Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure home care staff are able to access regular covid-19 testing.
On 23 November 2020, we began offering Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered domiciliary care organisations access to regular, weekly COVID-19 testing for their carers looking after people in their own homes.
Those working for CQC registered organisations are able to access weekly polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests to administer at home, which will help identify more asymptomatic cases and protect care recipients who are more vulnerable to COVID-19.