Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish local data on the number of people requesting covid-19 tests using the Government portal who are told that none is available.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government does not publish the data requested.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many covid-19 tests have been carried out on each day in September 2020 in the Hove constituency.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We publish data on the number of pillar 2 tests processed in each local authority weekly alongside the Test and Trace statistics publication on GOV.UK at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/nhs-test-and-trace-statistics-england-weekly-reports
The number total number of pillar 2 tests processed in Brighton and Hove in September was 14,582, with a daily average of 486.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the minutes of the fifty-fifth meeting of SAGE on covid-19 on 3 September 2020, if he has developed a national strategy defining key principles for additional covid-19 testing in universities.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have quickly established walk-through sites and deployed mobile test sites so that almost all universities are within three miles of an in-person test site and the majority within one and a half miles, allowing staff and students to get access to tests should they develop symptoms. In cases of outbreaks we are working with universities to deliver large batches of home test kits which can then be distributed to students isolating in their households or halls to residence to test themselves. The Department for Education has updated its guidance in line with the latest public health advice from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-reopening-buildings-and-campuses
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to begin regular repeat covid-19 tests for district nurses who visit care homes.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our first priority continues to be to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission in care homes and prevent future outbreaks, to ensure the health and safety of both care workers and residents.
We recognise the need to ensure professionals such as district nurses are able to visit care homes safely to provide vital care to residents. Therefore, alongside publishing guidance on infection prevention control measures for health and social care professionals, we are also currently running a pilot to test professionals who visit care homes weekly in Northamptonshire, Peterborough and Cambridgeshire. This includes all professionals that visit care homes two or more times a week and where carrying out their role requires them to be within one metre of residents.
We will use the data from this pilot to consider the next steps for testing professionals, including district nurses, who visit care homes and we will continue to review our social care testing strategy in light of the latest evidence and available capacity.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
What recent assessment he has made of the causal factors for the mortality rate in the care home population during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Care homes were hard hit by COVID-19 despite all the efforts of Government, local authorities and care homes themselves.
Our understanding of this cruel disease has informed all the steps taken to protect residents.
And there is ongoing work by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies care home working group to improve our understanding which will in turn inform our actions.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of locating covid-19 testing facilities in major train stations and transport hubs to ensure that passengers and commuters have convenient access to those facilities.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
COVID-19 testing is generally only available to those who have symptoms. These people should not be using public transport and be self-isolating, unless driving to a test site.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many items of personal protective equipment have been delivered as part of Government's Clipper scheme since 1 May 2020.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In partnership with the e-commerce industry, we designed a new online portal to help primary care and small social care providers who have been under-represented in terms of access to wholesalers. We have now invited over 21,000 general practitioners and small adult social care providers to register and order through the Clipper scheme, also known as the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Portal.
As of Wednesday 15 July, approximately 28 million items of PPE have been delivered via the PPE Portal, with nearly 40,000 total orders having been made.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of allowing exemptions to the Government's 14 day quarantine requirement for visitors who have come to the UK to visit terminally ill relatives and can prove that they test negative for covid-19.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The purpose of these measures is to manage the risk of transmissions being introduced from abroad. Testing before or at the border is currently not a part of these measures as the 14-day incubation period for COVID-19 could result in false negatives and undetected asymptomatic travellers entering the UK. The regulations will be reviewed on 29 June to ensure they are in line with the latest scientific evidence and remain effective and necessary.
Visitors entering the United Kingdom from outside of the Common Travel Area are required to self-isolate for the first 14 days on their arrival. However, an individual may leave the place where they are self-isolating for compassionate reasons, including attending a funeral of a close family member or close friend, or to attend to a terminally ill relative.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of allowing exemptions to the Government's 14 day quarantine requirement for visitors to the UK who can prove that they have tested negative for covid-19 within the last seven days.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The purpose of these measures is to manage the risk of transmissions being introduced from abroad. Testing before or at the border is currently not a part of these measures as the 14-day incubation period for COVID-19 could result in false negatives and undetected asymptomatic travellers entering the UK. The regulations will be reviewed on 29 June to ensure they are in line with the latest scientific evidence and remain effective and necessary.
Visitors entering the United Kingdom from outside of the Common Travel Area are required to self-isolate for the first 14 days on their arrival. However, an individual may leave the place where they are self-isolating for compassionate reasons, including attending a funeral of a close family member or close friend, or to attend to a terminally ill relative.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many contact tracing operations there were following risk assessments undertaken by Public Health England in response to outbreaks of covid-19 in care homes in March and April 2020.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Contact tracing is not carried out in care homes in the same way as in non-health and social care residential settings. Staff and residents are managed in line with current guidance at the following link:
Public Health England Health Protection Teams (HPTs) undertake a risk assessment whenever there is a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19 in a care home. HPTs arrange for swabs to be sent to the home to test symptomatic residents for confirmatory purposes via Pillar 1 testing.
HPTs manage all staff and residents as potential contacts once one or more cases have been identified in a care home. Advice is provided to staff and residents within a care setting that has been risk assessed as having an ‘outbreak’ with respect to infection control measures including any requirements for isolation of contacts.
As part of the national Pillar 2 testing process, prioritisation is now being given to testing asymptomatic/symptomatic staff and all other residents in care settings when an outbreak is confirmed in a care home. On 13 May, the Director General for Adult Social Care wrote to Directors of Public Health and Directors of Adult Social Services outlining this prioritisation. A copy of the letter is attached.