Select committee: Health and Social Care Committee
Second Special Report - Delivering core NHS and care services during the pandemic and beyond: Government Response to the Committee’s Second Report of Session 2019–21
Published 15 January 2021
Health and Social Care Committee Delivering Core NHS and Care Services during the Pandemic and Beyond Report on parliament.uk ↗
At a glance
The government's response
This document responds to Second Report - Delivering core NHS and care services during the pandemic and beyond.
This is the government's response, published 15 January 2021.
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".
What the committee recommended
This is a government response document, so it has no recommendations of its own.