Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the potential merits of reforming visa regulations to enable more international trainee GPs to remain in the UK after completing their training.
Answered by James Morris
Departmental officials are working with the Home Office to increase the number of practitioner (GP) practices registered as sponsors. NHS England is also improving the service to match newly qualified international GPs with practices in England to enable local planning and direct support to international medical graduates to find a recruiting practice.
NHS England is also increasing awareness with international medical graduates with guidance on preparing to enter the workforce, including applying for roles and visas.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish a recovery and respite plan for unpaid carers.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
We have no plans to publish a specific recovery and respite plan for carers. However, the white paper ‘People at the Heart of Care’ sets out the Government’s strategic approach to empower unpaid carers to live happy, healthy and fulfilling lives. We will invest up to £25 million to work with the sector on improving the services provided to support unpaid carers. We expect that this funding will identify and test new and existing initiatives, which could include respite and breaks, peer group and wellbeing support and how these could be combined to maximise the impact.
The Better Care Fund (BCF) will also be used to support carer breaks and respite services. The BCF Framework for 2022/23 will be published shortly and will ask that all local BCF partnerships set out how funding is used to support unpaid carers.
On 13 May 2022, I wrote to local authorities on the importance of respite support for carers and to understand any challenges in getting these services regaining full capacity.
Additionally, the Chancellor recently announced a package of support to help with the cost of living. Unpaid carers in low-income households will benefit from the Means-Tested Benefit Cost of Living Payment, and those living in the same household as the disabled person for whom they care will benefit from the disability Cost of Living Payment, while families with a pensioner in the household will benefit from the Pensioner Cost of Living Payment.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish a response to Early Day Motion 1110, NICE guideline on endometriosis diagnosis and management.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent body and reviews its published guidelines to determine whether they should be updated in light of new evidence or emerging issues not in the scope of the original guideline. NICE plans to review its guideline on endometriosis in 2022/23 to consider whether it should be updated.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish a response to Early Day Motion 883, Campaign for an Osteogenesis Imperfecta national awareness month.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
While we have no specific plans to officially recognise May as the national awareness month for osteogenesis imperfecta, the UK Rare Diseases Framework aims to improve the awareness of all rare diseases. England’s Rare Diseases Action Plan, published on 28 February 2022, sets out specific actions to increase knowledge and improve the resources available to health care professionals. This includes education and training programmes and developing innovative digital resources, integrated into existing digital platforms or websites to provide easily accessible information on rare diseases. Action plans from the devolved administrations will follow later in 2022.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow 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 reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Glasgow North of 20 July 2021, reference PG23211.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 5 January 2022 to Question 93784.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow 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 reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Glasgow North of 20 July 21 with reference to case number PG23211.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We replied to the hon. Member on 16 December 2021.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many doses of covid-19 vaccines have been destroyed in the UK in each of the last 12 months as a result of (a) passing their expiration date or (b) any other reasons.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The information is not available in the format requested.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure UK residents who have taken part in trials of the Valneva covid-19 vaccine are able to demonstrate to healthcare and other authorities that they are adequately vaccinated against covid-19.
Answered by Maggie Throup
All clinical trial participants can now gain access to a domestic NHS COVID Pass. Clinical trial participants who received the Valneva vaccine as part of their trial will continue to be able to prove their vaccination status and will be treated as fully vaccinated in domestic settings and at the United Kingdom border.