Coronavirus
Abena Oppong-Asare Excerpts(6 years ago)
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Matt Hancock
There will of course be a big voluntary effort should there be staff shortfalls right across public service. People who volunteer need to be asked to do tasks that fit their skillset. If people have medical qualifications and volunteer, that is fantastic—they can go and do that and potentially do clinical work, if that is right. Some volunteers will not have that sort of skillset, but there are still things that they can do, especially to make sure that people can get what they need if they are asked to self-isolate and not leave their homes. It is a matter of finding the right match for the skillset of the people who are going to help. In a scenario in which 20% of the public are off sick, volunteers will be able to help to alleviate some of the inevitable pressure that that brings.
Abena Oppong-Asare (Erith and Thamesmead) (Lab)
Following today’s Budget, I have been contacted by a local authority in my constituency of Erith and Thamesmead that is seeking clarification on the urgent need for further funding for one of the local hospitals to deal with the immediate coronavirus crisis, and specifically for the social care sector. Will the Secretary of State explain and elaborate further on what he has said so far?
Matt Hancock
Yes, of course. The funding needs for social care, as for the NHS, over the weeks and months to come are not yet clear, so the Chancellor set out an envelope of up to £5 billion to make sure that we can now plan according to what we need to do, with the resources constrained by what the nation has, especially in terms of people and trained people, as opposed to being limited by the funding. He also said that if we need even more than that, his door is open. I do not have a specific answer as to where all the money is going to be spent—as would be normal in a Government announcement of this kind—because we are in unprecedented circumstances. We will of course be transparent and clear about how the money has been spent. No doubt afterwards there will be a huge amount of looking into what happened to try to learn lessons, and the financial part will be one strand of that work.
Oral Answers to Questions
Abena Oppong-Asare Excerpts(6 years ago)
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Abena Oppong-Asare (Erith and Thamesmead) (Lab)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Jo Churchill)
Last year, 1.5 million more people with suspected cancer were seen by a specialist compared with the numbers in 2010, thanks to our dedicated workforce. We want to go further and diagnose three quarters of all cancers early—more if possible. I am grateful to those charities, particularly ovarian cancer charities, that are raising awareness this particular month. For cancers like ovarian, where symptoms are vague and can be harder to detect, it is more difficult. To achieve the ambition, we are radically overhauling screening to improve access to uptake and investing £200 million in diagnostic equipment.
Abena Oppong-Asare
What is the Minister doing to ensure that all women who are referred on this are diagnosed for ovarian cancer or ruled out within 28 days, in line with the faster diagnosis standard?
Jo Churchill
Under the long-term plan, we are rolling out the rapid diagnostic centres, giving GPs another important route to patients. With the Mike Richards screening review, we are making sure that we get patients to the clinicians—where they need to go—so they can access treatment faster. It is more important than anything else that we get the cancer early, so we can treat it well and give people a real chance of a long life.