Covid-19 Update

Stella Creasy Excerpts

Thursday 17th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

Yes, I will get on to it right away. I am really glad that Staffordshire has worked hard on getting this community testing going. Stoke-on-Trent was one of the first places in the country to get going on it, and now we have spread it out wider in Staffs. I will pick up the point that my hon. Friend raises and get back to her straightaway.

[Stella Creasy (Walthamstow) (Lab/Co-op) [V]]

The Secretary of State tells us about personal responsibility. Does he recognise that he has a responsibility to be honest with the public about what is happening? This week, Whipps Cross Hospital had to turn away ambulances because the ICU was full as a direct result of the rising covid infections in our local community, and the hospital had to move to early discharge of patients. He says that he is publishing data. Will he commit to publishing real-time data about A&E “firebreaks”, ICU capacity and what planned surgeries have been cancelled by hospitals, so that the public can see the truth about why and how we need to protect the NHS and what impact it has on their health outcomes?

[Matt Hancock]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right about the impact of the virus on the NHS in her part of the world in north-east London. Whipps Cross Hospital is under significant pressure. The case rate in her Waltham Forest local authority is 431 per 100,000. We have to work together to get the cases down, especially in east London, where they are very significant. We publish a huge amount of data on hospital admissions and the impact on the NHS, and I am publishing further data on this today and putting it in the Library of the House.