Asked by: Kate Kniveton (Conservative - Burton)
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 the reliability of the polymerise chain reaction test for covid-19.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The current sensitivity of our polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for COVID-19 such as those used at our lighthouse laboratories is over 99%. All manufacturers of PCR tests for COVID-19 must meet the requirements of our validation process to ensure the accuracy of their tests.
Asked by: Kate Kniveton (Conservative - Burton)
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 local hospitals on transferring covid-19 patients to Nightingale hospitals.
Answered by Edward Argar
The National Health Service Nightingale hospitals are an unprecedented response to an unprecedented challenge and created additional capacity to ensure the NHS can respond to demand if needed.
The Nightingale hospitals are available to support the NHS when needed. Local clinical leaders are working to determine how this is done whilst considering the needs of all patients requiring NHS care.
Asked by: Kate Kniveton (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many homes have been built under the Care and Support Specialised Housing Fund in each year since 2018.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The number of units started and completed under the Care and Support Specialised Housing Fund in 2018-19 and 2019-20 respectively are listed below:
- | 2018-19 | 2019-20 |
Units started | 563 | 895 |
Units completed | 448 | 423 |
Asked by: Kate Kniveton (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what additional mental health support his Department is providing to (a) children and (b) young people during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
Children and young people’s mental health remains a priority for this Government.
NHS England and NHS Improvement have asked all mental health trusts to ensure they have 24 hours a day, seven days a week open access telephone lines in place for urgent National Health Service mental health support, advice and triage for people of all ages through a single point of access. Mental health providers are also looking at how they can maximise the use of digital and virtual channels to keep delivering support to existing and new service users.
Public Health England has also updated resources, such as the Every Mind Matters platform, and published guidance for parents and carers on supporting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic.