Health and Social Care Update
Debate between Tulip Siddiq and Matt Hancock(3 years, 1 month ago)
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Tulip Siddiq (Hampstead and Kilburn) (Lab) [V]
GP surgeries have been crucial to the roll-out of the vaccine, and I pay tribute to all those involved. However, many of my constituents are concerned that the Centene Corporation, a massive American health insurance firm, has just taken over dozens of GP surgeries in London, including Brondesbury and Swiss Cottage GP hubs in Hampstead and Kilburn and others in Camden. Does the Secretary of State share their concern that this appears to have taken place with no meaningful public scrutiny, and their concerns about the increasing involvement of US healthcare corporations in our health system?
Covid-19 Update
Debate between Tulip Siddiq and Matt Hancock(3 years, 3 months ago)
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Matt Hancock
Yes. My hon. Friend catches my emotions as well, and I am sure the emotions of most of the House, in that we have this extra and new hope of a vaccine, but we also have some very difficult weeks between now and when it is rolled out to protect the most vulnerable. The extension of the time interval needed between the two doses from about three or four weeks to 12 weeks means that we will be able to inoculate more people with the first dose. The news that the first dose is effective in protecting people is very good news, because it means that we can speed up the roll-out and we can all get out of this situation faster than we otherwise would have been able to, and we can save more lives along the way. So that is good news, but I absolutely appreciate my hon. Friend’s emotional turmoil because it is also tough, especially across Nottinghamshire and the other places that have had to go into tier 4. The message is really clear, which is that help is on its way—it is here in the form of the vaccine—but we have to get through the next few months with the minimum pressure on the NHS and keeping the virus under control until then.
Tulip Siddiq (Hampstead and Kilburn) (Lab) [V]
Yesterday, the Government announced that 1,500 armed forces personnel are being deployed to help secondary schools and colleges roll out mass testing. I am sure the Secretary of State is aware that there are over 3,000 secondary schools and colleges in England. This means that schools will get the support of less than half a soldier each. Could I ask the Secretary of State what specific tasks those armed forces will be carrying out, and if the Government will commit to giving overstretched headteachers and school staff more resources for the huge operation that they are expected to carry out?
Matt Hancock
Yes, there is of course support for the testing of schoolchildren, and I am sure that my right hon Friend the Education Secretary will be happy to set out more details in his statement shortly. The support of the armed forces, especially from those who have experience of the mass testing roll-out so far, will be incredibly helpful, but it is not the only thing that will help the roll-out of mass testing in schools. I am really grateful to the schools that have been involved so far for the enthusiasm that they have shown and for the extra effort they have put into making this work. I look forward to seeing that happen across much more of the country.
Covid-19 Update
Debate between Tulip Siddiq and Matt Hancock(3 years, 5 months ago)
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Matt Hancock
This is something that we are working hard on in the Department. I am not yet in a position to answer all those questions, except to say that I have looked at the results of the Spanish trial that my right hon. Friend mentions, not least because he sent me those results with some enthusiasm. We are looking at this very closely.
Tulip Siddiq (Hampstead and Kilburn) (Lab)
Before I ask my question, I pay tribute to the brave staff of the Royal Free Hospital in my constituency, who featured in “Hospital” last night on BBC 2, for all their hard work during the pandemic. I understand that, when the vaccine is approved, the Government will distribute it according to who needs it most. However, before that point, will there be Government restrictions on meetings between those who have been vaccinated and those who have not? When does the Secretary of State think the vaccination will be available for the whole of the UK?
Matt Hancock
The hon. Lady tempts me, but I will resist the temptation. We do not know when this vaccine will be ready, because I will not allow it to be rolled out before it is clinically safe—and anyway, the independent regulator would not license it before it is clinically safe. She asked how we will treat people who have been vaccinated and those who have not been. The problem is that only when we can assess and monitor the epidemic-modifying effects of any vaccine—not only how much it protects an individual but how much it stops transmission—can we make further judgments about the non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as social distancing rules, that we have in place. We will keep that under review and monitor it extremely carefully.
