The Minister for Care (Helen Whately)
I thank the hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant) for calling this debate and for leading us in that tribute to the NHS workforce.
As we stand here, our NHS faces daunting challenges, as it will continue to do for weeks and months to come. I, too, want to take a moment this evening to thank each and every one of our health and care staff and their individual families for all they are doing for our country at this most challenging of times. I know they are making incredible sacrifices, selflessly working at the frontline in looking after our families in our hour of need, while their families are at home concerned for their safety and welfare. They are there on the frontline around the clock, tackling this head-on. As a country, we will be eternally grateful to them, and from us all, thank you.
I will also pause, if I may, to mention some of the heart-warming gestures across our communities, such as small businesses and large multinationals offering staff hot drinks and hot food, supermarkets making specific opening times for NHS and social care staff, and hotels and chains making beds available to staff to use. Thank you to each and every one of you. You do our country proud.
I want to assure everyone this evening and, most importantly, all our NHS staff that we are here to support them, and we will not let them down. First, we know the NHS needs more people to fill the gaps when staff have to stay home and to cope with the particular needs of patients with coronavirus. We have made a call to arms to those who have left the healthcare professions in the last three years. The healthcare regulators have been contacting doctors, nurses, pharmacists, paramedics and others to ask them to return to practise to support the coronavirus response, and the response from the workforce has been amazing. At noon today, 1,930 doctors and 5,630 nurses had responded by indicating that they were willing to return to the NHS. They will help the NHS not only to treat coronavirus patients, but to continue other emergency healthcare, including urgent operations and cancer treatments. We are also working with professional leaders across nursing, midwifery and allied healthcare professionals to see how students in their final year of study can provide support at the frontline. Our nursing leaders, staff representatives and university bodies will put out a joint statement on that tomorrow.
As we welcome so many doctors, nurses and allied healthcare professionals back to the NHS, we must look after them and all those who work in our health service. I know that staff at the frontline are worried and need assurances that there is sufficient personal protective equipment for everyone who should be using it. The safety of those on the frontline is of paramount importance. We have stocks of PPE nationally and NHS England is working to make sure that the NHS frontline has the equipment it needs. I know there have been problems with distribution in some places, but that is now being resolved by NHS England, which has restructured its logistics operations so that equipment should now be getting to those at the frontline who need it.
Jim Shannon
There is some indication in the news today that some of the personal protection equipment and material available is not up to standard. Will the Minister confirm that everything the Government are sourcing is of a standard suitable for the needs of staff at the frontline?
Helen Whately
I have been absolutely assured that the equipment being supplied to the frontline is appropriate and that it has been tested to make sure that it is fit for purpose.
Dr Julian Lewis
Quite a major distribution and logistics firm in my constituency has offered drivers and vehicles for the cause of fighting the virus. Is there some sort of central one-stop shop to which volunteers and offers of that sort can be directed, so that they can be put to best use? I appreciate that the Minister may not be able to answer me immediately, but if she cannot, perhaps she could inform me afterward.
Helen Whately
One of the fantastic things we have seen over the last few days is the number of offers to help from all parts of society and the economy. There are some specific contact details for ways in which people can help, and I will be happy to share them with my right hon. Friend after the debate.
Chris Bryant
Many local authorities say they have no masks, no aprons and no gloves, let alone the training in how to remove them. I am reliably informed by A&E doctors that with some of the material the danger of infection comes when one is taking it off. Are the Government working with all the other Governments in the UK to make sure that there is enough PPE for all our local authorities as well?
Helen Whately
A huge amount of work on PPE is going on. PPE has been distributed to GPs, community pharmacists and dentists, and it is being distributed at the moment to all care providers across England. There is also work going on to make sure we know the other needs for PPE in the system—for example, in local authorities—to make sure that supplies get to where they are needed. We are also doing our best to make sure that there is clear guidance on when people need to use PPE. Sometimes people think they need it all the time, for everything, but that is not the case. We need to make sure it is used when it is needed—for example, during close-contact clinical care of people who have coronavirus symptoms. I must move on now; otherwise, I will spend all my time talking about PPE and there is more to discuss.
