Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what long term support his Department offers for (a) people with and (b) carers of persons suffering from dementia.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The Department has provided guidance ‘After diagnosis of dementia: what to expect from health and care services’, which is available at the following link:
Carers should be supported to feel able to cope with their caring responsibilities and to have a life alongside caring, including being made aware of and offered opportunities for respite. Local authorities are required to undertake a Carer’s Assessment for any carer who appears to have a need for support. Later in 2022, we will be setting out our plans on dementia for England. The new dementia strategy will include a focus on improving the experience of being diagnosed and living with dementia, for people with dementia and their carers.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccination against (a) catching (b) cases of severe illness deriving from, and (c) hospitalisations arising from the Omicron covid-19 variant.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) publishes weekly COVID-19 vaccine surveillance reports, including the latest evidence on vaccine effectiveness against different outcomes, comparing rates of disease in vaccinated individuals to rates in unvaccinated individuals. The most recent assessment published on 17 February 2022 states that after two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, effectiveness against infection of the Omicron variant, starts at approximately 50% then reduces to almost no effect from 20 weeks after the second dose. After a booster dose with an mRNA vaccine, this increases to 60 to 70% then wanes to approximately 30% by 15 weeks and over after vaccination.
The UKHSA uses hospitalisation as an indicator of severe diseases. Two doses of either AstraZeneca vaccine was associated with a vaccine effectiveness of approximately 35% against hospitalisation following infection with the Omicron variant, after 25 weeks and over. After a booster dose with an mRNA vaccine, this increases to approximately 80 to 90%.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the guidance is on receiving the covid-19 booster for people who have received one or both doses of the covid-19 vaccine abroad.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The offer of COVID-19 booster vaccination remains open for everyone including those who received one or both doses of the vaccine abroad. The minimum dosage interval for booster doses is three months from a final primary dose. For those requiring one or more United Kingdom doses, the three-month interval is taken from the final ‘additional’ dose given in the UK. Doses do not have to be recorded in the NHS App in order to access vaccination. The UK Health Security Agency’s guidance sets out eligibility for those vaccinated overseas and is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-vaccinations-received-overseas
The National Health Service has developed a service record to vaccinations received overseas. This service is available to individuals that have been vaccinated with specific vaccines anywhere in the world and reside in England. Face-to-face appointments at a specific vaccination centre can be booked to update patient record within the National Immunisation Management Service (NIMS). If an individual has their overseas vaccine recorded in NIMS, they will automatically be called for a booster dose when eligible. Individuals whose vaccinations are not recorded in NIMS in England will be unable to book an appointment for a booster vaccination through the National Booking System. However, these individuals can access a booster dose at a walk-in centre.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) double and (b) triple vaccinated covid-19 patients were admitted to hospital in each month since March 2021; and what assessment he has made of the differences in hospitalisation rates for individuals vaccinated with the (i) Pfizer, (ii) Moderna and (iii) AstraZeneca vaccines.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Data on the number of double and triple vaccinated COVID-19 patients who were admitted to hospital in each month since March 2021 is not available in the format requested.
However, between 23 January 2022 and 13 February 2022 there were 10,222 COVID-19 cases presenting to emergency care within 28 days of a positive specimen resulting in overnight inpatient admission. Of these, 1,810 people had received at least two vaccine doses and 4,939 people had received at least three vaccine doses. No specific assessment has been made of the differences in hospitalisation rates by vaccine as this information is not held centrally.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the timeline is for primary school aged children to receive covid-19 vaccinations.
Answered by Maggie Throup
On 22 December 2021, the Government accepted advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation that children aged five to 11 years old who are in a clinical risk group or who are a household contact of someone who is immunosuppressed should be offered a primary course of COVID-19 vaccination. The National Health Service is preparing for deployment to begin by the end of January 2022. Children and their parents will be contacted by the NHS locally and offered appointments. Further advice regarding COVID-19 vaccination for other five to 11 year olds will be issued following consideration of additional data.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
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 racial bias in medical equipment.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Department has made no specific estimate. However, a review is being conducted to understand the nature of issues, inaccuracies and risk in existing devices, determine whether actions are necessary and analyse evidence on potential issues in oximeters. This will include an independent review to start next year.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
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 deaths that could be attributed to racial bias in medical equipment during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Department has made no specific estimate. However, a review is being conducted to understand the nature of issues, inaccuracies and risk in existing devices, determine whether actions are necessary and analyse evidence on potential issues in oximeters. This will include an independent review to start next year.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
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 recruitment challenges in the adult social care sector.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
On 10 December, we announced £300 million to support local authorities and care providers to recruit and retain care staff through the winter. This funding will enhance the existing £162.5 million Workforce Recruitment and Retention Fund, which was announced on 21 October. The latest phase of our adult social care national recruitment campaign launched in early November and will run until March 2022.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) women, (b) people from ethnic minority groups and (c) children took part in the development of the covid-19 vaccines.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The information is not available in the format requested. The National Institute for Health Research does not routinely collect data on the sex, age and ethnicity of participants in clinical research studies. However, data on ethnicity was collected at a national level for a subset of COVID-19 vaccine studies between July 2020 and May 2021. During this time, 2,416 people from ethnic minority groups took part in studies for the development of COVID-19 vaccines. There were also three paediatric and adolescent studies into COVID-19 vaccines which recruited 425 participants.
Work is underway to gather more data on the characteristics of research participants, including their ethnicity, as part of the National Institute for Health Research’s strategy ‘Best Research for Best Health: The Next Chapter’.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has plans to undertake an assessment of the impact of covid-19 lockdowns on (a) the rate of divorce, (b) relationship breakdowns and (c) people's health and wellbeing in the long term.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The Government is under a statutory duty to consider the impacts of policies and decisions on people’s protected characteristics, which includes marriages and civil partnerships. We also apply the Family Test to new policies, which considers of the impact on families before, during and after couple separation.
The Government recognised that restrictions on gathering indoors and on non-essential travel would limit some opportunities for families to meet their support network, which could have a negative impact on relationships. Therefore, we introduced measures to mitigate these risks, such as the creation of support bubbles and childcare support bubbles. We also prioritised keeping schools open and created a specific power to do so in the Coronavirus Act 2020.