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Category: Health

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2021 Speech on the Future of Health and Care

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2021 Speech on the Future of Health and Care

    The speech made by Jonathan Ashworth, the Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in the House of Commons on 11 February 2021.

    I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of his statement. I suppose we should also thank Andy Cowper for advance sight of the White Paper.

    We are in the middle of the biggest public health crisis that our NHS has ever faced: staff on the frontline are exhausted and underpaid; the Royal College of Nursing says that the NHS is on its knees; primary care and CCG staff are vaccinating and will be doing so for months ahead, including, possibly, delivering booster jabs in the autumn; and today, we learn that 224,000 people are waiting more than 12 months for treatment. This Secretary of State thinks that now is the right moment for a structural reorganisation of the NHS.

    We will study the legislation carefully when it is published, but the test of the reorganisation will be whether it brings down waiting lists and times, widens access, especially for mental health care, drives up cancer survival rates, and improves population health. We are not surprised that the Secretary of State has ended up here. We warned Ministers not to go ahead with the Cameron-Lansley changes 10 years ago. It was a reorganisation so big that we could see it from space. It cost millions. It demoralised staff. It ushered in a decade of wasted opportunity and, of course, he voted for those changes and defended them in this Chamber, so, when he stands up, I hope that he will tell us that he was wrong to support them.

    We have long argued for more integrated care, but how will these new structures be governed, how will they be accountable to local people, and how will financial priorities be set, because when something goes wrong, as tragically sometimes it does in the delivery of care, or when there are financial problems, such as the ones that we have seen at Leicester’s trust, where does the buck stop?

    The Secretary of State is proposing an integrated care board tasked with commissioning, but without powers to direct foundation trusts, which spend around £80 billion and employ around 800,000 staff. He is suggesting a joint committee of the ICS and providers as well, but who controls the money, because it is from there that power flows? Both of those committees will overlap with a new third additional committee, the integrated care system health and care partnership, which includes local authorities, Healthwatch and even permits the private sector to sit on it. All these committees must have regard for the local health and wellbeing board plans as well. How will he avoid clashing agendas and lack of trust between partners, as we have seen at the ICS in Bedfordshire and Luton, for example? Nobody wants to see integrated care structures that cannot even integrate themselves. Legislation alone is not the answer to integration. We need a long-term funded workforce plan; we do not have one. We need a long-term, cross-governmental health inequalities plan; we do not have one. We need a sustainable social care plan; we were promised one on the steps of Downing Street and we still do not have one.

    When the Secretary of State voted for the Cameron reorganisation 10 years ago, it was presumably because he wanted, in the words of the White Paper at the time, “to liberate the NHS”. Now he is proposing a power grab that was never consulted on by the NHS. It seems that he wants every dropped bedpan to reverberate around Whitehall again. He is announcing this just at the very moment when the NHS is successfully delivering vaccination, which is in striking contrast to the delivery of test and trace and of PPE early on where he was responsible. Again, we will look carefully at the legislation, but why is he so keen for these new powers? Why is he repealing his responsibility to set an annual mandate and bring it to Parliament?

    The Secretary of State wants to intervene now in hospital reconfiguration plans, but why is he stripping local authorities of their power to refer controversial plans to him? With his new powers, will he reverse outsourcing? Will he end the transfer of staff to subcos? Will he bring contracts back in-house and block more outsourcing in the future? He is ditching the competition framework for the tendering of local services, while potentially replacing it with institutionalised cronyism at the top instead.

    Fundamentally, how will this reorganisation and power grab improve patient care? The Secretary of State did not mention waiting times in his statement. It is mentioned once in the leaked White Paper. How will he bring waiting lists down? How will he improve cancer survival rates and widen access to mental healthcare, and by when? How will this reorganisation narrow widening health inequalities, and by when? Given that the Prime Minister insists that lessons cannot be learned from this pandemic until the crisis is over, why does the Secretary of State disagree with that and consider this reorganisation so urgent now?

  • Matt Hancock – 2021 Statement on the Future of Health and Care

    Matt Hancock – 2021 Statement on the Future of Health and Care

    The statement made by Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in the House of Commons on 11 February 2021.

