Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the next iteration of the NHS People Plan will be published; and what assessment they have made of the recommendations by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine RCEM Cares Retention of A&E staff: policy brief, published in February, (1) to recruit an additional 2500 Emergency Medicine Consultants, and (2) to increase the numbers entering Emergency Medicine training by 120 per year, to ensure services are sustainable long term; and what steps they intend to take in response.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The NHS People Plan is a shared programme of work to increase the workforce, support new ways of working and develop a compassionate and inclusive workplace culture in order to deliver the NHS Long Term Plan. We are working with NHS England and NHS Improvement, Health Education England (HEE) and with systems and employers to determine our workforce and people priorities beyond April 2021 to support the recovery of National Health Service staff and services.
HEE has also worked proactively with system partners to address service pressures in emergency department teams. We have almost doubled the number of core trainees and consultants in emergency medicine since 2010. HEE will continue to work with service providers, the Royal College of Emergency Medicine and NHS England to understand and discuss the recommendations in this latest Royal College of Emergency Medicine briefing.
Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many international medical graduates are working for the NHS in the UK on a temporary visa; how many (1) such graduates, and (2) families of those graduates, have not yet been granted indefinite leave to remain; and how many of those graduates have been told that they may be deported.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - 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 NHS estates can reduce the viral load of COVID-19 in the ambient air; and what plans they have to undertake wide-scale deployment of professional high-efficiency particulate air purifiers to reduce the risk of nosocomial infection.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The current National Health Service infection prevention control principles are applicable to all healthcare staff in all healthcare settings.
These set out safe systems of working including administrative, environmental and engineering controls and interventions to reduce the risk of transmission of infection. This includes cleaning and decontamination of the environment and shared equipment, social/physical distancing, hand hygiene, personal protective equipment and ventilation.
Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (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 impact of (1) crowding, and (2) corridor care, in accident and emergency departments, on patient safety during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Throughout the pandemic, the safety of all staff, patients and visitors has been a priority for the National Health Service.
It is for individual hospital trusts to carry out continual risk assessments of their premises and to put appropriate measures in place such as distancing, sanitising stations and the use of face coverings and other protective equipment to help minimise the spread of the COVID-19 virus, in line with nationally published guidance. This includes busy areas like accident and emergency departments, corridors and patient areas such wards and clinics.
Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (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 impact of (1) crowding, and (2) corridor care, on nosocomial outbreaks of COVID-19 in hospitals.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Throughout the pandemic, the safety of all staff, patients and visitors has been a priority for the National Health Service.
It is for individual hospital trusts to carry out continual risk assessments of their premises and to put appropriate measures in place such as distancing, sanitising stations and the use of face coverings and other protective equipment to help minimise the spread of the COVID-19 virus, in line with nationally published guidance. This includes busy areas like accident and emergency departments, corridors and patient areas such wards and clinics.
Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide funeral workers with access to Test and Trace risk assessments by Tier One contract tracers.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Public Health England’s Health Protection Teams (HPTs) undertake tier 1 contact tracing and have a key role in investigating workplace outbreaks; this includes in the funeral services industry.
In line with other essential services, COVID-19 cases working in the funeral sector are not automatically escalated to HPTs. If contact tracing results in staffing levels, due to high numbers of staff being asked to self-isolate, that jeopardise the continued functioning of their essential service then the employers are advised to discuss with the local HPT who can review the risk assessment in this light
Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether frontline staff working in the funeral industry will be considered as a priority group to receive vaccination against COVID-19.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) are the independent experts who provide advice to Government on which vaccine(s) the United Kingdom should use, and which groups to prioritise. Whilst there is a desire for the whole UK population to be vaccinated, there may need to be an element of prioritisation - based on availability, evidence on safety and efficacy in different population groups and constraints in supply.
The committee – in their interim advice - have advised that for Phase 1, the vaccine first be given to care home residents and staff, followed by people over 80 and health and social workers, then to the rest of the population in order of age and clinical risk factors in the initial phase. We will consider the Committee’s advice carefully as further data emerges in preparation for Phase 2 including for critical workers in other essential sectors. Our vaccination programmes are led by the latest scientific evidence and we expect the Committee’s advice to develop as more evidence is gathered.
Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure the timely (1) supply, and (2) transit, of replacement radiotherapy machine parts into the UK following 31 December.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Department, in consultation with the devolved administrations and Crown Dependencies, is working with trade bodies, product suppliers, and the health and care system to make detailed plans to help ensure continued supply of medicines, medical products and equipment to the whole of the United Kingdom at the end of the transition period.
Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure the supply of radioactive isotopes and radioactive sources for cancer services after 31 December.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Our priority is to ensure that patients continue to have access to the medical products they need, including medical radioisotopes. We continue to work closely with industry, the National Health Service and others in the supply chain to deliver the shared goal of continuity of safe patient care by mitigating any potential disruption to supply into the United Kingdom of medical products at the end of the transition period
As set out in a letter from the Department to industry of 3 August, we are implementing a multi-layered approach, that involves asking suppliers of medicines and medical products, including medical radioisotopes to the UK from or via the European Union to get trader ready, reroute their supply chains away from any potential disruption and stockpiling to a target level of six weeks on UK soil where this is possible.
We understand that a flexible approach to preparedness may be required for medicines that cannot be stockpiled, such as some medical radioisotopes. We have asked suppliers of those products to use airfreight, which some suppliers are already doing now.
Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of complications that occur as a result of non-surgical cosmetic treatments in the UK; and what are the annual costs to the NHS in England of correcting such complications.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Government is committed to improving the safety of cosmetic procedures through better training for practitioners and clear information so that people can make informed decisions about their care.
Neither the Department nor its arm’s length bodies hold or collect data on non-surgical aesthetic treatments. Officials continue to work with stakeholders to explore the options for enhanced data collection and reporting mechanisms in this area. This could include the prevalence of cosmetic procedures, adverse reactions to procedures, and the incidence of consumers seeking treatment through NHS services for health complications following private cosmetic procedures.