Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans the Government has to maintain medical supply lines between Great Britain and Northern Ireland where EU medicine rules will still apply after the transition period.
Answered by Edward Argar
After the end of the transition period, the United Kingdom will have autonomy over the regulation of goods, including medicines. As set out in the Northern Ireland Protocol, which will take effect on 1 January 2021, Northern Ireland will continue to follow the European Union acquis for medicines. The Government has been in intensive discussion with the European Commission on how to safeguard the crucial flows of medicines and medical products into Northern Ireland from other parts of the UK from the end of the transition period.
The parties have agreed a pragmatic approach to implementation, including a one year time-limited approach to the application of the regulatory requirements for imports and the ‘safety feature’ elements of the Falsified Medicines Directive. This was set out in the UK Government statement of 5 November following the fourth meeting of the Ireland/Northern Ireland Specialised Committee. This approach gives industry the time and flexibility it needs and ensure that medicines can continue to flow to Northern Ireland. Further industry guidance on moving medicines to Northern Ireland after the end of the transition period will be published shortly.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of (a) the adequacy of and (b) progress on disbursing the additional financial support available to mental health charities since 22 May 2020.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
During the COVID-19 outbreak the Government provided £10.2 million of additional funding to mental health charities to support adults and children. This includes £6 million provided to the Coronavirus Mental Health Response Fund (CMHRF), led by Mind and the Mental Health Consortia and £4.2 million to mental health charities through the Government’s £750 million Coronavirus Charities Fund. We have also provided local authorities with £3.7 billion for COVID-19 pressures, including social care services provided by charitable organisations.
The CMHRF has supported over 130 charities to date. The list of charities that have received funding through this process was announced on 29 May 2020. The press release can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/5-million-funding-given-to-mental-health-community-projects
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of (a) the adequacy of and (b) progress on disbursing the additional financial support available to mental health charities since 22 May 2020.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
During the COVID-19 outbreak the Government provided £10.2 million of additional funding to mental health charities to support adults and children. This includes £6 million provided to the Coronavirus Mental Health Response Fund (CMHRF), led by Mind and the Mental Health Consortia and £4.2 million to mental health charities through the Government’s £750 million Coronavirus Charities Fund. We have also provided local authorities with £3.7 billion for COVID-19 pressures, including social care services provided by charitable organisations.
The CMHRF has supported over 130 charities to date. The list of charities that have received funding through this process was announced on 29 May 2020. The press release can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/5-million-funding-given-to-mental-health-community-projects
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the timeframe is for the publication of the report on BAME covid-19 deaths.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Public Health England led a rapid review to better understand how different factors can impact on how people are affected by COVID-19. This includes analysis of ethnicity, deprivation, age, sex (male and female) and obesity, where data was available. The review’s findings have now been published and can be viewed at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-review-of-disparities-in-risks-and-outcomes
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
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 5 May 2020 to Question 41469, what payments the NHS has made to the private sector since the beginning of March 2020; and what the average value is of those payments.
Answered by Edward Argar
An emergency agreement was put in place on 21 March to block book almost the entirety of the private hospital sector’s services, facilities and nearly 20,000 clinical staff for the foreseeable future to help cope with the surge of COVID-19 patients. Information about what payments the National Health Service has made to the private sector since this agreement was made or the average value of such payments is not currently available. All providers have agreed to a fully transparent approach and to provide services at cost price.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) routine appointments and (b) red flag referrals were cancelled or postponed during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Edward Argar
The collection of information on cancelled appointments has been suspended to free up capacity within the health system during the COVID-19 outbreak.
‘Red flag referrals’ are only used in Northern Ireland. Health is a devolved issue and is dealt with by Health and Social Care Northern Ireland and therefore the information requested is not available.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
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 28 April 2020 to Question 38931 on Hospital Beds: Private Sector, if he will set out the (a) costs and (b) number of beds that have been used.
Answered by Edward Argar
National Health Service patients are benefitting from an unprecedented partnership with private hospitals in the United Kingdom as we battle the COVID-19 outbreak. The NHS is accessing these facilities at cost, with those costs judged by an independent auditor. Reimbursements to the independent sector will be for reasonable and narrowly-defined costs only.
As it is not currently known how extensively and for how long this extra capacity will be used, it is not possible to estimate the cost to the public purse, nor the number of beds that will have been used.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the covid-19 outbreak how many private healthcare hospital beds the NHS has requisitioned; how many of those beds have been used; and what the cost of that requisitioning has been to date.
Answered by Edward Argar
The Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement have worked with the independent sector to increase capacity and resource within the National Health Service, adding around 8,000 beds and 20,000 clinical staff. This will ensure that more facilities are available for patients diagnosed with COVID-19.
Under the agreement, the independent sector will be reimbursed at cost.