Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
What steps his Department is taking to support the provision of non-covid-19 healthcare treatment.
Answered by Matt Hancock
In addition to the funding already provided to the National Health Service, we are providing an additional £3 billion next year, on top of the long-term settlement, to support recovery from COVID-19.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley 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 support the healthcare needs of disabled people and their families in Dudley North constituency during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
During the pandemic, Dudley Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has supported the healthcare needs of disabled people through a number of actions. These include maintaining provision of NHS Continuing Healthcare for adults with long-term health conditions and NHS Continuing Care for children with the most complex needs, continuing to provide personal health budgets and continuing to provide health checks in general practice for people with a learning disability. Nationally, the Department has advised people with specific health conditions, including disabled people who are deemed to be clinically extremely vulnerable to COVID-19, to shield and has provided direct support to the shielded population.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the contraindication to receiving a covid-19 vaccine applied to people having previously experienced anaphylaxis has been removed for those patients if they receive the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine; and whether those people can be recommended to receive that vaccine in lieu of the Pfizer vaccine.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Neither the Pfizer nor Oxford University/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines should be given to those who have had a previous systemic allergic reaction, including immediate-onset anaphylaxis, to a previous dose of the same COVID-19 vaccine or any component of the vaccine.
The Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine BNT162b2 contains polyethylene glycol (PEG). PEGs are a group of known allergens commonly found in medicines, many household products and cosmetics. Known allergy to PEG is very rare but would contraindicate receipt of this vaccine. The AstraZeneca vaccine does not contain PEG and may be used as an alternative. Whether PEG is the cause of reactions in patients with systemic allergic symptoms after the first dose of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is unclear. Such patients may be considered for a second dose using the AstraZeneca vaccine and should be observed for 30 minutes following vaccination.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of people who have been asked to self-isolate through Track and Trace who did not qualify for the £500 isolation payment; and what plans he has to tackle financial hardship faced by individuals and families who follow government guidelines for self-isolation but do not qualify for the £500 payment.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The information requested is not available.
Those who do not meet the eligibility criteria for the main £500 Test and Trace Support Payment may be eligible for a £500 discretionary payment from their local authority, provided they meet the eligibility criteria set by their local authority.
People on low incomes who cannot work from home may be eligible for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) from their employer. Those on low incomes who cannot work from home and are not eligible for SSP may be able to claim Universal Credit.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential effect of covid-19 vaccines on fertility.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
Based on the available pre-clinical data, the vaccines are not expected to affect a woman’s fertility.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he made of the effect of the covid-19 tier restrictions on people's wellbeing who could not attend community lunches over Christmas 2020.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The Government ensured that the regulations allowed charitable lunches over the festive period to continue.
The Government acknowledges the impact the restrictions can have on mental health and wellbeing. Public Health England published guidance on social distancing and self-isolation and advice on looking after mental health and wellbeing during the outbreak.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley 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 (a) formally recognise the roles that armed forces nurses and doctors have played in hospitals during the covid-19 outbreak, (b) ensure that those individuals receive salary increases in recognition of their contribution.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Government is incredibly grateful to all healthcare staff, including armed forces doctors and nurses for the part they are playing in hospitals and across the health and social care system during the pandemic.
The Spending Review announced that the Government will be taking three steps regarding public sector pay awards in 2021-22. First, taking account of the pay review bodies' advice, over a million nurses, doctors and others working in the NHS we receive a pay rise. Secondly, to protect jobs, pay rises in the rest of the public sector will be paused. Thirdly, to protect those on lower incomes, 2.1 million public sector workers who earn below the median wage of £24,000 will continue to receive a pay increase. Military personnel will still benefit from a progressive pay model that is not affected by the pay pause.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding he plans to allocate to improve access to affordable physiotherapy services in Dudley North constituency.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The Government is committed to ensuring the continuity of access to non-COVID-19 health services such as physiotherapy. The ‘Help Us, Help You’ campaign is underway to encourage the public to access the NHS services they need and our message is unequivocal - anyone who is concerned or needs treatment should come forward.
The National Health Service has been allocated an extra £3 billion funding, which includes funding to support the recruitment of additional primary care professionals, such as physiotherapy posts in primary care networks. In Dudley, this recruitment is ongoing with support from the community provider.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
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 effect of air pollution on the NHS.
Answered by Jo Churchill
In 2018 Public Health England (PHE) published an estimation of the potential health burden and costs to the National Health Service and social care system arising due to diseases related to air pollution.
Between 2017 and 2025, the total cost to the NHS and social care from air pollution in England is estimated to be £1.60 billion for fine particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide combined, where there is robust evidence for an association between exposure and disease. Where the evidence is less robust the cost is £2.81 billion for fine particulate matter and £2.75 billion for nitrogen dioxide.
PHE also published a tool which allows local authorities to quantify the number of expected disease cases and costs in their local area. The tool includes NHS and social care cost data for England and is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/air-pollution-a-tool-to-estimate-healthcare-costs