Covid-19 Update – Lord Bethell.
Lord Bethell: My Lords, I am enormously grateful to all those who have contributed to this lively debate today and pay particular tribute to my noble friend Lady Wyld for sponsoring the Bill, as well as to the honourable Member for Sevenoaks who navigated its passage through the other place. It would also be right to pay tribute to Professor Sir Bruce Keogh for his review of regulations on cosmetic...
Lord Bethell: My Lords, I am enormously grateful to all those who have contributed to this lively debate today and pay particular tribute to my noble friend Lady Wyld for sponsoring the Bill, as well as to the honourable Member for Sevenoaks who navigated its passage through the other place. It would also be right to pay tribute to Professor Sir Bruce Keogh for his review of regulations on cosmetic...
Lord Bethell: The Government has no plans to do so. However, for those facing significant financial hardship as a result of this charge, there is an opportunity to apply for a deferred repayment plan when booking.
Lord Bethell: No such assessment has been made. However, the National Institute of Health Research is funding a study to determine whether using a mixture of re-usable and single-use catheters is as safe and acceptable for intermittent catheterisation as using only single-use catheters. We are not currently taking any specific steps to ensure patients have access to single use catheters. The decision of...
Lord Bethell: We expect care homes to enable visiting unless they have a current outbreak, in which case visiting is more limited. We are currently pursuing non-legislative routes to make sure this is followed, involving our regional assistance team, local authorities and the Care Quality Commission. This approach allows us to move more swiftly in changing circumstances and to accommodate all care homes.
Lord Bethell: NHS England and NHS Improvement are undertaking a national Renal Transformation Programme starting later in 2021. As part of this, ways to incentivise home dialysis will be considered, which may include use of tariffs or other commissioning levers.
Lord Bethell: Whilst there are no plans to establish national COVID-19 telephone helplines for the public to use to ask questions related to COVID-19 vaccines, the Department and the NHS and PHE are providing advice and information at every possible opportunity to support those who have been prioritised to receive a vaccine and anyone who has questions about the vaccination process. The latest advice and...
Lord Bethell: Working together with our partners across the secure and detained estate, vaccinations in prisons and detention centres has begun - delivering to the top priority cohorts defined by the Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisations, in line with the rest of the population. As set out in the United Kingdom COVID-19 vaccines delivery plan, Local Vaccination Services are co-ordinating and...
Lord Bethell: My Lords, on the basis of the IBD audit, NHSEI is working closely with front-line clinical experts, patient representative groups and leading charities, including Crohn’s & Colitis UK, to develop evidence-based improvement tools to address possible variations in service. This work includes an important new inflammatory bowel disease right-care scenario, setting out what high-quality,...
Lord Bethell: We are doing a huge amount in this area, as the noble Lord rightly points out. In particular, we are working with Crohn’s & Colitis UK on the scenario work I mentioned. That is on top of working on diagnostic waiting times, formal personalised care, access to specialist treatment and formal, structured education. I will look into the possibility of having a formal leader to oversee all...
Lord Bethell: My Lords, Covid-19 has hit all services in the NHS. I pay tribute to those involved in the IBD area who have moved extremely fast to anticipate these problems. Rapid guidelines for gastrointestinal and liver conditions treated with drugs have been made available over telephone, email and text messaging services. NICE issued new guidance in August 2020 to advise healthcare professionals on...
Lord Bethell: I am afraid that the management of public toilets is outside the reach of the department, but I will take that idea back to the department and write to the person responsible.
Lord Bethell: I would like to reassure the noble Lord that the scenario I described typically includes two gastroenterology consultants, a clinical intermediate fellow, a GP partner and a patient representative. It is exactly this kind of team approach that delivers the best patient outcomes, as the noble Lord rightly outlined.
Lord Bethell: I am not sure it is correct that it is not being adhered to widely, but there is some variation in all parts of the NHS. That is why we are developing a right-care scenario for IBD with key stakeholders. This will create a very clear template for all patients and all those involved in their care. It will, I hope, help create more consistent standards across the healthcare system.
Lord Bethell: I am extremely grateful for the testimony of the noble Baroness. She speaks very movingly about the challenge faced by those with IBD—a challenge that we all sympathise with. We are working extremely hard with both Crohn’s & Colitis UK and IBD patient groups on this scenario. There has been disruption in the last year, but I reassure the noble Baroness that we are working extremely hard...
Lord Bethell: My noble friend is entirely right that diagnosis is key to the accurate and prompt treatment of IBD and associated conditions. That is why we have put diagnosis at the heart of our research programme. Between 2015 and 2020, we funded 20 research projects, many of them on diagnosis, with over £17 million committed. That includes a study into the overlap of IBD and magnetic resonance...
Lord Bethell: My Lords, I agree with the noble Baroness. A lot of late diagnoses are caused by the kind of delicacy the noble Baroness refers to. My noble friend talked about the challenge of diagnosis, which is made more complex by patients finding a lot of these subjects extremely delicate. The approach taken in primary care to handling such delicate issues has improved dramatically over the years. We...
Lord Bethell: I completely sympathise with all those with IBD and associated conditions. The situation the noble Baroness described is exactly right and it is extremely challenging. I have particular concern for those shielding for a very long period, although I hope many of them will not be waiting long for their second vaccine. Those with all conditions have endured some waits because of Covid, but the...
Lord Bethell: The total length of protection from vaccines against COVID-19 is not yet fully understood. Vaccine developers and manufacturers continue to collect data on the performance of their vaccines. Through their surveillance strategy Public Health England (PHE) continues to assess the effectiveness of vaccines, including duration of protection. A copy of PHE’s COVID-19 vaccine surveillance...