Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the accuracy of the NHS COVID-19 contact tracing app in identifying close contacts with people who test positive for the virus.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The app uses Bluetooth Low Energy to understand the distance over time between people who have downloaded the app. If someone tests positive for COVID-19, the app’s risk-scoring algorithm uses this data, along with the infectiousness of the individual testing positive, to make calculations about the risk of transmission and who should receive an alert. If a notification to self-isolate is received, the user’s device has been in close proximity to the device of someone who has recently tested positive. For its ability to judge proximity, the app achieves ‘excellent’ performance by scientific standards.
Prior to the launch of the app it was tested in a range of environments, in order to evaluate its effectiveness at accurately measuring distance. The app has also been modelled in simulations involving hundreds of thousands of scenarios. The app performed as expected and we are confident that it can accurately detect distance in different settings. As Apple and Google develop aspects of the underlying contact tracing technology, they have also conducted their own tests related to accuracy.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that accurate records of vaccination status are maintained where individuals receive a first COVID-19 vaccine in one part of the UK and a second vaccine in a different part of the country.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The National Immunisation Management System (NIMS) is used as the national register for COVID-19 vaccinations. At the point a COVID-19 vaccine is given, the vaccinating team record this information onto NIMS and a patient’s general practitioner (GP) record. NIMS sends daily updates to GP systems to update their local record and monitor progress for their patients.
Work is ongoing to transfer data between devolved health administrations to ensure that vaccinations which occur outside of the patient’s ‘home’ nation are delivered to their patient record.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether there are restrictions preventing GP practices from being sold to investors based outside of the UK.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Legislation sets out which individuals and companies are eligible to hold contracts to provide primary medical services. Eligibility varies slightly between contract type but there is no distinction in the eligibility criteria between companies registered in the United Kingdom and those registered overseas. All contract holders and providers of National Health Service core primary medical services are subject to the same requirements, regulation, and standards. Patients should receive high-quality NHS care when they need it, that is free at the point of use.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many GP medical practices in England are owned by US-based insurance and investment companies.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Information on general practitioner (GP) practice ownership is not held centrally. It is for local commissioners to arrange the provision of appropriate services, by contracting with providers, in order to best serve the needs of their patient population.
Legislation sets out which individuals and companies are eligible to hold contracts to provide primary medical services. Eligibility varies slightly between contract type but there is no distinction in the eligibility criteria between companies registered in the United Kingdom and those registered overseas.
All contract holders and providers of National Health Service core primary medical services are subject to the same requirements, regulation, and standards. Patients should receive high-quality NHS care when they need it, that is free at the point of use.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to protect GP medical practices in England from being purchased by US-based companies.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Information on general practitioner (GP) practice ownership is not held centrally. It is for local commissioners to arrange the provision of appropriate services, by contracting with providers, in order to best serve the needs of their patient population.
Legislation sets out which individuals and companies are eligible to hold contracts to provide primary medical services. Eligibility varies slightly between contract type but there is no distinction in the eligibility criteria between companies registered in the United Kingdom and those registered overseas.
All contract holders and providers of National Health Service core primary medical services are subject to the same requirements, regulation, and standards. Patients should receive high-quality NHS care when they need it, that is free at the point of use.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how often countries on the travel 'red list' are being reviewed; and how far in advance any changes to the red list will be announced.
Answered by Lord Bethell
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what support and advice is available to visually impaired people in relation to social distancing guidelines and requirements.
Answered by Lord Bethell
We have published support and advice regarding social distancing for blind and visually impaired people in an online only format. The guidance explains how to minimise the risk of spreading COVID-19 while in unfamiliar settings, communicating with others, shopping and exercise. This guidance has been developed to permit support, including guiding, to be given whilst mitigating the risk of transmission as far as possible, informed by the available clinical evidence.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to prioritise crematorium and funeral workers for receipt of a COVID-19 vaccination.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) are the independent experts who advise the Government on which vaccine/s the United Kingdom should use and provide advice on prioritisation at a population level. The JCVI identified that the vaccination of frontline healthcare workers should be a priority for the COVID-19 vaccination programme. Frontline staff are at high risk of acquiring COVID-19 infection but also of transmitting that infection to multiple persons who are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 as well as to other staff in a healthcare environment.
Crematorium operations may involve handling the deceased and therefore present a risk of exposure to COVID-19. However, these functions do not necessitate entering or accessing a healthcare setting so there is a low risk of transmitting infection to multiple vulnerable persons or other staff in a healthcare environment.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether all NHS staff who are not UK citizens will be offered COVID-19 vaccinations.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Vaccination against COVID-19 is offered to every adult living in the United Kingdom free of charge, regardless of immigration status. For the first phase of the vaccination programme, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation have advised that the vaccine be given to care home residents and staff, as well as frontline health and social care workers. This includes foreign National Health Service frontline healthcare workers.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that (1) rough sleepers, (2) homeless people, and (3) illegal immigrants not registered with a GP, are offered COVID-19 vaccinations.
Answered by Lord Bethell
National Health Service regional teams are working with appropriate local systems to reach out to unregistered people so as to ensure that all their health needs are met and that they are offered the COVID-19 vaccine in line with Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s priorities. NHS England and NHS Improvement recently launched a general practitioner (GP) registration campaign alongside the voluntary sector. To support this, NHS England and NHS Improvement are providing materials, such as training for practice staff and access cards which support the message that everyone is entitled to register with a GP and give the NHS England and NHS Improvement Customer Contact Centre number for people to use if they have been refused registration.