Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government plans to make antibody tests available to the public through GPs.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
Antibody tests are available to National Health Service and care staff, eligible patients and care residents in England to see if they have had COVID-19 as part of the new national antibody testing programme. The antibody test will be available for clinicians to use in their routine management of NHS patients as appropriate, and also for any patient who is already having blood taken as part of other tests. A positive test result for antibodies does not mean that the person being tested is immune to COVID-19. There is currently no firm evidence that the presence of antibodies means someone cannot be re-infected with the virus or will not pass it on to someone else. If someone tests positive, they still need to follow social distancing measures and appropriate use of personal protective equipment.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to make available a finger-prick type version of the covid-19 antibody test for use at home by the general public.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The science of immunity remains uncertain. A positive test result for antibodies, does not mean that the person being tested is immune to COVID-19.
Therefore, the value of antibody tests is currently limited to answering the question of whether someone has had the virus or not, which is why we have started the national roll-out in the National Health Service and care sector where there is a clear need to know who has had the virus. Since the end of May, lab-based antibody tests have been provided to NHS and care staff, as well as hospital patients and care residents in England as appropriate. General practitioners are also able to request an antibody test for use in their routine management of patients, including for any patient who is already having blood taken as part of other tests.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department plans to make a covid-19 antibody test available to the general public.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The science of immunity remains uncertain. A positive test result for antibodies, does not mean that the person being tested is immune to COVID-19.
Therefore, the value of antibody tests is currently limited to answering the question of whether someone has had the virus or not, which is why we have started the national roll-out in the National Health Service and care sector where there is a clear need to know who has had the virus. Since the end of May, lab-based antibody tests have been provided to NHS and care staff, as well as hospital patients and care residents in England as appropriate. General practitioners are also able to request an antibody test for use in their routine management of patients, including for any patient who is already having blood taken as part of other tests.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many covid-19 antibody tests the Government plans to carry out per day.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
At present we have capacity to conduct 40,000 antibody tests per day. The tests will be available for clinicians to use in their routine management of National Health Service patients as appropriate.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has plans to carry out covid-19 antibody testing of residents residing in particular regions to ascertain whether those regions could be brought out of lockdown earlier than other regions.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
In order to better understand the role that an antibody test could play in enabling as many individuals as possible to safely return to their normal lives, we first need to improve our understanding of how the immune system responds to COVID-19.
COVID-19 is a new disease and the science around immunity to the virus remains uncertain. We do not know, for example, how long an antibody response to the virus lasts nor whether having antibodies means one does not transmit the virus to others.
These are the critical questions we first need to address before considering how/whether antibody testing could be used to ease social distancing measures.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how long it will take on average for an individual to receive back the results of their covid-19 antibody test.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The Government is backing efforts to develop a home-use antibody test. These tests are designed to detect if people have had the virus and developed antibodies and could potentially be done at home with a finger prick and deliver results in as little as 25 minutes.
Lab-based antibody tests are currently available to National Health Service and care staff, as well as hospital patients and care residents. The time it takes to receive a result in hospitals and care homes will depend on a number of factors and will therefore vary from patient to patient.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has include people with life-long debilitating medical conditions in the categories of people eligible for free medication.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The Department has no plans to review or amend of the list of medical conditions that provide entitlement to exemption from prescription charges. Extensive arrangements are already in place to help people access National Health Service prescriptions. These include a broad range of exemptions from the prescription charge for which someone with a long-term condition may qualify, including for people on low incomes through receipt of specific benefits and through the NHS Low Income Scheme.
To support those with the greatest need who do not qualify for an exemption, prescription pre-payment certificates are available for three months or 12 month periods. A holder of a 12-month certificate can get all the prescriptions they need for just £2 per week.