    Mr Speaker, I come to the House today to set out our White Paper on the future of health and care. The past year has been the most challenging in the NHS’s proud 72-year history. The health and care system as a whole has risen in the face of great difficulties. Throughout, people have done incredible things and worked in novel and remarkable ways to deliver for patients, and we in this House salute them all—not just the nurse who may have had to care for two, three or four times as many patients as he would in normal times, and not just the surgeon who may have been called to treat patients beyond her normal specialism, but the managers across health and care who have come together in teams, as part of a health family, at local and national level; the public health experts, who have been needed more than ever before; and the local authority staff who have embraced change to deliver for their residents—and from all, a sense of teamwork that has been inspiring to see.

    As a citizen, I care deeply for the whole health and care family, the values they stand for and the security they represent. They are there for us at the best of times, and they are there for us at the worst of times. As Health Secretary, I see it as my role sometimes to challenge but most of all to support the health and care family in their defining mission of improving the health of the nation and caring for those most in need.

    I come before the House to present a White Paper based firmly on those values, which I believe are values that our whole nation holds dear. The White Paper is built on more than two years of work with the NHS, local councils and the public. At its heart, this White Paper enables greater integration, reduces bureaucracy and supports the way that the NHS and social care work when they work at their best—together. It strengthens accountability to this House and, crucially, it takes the lessons we have learned in this pandemic about how the system can rise to meet huge challenges and frames a legislative basis to support that effort. My job as Health Secretary is to make the system work for those who work in the system—to free up, to empower and to harness the mission-driven capability of team health and care. The goal of this White Paper is to allow that to happen.

    Before turning to the core measures, I want to answer two questions that I know have been on people’s minds. First, are these changes needed? Even before the pandemic, it was clear that reform was needed to update the law, to improve how the NHS operates and to reduce bureaucracy. Local government and the NHS have told us that they want to work together to improve health outcomes for residents. Clinicians have told us that they want to do more than just treat conditions; they want to address the factors that determine people’s health and prevent illness in the first place. All parts of the system told us that they want to embrace modern technology, to innovate, to join up, to share data, to serve people and, ultimately, to be trusted to get on and do all that so that they can improve patient care and save lives. We have listened, and these changes reflect what our health and care family have been asking for, building on the NHS’s own long-term plan.

    The second question is, why now, as we tackle the biggest public health emergency in modern history? The response to covid-19 has accelerated the pace of collaboration across health and social care, showing what we can do when we work together flexibly, adopting new technology focused on the needs of the patient and setting aside bureaucratic rules. The pandemic has also brought home the importance of preventing ill health in the first place by tackling obesity and taking steps such as fluoridation that will improve the health of the nation. The pandemic has made the changes in this White Paper more, not less, urgent, and it is our role in Parliament to make the legislative changes that are needed. There is no better time than now.

    I turn to the measures in detail. The first set of measures promote integration between different parts of the health and care system and put the focus of health funding on the health of the population, not just the health of patients. Health and care have always been part of the same ecosystem. Given an ageing population with more complex needs, that has never been more true, and these proposals will make it easier for clinicians, carers and public health experts to achieve what they already work hard to do: operate seamlessly across health and care, without being split into artificial silos that keep them apart.

    The new approach is based on the concept of population health. A statutory integrated care system will be responsible in each part of England for the funding to support the health of their area. They will not just provide for the treatments that are needed, but support people to stay healthy in the first place. In some parts of the country, ICSs are already showing the way, and they will be accountable for outcomes of the health of the population and be held to account by the Care Quality Commission. Our goal is to integrate decision-making at a local level between the NHS and local authorities as much as is practically possible, and ensure decisions about local health can be taken as locally as possible.

    Next, we will use legislation to remove bureaucracy that makes sensible decision making harder, freeing up the system to innovate and to embrace technology as a better platform to support staff and patient care. Our proposals preserve the division between funding decisions and provision of care, which has been the cornerstone of efforts to ensure the best value for taxpayers for more than 30 years. However, we are setting out a more joined-up approach built on collaborative relationships, so that more strategic decisions can be taken to shape health and care for decades to come. At its heart, it is about population health, using the collective resources of the local system, the NHS, local authorities, the voluntary sector and others to improve the health of the area.

