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 staff movement between (a) wards in the same hospital, (b) hospitals, (c) outpatient clinics and (d) care homes on the transmission of covid-19.

The United Kingdom guidance ‘COVID-19: guidance for the remobilisation of services within health and care settings: infection prevention and control (IPC) recommendations’ provides assessment and recommended IPC precautions for operating procedures, staff movements and physical distancing to reduce transmission of COVID-19 between staff and patients in hospital settings.

Regarding staff movement between care homes, Public Health England conducted a study in London in April 2020 to assess occupational risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection ahead of publication of the Care Home Support Package. The study identified very high rates of SARS-CoV-2 infection in staff and residents, most of whom were asymptomatic at the time of testing. The study is available at the following link:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3638267