Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the lack of COVID-19 information and advice in relevant languages on the death rate among BAME communities.
Answered by Lord Bethell
We have not made such an assessment. The Government has provided a wide range of guidance to support the country in tackling COVID-19 and considerable efforts are now underway to address that including work with stakeholder groups to help ensure messages are disseminated into different communities in culturally appropriate ways. For example, in Leicester, assets have been translated into 12 different languages, and a range of local community voices, such as faith leaders and local general practitioners, are engaged in supporting the campaign.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government who is responsible for providing personal protective equipment to public service interpreters working on a freelance basis in the NHS.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Everybody working on the front line deserves to have the equipment they need to do their job safely and the Government is working around the clock to ensure enough supply is reaching the health and social care sector.
The provision of personal protective equipment to staff is the responsibility of individual hospitals.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have updated the translated COVID-19 guidance to reference the addition of the loss of taste and smell to the official symptoms list; and if so, what steps they are taking to raise awareness of this update in relevant communities.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Following the change to the COVID-19 case definition, guidance documents were updated to include the symptom of a loss of, or change in, normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia). These are provided in the English language, published in an online only format on GOV.UK.
Several guidance documents were updated to include the new symptom. A limited number of original guidance documents were translated into languages other than English. Translated versions of the updated guidance have not been produced as at 5 June 2020. Public Health England is currently reviewing the requirements for translation of new guidance documents and incorporating other updates.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Bethell on 3 March (HL Deb, col 523), what progress they have made in (1) issuing advice and information about COVID-19 to the public in languages other than English, and (2) arranging specific briefings for public service interpreters working in the NHS.
Answered by Lord Bethell
As part of the Government's work to ensure the population are informed about COVID-19 and how best to respond, we have translated the Stay at home guidance for households with possible coronavirus (COVID-19) and the COVID 19: guidance on social distancing for everyone in the United Kingdom and protecting older people and vulnerable adults, into a range of languages. These are the critical pieces of guidance that are relevant to a general public audience.
The translations include Arabic (Modern), Bengali, Cantonese, French, Gujarati, Mandarin, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Urdu and Welsh. These translations can be found online at GOV.UK.
The Government will continue to keep this under review and assess where information needs to be translated into other languages. In the meantime, many local authorities are making arrangements to translate into languages that are widely spoken in their area.
In general, translation and interpretation within National Health Service organisations is commissioned at an organisational level, so it would be down to individual organisations to brief their suppliers of translation and interpretation services.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide funding for the Lingo Flamingo project to help dementia sufferers with their cognitive abilities, in England, as is currently the case in Scotland.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
We have no plans to fund the Lingo Flamingo project for England.
NHS England allocates funding to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and NHS England Specialised Commissioning which commission services on behalf of their local populations. It is for CCGs and Specialised Commissioning to decide how best to use the funding allocated to them in line with local healthcare needs and priorities, working with other local commissioners and organisations and taking account of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they plan to take to ensure that treatment for bladder cancer under the NHS is accessible equally by all patients irrespective of home address.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
NHS England is not aware of any general variation in access to bladder cancer treatment.