Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to invest in a national recruitment and workforce development campaign for (1) local authorities, and (2) providers in the social care sector.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Since 2019, the Department has conducted national adult social care recruitment campaigns highlighting the wide variety of rewarding and stimulating roles available. The next phase of the campaign is planned for later in 2022. The Government will continue to work with the care sector to produce specific resources to assist care providers and local authorities to recruit staff.
In addition, the Department has committed at least £500 million to develop and support the social care workforce, including training places and certifications, progression pathways, wellbeing initiatives and mental health support.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to support local authorities to improve the capacity of community support in the social care sector.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Local authorities have a responsibility to ensure there is sufficient workforce capacity to meet the care needs in the local area. We plan to launch the next national recruitment campaign in 2022/23. In addition, care workers are now eligible for the Health and Care Visa and are included in the Shortage Occupation List.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to improve maternity (1) curriculums, and (2) guidance, in order to better assess women and babies from (a) black, and (b) ethnic minority, communities.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Health Education England (HEE) is working with NHS England to review and update the existing ‘Cultural Competence’ e-learning resources to support clinicians to understand culture and health and how it may influence healthcare outcomes. HEE is hosting a meeting on maternity education and training in July 2022, which will focus on the education and training implications of the Ockenden report. This will include course content and curriculum, career development and transition to work.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) considers the need to reduce health inequalities in developing its evidence-based guideline recommendations. Where there is evidence of differences in symptoms, diagnosis, or treatment for different population groups, NICE seeks to ensure that this is addressed in its guidelines.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to permit overseas-born trainee GPs to stay in Britain at the end of their training.
Answered by Lord Kamall
We are working with NHS England and NHS Improvement, Health Education England and the profession to understand the barriers faced by international medical graduates in general practitioner (GP) specialty training. The two-year General Practice Fellowship programme guarantees the opportunity for every newly qualified GP entering general practice, including international medical graduates, to receive funded mentorship, one funded session of continuing professional development opportunities per week and rotational placements in Primary Care Networks to develop their experience and support their transition into the workforce.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support seriously mentally ill people so that they avoid going to prison.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Liaison and Diversion services operate at police stations and criminal courts in England to identify and assess people with vulnerabilities, such as substance misuse and mental ill-health, to refer them to services and, where appropriate, away from the justice system. Liaison and Diversion services have covered 100% of the population of England since April 2020.
The Ministry of Justice, the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and NHS Improvement and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities have developed a new protocol to increase the use of community sentence treatment requirements in courts to reduce reoffending. The use of short-term custodial sentences may address the health and social issues of the offender. We have provided £12 million to establish 21 programme sites for mental health treatment requirements.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to require hospitals to implement special redirection units by their entrances to reroute patients who might not need urgent treatment.
Answered by Lord Kamall
We have no plans to do so. A number of streaming and redirection models are used by National Health Service trusts, which are determined locally to suit the needs of their community. These are supported by nationally led initiatives such as streaming and redirection tools at the entrances to emergency departments. The urgent care self-service tool is a kiosk-based service for patients who arrive at accident and emergency departments and urgent care settings with no pre-booked arrival time, directing them to the most appropriate care. Further support is given through NHS 111, which can facilitate direct booking through to emergency departments, urgent treatment centres, pharmacists and primary care.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to accelerate the COVID-19 vaccination programme for children in order to prevent school absences.
Answered by Lord Kamall
School-aged children aged 12 years old and over are receiving COVID-19 vaccinations in schools through the School Age Immunisation Service (SAIS) and in community settings. To accelerate COVID-19 vaccinations in schools, the National Health Service has been working to increase the scale and pace of delivery, as well as targeting communications to parents, young people and the public to improve uptake and increase overall confidence in the programme.
On 13 December 2021, NHS England and NHS Improvement wrote to local health systems on offering a second dose to 12 to 15 year olds. This set out preparations for the winter break offer in out of school settings and the spring term offer for readiness from 10 January 2022 in school settings. The letter set out steps to ensure that SAIS providers and NHS systems have sufficient capacity to vaccinate children in school; there are settings outside of school where children can receive their vaccinations if necessary; there are appropriate vaccination opportunities to cater for different vaccination timelines; and the vaccination workforce has received appropriate training. A copy of the letter is attached.
As of 31 January 2022, at-risk children under 12 years old who are prioritised for COVID-19 vaccination are being offered the vaccine in out of school settings.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase the uptake of the MMR vaccine.
Answered by Lord Kamall
On 1 February 2022 a new national marketing campaign was launched with the aim of increasing awareness and driving uptake of both doses of the MMR vaccine in children under the age of five years old.
NHS England and NHS Improvement are implementing an MMR campaign from March 2022 to increase coverage of the MMR vaccine in the routine childhood programme. This will include a central call and recall for children aged between one and six years old who have been identified as not being up to date for their MMR vaccine for their age.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to shorten the period for which a care home restricts movements in and out of premises after it experiences a COVID-19 outbreak.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Restrictions of movement in and out of care home premises during a confirmed COVID-19 outbreak are informed by evidence from rounds of testing, including ‘recovery testing’. This usually takes place after there have been no new cases for 14 days or one maximum incubation period. For variants of concern (VOC), this period is extended to 28 days or two maximum incubation periods. This advice is kept under continuous review as the evidence emerges.
Omicron was originally identified as a ‘high priority’ VOC which led to restrictions on movement up to 28 days. However, following a review, the UK Health Security Agency advised on 7 January 2021 that the Omicron variant could be managed according to standard protocol for outbreaks, resulting in a reduction in the advised period of restriction to 14 days since the last test positive case.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to establish an emergency volunteer army for social care in light of reports that (1) care homes, and (2) home care providers, are struggling to operate properly due to staff shortages.
Answered by Lord Kamall
We are engaging with the social care sector on all potential options to address staff shortages, such as volunteers, which are already used by many social care providers. We have also provided an additional £462.5 million to support recruitment and retention in social care, expanded the Health and Care Visa to include care workers and the Made with Care national recruitment campaign is running until March 2022.