Select committee: Health and Social Care Committee
Recommendation 20
Second Report - Delivering core NHS and care services during the pandemic and beyond
Published 1 Oct 2020
Paragraph 139
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 NHSE/I set out in detail what further specific steps it would like to take over the coming years to support the mental and physical wellbeing of all staff and a plan to deal with the specific issue of sustained workplace pressure due to the current pandemic and backlog associated with the coronavirus. This information should be made available to us in advance of any forthcoming Government spending announcements or by the end of October 2020 (whichever is earlier) in order for 66 Delivering core NHS and care services during the pandemic and beyond us to clarify what NHSE/I’s priorities for NHS staff are, and to judge how far the Government’s eventual spending commitments enable their implementation.
From: Health and Social Care Committee, Second Report - Delivering core NHS and care services during the pandemic and beyond (HC 320), paragraph 139, 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".