Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the evidential basis is for bringing forward the lifting of covid-19 restrictions in the context of the weekly average number of covid-related deaths being in excess of 1,000.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The Government’s decision to remove COVID-19 public health measures from 19 January 2022, nothwithstanding the context of high COVID-19 infection rates and, sadly, continuing deaths from the virus, was supported by data from the Office for National Statistics indicating infection rates were falling in England; advice from scientific advisers that the Omicron wave had likely peaked nationally; National Health Service data showing that hospital admissions and patients in hospital had stabilised; and that numbers in intensive care and in ventilator beds had remained relatively low and had been falling since early January.
The Government has published the scientific advice on which these decisions have been taken which is available at the following link:
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in the context of high covid-19 infection rates, what the evidential basis is for removing covid-19 public health measures from 19 January 2022.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The Government’s decision to remove COVID-19 public health measures from 19 January 2022, nothwithstanding the context of high COVID-19 infection rates and, sadly, continuing deaths from the virus, was supported by data from the Office for National Statistics indicating infection rates were falling in England; advice from scientific advisers that the Omicron wave had likely peaked nationally; National Health Service data showing that hospital admissions and patients in hospital had stabilised; and that numbers in intensive care and in ventilator beds had remained relatively low and had been falling since early January.
The Government has published the scientific advice on which these decisions have been taken which is available at the following link:
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to maintain virtual wards beyond the peak of covid-19 omicron cases.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
No patient should be discharged until it is safe to do so. Existing guidance states that hospitals should determine the level of support each individual needs to ensure they are placed onto the most appropriate discharge pathway.
The COVID-19 virtual ward standard operating procedure provides the entry criteria for a virtual ward and notes that clinical judgement remains paramount for all assessments, particularly for patients with higher risk factors or other complicating medical conditions. Virtual wards provide safe and convenient care for patients. However, if patients require round the clock in-person hospital care, they would not meet the entry criteria for a virtual ward. The standard operating procedure is available at the following link:
NHS England’s operational planning guidance sets out an ambition for the deployment of virtual wards beyond the peak of the Omicron variant. By December 2023, NHS England expect systems to have completed the development of virtual wards, towards a national ambition of 40 to 50 virtual beds per 100,000 population. The operational planning guidance is available at the following link:
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the covid-19 patients in virtual wards will be made up of those who would have otherwise (a) been fully discharged by hospitals, or (b) had round the clock in-person hospital care.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
No patient should be discharged until it is safe to do so. Existing guidance states that hospitals should determine the level of support each individual needs to ensure they are placed onto the most appropriate discharge pathway.
The COVID-19 virtual ward standard operating procedure provides the entry criteria for a virtual ward and notes that clinical judgement remains paramount for all assessments, particularly for patients with higher risk factors or other complicating medical conditions. Virtual wards provide safe and convenient care for patients. However, if patients require round the clock in-person hospital care, they would not meet the entry criteria for a virtual ward. The standard operating procedure is available at the following link:
NHS England’s operational planning guidance sets out an ambition for the deployment of virtual wards beyond the peak of the Omicron variant. By December 2023, NHS England expect systems to have completed the development of virtual wards, towards a national ambition of 40 to 50 virtual beds per 100,000 population. The operational planning guidance is available at the following link:
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what measures are in place to ensure that covid-19 patients are not discharged to a virtual ward earlier than is safe to do so.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
No patient should be discharged until it is safe to do so. Existing guidance states that hospitals should determine the level of support each individual needs to ensure they are placed onto the most appropriate discharge pathway.
The COVID-19 virtual ward standard operating procedure provides the entry criteria for a virtual ward and notes that clinical judgement remains paramount for all assessments, particularly for patients with higher risk factors or other complicating medical conditions. Virtual wards provide safe and convenient care for patients. However, if patients require round the clock in-person hospital care, they would not meet the entry criteria for a virtual ward. The standard operating procedure is available at the following link:
NHS England’s operational planning guidance sets out an ambition for the deployment of virtual wards beyond the peak of the Omicron variant. By December 2023, NHS England expect systems to have completed the development of virtual wards, towards a national ambition of 40 to 50 virtual beds per 100,000 population. The operational planning guidance is available at the following link:
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of beds in NHS England hospitals are currently occupied by patients admitted for treatment of covid 19.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
As of 18 January 2022, 7,605 beds in English National Health Service hospitals were occupied by patients being treated primarily for COVID-19.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
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 accuracy of SAGE forecasts of likely hospital bed use for covid-19 patients during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) provides advice to the Government on its response to the COVID-19 epidemic. Their operational subgroup, the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (SPI-M-O), regularly models potential scenarios for the trajectory of the epidemic, including hospital admissions and occupancy. Such modelling is regularly updated to reflect changes in assumptions as and when more detailed studies are released. This has been the case throughout the pandemic.
Much of SAGE’s modelling is of unmitigated scenarios, which assume that no interventions are made. In reality, non-pharmaceutical interventions have been implemented in order to avoid such scenarios occurring. Comparisons between modelled scenarios and real events should be made on a like-for-like basis as the assumptions and/or context changed between the modelling being performed and the outturn data. The SPI-M-O regularly reviews these scenarios against outturn data.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of NHS hospital beds were occupied by patients admitted solely to treat covid-19 at the last available count.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The data is not held in the format requested. As of 11 January 2022, 56% of beds occupied by COVID-19 patients were occupied by those admitted solely to be treated for COVID-19.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the capacity is for covid-19 patients in hospitals in England.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
There is no fixed capacity for COVID-19 patients in hospitals in England. The number of available beds is flexible to meet changes in demand.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the number of hospital beds that will be needed for cases of the Omicron variant of covid-19 in January based on the latest forecasts.
Answered by Maggie Throup
In the absence of any data on disease severity or the likely transmission rates in the community, it is not possible to make any reliable estimates of predicted future hospitalisation rates or the number of hospital beds required for cases of the Omicron COVID-19 variant. As data on transmission rates becomes clearer over time and the initial hospitalisations allow assessment of severity and care needs, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) will be able to generate projections of predicted future hospitalisation rates. The UKHSA and NHS England and NHS Improvement are working together to collate this data as quickly as possible.