Asked by: Sally-Ann Hart (Conservative - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to review the current 24 week time limit on abortion on the grounds of risk of injury to the physical or mental health of a pregnant woman or any of her children based on the latest science on viability.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
It would be for Parliament to decide whether to make any changes to the law on abortion. As with other matters of conscience, abortion is an issue on which the Government adopts a neutral stance and allows hon. Members to vote according to their moral, ethical or religious beliefs.
Asked by: Sally-Ann Hart (Conservative - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the advice to women to seek medical advice or call an ambulance on 999 if they experience certain complications from medical abortions at home, whether Emergency Departments are recording the complications medical abortions based on whether those pills were taken (a) at home, (b) partially at home, or (c) in a clinic; and whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of requiring Emergency Departments to distinguish between home and in-clinic medical abortion complications.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
This level of detail is not recorded in the Emergency Care Data Set or Hospital Episode Statistics accident and emergency data. The Department acknowledges there are limitations with the abortion complications data that is collected. We are planning to examine with partner organisations how well these systems are working in relation to recording complications arising from abortions and whether improvement is required.
Asked by: Sally-Ann Hart (Conservative - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of assigning family members of clinically vulnerable or disabled relatives who live in care homes, key worker status; and what steps he is taking to bring forward legislative proposals to ensure that vulnerable people have access to support and care from their families.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
New visiting arrangements will start on 8 March. From that date, every care home will be asked to ensure that each resident can receive regular indoor visits from one person whom they have nominated as their single named visitor. In addition, with the agreement of the care home, visitors to residents who need personal care will have access to the same testing and personal protective equipment as care home staff so that they can provide extra support, like help with washing, dressing or eating.
Asked by: Sally-Ann Hart (Conservative - Hastings and Rye)
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 ensure people with a learning disability are given priority for receiving a covid-19 vaccine in the next phase of the vaccination programme.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
On 24 February the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation published a clarification of their advice on vaccinating people with a learning disability. They confirmed their view that priority should be given to those with a severe and profound learning disability, but recognised the issues around coding of learning disability on general practitioner (GP) systems and supported a practical approach of inviting everyone who is on the GP Learning Disability Register for vaccination in cohort six.
Asked by: Sally-Ann Hart (Conservative - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of including café au lait marks in children's Red Book health records to improve the early diagnosis of neurofibromatosis Type 1.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The content of the red book is determined by The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. The Department continues to work with the Royal College and the National Health Service to ensure the red book is up to date and accessible.