care-homes is part of the SAGE social-care sub-group’s purview and will be reported in due course.
Asked by: Lord Lilley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what urgent steps they are taking to (1) create capacity to manufacture vaccines in the UK, and (2) ensure that COVID-19 vaccines are made available immediately once they are developed.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The development of a COVID-19 vaccine is at the early stages but progressing rapidly. The Government is working to ensure the United Kingdom has the manufacturing capability to produce these vaccines at the levels the UK needs. To do this, a new cross-Government vaccines taskforce has been set up, reporting to the Secretaries of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and Health and Social Care as well as Sir Patrick Vallance. It brings together Government, industry, academics, funding agencies and other partners to make rapid decisions in order to accelerate vaccine development in the UK.
Asked by: Lord Lilley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the cost was of reimbursing health care treatment received by UK nationals resident in (a) each EEA/EU country and (b) Switzerland under EU Regulations 883/2004 and 987/2009 and Directive 20011/24 under the (i) European Health Insurance Card, (ii) S1 and (iii) S2 schemes in each of the last five financial years.
Answered by Philip Dunne
As insurability under European Union law is not determined on the basis of nationality, it is not possible to provide information on the reimbursement costs under EU Regulations 883/2004 and 987/2009, and Directive 20011/24 under the European Health Insurance Card, S1 and S2 scheme. Other Economic European Area (EEA) countries and Switzerland reimburse the United Kingdom for the cost of the National Health Service providing treatment to people they are responsible for under EU law, including UK nationals insured in another EEA country or Switzerland, irrespective of nationality.
The following table provides information on the numbers of S2 forms issued.
Financial years April-March | |||||
| 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 |
S2/E112 |
|
|
|
|
|
Out-going | 1,442 | 1,312 | 1,354 | 1,355 | 1,330 |
Source: Overseas Healthcare Team (OHT), Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
Note: It is possible that issued S2s to customers have not been used
Information on S2 arrangements approved retrospectively is not available.
The following table provides information on the numbers of S1 forms registered by individuals in Foreign Authorities (FA) for whom the UK is responsible under the EU law.
Registration In Financial Years April-March | |||||
| 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 |
Registered by FA | 7,561 | 19,887 | 46,412 | 28,600 | 25,198 |
Source: OHT, DWP
Note: Data is from 1 April to 31 March
Data above includes forms issued E106, E109, E120, E121, E122 and S1, these exclude PRC, E123, DA1, E112 and S2.
Timeline of data
2011 to 2012
OHT moved to Washington and staff training started. There were low skill levels in this period.
2013
OHT had a back log of work which was taken on and cleared by staff in Porth.
2014
Registrations start to level out.
The following list provides information on how many European Health Insurance Cards were issued in the last five years:
2015-16 6,069,233
2014-15 5,414,977
2013-14 5,571,060
2012-13 5,240,608
2011-12 6,830,734
Source: NHS Business Services Authority
Asked by: Lord Lilley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many applications for treatment under S2 arrangements were approved retrospectively in each of the five financial years preceding 2016-17.
Answered by Philip Dunne
As insurability under European Union law is not determined on the basis of nationality, it is not possible to provide information on the reimbursement costs under EU Regulations 883/2004 and 987/2009, and Directive 20011/24 under the European Health Insurance Card, S1 and S2 scheme. Other Economic European Area (EEA) countries and Switzerland reimburse the United Kingdom for the cost of the National Health Service providing treatment to people they are responsible for under EU law, including UK nationals insured in another EEA country or Switzerland, irrespective of nationality.
The following table provides information on the numbers of S2 forms issued.
Financial years April-March | |||||
| 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 |
S2/E112 |
|
|
|
|
|
Out-going | 1,442 | 1,312 | 1,354 | 1,355 | 1,330 |
Source: Overseas Healthcare Team (OHT), Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
Note: It is possible that issued S2s to customers have not been used
Information on S2 arrangements approved retrospectively is not available.
The following table provides information on the numbers of S1 forms registered by individuals in Foreign Authorities (FA) for whom the UK is responsible under the EU law.
Registration In Financial Years April-March | |||||
| 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 |
Registered by FA | 7,561 | 19,887 | 46,412 | 28,600 | 25,198 |
Source: OHT, DWP
Note: Data is from 1 April to 31 March
Data above includes forms issued E106, E109, E120, E121, E122 and S1, these exclude PRC, E123, DA1, E112 and S2.
Timeline of data
2011 to 2012
OHT moved to Washington and staff training started. There were low skill levels in this period.
2013
OHT had a back log of work which was taken on and cleared by staff in Porth.
2014
Registrations start to level out.
The following list provides information on how many European Health Insurance Cards were issued in the last five years:
2015-16 6,069,233
2014-15 5,414,977
2013-14 5,571,060
2012-13 5,240,608
2011-12 6,830,734
Source: NHS Business Services Authority