Asked by: Jacob Collier (Labour - Burton and Uttoxeter)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the (a) adequacy of the eligibility criteria for (i) free covid-19 vaccinations and (ii) access to covid-19 antiviral treatments for people with lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and (b) consistency of eligibility criteria used by general practices, community pharmacies and NHS 111 in England.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to protecting those most vulnerable to COVID-19 through vaccination, as guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The primary aim of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme remains the prevention of serious illness, resulting in hospitalisations and deaths, arising from COVID-19.
The JCVI has advised that population immunity to COVID-19 has been increasing due to a combination of naturally acquired immunity following recovery from infection and vaccine-derived immunity. COVID-19 is now a relatively mild disease for most people, though it can still be unpleasant, with rates of hospitalisation and death from COVID-19 having reduced significantly since COVID-19 first emerged.
The focus of the JCVI’s advised programme has therefore moved towards targeted vaccination of the two groups who continue to be at higher risk of serious disease, including mortality. These are the oldest adults and individuals who are immunosuppressed. The Government has accepted the JCVI’s advice for autumn 2025 and in line with the advice, a COVID-19 vaccination is being offered to the following groups:
The COVID-19 chapter of the UK Health Security Agency Green Book on immunisation against infectious disease sets out guidance on the eligibility criteria above. This is signposted to all providers to ensure consistency. As for all vaccines, the JCVI keeps the evidence under regular review.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published guidance that recommends several antivirals for the treatment of COVID-19, both in the community and for patients in hospital. This guidance sets out the eligibility criteria and ensures that patients who are at the highest risk of developing severe disease from COVID-19 have access to clinically- and cost-effective treatments.
Asked by: Jacob Collier (Labour - Burton and Uttoxeter)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support people with long covid.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
I know firsthand how complex and debilitating long COVID can be, and I am committed to improving support for people affected.
Since 2020, specialist long COVID services have been made available. This includes setting up over 100 long COVID services across England.
We have also invested over £57 million in long COVID research, and I recently co-chaired a roundtable on strategies to stimulate further research into treatments.
Asked by: Jacob Collier (Labour - Burton and Uttoxeter)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to improve NHS dental provision in Burton and Uttoxeter constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government plans to tackle the challenges patients face when trying to access National Health Service dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments, and recruit new dentists to areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term and increase access to NHS dental care, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.
From 1 April 2023, the responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population was delegated to all integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. NHS dentists are required to keep their profiles on the NHS.UK website up to date so that patients can find a dentist more easily. This includes information on whether they are accepting new patients. In circumstances where patients are unable to access an urgent dental appointment directly through an NHS dental practice, they should contact NHS111.