Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, following the lifting of some covid-19 restrictions, what additional steps he is taking to help prevent the spread of covid-19 in hospitals.
Answered by Maggie Throup
NHS England and NHS Improvement work with National Health Service trusts to ensure hospitals are implementing robust COVID-19 control measures and effective implementation of the UK Health Security Agency infection prevention and control guidance in all areas, for both outpatient and inpatient care, to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in hospitals.
Mechanisms for infection prevention including physical distancing, optimal hand hygiene, equipment and environment decontamination and extended use of face masks by healthcare staff, patients and visitors, are continually reviewed. The Department continues to have ongoing discussions with NHS England and NHS Improvement on controlling the spread of COVID-19 infection in all healthcare settings.
The vaccination programme has significantly weakened the link between cases, hospitalisations and deaths and will continue to be our first line of defence against COVID-19.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish an assessment of the effect of covid-19 hospitalisations on (a) the availability of hospital (i) beds and (ii) staff and (b) elective procedures.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
NHS England and NHS Improvement will publish a delivery plan for reducing waiting lists caused by COVID-19 later this year.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
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 avoid a winter crisis in hospitals given the associated additional risks of a potential rise in covid-19 cases.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
A range of measures are being employed to mitigate potential demand pressures on the National Health Service this winter, including COVID-19 booster vaccines for priority groups and the largest ever seasonal flu vaccination programme. NHS England and NHS Improvement are working with NHS providers to ensure appropriate operational plans are in place, including meeting potential increases in the demand for emergency care driven by seasonal flu and COVID-19.
The NHS will receive an extra £5.4 billion over the next six months to support its response to COVID-19. This includes £2.8 billion to cover related costs such as enhanced infection control measures and £478 million to continue the enhanced hospital discharge programme, to maintain capacity.
Asked by: Jane Stevenson (Conservative - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to ease covid-19 visiting restrictions in NHS hospitals over the Christmas and New Year period.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We recognise the importance of being able to visit family, friends and loved ones in hospital, including over the Christmas and New Year period. Since the end of the national restrictions, hospital visiting is subject to local discretion by trusts and other National Health Service bodies, taking into account the local prevalence of COVID-19 and the health, safety and wellbeing of patients, communities and staff.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 13 September 2021 to Question 45205 on Hospitals: Waiting Lists, when he plans to publish details of his Department's plans for dealing with fines and charges for late delivery of services; and what assessment he has made of the impact of fines and charges on hospitals' ability to tackle the backlog in healthcare.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We have no plans to do so as we have paused work on dealing with such fines and charges. This is to allow the National Health Service to focus capacity on the recovery of elective services. No formal assessment has been made of the specific impact of the fines and charges.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much the NHS has spent on private hospital facilities since the start of March 2020 for booked procedures that have failed to take place.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information request is not held centrally. Payments were made to independent providers on a cost recovery basis rather than by procedure or per bed, to use facilities as flexibly as needed.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much the NHS has spent on private hospital facilities that have gone unused since the start of March 2020.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested is not held centrally. Contracts for the bulk purchasing of hospital facilities on a cost recovery basis do not record unused capacity. The bulk purchasing of private hospital services ended on 31 March 2021.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the cost of private hospital services that were purchased in bulk during the covid-19 outbreak that were not used over the last 18 months.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested is not held centrally. Contracts for the bulk purchasing of hospital facilities on a cost recovery basis do not record unused capacity. The bulk purchasing of private hospital services ended on 31 March 2021.
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 the total cost has been of setting up and closing down the Nightingale hospitals introduced in response to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Total projected funding for the Nightingale hospital programme was agreed and separately ring-fenced at £466 million.
National Health Service providers are currently auditing their accounts for 2020-21 and the final spending outturn against this funding will be published in due course.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether vulnerable residents in (a) care homes and (b) hospital facilities will be less at risk of serious illness in the event that they are infected with covid-19 by staff who have been fully vaccinated against that disease; to what extent being fully vaccinated against covid-19 prevents a person from transmitting that virus to vulnerable people; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Several studies have provided evidence that vaccines are effective at preventing infection and symptomatic disease. Uninfected individuals cannot transmit the virus, therefore the vaccines are also likely to be effective at preventing transmission from staff to vulnerable patients. Data from Scotland has also shown that household contacts of vaccinated healthcare workers are at reduced risk, which is in line with the studies on infection. There may be additional benefit due to prevention of infection, if some individuals who become infected despite vaccination are also at a reduced risk of transmitting because of reduced duration or level of viral shedding.