    Finally, the White Paper will ensure a system that is accountable. Ministers have rightly always been accountable to this House for the performance of the NHS, and always will be. Clinical decisions should always be independent, but when the NHS is the public’s top domestic priority—over £140 billion of taxpayers’ money is spent on it each year—and when the quality of our healthcare matters to every single citizen and every one of our constituents, the NHS must be accountable to Ministers; Ministers accountable to Parliament; and Parliament accountable to the people we all serve. Medical matters are matters for Ministers. The White Paper provides a statutory basis for unified national leadership of the NHS, merging three bodies that legally oversee the NHS into one as NHS England. NHS England will have clinical and day-to-day operational independence, but the Secretary of State will be empowered to set direction for the NHS and intervene where necessary. This White Paper can give the public confidence that the system will truly work together to respond to their needs.

    These legislative measures support reforms already under way in the NHS, and should be seen in the context of those broader reforms. They are by no means the full extent of our ambition for the nation’s health. As we continue to tackle this pandemic, we will also bring forward changes in social care, public health, and mental health services. We are committed to the reform of adult social care, and will bring forward proposals this year. The public health interventions outlined in this White Paper sit alongside our proposals to strengthen the public health system, including the creation of the National Institute for Health Protection, and last month we committed in our mental health White Paper to bringing forward legislation to update the Mental Health Act 1983 for the 21st century.

    This landmark White Paper builds on what colleagues in health and care have told us, and we will continue that engagement in the weeks ahead, but it builds on more than that: it builds on this party’s commitment to the NHS from the very beginning. Eagle-eyed visitors to my office in Victoria Street will have noticed the portrait of Sir Henry Willink, who published from this Dispatch Box in 1944 the White Paper that set out plans for a National Health Service, which was later implemented by post-war Governments.

    Throughout its proud 72-year history, successive Governments have believed in our health and social care system and strengthened it for their times. I believe the NHS is the finest health service in the world. I believe in the values that underpin it: that we all share responsibility for the health of one another. Its extraordinary feats this past year are unsurpassed even in its own proud history. Once again, we must support the NHS and the whole health and care system with a legislative framework that is fit for our times and fit for the future. We need a more integrated, more innovative and more responsive system, harnessing the best of modern technology and supporting the vocation and dedication of those who work in it. This White Paper is the next step in that noble endeavour, and I commend this statement to the House.

  • Matt Hancock – 2021 Comments on NHS Covid-19 App

    Matt Hancock – 2021 Comments on NHS Covid-19 App

    The comments made by Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on 9 February 2021.

    The NHS COVID-19 app is an important tool in our pandemic response. We know it has instructed hundreds of thousands of at-risk people to self-isolate since it launched in September – including me – and this analysis shows it has been hugely effective at breaking chains of transmission, preventing an estimated 600,000 cases.

    Isolating and knowing when you have been at risk of catching coronavirus is essential to stopping the spread of this virus, and the app is the quickest way to notify you if you are at risk.

    I want to thank all those who have played their part by downloading and using the app, and urge those who haven’t to take the simple step to protect your communities and loved ones and download it.

  • Nadhim Zahawi – 2021 Statement on the Vaccine Rollout

    Nadhim Zahawi – 2021 Statement on the Vaccine Rollout

    The statement made by Nadhim Zahawi, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on 8 February 2021.

    Earlier this week, we saw one of the greatest milestones in our fightback against this virus, as the number of people who received their first dose ticked over 10 million, and has now surpassed 12 million.

    We’re now vaccinating at an incredible pace, and during one hour on Saturday we delivered nearly 1,000 jabs a minute across the United Kingdom.

    The vaccine is our way out of this pandemic, and it is thanks to the hard work of everyone involved that we have vaccinated over 90% of over 75s and visited every eligible care home possible with older residents in England.

    From the moment COVID-19 was identified over a year ago, the global community of researchers, scientists and manufacturers have concentrated all their expertise and their efforts into vaccines and treatments so we can beat this virus.

    The emergence of other variants is yet another challenge they are rising to meet.

    Our world-leading genomics capacity has allowed us to identify these different strains when they have appeared in the UK. Where we have seen evidence of the South African variant or other worrying mutations, we have moved to deploy surge testing to try and stop it spreading any further.

