Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to assist private hospitals and health care providers to acquire covid-19 testing kits for patients and staff.

Private hospitals settings providing National Health Service commissioned care can access testing through their commissioning body, normally their local commissioning NHS trust or clinical commissioning group. Private hospitals who do not provide NHS-commissioned care may access publicly funded asymptomatic testing through National Workplace Testing which is accessible to organisations who are registered in England, employ 50 people or more and whose employees cannot work from home. Tests are currently being provided free to both public and private sector employers until at least 31 March 2021. The Government’s support will be kept under review and will engage with employers before any changes to the support offer are made.

Organisations who do not meet the criteria for National Workplace Testing can contact their local authority to gain information on their local asymptomatic testing offer.