Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many notifications of medical discontinuations to Northern Ireland have been formally received by his Department in each week since 1 August 2021.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Department regularly receives notifications of discontinuations and possible discontinuations from suppliers. However, we are unable to provide the information requested as it is commercially sensitive.
Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding from the Elective Recovery Fund has been allocated to neurology elective care in England broken down by NHS region.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Information on how much of the £1 billion Elective Recovery Fund has been allocated to each National Health Service region and elective service in England is not held centrally, as it will not be distributed through set allocations. As set out in NHS Planning Guidance for 2021-22, systems are asked to deliver activity levels above set thresholds in order to access this additional funding.
Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding from the Elective Recovery Fund has been allocated to neurology elective care in England since that fund's creation.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Information on how much of the £1 billion Elective Recovery Fund has been allocated to each National Health Service region and elective service in England is not held centrally, as it will not be distributed through set allocations. As set out in NHS Planning Guidance for 2021-22, systems are asked to deliver activity levels above set thresholds in order to access this additional funding.
Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether Public Health England’s findings that people with learning disabilities were three to six times more likely to die from covid-19 than the general population during the first wave of covid-19 was taken into account when developing the vaccine prioritisation policy.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is the independent expert advisory committee which advises the Government on vaccination. The JCVI reviewed data on COVID-19 mortality from OpenSAFELY, QCOVID and Public Health England (PHE). This included the PHE report on mortality in people with learning disabilities.
After consideration of the evidence, the JCVI advised that people with severe and profound learning disabilities and Down’s syndrome should be offered vaccination in the first phase of the programme.
Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to (a) increase provision of rehabilitation services for people with (i) neurological conditions and (ii) multiple sclerosis who have become deconditioned as a result of covid-19 lockdown restrictions and disruption of healthcare services and (b) provide additional provision of those services to meet the needs of people recovering from covid-19.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, NHS England and NHS Improvement advised in-person consultations should only take place when absolutely necessary. Providers have been rolling out remote consultations using video, telephone, email and text message services as a priority, including for those with neurological conditions such as multiple sclerosis.
In-person rehabilitation services should now be resumed. The Association of British Neurologists published guidance on recommencing neurology services in the recovery phase of the pandemic, assessing which services and patients require urgent prioritisation. NHS England and NHS Improvement have also provided prioritisation advice for restarting community services, which aims to meet the needs of people with neurological conditions safely and effectively. This guidance can be found at the following links:
Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to (a) increase provision of rehabilitation services for people who have become deconditioned as a result of covid-19 lockdown restrictions and disruption of healthcare services and (b) provide additional provision to meet the needs of people recovering from covid-19.
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: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment his Department has made of radiation levels from mobile telephone masts and the effect of those masts on health.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Government policy is that exposures to electromagnetic fields from mobile phone masts and other radio-transmitting equipment should comply with the guidelines on limiting exposure from the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). This policy is reflected in the National Planning Policy Framework for England, which contains provisions in respect of ICNIRP compliance.
The former Health Protection Agency published a comprehensive review of the evidence prepared by its independent Advisory Group on Non-ionising Radiation (AGNIR) in 2012. The Group’s overall conclusion was that although a substantial amount of research has been conducted in this area, there is no convincing evidence that electromagnetic field exposures below guideline levels cause health effects in either adults or children.
Included within the AGNIR report are many measurements that have been published showing that exposures of the general public living near to mobile phone masts are well within the ICNIRP levels. Public Health England (PHE) advises such exposures are not expected to pose a hazard to the public.
PHE has committed to keeping emerging evidence under review and preparing another comprehensive review when sufficient new evidence has accumulated.
Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department provides guidance to the Department for Communities and Local Government on the potential health effects of mobile telephone masts.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Government policy is that exposures to electromagnetic fields from mobile phone masts and other radio-transmitting equipment should comply with the guidelines on limiting exposure from the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). This policy is reflected in the National Planning Policy Framework for England, which contains provisions in respect of ICNIRP compliance.
The former Health Protection Agency published a comprehensive review of the evidence prepared by its independent Advisory Group on Non-ionising Radiation (AGNIR) in 2012. The Group’s overall conclusion was that although a substantial amount of research has been conducted in this area, there is no convincing evidence that electromagnetic field exposures below guideline levels cause health effects in either adults or children.
Included within the AGNIR report are many measurements that have been published showing that exposures of the general public living near to mobile phone masts are well within the ICNIRP levels. Public Health England (PHE) advises such exposures are not expected to pose a hazard to the public.
PHE has committed to keeping emerging evidence under review and preparing another comprehensive review when sufficient new evidence has accumulated.
Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential link between the location of mobile telephone masts and the increased incidence of (a) cancers and (b) migraines.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Government policy is that exposures to electromagnetic fields from mobile phone masts and other radio-transmitting equipment should comply with the guidelines on limiting exposure from the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection.
The former Health Protection Agency published a comprehensive review of the evidence prepared by its independent Advisory Group on Non-ionising Radiation (AGNIR) in 2012. The Group’s overall conclusion was that although a substantial amount of research has been conducted in this area, there is no convincing evidence that electromagnetic field exposures below guideline levels cause health effects in either adults or children.
Included within the AGNIR report are chapters covering the evidence as to whether there is a link between exposures and symptoms such as headaches/migraines (Chapter 6) and cancer (Chapter 8). As implied by AGNIR’s overall conclusion above, the evidence does not support the existence of such links. The AGNIR report can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/radiofrequency-electromagnetic-fields-health-effects
Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what representations his Department has received on the references to dairy products in the revised Eatwell Guide.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Following the publication of the Eatwell Guide, representations about dairy contribution towards the diet have been received from the Farmers’ Union of Wales, Dairy UK and the Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board.
Government continues to encourage the consumption of dairy products as part of a healthy, balanced diet and acknowledges their role as an important source of a range of nutrients.