    It is a timely reminder that currently, even with the vaccine rollout going well, we all need to live by the national restrictions and act as if we might have the virus to stop us spreading it.

    We have also taken stringent measures to stop new variant cases coming into the country, with travel bans for over 30 countries identified as having the highest risk of importing these variants. This is in addition to the negative test you need to arrive in the country, and the 10-day quarantine you must undertake once you are here.

    I know the government is working at speed to introduce a further measure of enforced hotel quarantine for arrivals from high-risk countries to introduce yet another barrier against these variants coming into the UK.

    Our brilliant scientists and medical advisers are now working on the potential for new versions of existing vaccines to offer further protections against COVID variants. Last week we announced an agreement with the manufacture CureVac to allow new varieties of vaccines based on messenger RNA technology to be developed quickly and to procure 50 million doses of a new version of a vaccine, if it is required.

    But we should bear in mind that recent studies show the vaccines being deployed right now across the UK appear to work well against the COVID-19 variants currently dominant in the UK. In terms of other variants, not in the UK, we need to be aware that even where a vaccine has reduced efficacy in preventing infection there may still be good efficacy against severe disease, hospitalisation, and death. This is vitally important for protecting the healthcare system.

    While it is right and necessary to prepare for the deployment of an updated vaccine, we can take confidence from the current roll out and the protection it will provide all of us against this terrible disease.

    We are ready to protect our most vulnerable and stay a step ahead of the virus, whatever it throws at us.

    Thanks to the work you’re doing, we’re getting safer every day. But even though this programme is accelerating rapidly, this is still a lethal virus that is capable of causing devastation and disruption.

    So while the vaccinators do their work, we must all keep following the steps that we know make a big difference: hands, face, space, and if you have symptoms get a test.

  • Matt Hancock – 2021 Statement on Covid-19

    Matt Hancock – 2021 Statement on Covid-19

    The statement made by Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on 1 February 2021.

    Good afternoon and welcome to Downing Street for today’s coronavirus briefing.

    And I’m joined by Professor Steve Powis, the Medical Director of NHS England. And Dr Susan Hopkins, who is the Chief Medical Advisor to Public Health England and to NHS Test and Trace.

    I’ve got quite a lot of news to bring you up to speed on. Right at the start, I wanted to tell you where we are with our vaccine programme.

    I’m so proud of the team, who’ve now vaccinated 9.2 million people across the UK, that includes 931,204 vaccinations just this weekend.

    And to put that into context – that’s one in every 60 adults in the whole United Kingdom vaccinated in one single weekend. It’s a mammoth effort.

    I know how much these jabs mean to people. And I’m so grateful for all the messages that we get, and all the pictures that I’m sent of people being vaccinated.

    It fills me with pride that so many people are doing so much to help for this roll out to happen so smoothly and I want to say thanks to you all.

    Care homes

    Getting vaccinated is an emotional moment for so many people and that’s because it is about protecting those who are most vulnerable to COVID.

    We’ve now vaccinated almost 9 in 10 of all over 80s in the UK and now, as of today, we’ve vaccinated over half of all people in their 70s.

    And, I’m delighted that I can tell you we’ve visited every eligible care home with older residents in England, and offered vaccinations to all their residents and staff.

    This has been an incredible example of health and social care working together, working side-by-side to protect people most in need.

    As Professor Martin Green, the Chief Executive of Care England said today, this is a “wonderful achievement and one that is testament to the hard work of care home staff and our colleagues in the NHS and local authorities.”

    And, I want to thank every single person who’s helped us to get this far.

    Vaccine supply

    I also want to let you know some good news on vaccine supply. Today we’ve ordered another 40 million vaccine doses from Valneva.

    As we have all along, we’ve invested early and at risk, before we know for sure if it will come good because from the start, we’ve taken a no regrets attitude to backing vaccines. We’ve tried to leave nothing on the table.

    If this gets regulatory approval, the Valneva vaccine, like many others, will be made right here in the UK.

    The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is made in Oxford, and Staffordshire, and Wrexham. The Novovax vaccine is being manufactured on Teesside. And if approved, this Valneva vaccine will be manufactured in Livingston, in Scotland.

    We didn’t start this pandemic with a large-scale on-shore vaccine manufacturing capability, so we’re building one, all across the United Kingdom.

