Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will take steps to promote a whole-health approach in the provision of health services to domestic abuse victims as proposed by the SafeLives charity.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
Health professionals are trained to spot the signs of domestic abuse and those at risk, referring to further support and sharing information appropriately with colleagues and other organisations. All National Health Service staff undertake mandatory safeguarding training which includes focus on domestic abuse. The Department continues to work with partners to support integrated care systems in embedding violence prevention and reduction across local health, social care and public health systems. The Department has overseen a £2 million domestic abuse pathfinder project, producing a free online toolkit and supporting the development of a model health response to domestic abuse.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to encourage people to seek medical advice at the earliest possible opportunity in the event that they believe they are experiencing common symptoms of cancer.
Answered by Jo Churchill
It is vital that people seek medical advice at the earliest opportunity if they believe they are experiencing symptoms of cancer. In October, NHS England and NHS Improvement and Public Health England launched the latest ‘Help us help you’ campaign to urge people with potential symptoms of cancer to see their general practitioner. This campaign reinforces the message about the importance of seeking medical care if needed during the pandemic.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the content is of the aftercare provided to women who undergo home abortions; and whether those women receive a follow-up call to check on their pain management.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Department’s required Standard Operating Procedures, which all independent abortion providers must comply with, set out that all providers should have protocols in place covering the support that should be in place for women following an abortion procedure.
Abortion providers will discuss possible complications with the woman during the consultation and women will be provided with written advice and information about possible symptoms, including those which would necessitate urgent review. Women have access to a 24 hour telephone helpline should they have any concerns. Follow up calls regarding pain management are a matter for individual providers.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that those living with Dementia who have been offered a covid-19 vaccine are supported to arrive at their scheduled appointment; and what steps his Department is taking to follow up with dementia suffers who miss covid-19 vaccine appointments.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
A number of steps have been taken to ensure those living with dementia have been offered a COVID-19 vaccine and are supported to arrive at their scheduled appointment, which are outlined in a Standard Operating Procedure published by NHS England and NHS Improvement.
This states that under the Equalities Act 2010, people with a learning disability or health condition that has a substantial and long-term effect on day-to-day activities are entitled to reasonable adjustments when accessing health services. This means that steps must be taken to remove or minimise the barriers that individuals with serious mental illness (SMI), dementia, a learning disability or autistic people may face in accessing the vaccine.
Most people with a SMI, dementia, learning disability or autism will be able to receive their vaccine in the standard way. However, for the minority of individuals where this is not suitable, reasonable adjustments should be determined in advance of the vaccine provision, centred around individual needs to minimise discomfort or distress.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to encourage organisations to sign up to the workplace testing Government scheme to increase the use of lateral flow tests in the workplace.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
An online portal has been launched for businesses to find out more about offering rapid workplace testing. To encourage more workplaces to sign up, businesses will be provided with all the information they need to plan and deliver their testing programme, along with promotional materials. The tests will be sent to businesses at no cost, making testing more accessible for businesses of all sizes.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support research on the efficacy of covid-19 vaccines for people with low immunity.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Public Health England are leading the surveillance strategy for the COVID-19 vaccination programme, which will continue to monitor how effective each vaccine is at protecting against a range of outcomes including infection, symptomatic disease, hospitalisations, mortality and onwards transmission. The strategy includes further research on how effectiveness varies by subgroup, including different clinical risk groups. Evidence on these outcomes will be generated through routine data sources, including routine testing data and general practitioner electronic health records, as well as through enhanced surveillance and building upon established research studies in specific populations.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support the mental wellbeing of people who have been shielding during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The Every Mind Matters website is available to everyone with advice and practical steps that people can take to support their wellbeing and manage their mental health during the pandemic. The NHS Volunteer Responders programme is available for anyone shielding. National Health Service volunteers can provide short-term telephone support such as Check-in and Chat for those at risk of loneliness
In addition, NHS mental health services have deployed innovative digital solutions to connect with people and provide ongoing support. Remote delivery has ensured that people can continue to access talking therapies from the safety of their own home. Online self-referral options are commonly available for psychological therapies services for adults with common mental health problems such as anxiety and depression. For those with severe needs or in crisis, all NHS mental health providers have established 24 hours a day, seven days a week urgent mental health helplines.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that parents and caregivers can be present with young people at hospital appointments in all NHS Trusts.
Answered by Edward Argar
We understand the need for young people to be accompanied by their parents and caregivers at appointments and recommend that patients be accompanied where appropriate and necessary. The current guidance, published on 13 October 2020, allows visiting in outpatient and diagnostic settings in a COVID-19 secure way. This guidance was developed by NHS England and NHS Improvement’s clinical cell, overseen by a multidisciplinary group including colleagues from children and young people’s teams.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will introduce mass-testing for covid-19 for students that wish to return home for Christmas.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
To support the return home of students in December we provided universities with rapid lateral flow tests. Students were asked to get tested twice during the first week of December using lateral flow devices. If they received two negative tests, they were advised to return home immediately. Should a student have tested positive they would have to self-isolate for 10 days, still with enough time to return home for Christmas.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the mental health support services available to NHS staff in response to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, we have increased health and wellbeing support for National Health Service staff including a mental health helpline, access to free wellbeing apps and specialist bereavement and psychological support. In addition, an extra £30 million is being invested to enhance occupational health services and to establish mental health hubs which will offer outreach and assessment services to help frontline staff receive rapid access to evidence based mental health services. We are also supporting the development of a national support service for critical care staff.