Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they will inform local authorities of their provisional public health grant budgets for 2023–24.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
We will announce the 2023/24 Public Health Grant allocations to local authorities shortly.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the analysis by the Local Government Association that £13 billion needs to be delivered into social care so that councils can deliver on all their statutory duties so that (1) people of all ages can live an equal life, and (2) the need for hospital treatment is reduced.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
Whilst we have not made a specific analysis of the figure referenced by the Local Government Association, we have assessed the level of funding made available to local authorities for this purpose through the Autumn Statement delivered on 17 November 2022. The Government is providing up to £7.5 billion of additional funding over two years to support adult social care and discharge, which represents a higher than real terms increase and will enable local authorities to deliver tangible improvements in adult social care services. These improvements aim to address discharge delays, social care waiting times, low fee rates, and workforce pressures.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether councils will be given discretion over the payment of the £500 self-isolation Test and Trace support grant so that councils can pay those claimants who do not submit their claim within two weeks, providing a legitimate reason is given for the delay in the application.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Individuals can apply for a Test and Trace Support Payment up to 28 days after their first day of self-isolation. This cut-off period is the same across all local authorities. In the event a local authority believes there is a legitimate reason an applicant has not been able to apply within the 28-day application period – for example, because they were ill in hospital and could not reasonably have been expected to make an application – they should use their discretion on a case-by-case basis in deciding whether to accept an application.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of COVID-19 patients in hospitals are diagnosed with the virus (1) before being admitted, or on (2) day 1, (3) day 2, (4) day 3, (5) day 4, (6) day 5, (7) day 6, (8) day 7, (9) day 8, (10) day 9, (11) day 10, (12) day 11, (13) day 12, (14) day 13, (15) day 14, (16) day 15, of being admitted.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The data is not collected in the format requested.
Trusts are advised to follow guidance on testing patients on admission and repeat testing at the advised intervals.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what data they collect on the number of (1) homecare workers, and (2) people who receive care in their own homes, who have tested positive for COVID-19.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The information is not available in the format requested.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the programme of flu vaccinations is delivered successfully for this autumn and winter.
Answered by Lord Bethell
NHS England and NHS Improvement are working with local areas to ensure that regional teams have plans in place to increase coverage of the flu vaccination programme this winter. New models of delivery have been shared with regional commissioning teams to encourage innovation, such as mobile and mass vaccination models, and allow for increases in uptake safely, whilst observing social distancing and personal protective equipment requirements.
NHS England and NHS Improvement have introduced an enhanced call and recall system, so that those who are eligible are reminded to attend a vaccination session.
Alongside this, additional trained workforce is being made available to local providers to help them vaccinate more eligible people. Public Health England have also launched new marketing campaign to encourage uptake of flu vaccination amongst eligible groups.
Additional flu vaccine has been purchased by the Department, which will be available to providers from November to increase uptake in existing groups and facilitate expansion of the programme.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that women are able to attend breast screening appointments, following reports from Breast Cancer Now that up to 986,000 women in the UK missed their mammograms due to breast screening programmes being paused as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Bethell
All National Health Service breast screening providers are operational and working to ensure that all eligible women are invited and attend breast screening appointments. Services have been advised to prioritise women aged 53 who have not yet been screened and women aged 71 or over awaiting a breast screening invitation, together with women assessed as being at very high risk of developing breast cancer.
NHS England and NHS Improvement have also made funding available to trusts to support the adaptation of mobile breast screening units in order to enhance their safe use and so maximise the number of units available to screen women.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the NHS has secure access to Priadel for the treatment of bipolar disorder.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Supplies of Priadel (lithium carbonate) are currently available.
Ensuring patients have access to the medicines they need is vital. The Department brought the supply of Priadel to the attention of the Competition and Markets Authority which has now opened an investigation.
Essential Pharma has now agreed to continue supplying Priadel to the National Health Service whilst we work to agree a fair and appropriate price for this medicine.
We continue to work closely with the supplier and wholesalers to maintain the availability of Priadel and to ensure supply remains available for patients. We are aware that Essential Pharma have quotas in place with wholesalers to reduce the risk of stockpiling but have confirmed that ordering mechanisms are in place to ensure all prescriptions for Priadel can access this treatment.
We have also added lithium carbonate to the parallel export restriction list (8 September 2020) to ensure supplies remain available for the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to keep public health functions within local government responsibilities; and how they plan to ensure that such functions are sustainably funded.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Local government has a vital role in improving the public’s health, both through securing services and through promoting local policies that act on the wider determinants of health. Future funding for local government public health responsibilities will be considered as part of the 2020 Spending Review.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that cancer survival rates are not adversely impacted by the cancellation or delay in cancer screening, diagnostic testing, and cancer treatments.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Although some appointments for cancer screening, diagnostics and treatments have been rescheduled during the COVID-19 pandemic to protect vulnerable patients, NHS England and NHS Improvement have taken a robust approach to ensuring that people at highest risk are seen as a matter of priority. NHS England and NHS Improvement have minimised the impact on those most at risk of dying of cancer by ensuring that urgent and essential cancer treatments continue throughout the pandemic.
Restoring full operation of all cancer services is a key commitment and is well underway, as set out in NHS England’s letters dated 10 June and 31 July 2020. The number of people waiting in screening pathways is reducing and there is a continued focus on sending out invites for routine screening appointments that were previously delayed.