Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effectiveness of using transparent face masks to facilitate lip reading to assist people with hearing difficulties.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
NHS England and NHS Improvement’s transparent face mask working group produced a new technical specification which gives testing, design and performance requirements for single-use transparent face masks, with comparable protection to a Type IIR mask. This specification is available at the following link:
The Department is encouraging manufacturers to develop new, innovative products which meet the standard for transparent face masks and funding is available to run pilot schemes once they are available. Future procurement will be informed by this work.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
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 support people with anorexia.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Tim Farron MP) on 1 June 2021 to Question 5175.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has plans to support the (a) adoption and (b) spread of innovative medical technology across the NHS.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
NHSX’s NHS Artificial Intelligence (AI) Laboratory is supporting the testing, evaluation and scale of promising AI-driven technologies through the £140 million AI in Health and Care Award. This includes automating early lung cancer detection and developing deep learning software that could improve the NHS Breast Screening Programme.
Last year, we announced the Digital Aspirant Fund to support National Health Service providers. The Digital Aspirant programme with investment of £28 million aims to accelerate the procurement, deployment and uptake of the technology that is needed to underpin digital transformation.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
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 diagnosis times for endometriosis.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
Research into the experience of women presenting in primary care with endometriosis-like symptoms is currently underway, hosted by the National Institute of Health Research. The results will be published later this year and will help us to understand delays in diagnosis.
On 8 March, we launched a 12-week call for evidence as part of the first Government-led Women’s Health Strategy for England. The online survey within the call for evidence seeks information on gynaecological conditions, including endometriosis.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether (a) voluntary workers supporting vulnerable people and (b) other voluntary workers will be considered for priority in the next stage of the covid-19 vaccine roll-out.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Volunteers working in frontline health or social care settings and at COVID-19 vaccination sites are eligible for vaccination in the first phase as frontline healthcare workers. Voluntary workers working across all other settings who are eligible for a vaccine, because of their age or other clinical factors, such as underlying health conditions, will have access to a vaccine in the first phase.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking beyond the end of the current Cancer Services Recovery Plan in March 2021 to ensure that people with cancer can access high-quality cancer care.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
From March, local systems will be expected to carry out local plans formed as part of the Cancer Services Recovery Plan and carry on with the progress that has already been made.
We have more than doubled the number of Rapid Diagnostic Centres (RDCs) from 20 in March 2020 to 53 at the end of 2020. There are a further 63 RDCs in development. We have established COVID-19 protected surgical hubs for cancer surgery to keep often vulnerable cancer patients safe. All 21 Cancer Alliances across England have arrangements in place for surgical cancer hubs.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many local contracts are in place with independent hospitals to ensure the provision of Priority 2 cancer surgery operations in England.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
A Contract Award Notice in respect of each of the 26 individual contracts entered into by NHS England with independent sector hospital providers has been published on 16 October 2020 by the Official Journal of the European Union. The Notice is available at the following link:
https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:492193-2020:TEXT:EN:HTML
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, by what date NHS England will recommence the publication of cancelled elective operations data.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The collection of cancelled elective operations is currently paused until at least March 2021. The cancellation is part of a package of measures designed to help reduce burden on the National Health Service during the response to COVID-19.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress has been made on the roll out of long covid clinics.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
NHS England and NHS Improvement have provided £10 million to fund over 40 pioneering specialist clinics for people suffering from the long-term effects of COVID-19. The plans for these clinics were published on 15 November and guidance was made available on 6 November.
NHS England and NHS Improvement committed to ensuring post COVID-19 assessment clinics will be available from early December 2020. In response, each integrated care system is working towards the provision of at least one such service.
A number of these clinics are already established and have started to accept patients. More information about the clinic locations and how to access them will be released in the near future.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
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 promote the importance of disinfecting (a) surfaces and (b) skin in (i) offices, (ii) schools and (iii) other public spaces during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government has published guidance on GOV.UK on the importance of cleanliness and hygiene and on promoting the importance of disinfecting surfaces in offices, schools and public spaces and on sanitising hands throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Public Health England has published guidance on how to disinfect and sanitise non-healthcare settings, including offices and public spaces, which is available at the following link:
The Department has also published guidance to support the ‘Hands. Face. Space’ public information campaign. This guidance is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-campaign-to-prevent-spread-of-coronavirus-indoors-this-winter