Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what (1) plans, and (2) preparations, they are making for any second wave of COVID-19.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Government has now developed testing capacity to around 300,000 tests per day across in preparation for any second wave. We will constantly monitor demand, including anticipating winter pressures, and scale up the contact tracing workforce if needed.
We are also planning for the next phase of testing: ensuring our testing is as effective as possible in containing the virus, and building resilience for the long-term, especially ahead of winter. We plan further increases through the summer and into the autumn through a combination of improvements to existing labs and new partnerships. Increasing our testing capacity will further support the NHS Test and Trace system by allowing widespread testing of those suspected to be infected with COVID-19 and their contacts and enable the deployment of additional testing capacity to respond to local outbreaks.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the COVID-19 'open-testing' policy in Tennessee.
Answered by Lord Bethell
To provide a more comprehensive response to a number of outstanding Written Questions, this has been answered by an information factsheet Testing – note for House of Lords which is attached, due to the size of the data. A copy has also been placed in the Library
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to respond to concerns raised by the UK Statistics Authority about how the Department for Health and Social Care reports COVID-19 testing data.
Answered by Lord Bethell
To provide a more comprehensive response to a number of outstanding Written Questions, this has been answered by an information factsheet Testing – note for House of Lords which is attached, due to the size of the data. A copy has also been placed in the Library
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many COVID-19 home test kits have been (1) sent out, and (2) returned, to date; and how many of those were returned in a state fit for testing.
Answered by Lord Bethell
To provide a more comprehensive response to a number of outstanding Written Questions, this has been answered by an information factsheet Testing – note for House of Lords which is attached, due to the size of the data. A copy has also been placed in the Library
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bethell on 10 June (HL3869), whether R is the rate of infection, as referred to in the answer, or the reproductive ratio.
Answered by Lord Bethell
To provide a more comprehensive response to a number of outstanding Written Questions, this has been answered by an information factsheet Science of COVID-19 – note for House of Lords which is attached, due to the size of the data. A copy has also been placed in the Library.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they are making to governments of other countries on the subject of drug hoarding by countries in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The United Kingdom Government has discussed, and engaged on this issue, with other states. We are working closely with our international partners, both bilaterally and via multilateral fora, to deliver a robust global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, to reinforce the resilience of vulnerable countries; ensure access to vaccines and therapeutics; keep international supply chains open; and support the global economy.
Furthermore, as part of our concerted national efforts to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak, we are doing everything we can in this country to ensure patients continue to access safe and effective medicines. We are working closely with the pharmaceutical industry, the National Health Service and others in the supply chain to help ensure patients can access the medicines they need, and precautions are in place to reduce the likelihood of future shortages.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to reschedule any NHS operations postponed in England following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Whilst routine hospital treatments were suspended to provide capacity to treat COVID-19 patients, we are now working closely with the National Health Service and other partners to restart these in a safe way. Guidance has already been issued on this, and approaches are being tailored at local level according to local capacity and local demand, with the most urgent services being restarted first. Guidance also outlines that contracted independent sector hospital and diagnostic capacity should also be used in the restarting of routine elective procedures.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what indirect public health challenges they anticipate after the COVID-19 pandemic; and what steps they are taking to alleviate them.
Answered by Lord Bethell
As set out in the Government’s COVID-19 Recovery Strategy, the Government anticipates a range of indirect impacts on the nation's health, including harm caused by delays to important but non-urgent medical care and public health programmes, the mental health impact of isolation, and the health impacts of COVID-19 related economic instability.
Work is ongoing to plan for the recovery of suspended services. Public Health England has directly published or supported a range of guidance and resources, including how individuals can maintain their mental health and wellbeing during the pandemic. The Government is protecting jobs and the economy to mitigate economic impacts of COVID-19 and reduce their impact on population health.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to launch a campaign to address nicotine addiction to deliver a better outcome for COVID-19 patients.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Public Health England (PHE) has updated online channels such as Smokefree and One You, to make them consistent with the wider COVID-19 advice on quitting smoking. Specific guidance for smokers and vapers has been published online at Smokefree.
PHE supports smokers with a range of free quitting tools, including a Personal Quit Plan, the Smokefree app, a Smokefree Quit Smoking Support Group on Facebook, and a 28-day email and SMS programme.
PHE also provides free printed and digital resources to local authorities, local stop smoking services and National Health Service providers to integrate with national marketing activity.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, following reports that hydroxychloroquine is ineffective in treating COVID-19, what plans they have to review their methods for assessing scientific evidence.
Answered by Lord Bethell
There are no plans to review the methods for assessing scientific evidence following the outcome of the hydroxychloroquine arm of the RECOVERY trial.
Results from trials, even if the treatment proves ineffective, are still very useful in understanding COVID-19 and which other treatments could be more effective. This includes dexamethasone, which was also identified by the RECOVERY trial as having a significant benefit for hospitalised patients with COVID-19 who require oxygen or ventilation.