Asked by: Bim Afolami (Conservative - Hitchin and Harpenden)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure that all hospitals allow expectant mothers to be accompanied when (a) attending antenatal appointments and (b) they are in labour.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
NHS England and NHS Improvement refreshed guidance on visiting restrictions for maternity services on 15 April 2021, asking all National Health Service providers to urgently complete any further action needed to ensure partners can accompany women to antenatal appointments. All maternity units should be allowing partners and support people to attend all scans and appointments.
All maternity units are allowing at least one birth partner who has no symptoms of coronavirus present with them during any type of labour and birth except some urgent emergency births or where a general anaesthetic is used.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his planned timescale is for hospitals relaxing covid-19 restrictions on visiting.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
National hospital visiting restrictions have been removed and visiting is now subject to the discretion of local National Health Service trusts and other bodies.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department has given to hospitals on testing people who have received a positive covid-19 test result within 90 days.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
Public Health England (PHE) has published guidance on investigation and management of suspected COVID-19 infections that states if people present with new symptoms within 90 days of full recovery of a previous COVID-19 episode, they should be suspected to have COVID-19 until tests consider otherwise. This guidance is available at the following link:
PHE has also published guidance for staff and managers in health and social care settings that considers in general, immunocompetent people should not be polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tested if they had a previous positive PCR test in the 90 days prior but that if they do get a test, if people are asymptomatic, a risk assessment should be undertaken to consider whether they are likely to have COVID-19 again. This guidance is available at the following link:
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health on fully vaccinating all university students ahead of the 2021-22 academic year.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
As the COVID-19 vaccination has been extended to all adults and young people over the age of 16, we urge students to be vaccinated as soon as they are eligible.
Students can access the vaccine via local sites run by GPs or community pharmacies, at larger vaccination centres and in some hospitals. Local areas may also decide to work with partners to set up “pop up” temporary clinics at locations convenient for students to access, for example, on university campuses.
We are pleased that universities are encouraging their students to take up the vaccine and recommend that students consult the COVID-19 vaccination Frequently Asked Questions published by NHS England that is available here: https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/publication/covid-19-vaccination-faqs-students-in-higher-education-institutions/.
Vaccination is not a requirement to study at university, but it is important in helping keep staff and students safe, and we are working closely with the Department for Health and Social Care on the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine to students in higher education.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of people in hospital with covid-19 were (a) in hospital with another condition and contracted covid-19 while in hospital and (b) admitted to hospital with covid-19 in each of the last three months.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The information requested on the proportion of people who were admitted to hospital with COVID-19 and those who contracted the virus in the last three months is not available. The following table shows the number of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 whilst in hospital between 7 April and 30 June.
Month | Number of patients |
7 - 30 April | 1,957 |
May | 1,479 |
June | 2,799 |
Source: https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/covid-19-hospital-activity/
Note:
The following table shows the number of patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 between 1 April and 30 June.
Month | Number of patients |
April | 5,258 |
May | 2,569 |
June | 4,158 |
Source: https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/healthcare
Note:
Asked by: Laura Trott (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
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 update Infection, prevention and control guidance for hospitals in response to the easing of covid-19 lockdown restrictions on 19 July 2021; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of including in that guidance an exemption from requirements to wear a face covering for parents providing cot-side care to their babies on neonatal units.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
Health and care settings will continue to maintain appropriate infection prevention and control measures as necessary and this will be reviewed during the summer.
Guidance in National Health Service settings, including hospitals and primary and community care are undergoing further review to ensure that it is in line with service needs and as evidence becomes available, including in neonatal settings.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish a regulatory impact assessment of the costs, benefits and alternatives of requiring staff in (a) care homes and (b) hospitals to be vaccinated against covid-19 as a condition of employment; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We intend to publish an impact assessment on the vaccination of staff in care homes as soon as possible. We will also consult further in relation to healthcare settings, such as hospitals. This consultation would seek views on the impacts in these settings in order to inform an impact assessment.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people received treatment in each Nightingale hospital.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information is not available in the format requested. NHS England and NHS Improvement collated some data relating to patient activity in the Nightingale hospitals but has not been centrally validated.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the cost to the public purse was of the Nightingale hospitals programme; and how many people were employed at each of the Nightingale hospitals.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Figures for spend on the Nightingale hospitals in 2020-21 are being finalised and will be published in the National Health Service final accounts in due course.
The Department does not hold the information requested on the number of staff employed at each of the Nightingale hospitals. Staffing was managed by host trusts based on safe staffing levels according to the number of patients requiring care and the type of care provided.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the guidance for visiting patients in (a) hospitals and (b) hospices in the context of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Visiting guidance for inpatient settings, including hospitals and hospices is regularly reviewed.
Most recently, visitor lateral flow testing has been added to the guidance to facilitate safer visiting across a number of hospital settings following assessment of levels of community prevalence of COVID-19.
Most hospices are independent, charitable organisations, with visiting policies at the discretion of the hospice manager.