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Category: Health

  • Matt Hancock – 2020 Comments on Free Vitamin-D for the Vulnerable

    Matt Hancock – 2020 Comments on Free Vitamin-D for the Vulnerable

    The comments made by Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on 28 November 2020.

    Because of the incredible sacrifices made by the British people to control the virus, many of us have spent more time indoors this year and could be deficient in vitamin D.

    The government is taking action to ensure vulnerable individuals can access a free supply to last them through the darker winter months. This will support their general health, keep their bones and muscles healthy and crucially reduce the pressure on our NHS.

    A number of studies indicate vitamin D might have a positive impact in protecting against COVID-19. I have asked NICE and PHE to re-review the existing evidence on the link between COVID-19 and vitamin D to ensure we explore every potential opportunity to beat this virus.

  • Iain Stewart – 2020 Comments on UK Government Testing Centre in Cumbernauld

    Iain Stewart – 2020 Comments on UK Government Testing Centre in Cumbernauld

    The comments made by Iain Stewart, the UK Government Minister for Scotland, on 28 November 2020.

    The UK Government is helping all parts of the UK fight the coronavirus pandemic. Testing is vital, helping to manage local outbreaks and protecting people’s livelihoods. The UK Government is providing the bulk of Covid testing in Scotland, and this new walk-through centre is just the latest in our extensive testing network.

    We are pleased to be working with local and commercial partners. These sites are not possible without the hard work of many people. I would like to thank everyone involved for their incredible efforts for the good of the country at this difficult time.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2020 Comments on the Appointment of a Vaccines Minister

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2020 Comments on the Appointment of a Vaccines Minister

    The comments made by Jonathan Ashworth, the Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on 28 November 2020.

    Only days ago Labour called for a Vaccines Minister to oversee the huge logistical challenge of widespread vaccination.

    We now need a mass public health campaign urging uptake of the vaccine, alongside ensuring the resources are in place for GPs and other health professionals to rapidly roll this out as soon as possible.

  • Matt Hancock – 2020 Statement on Covid-19 Winter Plan and Tiers

    Matt Hancock – 2020 Statement on Covid-19 Winter Plan and Tiers

    The statement made by Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in the House of Commons on 26 November 2020.

    On 23 November, the Prime Minister set out our covid-19 winter plan in Parliament. Our covid-19 winter plan puts forward the UK Government programme for suppressing the virus, protecting the NHS and the vulnerable, keeping education and the economy going, and providing a route back to normality.

    Thanks to the shared sacrifice of everyone in recent weeks, in following the national restrictions, we have been able to start to bring the virus back under control and slow its growth, easing some of the pressure on the NHS.

    We will do this by returning to a regional tiered approach, saving the toughest measures for the parts of the country where prevalence remains too high.

    The tiering approach provides a framework that, if used firmly, should prevent the need to introduce stricter national measures.

    On 2 December, we will lift the national restrictions across all of England and the following restrictions will be eased:

    The stay-at-home requirement will end.

    Non-essential retail, gyms, personal care will reopen. The wider leisure and entertainment sectors will also reopen, although to varying degrees.

    Communal worship, weddings and outdoor sports can resume.

    People will no longer be limited to seeing one other person in outdoor public spaces, where the rule of six will now apply.

    The new regulations set out the restrictions applicable in each tier. We have taken into account advice from SAGE on the impact of the previous tiers to strengthen the measures in the tiers, and help enable areas to move more swiftly into lower tiers.

    The changes to the tiers are as follows:

    In tier 1, the Government will reinforce the importance that, where people can work from home, they should do so.

    In tier 2, hospitality settings that serve alcohol must close, unless operating as restaurants. Hospitality venues can only serve alcohol with substantial meals.

    In tier 3, hospitality will close except for delivery, drive-through and takeaway, hotels and other accommodation providers must close (except for specific exemptions, such as people staying for work purposes, where people are attending a funeral, or where they cannot return home) and indoor entertainment venues such as cinemas, theatres and bowling allies must also close. Elite sport will be played without spectators. Organised outdoor sport can resume, but the Government will advise against higher risk contact sports.

    These are not easy decisions, but they have been made according to the best clinical advice, and the criteria that we set out in the covid-19 winter plan.

