Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans the Government has to maintain the medical testing diagnostics infrastructure which has been established during the covid-19 outbreak to help in the early detection of other illnesses, including cancer and dementia.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We plan to maintain the testing diagnostics infrastructure as part of the United Kingdom’s diagnostic capability.
Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to extend preventative health care testing after the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The UK National Screening Committee advises ministers and the National Health Service on all aspects of population screening. Professor John Deanfield is leading a review of the NHS Health Check programme, which is designed to spot early signs of stroke, kidney disease, heart disease, type 2 diabetes or dementia. The review will report later in the year.
Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the Government's long-term policy on a new UK health diagnostics sector and preventative health strategy following the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We have no current plans to publish a new long-term policy on the United Kingdom health diagnostics sector. We are establishing the Office for Health Promotion, to drive the prevention agenda across Government and we will set out more detail on our plans for improving public health later in 2021.
Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to improve public awareness of sarcoma cancer.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There are no specific plans to do so. Public Health England, NHS England and NHS Improvement’s campaign, ‘Help us help you’ which ran from October to December 2020, to raise awareness of general symptoms of cancer and encourage people experiencing persistent symptoms to contact their general practitioner. Further ‘Help us help you’ campaigns are under consideration.
Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what advice given by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies' Environmental and Modelling Group was used by his Department when it made the decision to fund a project led by the Universities of St Andrews and Dundee on whether ultraviolet-C light can kill viruses which cause covid-19.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies’ Environmental and Modelling Group’s (SAGE-EMG) advice highlighted the potential for far-UVC technology as promising but requiring further research.
The Universities of St Andrews and Dundee presented far-UVC technology to a workshop convened by the Innovation and Partnerships team in NHS Test and Trace. The workshop evaluation considered several technologies and based on the evidence presented and SAGE-EMG’s advice to further the research, far-UVC technology was considered suitable for funding.
Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the advice of the SAGE Environmental and Modelling Group on the potential application of air cleaning devices and personal decontamination to manage transmission of covid-19 has been updated since it was published on 4 November 2020.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
A summary paper by the Environmental and Modelling Group (EMG) on ventilation actions to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 was published on 18 December 2020 and is available at the following link:
There have been no papers on the application of air cleaning devices and personal decontamination to manage transmission of COVID-19 published by the EMG since 4 November 2020.