Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to (1) control infections, and (2) reduce costs, in NHS controlled hospitals.

On 14 April 2022, NHS England and NHS Improvement published the National infection prevention and control manual for England, which sets out how Standard Infection Control Precautions (SICPs) are to be used by all staff in all settings regardless of whether infection is known to be present to ensure the safety of those being cared for, staff and visitors in the care environment. SICPs may be insufficient to prevent cross transmission of specific infectious agents. Additional precautions called Transmission Based Precautions may be required when caring for patients with known or suspected infection or colonisation. Clinical judgement and decisions should be made by staff on what additional precautions are required. A copy of the manual is attached.

The Government has set an efficiency target of 2.2% for the National Health Service, which NHS England and NHS Improvement have incorporated into planning guidance. In the draft annual plans, NHS systems have set out cost savings across a number of categories. These include temporary staffing, digital investments, purchasing of goods and services and estate running costs. There are also national programmes intended to support organisations to reduce costs, including agency staffing reductions, procurement of goods and services at a national scale and support organisations to review patient pathways to improve patient outcomes and reduce cost.