    These are:

    Case detection rates in all age groups

    Case detection rates in the over-60s

    The rate at which cases are rising or falling

    Positivity rate (the number of positive cases detected as a percentage of tests taken)

    Pressure on the NHS.

    The indicators have been designed to give the Government a picture of what is happening with the virus in any area so that suitable action can be taken. These key indicators need to be viewed in the context of how they interact with each other as well as the wider context but provide an important framework for decision making, assessing the underlying prevalence in addition to how the spread of the disease is changing in areas. Given these sensitivities, it is not possible to set rigid thresholds for these indicators.

    The regulations will require the Government to review the allocations every 14 days, with the first review complete by the end of 16 December.

    We have been able to announce UK-wide arrangements for Christmas, allowing friends and loved ones to reunite, and form a Christmas bubble of three households for five days over the Christmas period.

    We have increased funding through our contain outbreak management fund, which will provide monthly payments to local authorities facing higher restrictions.

    We are also launching a major community testing programme, homing in on the areas with the greatest rate of infection.

    This programme is open to local authorities in tier 3 areas and offers help to get out of the toughest restrictions as fast as possible.

    The listed areas will be in each tier from the 2 December. This list will also be published on gov.uk and a postcode tracker will be available for the public to check what rules apply in their local area.

    A list of allocations can be found at: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2020-11-26/HCWS608

  • Boris Johnson – 2020 Press Conference on Covid-19 Winter Plan

    Boris Johnson – 2020 Press Conference on Covid-19 Winter Plan

    The press conference statement made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, on 23 November 2020.

    [NB, the statement from Downing Street is reproduced below with the punctuation errors uncorrected]

    It seems that almost every week we learn of some new scientific breakthrough to help us beat Covid

    last week it was good news about the vaccine from Pfizer BioNTech

    and then Moderna

    This morning we heard the fantastic news that the Oxford Astra Zeneca vaccine has been highly effective in clinical trials

    there are more tests to be done, but the signs are that this vaccine

    financed partly by British taxpayers, working in partnership with a great British company –

    This vaccine could be both affordable and easy to use and highly effective

    We have ordered 100m doses

    and thanks to the work of the Vaccines Task Force we have secured more than 350m doses of potential vaccines of all kinds

    but we are not out of the woods yet

    we can hear the drumming hooves of the cavalry coming over the brow of the hill

    but they are not here yet

    Even if all three vaccines are approved, even if the production timetables are met and vaccines notoriously fall behind in their production timetables

    it will be months before we can be sure that we have inoculated everyone that needs a vaccine

    and those months will be hard

    they will be cold

    they include January and February when the NHS is under its greatest pressure

    and that is why when we come out of lockdown next week we must not just throw away the gains we have all made

    So today we have published out Covid Winter Plan which sets out a clear strategy to take the country through to the end of March

    We will continue to bear down hard on this virus

    we will use tough tiering – in some ways tougher than the pre-lockdown measures and details of those tiers are on the gov.uk website later this week when we have the most up to data and we will be sharing details of which tier your area is going to be in

    I should warn you now that many more places will be in higher tiers than alas was previously the case

    and we will simultaneously be using the new and exciting possibilities of community testing – as they have done in Liverpool

    and there will be a clear incentive for everyone in areas where the virus prevalence is high to get a test, to get one of these rapid turnaround lateral flow tests and do your best for the community

    get a test to help to squeeze the disease and reduce the restrictions that your town or city or area has endured

    and that way – through tough tiering and mass community testing

    we hope to let people see a little more of their family and friends over Christmas

    Now I know that many of us want and need Christmas with our families

    we feel after this year we deserve it

    but this is not the moment to let the virus rip for the sake of Christmas parties

    tis the season to be jolly but tis also the season to be jolly careful

    especially with elderly relatives

    and working with the Devolved Administrations we will set out shortly how we want to get the balance right for Christmas and we will be setting this out later this week

