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 reduce the impact of (a) covid-19, (b) flu and (c) other respiratory infections on people with (i) cystic fibrosis and (b) other long-term lung conditions in winter 2023.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is an independent group of experts which advises the Government health departments on immunisations and the prevention of infectious disease in all four nations of the United Kingdom. For both the COVID-19 and flu vaccination programmes, the JCVI has advised a targeted approach to protect the most vulnerable from severe disease, namely hospitalisation and death, including older individuals and individuals with specified existing clinical conditions. In autumn 2023, individuals with chronic respiratory disease, including cystic fibrosis, are eligible for a COVID-19 and flu vaccination in all nations of the UK, as advised by JCVI. It is also important that these individuals also take up any of the national immunisations for which they are eligible, as this is the best way to protect themselves, their families and wider society.

NHS England wrote on 27th July to integrated care boards (ICBs) and trusts setting out the approach to winter planning and the key steps needed to deliver operational resilience across the National Health Service this winter. The NHS England letter includes a summary of ICBs’ responsibilities in relation to high-impact actions to prevent avoidable emergency admissions, including frailty services, virtual wards, urgent community response services, single point of access for urgent care, and acute respiratory infection hubs, and support timely and effective hospital discharge including care transfer hubs. Acute Respiratory Infection Hubs should continue prioritising acute respiratory infection and provide same day urgent assessment with the benefit of releasing capacity in accident and emergency and general practice to support system pressures.