Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 15
15
NHS Digital told us that for the people whom it had identified and added centrally...
Conclusion
NHS Digital told us that for the people whom it had identified and added centrally to the list, in line with the clinical criteria set by the chief medical officers, there is very little variation by area.30 DHSC acknowledged that it has seen variation in regions, and in local areas clinicians would have adjusted their approaches when adding people. DHSC explained that in a few cases it tried to understand whether variation reflected a genuine underlying illness, or different thresholds for adding people to the list.31
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
3: PAC conclusion: Huge local variation strongly suggests that GPs were inconsistent when judging who was clinically extremely vulnerable and should therefore be advised to shield and be eligible for support. 3: PAC recommendation: Within six months, DHSC and NHS Digital should provide to the Committee a detailed explanation for the local variation in growth for the shielded patient list between April and May 2020 including the extent it was due to appropriate clinical judgements and identify lessons for how to support a consistent clinical approach in future. 3.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: October 2021 3.2 Whilst the government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation, it does not agree with the conclusion that there was huge local variation. NHS Digital and DHSC have already written to the Committee with an initial analysis of the local variation in growth of the Shielded Patient List (SPL). This found that most areas fell within the expected distribution, although it is acknowledged that six local areas did add more people to the SPL than the department would have expected. 3.3 NHS Digital and DHSC will conduct further analysis to understand in more detail the drivers of this local variation and identify lessons for the future. DHSC and NHS Digital will write to the Committee setting out these findings by October 2021.