Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding he plans to allocate to improve access to affordable physiotherapy services in Dudley North constituency.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is committed to ensuring the continuity of access to non-COVID-19 health services such as physiotherapy. The ‘Help Us, Help You’ campaign is underway to encourage the public to access the NHS services they need and our message is unequivocal - anyone who is concerned or needs treatment should come forward.
The National Health Service has been allocated an extra £3 billion funding, which includes funding to support the recruitment of additional primary care professionals, such as physiotherapy posts in primary care networks. In Dudley, this recruitment is ongoing with support from the community provider.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of air pollution on the NHS.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In 2018 Public Health England (PHE) published an estimation of the potential health burden and costs to the National Health Service and social care system arising due to diseases related to air pollution.
Between 2017 and 2025, the total cost to the NHS and social care from air pollution in England is estimated to be £1.60 billion for fine particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide combined, where there is robust evidence for an association between exposure and disease. Where the evidence is less robust the cost is £2.81 billion for fine particulate matter and £2.75 billion for nitrogen dioxide.
PHE also published a tool which allows local authorities to quantify the number of expected disease cases and costs in their local area. The tool includes NHS and social care cost data for England and is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/air-pollution-a-tool-to-estimate-healthcare-costs
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of covid-19 transmission events in (a) wet only pubs and (b) as a proportion of total covid-19 cases.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
Public Health England publishes weekly influenza and COVID-19 surveillance reports here and this includes data on suspected and confirmed COVID-19 outbreaks by setting which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-flu-and-covid-19-surveillance-reports
Table service will help reduce the likelihood of people in hospitality venues coming into close contact with others they would not normally meet, for example if queuing at a bar and waiting to collect orders. The Government keeps all of its COVID-19 restriction measures under review and will closely monitor the impact of this policy.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what comparative assessment he has made of the risk of covid-19 transmission in wet pubs with table only service with covid-safe, managed individual customers approaching bars for service in the same pubs.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
Public Health England publishes weekly influenza and COVID-19 surveillance reports here and this includes data on suspected and confirmed COVID-19 outbreaks by setting which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-flu-and-covid-19-surveillance-reports
Table service will help reduce the likelihood of people in hospitality venues coming into close contact with others they would not normally meet, for example if queuing at a bar and waiting to collect orders. The Government keeps all of its COVID-19 restriction measures under review and will closely monitor the impact of this policy.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if will he make an assessment of the potential merits of reclassifying (a) myalgic encephalomyelitis and (b) chronic fatigue syndrome as a disability.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Department, NHS England and NHS Improvement accept the World Health Organization’s classification of chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis as a neurological condition of unknown origin, and therefore health and social care professionals are expected to manage it as such.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to improve the energy rating of Russells Hall Hospital; and whether there are plans to install (a) solar panels and (b) wind turbines at that hospital.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Russells Hall Hospital is owned and managed by Summit Healthcare (Dudley) Limited as part of a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) established in 2001. Any decisions to invest in energy efficiency schemes in relation to the building are made by Summit Healthcare (Dudley) Limited. Summit Healthcare (Dudley) Limited would need to provide the investment and would benefit from any cost savings. The Trust does encourage all staff to reduce their energy usage wherever possible and they work with their PFI partners to ensure the use of the building is energy efficient.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the Government’s response to the 2018 Green Paper on the Mental Health Act 1983.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The Government’s response to the 2018 Green Paper ‘Transforming children and young people’s mental health provision’ was published in July 2018.
We have also committed to publishing a White Paper which will set out the Government’s response to Sir Simon Wessely’s Independent Review of the Mental Health Act 1983 and pave the way for reform of the Act.
We will publish our White Paper as soon as it is possible to do so. We will consult publicly on our proposals and will bring forward a Bill to amend the Act when parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to extend the range of healthcare professionals permitted to administer and prescribe low-risk medicines.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department has no current plans to extend the range of healthcare professionals permitted to administer low-risk medicines. Under a patient specific direction, a registered prescriber can give a third-party clear instruction to enable them to administer prescribed medicines to a patient. This means of administering medicines is used widely in the health service under current powers.
A range of National Health Service professionals can train to prescribe medicines now including nurses, pharmacists, paramedics, midwives, physiotherapists and optometrists.
The Medicines and Medical Devices Bill, currently before Parliament, will allow us to continue to update the professions who can train to supply medicines or prescribe them where it is safe and appropriate to do so, replacing the European Communities Act 1972. Any regulatory change to supply or prescribing powers would be subject to public consultation.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support his Department provides to veterans in Dudley with mental ill health.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
In Dudley, veterans can access mainstream National Health Service mental health services along with the veteran specific mental health services NHS England and NHS Improvement have put in place, the Transition, Intervention and Liaison Service and the Complex Treatment Service.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to facilitate the return of retired medical professionals to help the NHS during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The General Medical Council (GMC) has powers to temporarily register medical practitioners during an emergency situation with the threat of loss of life and serious illness.
We are working closely with the GMC to ensure they have plans in place to identify, contact and register key groups of staff (including recently retired doctors) using these powers.
The National Health Service in each of the four countries will be responsible for overseeing the deployment of doctors who come forward to provide services in response to COVID-19.