    The vaccine programme just goes to show how important it is to have the UK working as one, together.

    International

    We now have over 400 million doses of vaccines on order. This is obviously more than the UK population needs. And my attitude has always been we protect every UK citizen as fast as we can. And at the same time, we’re generous around the world.

    I want to say this to our international partners. Of course, I’m delighted about how well this is going at home. But I believe fundamentally that the vaccine roll out is a global effort.

    One of the many reasons that I’m so happy with the AstraZenenca contract is that it not just that it gives us a strong supply here but because it is the only vaccine being deployed that’s available to the whole world at cost.

    And because it’s logistically straightforward, it can be practically deployed in the poorest parts of the world too.

    So, we will protect UK supply and we’ll play our part to ensure the whole world can get the jab.

    New variants

    Another area where we’re helping around the world is in spotting new variants.

    Our global leadership in genomic sequencing has helped us to spot new variants here in the UK, and quickly alert the rest of the world. But there are other countries that don’t have the capacity they need.

    Last week, we offered our capacity and expertise to other nations through our New Variant Assessment Platform, because a mutation in one part of the world is a threat to people everywhere.

    For example, our South African colleagues spotted a new variant through their high quality genomic sequencing and rightly notified the world, as we did with the variant that we discovered here in the UK.

    We’ve now identified 105 cases of this variant here. Eleven of those cases don’t appear to have any links to international travel.

    There’s currently no evidence to suggest this variant is any more severe, but we need to come down on it hard and we will. We’ve already made sure that all these cases are isolating and that we’ve done enhanced contact tracing of all of their close contacts.

    We are surging extra testing into the areas where this variant has been found and sequencing every single positive case.

    Working with local authorities, we are going door-to-door to test people in the local area. These cases have been identified in the following postcodes:

    W7, N17, CR4, WS2, ME15, EN10, GU21, and PR9

    If you live in one of these postcodes where we’re sending in enhanced testing, then it’s imperative that you stay at home. And that you get a test, even if you don’t have symptoms.

    This is so important so that we can break the chains of transmission of this new variant. And we’ve got to bring this virus to heel.

    So there’s lots of good news, but this is a stark reminder that the fight against this virus isn’t over yet.

    Every day, we’re protecting more people and getting ourselves one step closer to normal life. But this is no time to let things slip. So let’s, all of us, do what we must to get this virus under control.

  • Matt Hancock – 2021 Comments on Helping Other Countries with Vaccines

    Matt Hancock – 2021 Comments on Helping Other Countries with Vaccines

    The comments made by Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on 1 February 2021.

    This pandemic has shown that the foundations of so many of the exciting experiences that make life worth living are contingent not just on our health, or the health of our neighbours, but the health of people across the world.

    The new variants of coronavirus have demonstrated this once again so we must work to promote health security right across the world.

    Our New Variant Assessment Platform will help us better understand this virus and how it spreads and will also boost global capacity to understand coronavirus so we’re all better prepared for whatever lies ahead.

  • Jo Churchill – 2021 Statement on Medicinal Cannabis from The Netherlands

    Jo Churchill – 2021 Statement on Medicinal Cannabis from The Netherlands

    The statement made by Jo Churchill, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in the House of Commons on 26 January 2021.

    I would like to update the House on progress made by the Department of Health and Social Care towards ensuring patients can continue to access Bedrocan cannabis oils from the Netherlands.

    The UK has left the EU, and the transition period after Brexit came to an end on 31 December 2020. From 1 January 2021, prescriptions issued in the UK can no longer be lawfully dispensed in an EU member state.

    Dutch law does not permit the export of finished Bedrocan oils from the Netherlands. Prior to 31 December, Bedrocan oils were supplied in the Netherlands against UK prescriptions through the proxy of a specialist importer. This was allowed while UK prescriptions were recognised in the Netherlands.

    Bedrocan cannabis flowers produced in the Netherlands, and other unlicensed cannabis-based medicines imported from other countries, can continue to be supplied to the UK.

    The Government have worked quickly with the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport to resolve the issue. I am delighted to announce that the Dutch Government has agreed to the continued access to the medicine for existing UK patients until 1 July 2021.

