Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bethell on 28 May (HL4485), what was the policy in respect of discharging patients from hospitals to care homes in the period from the onset of the COVID-19 lockdown to 14 April.
Answered by Lord Bethell
On 19 March, we published the COVID-19 Hospital Discharge Service Requirements, which sets out guidance on supporting the discharge of patients who no longer need acute care, following the ‘Discharge to Assess’ model. Wherever possible, people who are clinically ready should be supported to return to their place of residence, where an assessment of their longer-term needs will take place. A copy of this guidance is attached.
For those coming out of hospital, we have made available £1.3 billion funding via the National Health Service to support the discharge process. This funding can also cover the costs of providing alternative accommodation to quarantine and isolate residents, where needed, before returning to their care home from hospital, as set out in COVID-19: Our Action Plan for Adult Social Care on 15 April. A copy of the Action Plan is attached.
Our guidance published on 2 April, Admission and Care of Residents during COVID-19 Incident in a Care Home, sets out advice to care homes on the appropriate isolation required for care home residents who have been discharged from hospital following treatment for COVID-19. A copy of the guidance is attached.
We are currently reviewing our care homes guidance and will be publishing new guidance shortly.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which agency has the lead responsibility for supplying COVID-19 testing kits to care homes.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Public Health England (PHE) and the Department are working closely together to respond to outbreaks of COVID-19 in care homes.
PHE's health protection teams (HPTs) play a vital role locally in responding to any outbreak in care homes, providing tailored infection control advice to allow staff to protect themselves and their residents. From the outset, HPTs have been arranging testing for residents when an outbreak is reported at a particular care home.
The Department is offering a test to every staff member and resident in every care home in England, whether symptomatic or not. By 6 June, every care home for the over 65s will have been offered testing for residents and staff.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government with what frequency they plan to publish a national figure for R, the reproduction index for the COVID-19 virus; whether they plan to publish regularly a value for the R figure by geographic area; and whether they plan to publish regularly a value for the R figure for different demographic groups. [T]
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Government Office for Science currently publishes the latest estimate of the United Kingdom-wide range for R on a weekly basis. The current range is estimated to be 0.7-1.0 and is based on latest data available to determine infection and transmission rates. R is an average value that can vary in different parts of the country, communities, and subsections of the population. It cannot be measured directly so there is always some uncertainty around its exact value.
The Government is committed to publishing the scientific evidence that has informed the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies advice. These papers are being published in batches. The latest batches were released on 20 March 2020 and 5 May 2020 and the next batch will published in the coming weeks. The full list of papers released to date is available in an online only format on GOV.UK. This list will be updated to reflect papers considered at recent and future meetings.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why patients have been discharged to care homes from hospitals without prior testing for COVID-19.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The safety of residents and staff is always a priority. We are determined to make sure discharges into nursing or social care do not put residents currently in those settings at risk. We have introduced a policy of testing all residents prior to discharge to a care home. This was announced in our Adult Social Care Action Plan on 15 April.
A small number of people may be discharged from the National Health Service within the 14-day period from the onset of COVID-19 symptoms needing ongoing social care. Some care providers will be able to accommodate these individuals through effective isolation strategies or cohorting policies. If appropriate isolation/cohorted care is not available with a local care provider, the individual’s local authority will be asked to secure alternative appropriate accommodation and care for the remainder of the required isolation period.
This is an unprecedented global pandemic and we will continue to review our guidance in line with scientific advice.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to improve infection control in care homes.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Department, NHS England, Public Health England and Care Quality Commission co-published Admission and Care of Residents during COVID-19 Incident in a Care Home guidance on 2 April 2020. This guidance sets out infection control and cohorting advice to care homes, which providers should follow to ensure that they have the confidence to receive and support residents. A copy of the guidance is attached.
Following publication of the Adult Social Care Action Plan on 15 April 2020, we are reviewing the Admission and Care of Residents during COVID-19 Incident in a Care Home guidance.
This is an unprecedented global pandemic and we are constantly reviewing our guidance in line with scientific advice. We continue to engage with stakeholders to ensure that any changes to guidance are made in conjunction with them. As policy develops, we will continue to update the relevant guidance.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what scientific advice they have received to explain the flattening of the growth trend of newly reported cases of COVID-19 (1) in Japan, (2) in South Korea, and (3) in China.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Government is monitoring the development of the COVID-19 outbreak around the world, including in Japan, China and South Korea, and international evidence has been used alongside a wide range of other intelligence to inform the United Kingdom response. Lessons learned from other countries on what worked well in certain situations, for example social distancing measures, can be useful for the Government to consider as we form policies. The Government Office for Science is working closely with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Department for International Development, Cabinet Office and other departments to ensure the latest evidence on the international outbreak and response is scientifically sound and the conclusions drawn are robust.
Asked by: Lord Birt (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 approach taken by the government of South Korea to the COVID-19 pandemic and, specifically, their focus on testing, tracing and isolating; what plans they have, if any, to introduce a similar policy in the UK; and what contingency plans, if any, they have developed to enable implementation of such a policy.
Answered by Lord Bethell
We are working closely with other countries through international forums such as the G7, G20 and the World Health Organization, as well as on a bilateral basis on a range of issues relating to COVID-19.
We are developing a test and trace programme to support the next phase of our COVID-19 response. This will include a new app which will complement existing web and phone-based contact tracing approaches as well as swab testing. This programme will play an important role in helping to minimise the spread of the virus in the future.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of trials taking place in Sao Paulo of Azithromycin and Hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of COVID-19.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Department is considering carefully all available evidence around the potential of different drugs for use in treating COVID-19, including from clinical trials in the United Kingdom and overseas.
Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin are not currently licensed to treat COVID-19-related symptoms or prevent infection. Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin are both being tested through clinical trials in the UK. These clinical trials are ongoing, so no conclusions have yet been reached on the safety and effectiveness of these medicines to treat COVID-19.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to produce an estimate of the actual number of new COVID-19 cases in the UK each day, to compare against reported cases.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Government relies on modelling work undertaken by several academic groups, who report to the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) through its various subgroups. SAGE will continue to publish the evidence that it considers.
From modelling and current data on the outbreak, it is likely that the number of confirmed United Kingdom cases will rise. The number of COVID-19 cases will depend on the implementation of and adherence to public health measures, and the success of those measures in suppressing transmission of the virus and the numbers of cases of infection.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how they plan to (1) catalogue, and (2) assess, the global scientific effort to (a) create a vaccine, and (b) improve therapeutics and testing, to reduce the impact of COVID-19; and how they intend to ensure that any transformational breakthroughs that emerge are rolled out rapidly.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Development of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics is an international effort. The World Health Organization (WHO), through its R&D Blueprint team, is leading the coordination and monitoring of global research and development, including on vaccine efforts. The United Kingdom is fully supportive of this leadership and the convening role of the WHO. We will both feed-in UK expertise and use the monitoring tools that the WHO produces.