Asked by: Sara Britcliffe (Conservative - Hyndburn)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the (a) effectiveness of and (b) equity of access to the application process for the backlog bonus payment under the NHS Agenda for Change umbrella for (i) the third sector and (ii) social enterprises.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department developed clear and transparent criteria for the application process, which was published by NHS England and accessible to all non-National Health Service organisations. The criteria was agreed to ensure that the funding was given to those most impacted by the NHS pay deal, due to the nature of their contracts and their financial circumstances.
Outcomes of applications will be communicated directly to organisations by the end of the financial year. Organisations will be entitled to seek a review of the decision, which will be undertaken by the Department, to determine if the decision has been reached correctly in accordance with the guidance.
Asked by: Sara Britcliffe (Conservative - Hyndburn)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
What steps his Department is taking to improve the diagnosis and treatment of functional neurological disorders.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to ensuring those with all neurological conditions, including functional neurological disorders, have access to appropriate treatment and services.
In February 2023 the National Neurosciences Advisory Group published its Optimal Clinical Pathway on functional neurological disorders (FND), developed by the neurological community with the support of NHS England.
The pathway sets out what good treatment, care and support looks like for patients with FND, including the importance of timely and effective diagnosis.
Asked by: Sara Britcliffe (Conservative - Hyndburn)
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 effect of starting isolation periods from a positive lateral flow result on the use of PCR tests and the Government's ability to track covid-19 variants.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The move away from confirmatory polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for some groups is compatible with surveillance for COVID-19 variants. The UK Health Security Agency aims to conduct surveillance on at least 10% of community cases for the monitoring of variants. Those groups which will continue to be tested with a PCR test will provide sufficient community-based positive samples to maintain the ability to detect any new mutations in the Omicron or Delta variants or any emerging and new variants.
Asked by: Sara Britcliffe (Conservative - Hyndburn)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he will take to ensure that housebound people are able to access the covid-19 booster vaccine.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Every adult in England aged 18 years old and over has now been offered a COVID-19 booster vaccination, including all those who are housebound. General practitioners and community teams have determined the best approach for vaccination for those who are housebound, based on their knowledge of the patient and their circumstances. Some patients may be able to attend Primary Care Network (PCN) designated sites with assistance and discussions should be held with the family and /or carer to facilitate this. For those patients unable to travel to a PCN designated site with assistance, vaccinations will be delivered via roving units to an individual’s home.