I know that testing is very much on people’s minds. We in the UK have tested more people than almost any other major economy outside China, South Korea and Italy. We have been increasing testing by the day. This week, we hope to reach 10,000 tests a day, and within four weeks Public Health England and the NHS expect to be conducting up to 25,000 tests a day. After that, the number will continue to increase up to 250,000 tests a day and more. With more testing capacity, we will be able to test more patients and, critically, NHS and social care staff.
Chris Bryant
The former Health Secretary, who is now Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee, said earlier today that the claim 10,000 tests a day are being done now is a myth and that the number is 5,500 a day, where it is stubbornly stuck. Does the Minister disagree with him?
Helen Whately
That is not the data I have received. I have set out the trajectory on the testing, on the basis of the information I have. As I say, our commitment is to keep on ramping up testing, because we know it is an important part of our response.
Helen Whately
If the hon. Lady will let me, I will make a little progress, as I believe I have less than five minutes left.
We know that we must keep NHS staff safe, but we must also support them and their work. The Government are working with the NHS on a package of support for NHS staff to help them through the coming weeks and months, which includes guidance to their line managers; support for occupational health; and psychological and emotional support, because, as the hon. Member for Rhondda said, they are facing extremely challenging times, and we are very aware of the emotional demands that will place on our frontline staff. I urge every NHS employer to be making sure that staff are getting food supplies—hot meals and hot drinks. Whatever NHS staff need to help them get through each day, they should be getting. The Government have committed to funding for health and social care to support us through the coronavirus. That funding should be being used and we should make sure that staff are being helped in every way that they can be.
Rushanara Ali
I just have a suggestion relating to NHS workers and overcrowded places. London has a lot of underused properties—empty properties owned by foreign investors. Will the Minister consider making sure that local authorities have powers to use those temporarily to house NHS workers who need to be able to be close to work? Will she make sure that there is a sense of urgency, because she is talking about weeks and months, but NHS workers in my constituency need the protective equipment now and many of them do not have it.
Helen Whately
The protective equipment is being distributed at pace and urgently. I talk of weeks and months because we should not think this situation we are coping with will last just a few days. We will need to support our NHS through these weeks and months. I know that NHS trusts are looking at the accommodation that their workforce will need. I wish to make the important point about the measures that the Government have been taking to make sure that the children of key workers, NHS staff and social care staff are included and are cared for at school, so that these staff do not have to worry about their children’s education. I also wish to thank each and every teacher and support worker who was at school today looking after children so that our NHS and social care staff can look after us.
Before coronavirus hit us, we had already committed to increasing the NHS workforce, particularly boosting the staff it needs in pressure points such as emergency departments. For instance, we have committed to funding an extra 1,500 undergraduate medical school places per year, which is a 25% increase. We are opening five new medical schools across England, often in areas that currently do not have medical training facilities, so we are going to be able to get doctors to the places that most need them. We have also committed to 50,000 more nurses in the NHS, and we are increasing the funding for nursing, midwifery and some allied health professional students studying at English universities to at least £5,000 per academic year, and up to £8,000 a year.
I would like to thank all Members for their contributions to this debate. The coronavirus outbreak is the biggest public health emergency in a generation. It calls for decisive action, at home and abroad, of the kind not normally seen in peacetime. I wish to end my remarks by again sending our country’s thanks and unending support to all our colleagues on the NHS and social care frontline tonight. It is they who will fight back this virus. It is they who are putting themselves in harm’s way to help our families. I know each and every Member of this House, and everyone across the country, will be eternally grateful to them for that. I make this commitment: we are there for you, the NHS staff, and we will do all that we can to support you at this most difficult time in our history.
Question put and agreed to.