    This news will bring enormous relief to the families who depend on these medicines and I am hugely grateful to the Dutch Government for working with us closely and quickly on this.

    The Department has communicated this to patient groups, clinicians and the supply chain to ensure immediate action is taken to resume supply of these products and that no patient faces a break in their treatment.

    The Department are also working in earnest to rapidly explore options for a more permanent solution for supply of these products, and will engage patient representatives and the supply chain.

  • Matt Hancock – 2021 Statement on Covid-19

    Matt Hancock – 2021 Statement on Covid-19

    The statement made by Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on 25 January 2021.

    Good afternoon and welcome back to Downing Street for today’s coronavirus briefing. I’m joined by our Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr Jenny Harries and Dr Susan Hopkins, who is the Chief Medical Advisor to Public Health England and NHS Test and Trace.

    I want to update you on the latest coronavirus data – and the vaccine rollout. In the last week in the UK, we have seen 37,258 cases of coronavirus, on average each day. The NHS is still under intense pressure across all parts of the country with 37,899 people in UK hospitals with COVID-19 – and that includes 4,076 on ventilators.

    Sadly, today 592 more deaths were reported. We must never forget the real impact of this disease. The loved ones that we’ve lost. Grandparents. Parents. Friends. Colleagues. We grieve for each one. And the pressure on the front line, I can tell you, is just so relentless. And when I talk to my colleagues who are working in COVID wards.

    They are flat out and they are stretched to the limit. They’re doing everything they can. And I want to say a huge thank you to all those colleagues who are working so hard – they are pulling a huge shift and it’s a duty on all of us to support them.

    I want to extend that thanks also to our ambulance service workers and in particular I want to thank ambulance service staff who stepped up over the weekend when an appeal went out from the Scottish Ambulance Service for extra help and ambulance services from the other nations stepped forward.

    Our health systems across the UK routinely work closely together – offering support when its needed. From vaccines to ambulance services, and the UK is stronger together in the fight against this pandemic.

    I know how tough that fight is. Thankfully, there are early signs that the actions we’re taking are working. The rise in the number of cases is slowing – and falling in some parts of the country like London and Scotland. At the same time, the number of vaccinations is going up.

    Like many of you, I’ve been talking to members of my family who’ve just had the call to be vaccinated. It’s a really emotional moment when people get vaccinated. It means so much to people because the vaccine brings safety to that individual and marks the route out for us all from this pandemic.

    I’m so proud to be able to tell you that we have, as of last night, vaccinated 78.7% of all over 80s. That’s almost 4 in 5 of everyone aged over 80. I’m delighted – you can see from these figures – there’s so much enthusiasm for vaccination amongst the over 80s because octogenarians know what the scientists know: which is that the vaccines save lives.

    Of course, the rate limiting factor to this vaccination programme remains supply. As we know, supply is tight. We’ve had a very strong performance in this past week. And I’m confident that the NHS will deliver every shot that’s made available to it. To help with that, today we opened a further 32 large-scale vaccination centres including at Blackpool Winter Gardens, the Black Country Living Museum – better known to many as the set of Peaky Blinders – and London’s Francis Crick Institute – itself no stranger to human ingenuity.

    And I’m determined to get vaccine uptake as high as possible. Today we’re funding councils to enhance their vital efforts to engage those who are hardest to reach through our Community Champions scheme. As of today, 6.6 million have now received a vaccine against COVID-19. That’s more than 1 in 9 of the adult population.

    On Saturday alone, we gave nearly half a million jabs. In the last week, 2.5 million people have been vaccinated across the UK. That’s a rate of more than 250 people a minute.

    We’re on track to offer everyone in the top 4 priority groups a jab by the 15 February. If you’re in one of those groups, one of the top 4 priority groups, and you haven’t had the call yet, don’t worry: the NHS will be in touch.

    It’s a truly national effort. Alongside the GPs, pharmacists and other NHS staff and of course Armed Forces working so hard – alongside all of them working every weekend every evening. I particularly want to thank the 80,000 people who stepped forward to help deliver this, doing things like volunteering to stand in car parks for 8 hours a day – in the freezing cold to ensure elderly people can safely get into a vaccination centre.

