Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
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 open additional covid-19 testing sites in (a) Stoke-on-Trent and (b) Staffordshire.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have opened regional test sites at the Bet365 Stadium in Stoke and at Stafford Education and Enterprise Park. We have also opened local test sites at Ryecroft Car Park in Newcastle Under Lyme, Cannock Chase Council Car Park, Keele University, Burton Town Hall, Fenton Manor Car Park, Synectics Solutions Car Park in Burslem, Hagley Park School in Burnt Hill Lane and in the Spinning School Lane Car Park in Tamworth.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
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 increase the covid-19 testing capacity in (a) Stoke-on-Trent and (b) Staffordshire.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have increased our testing capacity from 2000 tests a day in March to over 700,000 tests per day. People in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire with Covid symptoms are able to access tests either at Regional and Local testing sites or by ordering a home test.
The Community Testing Programme (CTP) was launched in December 2020 with the aim of using rapid asymptomatic testing to find and isolate positive cases within the community in order to help reduce the spread of the virus
Stoke on Trent, East Staffordshire, South Staffordshire and Staffordshire Moorlands are currently rolling out community testing.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve addiction support services in (a) Stoke-on-Trent and (b) Staffordshire.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Local authorities are responsible for assessing local needs and commissioning drug and alcohol prevention, treatment and harm reduction services. Public Health England supports Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire local authorities by providing advice, guidance and data to help them assess local need and commission services accordingly. Local authority spending through the public health grant will be maintained in the next financial year, meaning local authorities can continue to invest in prevention and essential frontline health services and this includes drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
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 ensure adequate supply of personal protective equipment for (a) the NHS and (b) social care providers over winter 2020-21 in (a) Stoke-on-Trent and (b) Staffordshire.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are confident we have secured enough personal protective equipment (PPE) for this winter period and that we have the processes and logistics in place to distribute PPE to where it is needed, including Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire. We have almost 32 billion PPE items on order and by December 2020 we had built a four-month stockpile of all COVID-19 critical PPE with a tremendous contribution from United Kingdom manufacturers.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on increasing (a) recruitment and (b) retention of (i) doctors and (ii) nurses in the NHS.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are the NHS: People Plan 2020/2021 sets out actions to expand and develop our workforce by retaining staff for longer and building on the renewed interest in National Health Service (NHS) careers. The next phase of the NHS People Plan will focus on workforce growth and ensuring it has the right skills mix in place for a flexible and modern NHS.
Through its ‘looking after our people - retention programme’ which launched in the summer of 2020, NHS England and NHS Improvement are supporting employers and managers to value, support and retain their staff both clinical and non-clinical. This is achieved through a new employer portal of guidance and best practice and direct support for systems and organisations across each of the domains of the people promise. Flexible working and the health and wellbeing of staff remain a key focus of the retention initiatives.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve mental health support for men to reduce levels of male suicide in (a) Stoke-on-Trent and (b) Staffordshire.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The National Suicide Prevention Strategy highlights men, and especially middle-aged and young men, as a group at high risk of suicide, and in January 2019, we published the first cross-Government suicide prevention workplan. It includes sections on tailoring prevention approaches towards reducing suicide risk in high-risk groups such as men.
Through the NHS Long Term Plan, we are investing £57 million in suicide prevention. This will see investment in all areas of the country by 2023/24 to support local suicide prevention plans and establish suicide bereavement support services. We have worked with NHS England to ensure that local areas test approaches to reaching and engaging men.
The Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Sustainability and Transformation Partnership has received £300,000 in 2019/20 and £300,000 in 2020/21 for suicide prevention.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
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 recent trends in the smoking cessation rate in (a) Stoke-on-Trent and (b) Staffordshire.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The smoking rate for adults in Stoke-on-Trent has seen an overall decline, from 25.2% in 2011 to 18.2% in 2019.
The smoking rate for adults in Staffordshire has seen an overall decline, from 18.2% in 2011 to 13.9% in 2019.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish a response to the Advancing Our Health: Prevention in the 2020’s consultation, which closed on 14 October 2019.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Prevention Green Paper, ‘Advancing our health: prevention in the 2020s’, consultation closed on 14 October 2019 and attracted over 1,600 responses. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the response has been delayed. We intend to publish the Government’s response in due course.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
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 15 August 2020 to Question 70524 on Israel: Contact Tracing, what comparative assessment the Government has made of the effectiveness of Israel’s track and trace technology.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of our National Health Service COVID-19 app development process, we maintain an overview of contact tracing apps in development and operation around the world, including Israel's HaMagen app.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on ensuring public health communications on covid-19 are accessible to deaf and hard of hearing communities across the UK.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has been working with the Cabinet Office Disability Unit throughout the pandemic to ensure public health communications on COVID-19 are accessible, including to deaf people and those with hearing loss.
For example, the Government established British Sign Language (BSL) interpretation at the daily Number 10 press conferences via the BBC News channel and iPlayer.
The Public Health England Campaign Resource Centre also provides a range of Government advice and public health information in alternative formats such as BSL, to download free of charge.