    Christmas this year will be different and we want to remain prudent through Christmas and beyond into the new year

    but we will use the three tools that I have described to squeeze the virus in the weeks and months ahead

    tiering, testing and the roll-out of vaccines

    employing all three techniques together so as to drive down R and drive down the infection rate

    and I really am now assured things really will look and feel very different indeed after Easter

    and that idea of and end goal or date is important because at last – if the promise of the vaccines is fulfilled – we do have something to work for

    a timescale, a goal around which businesses can begin tentatively to plan

    and with luck and with hard work we will be seeing improvements before then

    but for now the problem is not a shortage of hope

    or a lack of optimism

    not with the amazing news that we are getting from the laboratories in this country

    the challenge now as we face this difficult winter ahead

    is to fight down any over-optimism

    to master any tendency to premature celebration of success

    that success will come all the faster if we work together to follow the guidance

    maintain the basic disciplines as people have done so heroically over the last few months

    hands, face, space and get a test if you have symptoms

    because that is the way we will beat it together.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2020 Comments on a Minister for the Vaccine

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2020 Comments on a Minister for the Vaccine

    The comments made by Jonathan Ashworth, the Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on 23 November 2020.

    After months of sacrifice, people are looking forward with hope to a vaccine that will save lives and provide a route out of lockdown restrictions. But after the ministerial mistakes over the procurement of PPE and the £12 billion for the failing Test and Trace system, nobody wants yet more avoidable mishaps.

    Boris Johnson must reassure the country that Ministers have the resources and plans in places to deliver the vaccination programme as promised.

    We need a Herculean effort to achieve the roll-out of a vaccine at a magnitude and scale unlike any we have ever seen before. Our NHS has gone above and beyond this year but is exhausted and overstretched. We can’t limp into the next crucial period of our battle with coronavirus, the government must urgently provide the resources necessary to ensure the speedy and smooth deployment of a vaccine. The necessary plans need to be in place now.

  • Nadine Dorries – 2020 Comments on Digital Prescribing Systems

    Nadine Dorries – 2020 Comments on Digital Prescribing Systems

    The comments made by Nadine Dorries, the Minister for Patient Safety, on 18 November 2020.

    We are determined to make the NHS the safest healthcare system in the world. The introduction of digital prescribing systems has helped us reduce potentially deadly medication errors and save our hard-working staff valuable time, enabling them to dedicate their full attention and care to patients.

    As we enter what is set to be a challenging winter, the best way we can continue to protect patients and staff is if we all work together and continue to follow the national restrictions to suppress the virus.

  • Rachel Reeves – 2020 Comments on NAO Investigation into Government Procurement

    Rachel Reeves – 2020 Comments on NAO Investigation into Government Procurement

    The comments made by Rachel Reeves, the Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, on 18 November 2020.

    This report confirms that this Tory government’s approach to procurement has fallen far short of what this country deserves. Lessons must be learned.

    The National Audit Office has shown how, at best, this incompetent government can’t even get basic paperwork right.

    At worst, that the government may be deliberately attempting to cover their tracks, avoid scrutiny or withhold information from the public while wasting taxpayer money.

    From paying for useless PPE to a maintaining Serco’s failed contract tracing system, we have seen disastrous decisions which have squandered public money and held back our country’s response to Covid-19.

    The country deserves to have confidence their money is being spent effectively by the government – and to know without doubt that friends and donors to the Conservative party aren’t profiting from this pandemic.

  • Matt Hancock – 2020 Comments on Government Securing 5 Million Doses of Moderna Vaccine

    Matt Hancock – 2020 Comments on Government Securing 5 Million Doses of Moderna Vaccine

    The comments made by Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on 16 November 2020.

    Today’s announcement is excellent news and an encouraging step forward in our fight against COVID-19.

    We have moved swiftly to secure 5 million doses of this hugely promising vaccine meaning we are even better placed to vaccinate everyone who will benefit should the rigorous safety standards be met.

    But we are not there yet. Until science can make us safe, we must remain vigilant and keep following the rules that we know can keep this virus under control.

  • Boris Johnson – 2020 Comments on Life Science Companies

    Boris Johnson – 2020 Comments on Life Science Companies

    The comments made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, on 12 November 2020.

    Defeating coronavirus and preventing future pandemics is a truly global endeavour, requiring ingenuity, tenacity and a spirit of openness to succeed.

    Bill Gates sounded the alarm on the world’s lack of preparation for a major health crisis long before most of us had heard the word ‘coronavirus’ – and now we must heed his call to stop something like this ever happening again.

    I heard today about the herculean joint effort that life science companies and research institutions are undertaking to tackle this disease at record speed. The UK will use our G7 presidency next year to support this global endeavour and protect our citizens at home, now and in the future.