Select committee: Health and Social Care Committee
Conclusion 14
Second Report - Delivering core NHS and care services during the pandemic and beyond
Published 1 Oct 2020
Paragraph 122
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 ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
We note that Professor Chris Whitty has said that the testing of asymptomatic staff may be necessary in the future and that if there is a “surge in winter” of coronavirus cases then he would be likely to advise that routine testing of NHS staff should take place. However, we are concerned that contrary to this advice, routine testing of asymptomatic NHS staff appears not to have been introduced where the virus is already surging in the North East and the North West, perhaps due to capacity constraints.
From: Health and Social Care Committee, Second Report - Delivering core NHS and care services during the pandemic and beyond (HC 320), paragraph 122, 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".