    It’s truly heart-warming. We’ve seen this selfless attitude towards the vaccination programme and it makes me very proud and very grateful to all those who have stepped forward. Because we know the responsibility for our fightback against this disease rests with every one of us. That is equally true when it comes to following the rules and maintaining social distancing.

    Social distancing works – by denying the virus the social contact it needs to spread. I want to reiterate an important point made by the Chief Medical Officers and the clinical advice that they have been giving: even if you’ve had the jab, the rules still apply.

    There’s 2 reasons for this. First, because the protection takes time. Your body’s immune is only fully trained up around three weeks after your jab. And, even if you have protection yourself, we still don’t know whether you will be able to pass coronavirus on to someone else.

    We are monitoring this very carefully and will publish information on it as soon as we have it available. So this is not a moment to ease up.

    The success of our vaccine rollout means we cannot – cannot – put our progress at risk.

    The final thing I want to say is this. There’s no question that the new variants have made this fight a whole lot tougher. And I want to set out again, precisely what we know about the new variants. As with all science – as we have throughout this unprecedented crisis – we are learning more all the time.

    The new variant first discovered in Kent – which comprises now a significant number of our cases now – is spreading 30 to 70% more easily than the existing variant. Based on analysis conducted by academic colleagues in a variety of studies there is a realistic possibility that this variant may be associated with increased mortality compared to the old variant – as well as increased transmission.

    Because of our extensive genomic sequencing, we have identified cases of the new variant first identified in South Africa and that one that was first identified in Brazil. Further scientific work is underway to understand more about these variants but in the meantime it reinforces the critical message that we must be cautious.

    For all of us, our response must to be extra careful stay at home – maintain social distancing. We’ve all frankly sacrificed too much and its so important that we protect lives and we’re making progress with the vaccine.

    With the end in sight we cannot put that progress at risk. And there’s a promise of better days that lie ahead we have to hold our nerve and persevere through this difficult winter. So it’s incumbent on us all, wherever possible to stay at home, protect the NHS, and save lives.

  • Matt Hancock – 2021 Statement on the Vaccine Roll-Out

    Matt Hancock – 2021 Statement on the Vaccine Roll-Out

    The statement made by Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in the House of Commons on 21 January 2021.

    We are in the midst of one of the toughest periods of this pandemic. Yesterday saw 1,820 deaths, which is the highest toll since the crisis began. As we endure these dark days and the restrictions that we must all follow to save lives, we know that we have a way out, which is our vaccination programme. Thanks to the hard work of so many people, we now have an immense infrastructure in place, which day by day is protecting the most vulnerable and giving hope to us all.

    I am glad to report to the House that we have now given more than 5 million doses of the vaccine across the UK to 4.6 million people. We are making good progress towards our goal of offering everyone in priority groups 1 to 4 their first dose by 15 February. That is a huge feat, and one in which we can all take pride. We are vaccinating at a greater daily rate than anywhere in Europe—twice the rate of France, Spain or Germany.

    The first 5 million doses are only the beginning. We are opening more sites all the time in cathedrals, food courts, stadiums, conference centres, GP surgeries and many, many other places. Today, a cinema in Aylesbury, a mosque in Birmingham and a cricket club in Manchester have all come on board as part of 65 pharmacy-led sites across England that are joining our vaccination programme this week. That ongoing expansion will help us protect even more of the most vulnerable even quicker. From today, we will also publish more localised, granular data, broken down by NHS sustainability and transformation partnership area, as well as by region, so that the public have the best possible information about all this work.

    This virus is a lethal threat to us all. As we respond through this huge endeavour, let us all take comfort in the fact that we are giving 200 vaccinations every minute. In the meantime, everyone must follow the rules to protect the NHS and save lives. We can do that safe in the knowledge that the tide will turn and that, with science, we will prevail.

  • Rosena Allin-Khan – 2021 Comments into Essex Mental Health Inquiry

    Rosena Allin-Khan – 2021 Comments into Essex Mental Health Inquiry

    The comments made by Rosena Allin-Khan, the Shadow Mental Health Minister, on 21 January 2021.

    Any inquiry must have the families of those died at its heart. They’ve been waiting years for answers and have lost faith in the system. Families have been calling for a Statutory Public Inquiry to compel people to give evidence, and are disappointed that the Minister has refused to go this far.