Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
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 effectiveness of taking hydroxychloroquine to treat covid-19.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Therapeutics Taskforce is continuing to monitor any new, high quality evidence on COVID-19 therapeutics and has been following recent findings on hydroxychloroquine.
In June 2020, the Government-funded RECOVERY trial concluded that there is no beneficial effect of hydroxychloroquine in patients hospitalised with COVID-19. For other patient cohorts, there is limited evidence at this stage to suggest hydroxychloroquine is effective in treating COVID-19 infection. The Therapeutics Taskforce is closely monitoring the large number of active trials that are yet to produce results and will assess any new evidence once this is available. The Department and its arm’s length bodies are prepared to act rapidly should any trial readouts prove positive at sufficient scale and significance.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the Government's criteria is for lifting the national lockdown covid-19 restrictions introduced on 5 January 2021; and whether that criteria will be applied more stringently compared with previous lockdowns.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
When making decisions on any COVID-19 restrictions the Government assesses a wide range of data. If our understanding of the virus does not change dramatically, deployment of the vaccine continues to be successful and pressures on hospitals decreases then we hope to be able to start lifting restrictions.
The Government therefore keeps the restriction measures under continual review and will make changes as and when the data and science supports it.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
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 effect of the covid-19 outbreak on children’s mental health services.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
Children and young people’s mental health services have remained open throughout the pandemic offering digital and remote access to maintain support and accept new referrals. This will continue over the winter ensuring children, young people and parents can access appropriate support whether face to face, via the telephone or via digital means.
The National Health Service has also provided 24 hours a day, seven days a week all-age crisis lines across the country. The Department has given more than £10 million of grant funding to the voluntary sector and funded the £8 million wellbeing for education return scheme to support children’s mental health.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
What progress he has made on the (a) administration and (b) distribution of covid-19 vaccines.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
We are delighted that over 2.2 million of the most vulnerable people in the country have now received the first dose of their COVID-19 vaccine.
We are on track to deliver our commitment of offering a first vaccine to everyone in the most vulnerable groups by the middle of next month.
There are already more than 2,700 sites across the United Kingdom already offering vaccines to those at risk by age and clinical priority.
As set out in the comprehensive UK vaccines delivery plan, by the end of January, everyone in England will be within 10 miles of a vaccination site, or, for a small number of highly rural areas, the vaccine will be brought to them via mobile teams.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government plans to ask clinically extremely vulnerable people to shield again in areas with additional covid-19 restrictions in place.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Shielding was paused on 1 August 2020 in England and clinically vulnerable and clinically extremely vulnerable people are now required to follow the same local/national arrangements in place as the rest of the population.
Only when the balance of benefit is clear, or in extreme circumstances, will shielding be reintroduced due to the potential harms to people’s mental and physical heath through social and financial isolation.
The highest risk local areas are discussed regularly each week to assess what level of guidance is appropriate. Where incidence and transmission rates are increasing, we can take a more targeted approach to shielding advice at local authority level. The Government will write to those affected when advice is changed and we continue to work closely with local authorities to ensure that local guidance is available on their websites.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
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 potential merits of introducing shielding for the clinically extremely vulnerable who work in (a) retail, (b) health and social care, (c) education and (d) other public-facing roles.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Shielding was paused on 1 August 2020 in England, however, it is important that clinically extremely vulnerable people continue to take extra care, particularly as infection rates rise again. On 13 October, the Government published new guidance to the clinically extremely vulnerable that advises additional things they are advised to do to keep themselves safe at each local COVID alert level.
While the previous shielding advice helped protect those most at risk from COVID-19, we acknowledge that many people found this advice very restrictive. The new protective guidance to the clinically extremely vulnerable is designed to offer practical and proportionate advice to help people protect themselves and minimise the need to introduce restrictive shielding advice.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
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 potential merits of re-introducing shielding for the clinically extremely vulnerable in areas under (a) tier 1 (b) tier 2 and (c) tier 3 local covid-19 restrictions.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Shielding was paused on 1 August 2020 in England, however, it is important that clinically extremely vulnerable people continue to take extra care, particularly as infection rates rise again. On 13 October, the Government published new guidance to the clinically extremely vulnerable that advises additional things they are advised to do to keep themselves safe at each local COVID alert level.
While the previous shielding advice helped protect those most at risk from COVID-19, we acknowledge that many people found this advice very restrictive. The new protective guidance to the clinically extremely vulnerable is designed to offer practical and proportionate advice to help people protect themselves and minimise the need to introduce restrictive shielding advice.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
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 tackle the backlog of unmet clinical cancer need due to the covid-19 outbreak; and what steps his Department is taking to improve radiotherapy services.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
One of the key priorities for cancer outlined in the third phase of the National Health Service response to COVID-19 is to reduce the number of patients who have waited longer than 62 days from urgent referral and/or 31 days from a decision to treat to pre-pandemic levels. Actions to reduce long waits include increasing diagnostic capacity (particularly endoscopy and CT) and expanding the capacity of surgical hubs set up in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the wider NHS recovery programme, local systems have determined how best to restore cancer services and recovery is now underway across the NHS.
During the COVID-19 pandemic radiotherapy services provision continued and radiotherapy services made use of fewer fraction protocols as supporting evidence emerged. Subsequently the focus for radiotherapy has been to embed the use of hypofractionated (fewer fraction) treatments in order to minimise trips to hospital, particularly for people likely to be worse affected by COVID-19.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
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 collaboration between policies on tackling obesity and eating disorders.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We recognise concerns people with eating disorders may have on measures to reduce obesity and are committed to striking a careful balance between enabling people to make healthier food and drink choices whilst not negatively impacting on those with or recovering from an eating disorder.
Obesity represents a huge cost to the health and wellbeing of the individual, the National Health Service and the wider economy. With over six in 10 adults and more than one in three children aged 10 to 11 years old overweight or obese, it is right we take action.
In response to feedback to our consultation on out-of-home calorie labelling, we will introduce legislation to require large out-of-home sector businesses, that is businesses with 250 or more employees, to calorie label the food they sell.
An equalities assessment and impact assessment were published alongside the consultation response and can be viewed at the following link:
www.gov.uk/government/consultations/calorie-labelling-for-food-and-drink-served-outside-of-the-home
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to include reference to the statutory duty to involve patients in service delivery in future guidance to NHS (a) trusts and (b) integrated care systems.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The priorities set across the National Health Service for the third phase of the COVID-19 response were published on 31 July in a letter sent to NHS leaders including integrated care systems, sustainability and transformation partnerships and trust chairs. The letter emphasises the need to listen and learn from patients and communities; and encouraged a renewed focus on health inequalities.
Beyond this work to ensure the prioritisation of the patient voice within the system, there is also existing statutory guidance on involving patients in the commissioning of health services. This includes duties across the system applying to NHS England, clinical commissioning groups, and NHS trusts. This guidance has been maintained during the COVID-19 pandemic and engagement has continued with the public in a range of virtual ways.