Covid-19 Update
Debate between Tulip Siddiq and Matt Hancock(3 years, 7 months ago)
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Matt Hancock
I entirely agree with my hon. Friend. Right across the board, it is critical that we are constantly learning about both what went well and what did not go well. The social care winter plan that was published last week has been developed with the sector. I visited a care home on Friday and heard from the people there about what they have learned about how policy is developed to make sure that we protect people in care homes as much as possible.
Tulip Siddiq (Hampstead and Kilburn) (Lab) [V]
Last year, I was faced with every parent’s nightmare as I rushed my small baby to the children’s A&E at the Royal Free Hospital in my constituency because he was not breathing. The doctors and nurses saved his life. The same children’s A&E will now be closed temporarily from next month because of the pressure that covid-19 will put on the NHS over winter. Will the Secretary of State give me a cast-iron guarantee that our local NHS will be given all the resources it needs so that this closure is strictly temporary and the children’s A&E service can be restored as soon as possible?
Matt Hancock
Of course I would be very happy to work with the hon. Lady on this question. We do have to make sure that our hospitals are covid-secure. I would be happy to meet her to discuss the specifics at the Royal Free.
Coronavirus Update
Debate between Tulip Siddiq and Matt Hancock(3 years, 9 months ago)
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Matt Hancock
The vaccine programme is getting all the possible support we can give it, including attention right across the top of Government. It is being led by Kate Bingham, who is doing the job brilliantly as chair of the vaccines taskforce. The best answer I can give is: no news is good news. We are trying to prove a negative: that, if someone has the vaccine, they do not get the virus. So the longer we go on without hearing there is a problem, the better. We are working to a reasonable best-case scenario of getting the vaccine in at some point this year, but I stress that that is the best-case scenario. The central scenario is somewhat later, and there is a chance that no vaccine will ever work. We need to work for the best and give our vaccine programmes the best possible support, but we should also be cautious about whether one will ever come off.
Tulip Siddiq (Hampstead and Kilburn) (Lab) [V]
A former director of public health who lives in my constituency has been in touch to express serious concerns about the real possibility of a second wave of coronavirus and his fear that lessons have not been learnt from the Government’s response to the pandemic. What plan does the Secretary of State have to get an independent body to conduct an accelerated review of the Government’s response to covid-19 so far, so that we do not make the same mistakes again?
Matt Hancock
We are looking at all the evidence and take very seriously all the academic, professional and medical studies into the pandemic and the response to it, both here and around the world.
Covid-19 Response
Debate between Tulip Siddiq and Matt Hancock(3 years, 10 months ago)
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Matt Hancock
My hon. Friend is right to raise that issue. All I can say is that we give all the support that we possibly can to the Scottish Government to help them to get their testing numbers up.
Tulip Siddiq (Hampstead and Kilburn) (Lab)
In the London Borough of Brent, which covers part of my constituency, two thirds of communities are from a BAME background, so it comes as no surprise that some areas in Brent have the third highest rate of covid-related deaths in the whole of London. The Secretary of State has said that he recognises the disproportionate impact that covid-19 has on BAME communities, and he has said that black lives matter, but BAME communities are not interested in slogans or empty rhetoric from us politicians; BAME communities want to know what concrete and practical steps the Secretary of State is taking right now to ensure that BAME communities are protected when the lockdown is eased, so that the lives of no more people from my communities are lost.
Matt Hancock
The hon. Lady is quite right to raise this issue and to discuss it in the way she does. Working with the council in Brent, where this disease had one of the highest impacts at the start, we have managed to bring the incidence of disease right down. For instance, ensuring the protection of those living in care homes in Brent has led to the outbreak there coming right under control. Brent is a very good example of where, when we saw a focused outbreak at the start, we put extra resources in; we have put support into Brent Council, and together we have managed to get this disease under control.