Select committee: Health and Social Care Committee
Recommendation 29
Second Report - Delivering core NHS and care services during the pandemic and beyond
Published 1 Oct 2020
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 and the Department for Health & Social Care set out their assessment of how effective the use of technology and digital alternatives (“telemedicine”) has been across all health and care services. As part of this assessment, we ask that both NHSE/I and the Department to clearly set out how they plan to ensure patients’ wellbeing is not jeopardised by the risk of being digitally excluded from accessing medical treatment and advice. We also ask that NHSE/I and the Department set out what aspects of telemedicine have worked well, including which new models of service delivery have worked particularly well, and what plans there are 68 Delivering core NHS and care services during the pandemic and beyond (if any) to invest in and support the further use of such technology and new pathways in the health and care system. We request an update on these matters by the end of
From: Health and Social Care Committee, Second Report - Delivering core NHS and care services during the pandemic and beyond (HC 320), 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".