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 ensure that staff working in ambulances who are not paramedics have to be (1) registered, or (2) regulated.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The Government is clear that the statutory regulation of healthcare professionals should only be used where the risks to public and patient protection cannot be addressed in other ways, such as through employer oversight or accredited voluntary registration. We have no plans to extend statutory regulation to ambulance staff other than paramedics.
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 early intervention for psychosis.
Answered by Lord Kamall
We are investing £975 million by 2023/24 in services including early intervention for psychosis.
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 implement a health inequalities strategy that targets deprivation and focuses on the impact on (1) physical, and (2) mental, ill-health.
Answered by Lord Kamall
On 1 October we launched the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID). The OHID will work in partnership with national and local government, the National Health Service, the voluntary sector, industry and the wider public health system to systematically tackle the top preventable risk factors, such as smoking and obesity, improving the public’s health and narrowing health disparities.
We are also implementing an obesity strategy, supporting interventions to reduce smoking and providing investment to improve access to health services. We have invested £100 million for weight management services, with higher levels of funding for local areas with higher levels of deprivation and obesity rates. We have increased the Public Health Grant to over £3.3 billion in 2021/22, with the Grant’s distribution weighted towards areas facing the greatest population health challenges and highest levels of deprivation.
We have invested £15 million in 2021/22 in a prevention and early intervention stimulus package to promote positive mental health in the most deprived local authority areas in England.
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 ensure that people living in rural areas are able to go to their nearest vaccination centre to receive their COVID-19 booster jab.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The National Health Service, alongside its health and social care partners have developed different delivery models which operate concurrently to provide flexibility in our approach and ensure the entire population has access to the COVID-19 booster vaccines, including for those living in rural areas. This includes delivery through hospital hubs, vaccination centres, Primary Care Network-led sites, and community pharmacy-led sites.
The network of vaccination sites has been designed to fit the expected vaccine supply and ensure safe and easy access for the whole population. Currently 98% of the population in England live within 10 miles of a vaccination site. For those in highly rural areas there is a standard operating model for roving and mobile delivery models to go directly to these communities. For example, in Swindon and Wiltshire local authority the roving model was used in the form of vaccination bus. The bus overcame barriers such as needing to travel long distances to vaccination sites.
A problem solving framework has been issued with best practice and practical guidance for implementing a range of interventions to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccinations. For example health coaches from the voluntary and charitable sector were used in rural West Yorkshire to support individuals to access vaccination clinics, and in rural Derbyshire Dales local volunteers from mountain rescue teams and community first responders supplement national volunteers to transport elderly and physically disabled patients to vaccination sites.
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 make masks mandatory (1) on public transport, and (2) in public spaces, as both COVID-19 daily cases and deaths continue to rise.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The online only COVID-19 Response: Autumn and Winter Plan 2021 states that if the data suggests the National Health Service is likely to come under unsustainable pressure, the Government will implement its prepared ‘Plan B’ for England. This will include measures that can help control transmission of the virus and legally mandating face coverings in certain settings. The exact settings will be announced if Plan B is implemented.
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 introduce mandatory vaccines for all NHS England staff.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The Secretary of State announced a policy of COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of deployment for health and wider social care services on 9 November. The draft regulations, The Health and Social care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) (Coronavirus) Regulations, have been laid to implement the policy.
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 provide clearer messaging on the safety of COVID-19 vaccines for pregnant women.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has developed a range of advice including videos, digital products for social media and websites, paper leaflets and posters to support decision-making on COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy. The UK HSA continues to promote these resources to providers in all health settings. In addition, information leaflets on COVID-19 vaccination for women of childbearing age, including those currently pregnant or breastfeeding, are available online and in an easy-read version for people with a learning disability and their carers, British Sign Language videos and a Braille version. The leaflets and translations in 27 languages are available to order for free or download.
NHS England has urged all healthcare professionals to raise awareness of the vaccine’s benefits among pregnant women, reassuring any concerns and encouraging women to come forward through maternity and primary care services. A toolkit has been launched to support these healthcare professionals with such conversations and includes key messages and facts about the vaccines and frequently asked questions.
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 tackle racial inequalities in the mental health system.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Under the NHS Long Term Plan, all local health systems are expected to set out how they will specifically reduce health inequalities by 2023/24.
In 2020, NHS England and NHS Improvement published the Advancing mental health equalities strategy which sets out actions to create more equitable access, experience and outcomes in mental health services in England. Specifically, the strategy includes the development of the patient and carers race equality framework to support mental health services to improve ethnic minority communities’ experience of care. A copy of the strategy is attached.
As part of our plans to reform the Mental Health Act 1983, we are also developing culturally appropriate advocacy for people of all ethnic backgrounds, as well as conducting research that aims to support the improvement in mental health outcomes for people from ethnic minority communities.
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 allow 12–15 year olds to attend COVID-19 vaccination centres.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The school-based vaccination offer will continue in schools over the autumn. However, the vaccination programme has now expanded to enable parents or guardians to choose whether their child receives their dose in school or at a vaccination centre. An increasing number of vaccination sites will begin offering 12 to 15 year olds vaccine appointments over the coming weeks, including general practitioner practices and community pharmacies.
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 provide a date for when mandatory PCR tests for foreign travel will be stopped.
Answered by Lord Kamall
We keep our travel testing regime under constant review to ensure it provides adequate protection against risks at the border. From 24 October, fully vaccinated passengers and most aged under 18 years old arriving in England from countries not on the ‘red list’ can take a lateral flow test, instead of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, on or before day two of their arrival into the United Kingdom. These tests can be booked from 22 October. A date for when mandatory PCR tests for arrivals from ‘red list’ countries will be stopped is not yet available.