Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the advice from the British Dietetic Association, British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition and Royal College of Nursing that the fitting of (a) naso-gastric and (b) naso-jejunal feeding tubes should be categorised as aerosol generating procedures for the purposes of personal protective equipment.

The United Kingdom Government has published clear guidance on appropriate personal protective equipment for health and social care workers and provides a list of current procedures which are considered to be potentially infectious aerosol generating procedures for COVID-19. This guidance has been written and reviewed by all four UK public health bodies and informed by National Health Service infection prevention control experts, Health Protection Scotland evidence reviews and the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group. The guidance is regularly revised according to clinical guidance.