Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Report to the Trust Board: 19 January 2022, published by Barts Health NHS Trust on 19 January 2022, if he will make an assessment of the impact on patient safety of delays to the completion of fire safety works at Newham Hospital.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
There are no plans to make such an assessment. The London Fire Brigade is working with the Trust to ensure their facilities remain safe.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
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 equality of access to a hospital of choice through the NHS e-Referral Service (a) across England, (b) for Hospital Trusts in the London region and (c) for Barts NHS Health Trust, by (i) geography of residence, (ii) ethnicity and (iii) deprivation.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
No assessment has been made. The National Health Service e-Referral Service (e-RS) does not record data on ethnicity and deprivation. Where appropriate, general practitioners (GPs) should include relevant sensitive patient information within the clinical referral information shared with the chosen provider to support the referral. The referring GP is responsible for ensuring that all options offered to patients are appropriate for their clinical, social and accessibility needs. The e-RS records data on the source of the referral, including the patient’s post code. This data is available to regional NHS commissioners.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the rate of refusals by NHS Hospital Trusts to requests by GPs for two-week emergency cancer referrals (a) across England, (b) for Hospital Trusts in the London region and (c) for Barts NHS Health Trust.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
This information is not collected centrally.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
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 help ensure that people eligible for antiviral treatments against covid-19 on the basis of significant vulnerability will be able to access (a) timely and (b) free covid-19 (i) lateral flow and (ii) PCR tests after 31 March 2022.
Answered by Maggie Throup
From 1 April 2022, free asymptomatic testing will be available for a number of at-risk groups. We are currently developing options to support those eligible for antiviral treatments against COVID-19 on the basis of significant vulnerability.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions his Department has held with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence regarding a review into fertility guidelines.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Departmental officials have met with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to discuss the review of the guidelines. Officials have also attended workshops with NICE and stakeholders to discuss the scope of the fertility guidelines review.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
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 ensure that adults with caring responsibilities can access covid-19 vaccination with no additional impact on their care costs and minimal impacts on their time.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
Priority access for COVID-19 vaccinations has been provided for carers and those they care for. In phase one of the vaccination programme, carers were included in priority cohorts four and six invited for vaccination in January and February 2021. In December 2021, the National Health Service directed vaccination centres to allow priority queuing at walk-in centres for carers and those they care for.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Report to the Trust Board: 19 January 2022, published by Barts Health NHS Trust on 19 January 2022, if he will make an assessment of the impact on patient safety of delays to the completion of fire safety works at Newham Hospital relating to the availability of NHS capital funding.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Patient safety in hospitals is a top priority for this Government. The London Fire Brigade is working with Barts Health NHS Trust to ensure their facilities remain safe.
National Health Service organisations are locally responsible for prioritising the funding of investment in their facilities, with additional funding available from the Department if required.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Request for direction on independent sector contracting from NHS England Chief Executive Officer to Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, published on 12 January 2022, what assessment he has made of the long-term impact on (a) staff availability to the NHS, (b) public trust and confidence in the NHS and (c) potential health inequalities linked to increased access to high-quality care of those with the means to pay for access to independent health services of the payments made to the independent health sector referred to in that letter.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The national contracts agreed between NHS England and independent sector providers are short-term measures aimed to support the National Health Service’s response to the spread of the Omicron variant until 31 March 2022. We do not believe these arrangements will have any significant long-term negative impact on staff availability to the NHS or potential health inequalities.
The arrangements provide additional surge capacity to prevent NHS services from being overwhelmed and to ensure the recovery of elective care can continue. The public can be confident that all those requiring emergency or urgent treatment can continue to receive it.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
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 work with large employers to enable direct access to covid-19 vaccination in the workplace in areas with persistently low relative levels of vaccine uptake.
Answered by Maggie Throup
We have no specific plans to do so. There are now hundreds of walk-in sites and the opening hours of vaccination sites have been extended to seven days a week. General practitioners and pharmacies have also been asked to increase their provision of vaccination services, including in areas of lower uptake.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether North East London Health and Care Partnership has a list of (a) immunosuppressed patients and (b) other patients eligible for a covid-19 vaccine booster dose; and when eligible patients will begin to be contacted about receiving their vaccine booster dose.
Answered by Maggie Throup
North East London Health and Care Partnership has a list of immunosuppressed patients, and other patients eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine booster dose. General practitioner practices use this list to contact patients for COVID-19 vaccinations, in coordination with primary care colleagues and acute consultants.
Every eligible adult in England aged 18 years old and over has now been contacted and offered a COVID-19 booster vaccination, including immunosuppressed patients.