Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reasons his Department has not made Evusheld available to immunocompromised people; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Government has decided not to procure Evusheld for prevention through emergency routes at this time. This is a decision based on independent clinical advice by the multi-agency RAPID C-19 and a United Kingdom national expert policy working group. These groups considered a range of evidence, including clinical trial data, in vitro analysis and emerging observational studies and concluded there is currently insufficient evidence of benefit to recommend deployment. The Chief Medical Officer for England is content that the correct process for providing clinical advice has been followed and it should be referred to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence for further evaluation.
The Department intends to publish further details of the clinical advice received shortly.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that NHS trusts are given up-to-date guidance on supporting employees with long covid.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
NHS England and NHS Improvement published guidance for National Health Service organisations to support NHS employees affected by the long term effects of COVID-19 infection, which is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/supporting-our-nhs-people/support-now/supporting-long-covid
These guidelines are developed and updated as required by NHS England and NHS Improvement, with support from a Task and Finish Group comprised of representatives from the Department, Health Education England and NHS Employers. The membership also includes NHS colleagues with lived experience of Post-COVID-19 syndrome.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce wait times for diagnostic scans.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’ published in February 2022 sets out how the National Health Service will increase capacity in and expand elective services in the next three years. We have committed to invest £2.3 billion to increase the volume of diagnostic activity and reduce patient waiting times. This includes the launch of up to 160 community diagnostic centres (CDCs) in the next three years to address backlogs for checks, such as magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound and computed tomography scans. Since July 2021, CDCs have provided more than 1 million diagnostic scans.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of frontline NHS workers who have been diagnosed with long covid.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No specific estimate has been made. While the Office for National Statistics has estimated the proportion of people self-reporting the long term effects of COVID-19 by sector, including for healthcare, this does not specifically record front-line National Health Service staff.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had recent discussions with the Health and Safety Executive on fit testing issues for personal protective equipment within the NHS.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
There have been no recent discussions with the Health Safety Executive about fit testing issues with personal protective equipment used by the National Health Service.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of people who have wrongly been classified as being ineligible for the Healthy Start Scheme during the process of migration from vouchers to cards.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of people who are eligible for the Healthy Start scheme have not yet registered for it; and whether his Department is taking steps to encourage uptake in that scheme.
Answered by Maggie Throup
In March 2022 there were 547,719 eligible beneficiaries for the NHS Healthy Start scheme. Of these, 394,348 were in receipt of Healthy Start or 72% nationally. The NHS Business Services Authority promotes the Healthy Start scheme through digital channels and has created free tools to allow stakeholders promote the scheme locally.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason the Healthy Start helpline is not a freephone service; whether his Department has made an assessment of the impact of charging for calls to the Healthy Start helpline on the number of people seeking assistance with their Healthy Start entitlement; and if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of making the Healthy Start helpline a freephone service.
Answered by Maggie Throup
There are currently no plans to make the NHS Business Service Authority’s Healthy Start line a freephone number. The NHS Business Services Authority, in line with national and other Government agencies, transferred from 0845 numbers to 0300 or 01 02 numbers as part of the Fair Telecoms Campaign.
Telephone companies include calls to 0300 numbers in the free minutes of some call plans. Any call charges outside of a plan are charged at a local rate, which is set by the caller’s provider. Calls to the NHS Healthy Start telephone helpline are charged at a local rate. A separate automated telephone is available 24 hours a day, where beneficiaries can activate or replace a lost or damaged card and check their balance. For those with access to digital services, general queries about NHS Healthy Start can be made via email and to the NHS Healthy Start Facebook and Twitter social media channels, which are free services.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on reported incidents of (a) the early termination of calls and (b) other technical issues with the Healthy Start helpline.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Calls to the NHS Healthy Start scheme are not terminated by the NHS Business Services Authority. The NHS Healthy Start scheme call centre has seen a high call volume and the number of calls is currently capped to prevent people being on hold for a long time. Where a caller has been unable to contact the call centre staff, a message advises them that lines are currently busy and to call back later. There have been no technical issues with the NHS Healthy Start helpline.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether persons who have been wrongly classified as being ineligible for the Healthy Start Scheme but who have subsequently made successful appeals are eligible for financial compensation.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The NHS Business Services Authority has resolved the recent issue where some applicants to the Healthy Start scheme were incorrectly advised that they were ineligible. In these instances, applicants should contact the NHS Business Services Authority to request assistance in joining the scheme and to obtain any potential backdated payment owed. A backdated payment will only be made where the applicant is able to demonstrate a claim was attempted and they were eligible at the time of the application.