Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
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 potential merits of providing ear wax irrigation services on the NHS, particularly for (a) patients who have a medical need for irrigation and (b) those who cannot afford private treatment.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Local commissioners are responsible for arranging for the provision of medical services to meet the reasonable needs of their populations. Commissioners should ensure there is appropriate access to ear wax removal services, where these are clinically appropriate for patients.
General practitioner practices are increasingly recommending self-care methods to support the safe removal of ear wax and to prevent its build up. However, if a practice considers removal clinically necessary, ear irrigation or microsuction should either be undertaken at the practice or the patient should be referred to an appropriate local NHS service.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the date from which EU-qualified dentists will be required to take additional examinations in order to gain admittance to General Dental Council (GDC) so that students who began studying dentistry prior to the referendum on the UK leaving the EU are able to gain automatic admittance to the GDC as anticipated.
Answered by Edward Argar
Automatic recognition arrangements are in place for relevant dental qualifications obtained in the European Economic Area and Switzerland for a period of 24 months from the end of the transition period, or 48 months for Swiss qualifications.
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care is required to carry out a statutory review of these arrangements after the 24-month period. This review will be conducted at the start of 2023. Automatic recognition of qualifications will continue until further legislation is introduced to amend or end these arrangements.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of increasing the Minimum Income Guarantee to support (a) disabled people and (b) elderly people.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
On 7 September, the Government announced the Minimum Income Guarantee will rise in line with inflation for all age groups from April 2022.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
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 potential merits of needle aspiration when administering covid-19 vaccinations.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) provides guidance on immunisation techniques in Chapter Four of the Green Book, which follows available evidence and international recommendations for the administration of vaccines. This is reviewed and updated regularly by the UKHSA and states that is not necessary to aspirate the syringe after the needle is introduced into the muscle because there are no large blood vessels at the recommended injection sites. The UKHSA has not made a specific assessment for COVID-19 vaccines.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to take steps to bring forward legislative proposals to introduce free comprehensive adult social care.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
On 7 September, the Government announced major reforms to funding for social care. From October 2023, we will introduce a more generous means testing regime, as well as cap on costs. This means that no one in England will have to pay more than £86,000 in care costs over the course of their lifetime.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry 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 potential merits of extending the Medical Support Worker scheme beyond March 2022.
Answered by Edward Argar
The Department is discussing the future of the Medical Support Worker Scheme beyond March 2022 with NHS England and NHS Improvement. We have made available £15 million to National Health Service trusts to provide additional clinical support for the short-term recruitment of Medical Support Workers.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry 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 undocumented migrants who are not registered with a GP are able to provide proof of covid-19 vaccinations.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Individuals who do not have a National Health Service number or are not registered with a general practitioner (GP) are entitled to free COVID-19 vaccinations. A NHS number is required to access proof of vaccination through the NHS COVID Pass or via NHS.uk. Temporary NHS numbers can be created by the administering centre on receiving COVID-19 vaccinations and the site can assist in identifying a temporary NHS number. Individuals can also find their NHS number through the online ‘Find Your NHS Number’ service.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Royal College of General Practitioners' publication, entitled General Practice in crisis: An action plan for recovery, whether he plans to take steps to implement that plan.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The Royal College of General Practitioners has asked for action in five priority areas, including: more doctors in general practice; reducing unnecessary workload, fit-for-purpose infrastructure; and general practice representation in integrated care systems (ICSs). We are working with NHS England and NHS Improvement to implement the related actions in the NHS Long Term Plan and expand general practice by recruiting 26,000 additional primary care staff by 2024.
NHS England and NHS Improvement are reviewing of levels of bureaucracy in general practice as part of the 2020/21 GP Contract agreement, working closely with stakeholders including the Royal College of General Practitioners and the British Medical Association.
Since 2016 we have invested £800 million in improving primary care estate and technology. Further infrastructure funding will be confirmed after the forthcoming Spending Review. The We are clear that primary care should be represented and involved in decision-making at all levels of ICSs, including strategic decision-making forums.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry 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 potential merits of extending the Medical Support Worker scheme for (a) international medical graduates, (b) out-of-practice doctors and (c) refugee doctors indefinitely.
Answered by Edward Argar
The Medical Support Worker Scheme is already available to international medical graduates, including refugees, as well as doctors returning to practice to assist during the pandemic. During 2021, 423 medical support workers have been employed in the National Health Service in England. Discussions around the future of the scheme are ongoing.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
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 adequacy of the evidence that supports the placement of Turkey on the covid-19 red list for international travel.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Decisions to place countries on the ‘red list’ are taken by the Government, informed by evidence including the Joint Biosecurity Centre risk assessments alongside other factors. We are unable to provide the information requested as the advice, evidence and methodology that informs these decisions relates to on-going development of Government policy. However, further information on the data informing international travel risk assessments is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/data-informing-international-travel-risk-assessments.
You will find further information on the methodology for international travel risk assessments here at the following link: