Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and East Dulwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the ability of long covid clinics to offer a full range of treatments and advice for patients in a timely manner.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The Department has not made a formal assessment.
NHS England and NHS Improvement operate 90 post-COVID-19 assessment services across England and publish national guidance which supports commissioners to design and implement local care pathways. This has been developed using guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. NHS England and NHS Improvement have also established 14 children and young people’s hubs in England to coordinate care across a range of services.
NHS England and NHS Improvement have published data on waiting times for an initial assessment at a post-COVID-19 service since October 2021. From 30 August to 26 September 2021, 31% of those who had their initial specialist assessment were seen within six weeks, 43% within eight weeks and 33% of patients waited longer than 15 weeks. As this is experimental data, there may be some variation due to incomplete data submissions.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and East Dulwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what further steps he will take to ensure long covid clinics can deal effectively with caseloads.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The Department has invested over £50 million in dedicated research to improve the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of the long term effects of COVID-19. The research includes projects focused on service evaluation, such as the LOCOMOTION project which aims to establish a ‘gold standard’ of care which can be shared in England and the rest of the United Kingdom drawing from the experiences of current patients and National Health Service professionals.
Post-COVID-19 assessment services are operated by NHS England and NHS Improvement. In July 2021, NHS England and NHS Improvement confirmed an additional £100 million investment in these services with the total NHS funding in England of £134 million. NHS England and NHS Improvement have developed an assurance process to address the regional variation in access to services in a streamlined process, identifying and providing bespoke support to systems.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and East Dulwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people are currently awaiting a first assessment at a long covid clinic.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Since September 2021, information on activity and demographics of patients who have been referred to a post-COVID-19 assessment service in England have been published as part of the official statistics publication, which can be found at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/covid-19-post-covid-assessment-service/
Data on waiting times was first added to this publication in October 2021, for the period from 2 August. As this is a relatively new data collection and this is experimental data, some variation may be due to incomplete data submissions.
The attached table shows the waiting times of patients who had an initial assessment at a post-COVID-19 assessment service between 27 September and 24 October 2021.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and East Dulwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time is for a first assessment at a long covid clinic.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Since September 2021, information on activity and demographics of patients who have been referred to a post-COVID-19 assessment service in England have been published as part of the official statistics publication, which can be found at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/covid-19-post-covid-assessment-service/
Data on waiting times was first added to this publication in October 2021, for the period from 2 August. As this is a relatively new data collection and this is experimental data, some variation may be due to incomplete data submissions.
The attached table shows the waiting times of patients who had an initial assessment at a post-COVID-19 assessment service between 27 September and 24 October 2021.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and East Dulwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of staffing levels at long covid clinics.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
No formal assessment has been made.
NHS England and NHS Improvement operate 90 post-COVID-19 assessment services across England. Integrated care systems have developed service expansion plans, including increasing workforce capacity. Services are currently recruiting a expert clinical teams, including psychologists, physiotherapists, nurses and occupational therapists. This includes the creation of a care coordination role to support integrated care across the local post-COVID-19 pathway. In July 2021, NHS England and NHS Improvement announced an additional investment of £100 million bringing total National Health Service funding in England to £134 million.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and East Dulwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the UK delegation to the Ninth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP9) to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control will include a gender balance in line with the WHO's request that representatives follow United Nations General Assembly resolution A/RES/58/142 on women and political participation.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Our delegation to the Ninth session of the Conference of the Parties consists of four female and two male representatives.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and East Dulwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of prison inmates have been (a) offered a covid-19 vaccine and (b) vaccinated against covid-19.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
All eligible prisoners in England have been offered a COVID-19 vaccine and according to the latest available data, 44% are now fully vaccinated with two doses. This includes 80% of those over 50 years old and 37% of the under 50 year old population.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and East Dulwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to finding by the Parent-Infant Foundation in 2019 that 42 per cent of CCGs reported local CAMHS services would not accept a referral for a child aged two and under, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that NHS CAMHS services do not turn away children under two.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
We remain committed to the aim of the NHS Long Term Plan to invest at least an extra £2.3 billion a year into mental health by 2023/24. This will see an additional 345,000 children and young people a year, including the youngest children, accessing NHS-funded mental health support by 2023/24, if they need it.
Commissioning mental health services for the youngest age groups is a local matter for clinical commission groups. However, the Government recently published it’s Early Years Review which is available at the following link:
Babies and the youngest children in England will get a better start in life following the publication of a review into reducing inequalities in the first 1,001 days of life. This includes every new parent and carer being able to access compassionate and timely mental health support if they need it. To implement this work, the Department will work with Public Health England, NHS England and NHS Improvement as well as local authorities to map out the Start for Life journey of parents and carers that captures how they experience digital, virtual and telephone-based services during the 1,001 critical days from conception to the age of 2. We will ensure parents and carers have an NHS-branded online ‘one stop shop’ to access all the information they need.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and East Dulwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the NHS Long Term Plan goal that all children who need specialist mental health care can access it, what steps he has taken to ensure that the youngest children can access specialist mental health care.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
We remain committed to the aim of the NHS Long Term Plan to invest at least an extra £2.3 billion a year into mental health by 2023/24. This will see an additional 345,000 children and young people a year, including the youngest children, accessing NHS-funded mental health support by 2023/24, if they need it.
Commissioning mental health services for the youngest age groups is a local matter for clinical commission groups. However, the Government recently published it’s Early Years Review which is available at the following link:
Babies and the youngest children in England will get a better start in life following the publication of a review into reducing inequalities in the first 1,001 days of life. This includes every new parent and carer being able to access compassionate and timely mental health support if they need it. To implement this work, the Department will work with Public Health England, NHS England and NHS Improvement as well as local authorities to map out the Start for Life journey of parents and carers that captures how they experience digital, virtual and telephone-based services during the 1,001 critical days from conception to the age of 2. We will ensure parents and carers have an NHS-branded online ‘one stop shop’ to access all the information they need.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and East Dulwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of placing a statutory duty on Integrated Care Systems to deliver a strategy that improves outcomes and reduces inequalities in the mental and physical wellbeing of children aged under two.
Answered by Edward Argar
The proposed legislation for integrated care systems (ICS) is designed to be flexible, allowing the system to continue to evolve and develop new and better ways of working, based on local needs and circumstances.
We expect ICS, in partnership with local agencies, to deliver targeted measures to support people at all stages of life, including measures to address health inequalities in the mental and physical wellbeing of children aged under two.