Select committee: Health and Social Care Committee
Recommendation 6
Second Report - Delivering core NHS and care services during the pandemic and beyond
Published 1 Oct 2020
Paragraph 65
Addressed to Department of Health and Social Care
Health and Social Care Committee Delivering Core NHS and Care Services during the Pandemic and Beyond All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
We recommend that the Department of Health & Social Care and NHSE/I provide an update on what steps they have, individually and collectively, taken and are planning to take to quantify and address the overall impact of the pandemic on waiting times, the backlog of appointments and pent-up, and as yet unknown and unmet patient demand for all health services, specifically across cancer treatments, mental health services, dentistry services, GP services and elective surgery. We also ask the Department and NHSE/I to provide a comprehensive update on what steps are being taken and what steps will be taken in the future to manage the overall level of demand across health services. We request this information by the end of October 2020.
From: Health and Social Care Committee, Second Report - Delivering core NHS and care services during the pandemic and beyond (HC 320), paragraph 65, 1 October 2020
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 15 January 2021 (deadline 1 December 2020).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government and NHS England respond to the Committee's report by setting out action taken on waiting times, PPE, staff testing, A&E, digital care and workforce wellbeing, with some answers qualified as work is ongoing.
- On waiting times, the response says the NHS "will be taking stock" of its elective programmes "early in the New Year" to set operational goals for 2021/22, and that forecasts of waiting lists are "at this point unlikely to be accurate".
- On routine staff testing, it says asymptomatic testing of all patient-facing NHS staff "is now possible", with full roll out under way as test kits are delivered.
- On PPE, the government is "confident that there will be a consistent supply of PPE this winter" and says it is "firmly committed" to addressing difficulties with fit.
- On dentistry, it says challenges "will endure into 2021/22 and beyond" and that it will "seek a longer-term contractual position with the BDA".