Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on children's mental health and wellbeing of banning youth sport during the November 2020 covid-19 lockdown.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
We recognise how critical sport and physical activity is for children and young people’s physical and mental wellbeing and their personal and social development. Schools remain open and children can participate in physical education and sport where it is part of the curriculum or part of the core timetable of the school.
Unfortunately, most organised children’s sport outside school activity has had to cease temporarily during this second period of lockdown, but sport and physical activity is permitted as part of other supervised activities, such as wraparound care or childcare facilities, where it is necessary to enable parents or carers to work, seek work, attend education or training, or for respite care.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many healthcare workers have been tested for covid-19 to date.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service has made testing available to all symptomatic NHS staff as a priority.
We are also testing those who are asymptomatic in specific circumstances where appropriate. For NHS workers specifically, NHS England has published guidance on when testing of this nature might be appropriate, including where an incident has taken place, an outbreak or where high prevalence has been established.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on ensuring that the correct supply chain requirements have been made for distributing a covid-19 vaccine.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government closely monitors plans for the requirements across the supply chain for COVID-19 vaccines and associated material. For the provision of potential vaccines and their onward deployment, there are clearly defined supply chain plans for manufacturing, transport, storage and distribution.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will set up more post-covid 19 clinics to support people who are chronically ill with coronavirus symptoms.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
In July 2020, the National Health Service launched the ‘Your COVID Recovery’ service to support the recovery of people who have been in hospital or suffered at home with the virus. This is a two-phase endeavour with phase one being available as an open, publicly available site containing general information on all aspects of recovering from COVID-19, including physical, emotional and psychological wellbeing. Over 100,000 people have used the online service since it was launched in July.
On 7 October the NHS announced £10 million is be invested this year to help kick start and designate ‘long COVID-19’ clinics that will be available to all patients in England. Alongside this, new guidance has been commissioned by NHS England from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) on the clinical case definition of ‘long COVID-19’. This will include patients who have had COVID-19 who may not have had a hospital admission or a previous positive test. It will be followed by evidence-based NICE clinical guidelines that will outline the support that ‘long COVID-19’ patients should receive, enabling NHS doctors, therapists and staff to provide a clear and personalised treatment plan. This will include education materials for general practitioners and other health professionals to help them refer and signpost patients to the right support.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what additional support he plans to make available to general practices (a) during and (b) after the coronavirus outbreak.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is supporting general practices in response to the COVID-19 outbreak in several ways. We have facilitated remote working by distributing over 22,000 laptops to general practice staff; have provided a COVID-19 Support Fund to cover additional costs incurred by practices as a result of the response to the virus; have enabled flexibility in the delivery of services to relieve pressures; and have reduced bureaucratic burdens.
In addition, we are supporting the wellbeing of the primary care workforce in collaboration with the Royal College of General Practitioners via the #LookingAfterYouToo: Coaching Support for Primary Care Staff service, which provides access to mental health services for all primary care workers.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
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 medical logistics experts on the roll-out of a covid-19 vaccine.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The safe and efficient delivery of a COVID-19 vaccine is a top priority for the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. Discussions are held regularly on a wide range of topics with experts about the logistics, warehousing, transport and end-destination ‘clinic’ storage, for delivering a COVID-19 vaccine when one becomes available.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government (a) is taking and (b) plans to take protect (i) the BAME community, (ii) people in the most deprived areas (iii) older people and (iv) people with medical conditions that put them at greater risk from the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Equalities (Kemi Badenoch MP) is reviewing the findings from Public Health England’s reports to better understand the drivers behind the disparities and the relationships between the different risk factors. Her work will help us to improve understanding of the virus and who it affects so we can build on the existing action we are taking to tackle health inequalities. This includes, for example, our childhood obesity plan, National Health Service health checks, our tobacco control plan and diabetes prevention programme.
In addition, the NHS Long Term Plan commits all major national programmes and every local area across England to set out specific measurable goals and mechanisms by which they will contribute to narrowing health inequalities over the next five and ten years. As areas vary, so will the focus of their goals.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government has a target date for each health and social care provider to receive adequate levels of personal protective equipment.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There is no target date for each health and social care provider to receive adequate levels of personal protective equipment. The Government has always been clear that every health and care worker should get the personal protective equipment (PPE) they need to tackle this outbreak. We are working around the clock to achieve this.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the long term effects of covid-19 on multigenerational households.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We know that staying at home for a prolonged period can be difficult, particularly in multi-generational households where people over the age of 70 or who are greater clinical risk from COVID-19 might experience difficulty shielding from working age members of the family, and children.
In response, we have published guidance for people with grandparents, parents and children living together which is available at the following link:
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of improving the process for hospitals who wish to become recognised as specialist NHS Trust hospitals.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Specialist hospitals are widely recognised for their excellence within individual specialties, including rare and complex cases. However, there is no formal specialist trust designation, and many National Health Service trusts provide both specialist and non-specialist services.
NHS England is responsible for the commissioning of prescribed specialised services. The specialised services directly commissioned by NHS England are listed in Schedule 4 to the National Health Service Commissioning Board and Clinical Commissioning Groups (Responsibilities and Standing Rules) Regulations 2012.