Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason UK residents returning from abroad are required to pay for the two compulsory covid-19 tests that are required during the 10-day quarantine period.
Answered by Jo Churchill
All international arrivals including United Kingdom residents travelling from outside the Common Travel Area are required to book a testing package before travelling to England. UK residents pay for the costs of their travel, which This includes paying for tests to protect themselves and the public, reducing the incursion of COVID-19 and variants of concern.
Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether a UK national returning to the UK from a country that is on the red list for travel is required to quarantine for 10 days in a covid-19 hotel; and what guidance his Department has published on measures in place for those travelling to the UK (a) to visit a family member who is currently in palliative care and (b) for other emergency reasons.
Answered by Jo Churchill
United Kingdom nationals returning to the UK who have been in or transited through a country on the red list in the past 10 days are required to book into managed quarantine facility to quarantine for 10 days.
Individuals entering a managed quarantine facility will only be able to leave their room, other than for daily exercise, in very limited circumstances. This includes visiting a close family member who is dying and for medical assistance. Further guidance is provided at GOV.UK.
Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason UK residents returning from abroad are required to pay for the two compulsory covid-19 tests that are required during the 10-day quarantine period.
Answered by Jo Churchill
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before prorogation.
Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
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 adequate funding is made available to support the physical and mental health of families of children with autism.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
As set out in the Mental Health Wellbeing and Recovery Plan published on 27 March 2021, there is an additional £31 million allocated in 2021/22 to improve support in the community for autistic adults and children and for people with a learning disability, with £3 million allocated for respite and short breaks aimed at helping families, including those of autistic children. During 2020/21 we allocated £3.6 million to voluntary sector organisations to improve the physical and mental wellbeing of autistic people, people with a learning disability and their families impacted by COVID-19 by funding services providing direct, practical support. We are refreshing the national autism strategy and extending its scope to include children and young people. The strategy, which we expect to publish this spring, will include actions to improve physical and mental health support for autistic children and their families.
Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what covid-19 workplace protections have been put in place for keyworkers who are travelling to and from work and are living with vulnerable people.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The Government has not put in place specific protections for key workers travelling to work. However, safer travel guidance for all passengers is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-safer-travel-guidance-for-passengers
Guidance for working safely during COVID-19 is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19
Although shielding is not currently in place, clinically extremely vulnerable people who are at higher risk of serious illness if they contract COVID-19 are advised to take extra precautions to reduce their risk of infection. Updated guidance, including advice to maintain social distancing when meeting with people from outside their household, is available at the following link:
Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what protections his Department has put in place for key workers that travel to work and live with vulnerable people during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The Government has not put in place specific protections for key workers travelling to work. However, safer travel guidance for all passengers is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-safer-travel-guidance-for-passengers
Guidance for working safely during COVID-19 is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19
Although shielding is not currently in place, clinically extremely vulnerable people who are at higher risk of serious illness if they contract COVID-19 are advised to take extra precautions to reduce their risk of infection. Updated guidance, including advice to maintain social distancing when meeting with people from outside their household, is available at the following link:
Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
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) tackle the backlog of cancer screenings and (b) shorten the referral time for treatment for patients in north east London.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Bowel screening in London is within national standards while cervical screening services are expected to recover its sample deficit by July 2021. The YouScreen cervical self-sampling project is also taking place within some practices in north east London to support increase in coverage. We are also looking to increase the offer of choice for cervical sampling options for women through expanding commissioning of cervical screening in sexual health services. Breast screening services in north east London are expected to tackle their backlogs by March 2022.
We have invested £1 billion to help the NHS recover from the pandemic and begin to address backlogs in elective care, with cancer care a key priority. Decisions on funding affecting patients in North East London are being made at local levels.
Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to increase the allocation of funding from the public purse to NHS cancer services in (a) north east London and (b) England.
Answered by Jo Churchill
To receive national funding the North East London Cancer Commissioning Group are creating delivery plans, in line with the National Health Service 2021/22 Planning Guidance, across elective inpatient, outpatient and diagnostic services for adults and children for April 2021 to September 2021, with the aim to reach the funding threshold of 85% of activity by July.
Nationally, the Spending Review 2020 confirmed an additional £3 billion for the NHS on top of the long-term settlement, to support the NHS recovery from the impact of COVID-19. Cancer patients will continue to be prioritised with the NHS and will benefit from the approximately £1 billion to begin tackling the elective backlog and approximately £1.5 billion to help ease existing pressures in the NHS caused by the pandemic. This package will be supported by £325 million capital funding for NHS diagnostics, which is enough to replace over two thirds of imaging equipment over 10 years old.
Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
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 effect of Oximeters on the treatment of covid-19; and what plans he has to make them more widely available.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
There are ongoing data collection and evaluation workstreams underway as part of the COVID-19 oximetry programmes. Oximeters are not used in the treatment of COVID-19 but in the early detection ‘silent hypoxia’ which seems to present more commonly in patients with risk factors. Measuring decreases in blood oxygen levels using oximeters helps identify patients who are at risk of clinical deterioration which in turn improves outcomes. Oximeters are already widely available in primary care and secondary care across England for patients with COVID-19 and with risk factors based on clinical judgement.