Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will set out his timetable for the roll-out of a digital pre-paid card scheme to replace paper Healthy Start Vouchers.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The NHS Business Services Authority are leading the work to digitise the Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department to facilitate families to apply for, receive and use Healthy Start benefits. The NHS Business Service Authority will provide all new users applying to the digital scheme and all existing users every opportunity to transition to pre-paid cards by 31 October 2021.
Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what pilots are currently underway in connection with the Government's plans to replace paper Healthy Start Vouchers with digital cards.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The NHS Business Services Authority is leading the work to digitise the Healthy Start scheme, on behalf of Department, to make it easier for families to apply for, receive and use Healthy Start benefits.
The NHS Business Services Authority is running a private pilot in Tower Hamlets. This group will be the first to transition to digital pre-paid cards.
Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of how much the Government has spent on external consultants in connection with the development of a digital card scheme to replace paper Healthy Start Vouchers.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The Department spent £1,909,149 (excluding VAT) on external consultants in developing a digital card scheme to replace paper Healthy Start Vouchers.
Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Green Book COVID vaccine schedule in Chapter 14a, whether it is Government policy that frontline funeral operatives and mortuary technicians are frontline healthcare staff, as recommended in the recommendations by staff groups, and relevant to Priority Group 2 as advised by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) identified that the vaccination of frontline healthcare workers should be a priority for the COVID-19 vaccination programme. Frontline staff are at high risk of acquiring COVID-19 infection but also of transmitting that infection to multiple persons who are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 as well as to other staff in a healthcare environment.
Funeral operatives have been prioritised for vaccination in cohort two and staff will be eligible for prioritisation if they carry out functions which require them to have contact with multiple vulnerable patients in a healthcare setting and at a high risk of exposure to COVID-19.
Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
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 appointing a Minister for Infection Management.
Answered by Edward Argar
Lord Bethell of Romford is the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for health protection and antimicrobial resistance. Infection prevention and control measures, healthcare associated infections, and use of antimicrobials are covered within this remit.
Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment the Department has made of the potential merits of developing a holistic and whole-system approach to antimicrobial resistance, sepsis and infection prevention.
Answered by Edward Argar
The United Kingdom’s five-year national action plan for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) takes a holistic and comprehensive approach across humans, animals, agriculture, the environment and food.
The national action plan includes a strengthened focus on infection prevention and control, with commitments to cut the number of resistant infections by 10% by 2025 and to halve levels of healthcare associated Gram-negative blood stream infections by 2023-2024.
It is critical that our work on sepsis and AMR is closely aligned. Sepsis forms an important part of NHS England and NHS Improvement’s AMR Programme, which continues to drive improvements in the prevention and management of infections and optimal antimicrobial use.
Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 20 October 2020 to Question 100504 on Sepsis, what steps his Department has taken to specifically support the diagnosis of Sepsis.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
To support the delivery of objectives set out in the ‘UK’s 20-year vision for Antimicrobial Resistance’ and five-year national action plan, NHS England and NHS Improvement have specifically committed to development of and access to diagnostics in relation to infections. This commitment includes:
- supporting the establishment of the Accelerated Access Collaborative and Pathway and ensure its work can support antimicrobials and diagnostics;
- preparing a two to five-year urgent diagnostics priority list and use Target Product Profiles for research and development;
- introducing incentives to develop and evaluate rapid diagnostics;
- streamlining the regulation processes to help get new diagnostics through as quickly as possible, including developing evidence-based guidance for using tests, and;
- working with National Health Service partners and industry to tackle barriers to new innovations being adopted in the NHS, building on the Life Sciences Industrial Strategy and the response to the Accelerated Access Review.