Asked by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of
the measures in place to protect vulnerable populations during
the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Question was considered in a Virtual Proceeding via video
call.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health
and Social Care ()
(Con)
My Lords, social distancing and shielding measures are in place
to protect vulnerable and clinically extremely vulnerable
populations. Those identified as clinically extremely vulnerable
are advised to stay at home with no face-to-face contact until at
least the end of June. Our approach is under continuous review.
The Government’s position on shielding and social distancing
reflects the latest SAGE and clinical advice from the Chief
Medical Officer.
(CB)
My Lords, every person with a learning disability has the right
to be supported to live in their community, but Covid-19 is
putting already-delayed in-patient transfers at risk. In March
some 1,900 adults and 200 children were still locked away in
in-patient units, the majority sectioned under the Mental Health
Act and staying for five years in facilities intended to be
short-term. Can the Minister share his department’s updated
assessment of whether the Mental Health Act easements provided
for in the Coronavirus Act will be required, now that the peak in
infections has been passed and a plan for lifting restrictions is
taking shape? Does he share concerns that these easements, if
enacted, would risk the delivery of the care needed to support
community living and the achievement of the goals set out in
Transforming Care?
The noble Baroness, Lady Bull, asks a searching question. On
whether the Mental Health Act easements of which she speaks have
already been enacted, I will have to find out exactly what those
arrangements are and write to her. However, I assure the House
that the care of the most vulnerable is absolutely the
Government’s number one, top priority. It is true that some of
those caring and providing important pastoral care for the most
vulnerable have been worst hit by Covid—the examples she gives
are really good ones—but we are absolutely putting the care of
the most vulnerable at the top of our priorities.
(Lab)
Yesterday, the Prime Minister said of his road map:
“it is a plan that should give the people of the United Kingdom
hope.”
But on examination of the plan, I see no hope offered to the
clinically extremely vulnerable, who are just told that they must
continue to shield beyond June. The Government offer only a
future review into the effects on their well-being. Can the
Minister say how and when this review will be conducted, and by
who?
My Lords, the advice from the Government is that the clinically
extremely vulnerable should continue to be shielded until the end
of June. That is under review at the moment. We are seeking to
have more refined and more targeted guidance after the end of
June, and we will publish that before the end of that month.
(Ind Lab)
My Lords, can the Minister reassure those healthy over-70s that
they will not be obliged to self-isolate against their will? Will
he also comment on evidence that many care homes were forced to
admit Covid-19-positive patients, so causing this pandemic to
spiral out of control in those homes?
I reassure the noble Lord that the Government are not obliging
healthy over-70s to self-isolate. However, the guidance is clear:
they are a vulnerable group and the disease targets those who are
older. They are therefore advised to avoid all social contact, if
necessary. That advice is based on the science of the disease,
and we will seek ways of trying to ameliorate that once the
disease has fallen back.
(Con)
My Lords, does my noble friend agree that the most vulnerable are
clearly the residents of care homes and their care workers? Will
he confirm the very sad figures of, as I understand it, 10,000
deaths suffered in care homes? Will he also confirm that these
figures have now been added to the total? Will the Government now
prioritise care home workers for the full kit of PPE, to give
them the utmost safety as they look after our most vulnerable
people?
I reassure the House that deaths in care homes have always been
part of the official figures. It is a very sad affair, and it
shows how the disease attacks those who are most vulnerable. The
arrangements for PPE in social care settings have improved
dramatically, and we have put in place measures so that any care
home can make its own application for PPE as it needs it.
(LD)
Will the Minister tell the House what advice or support local
authorities have been advised to give to the more than 100,000
vulnerable adults aged over 70 caring for their adult children
who have a learning disability?
The advice given to local authorities is spelled out in
guidelines. Those who are vulnerable are advised to avoid social
contact. Where necessary, those whom they live with, including
any children they have with learning disabilities, should also
avoid the same social contact.
(Con)
My Lords, I refer the House to my interests in the register. Will
my noble friend tell me what work has been done to ensure that
public health messaging and advice on access to support for
mental health and anxiety issues among the BAME community is
easily available to those communities, particularly where they
live in densely populated home environments?
My Lords, mental health advice is very clearly available, most of
all from GOV.UK/coronavirus, where there is a huge amount of
practical and pastoral advice, and access to resources.
(CB)
My Lords, I declare that I am an honorary fellow of the Royal
College of Emergency Medicine. How will the Government ensure
that emergency departments never again become the crowded places
that they were, which act as a source of nosocomial
infection—hospital-acquired infection—for the vulnerable and
those caring for them, especially child carers, who might present
with acute injuries, particularly once they are out and
undertaking more activities?
My Lords, a strange and peculiar feature of the epidemic has been
that accident and emergency wards are, surprisingly, below normal
capacity since people have sought to avoid them because of the
obvious threat of the disease. That said, nosocomial infection is
of grave concern. It is an inevitable and frequent feature of any
epidemic, but we are applying new ways of working and seeking to
section off those with the disease to ensure that the infection
does not spread in our hospitals and from there into the
community.
(Lab)
My Lords, I am pleased to note that today is International Nurses
Day. I pay tribute from these Benches to all our nurses, at home
and all over the world, for their work and courage in these dark
pandemic times. I will ask the Minister about testing in our care
homes. On 15 April the Government announced that they were
rolling out testing to all care workers. On 28 April they
extended this scheme to all staff and residents in care homes.
Could the Minister explain why, then, yesterday’s strategy
document set a target of 6 June? Which is it? It looks like the
Government failed to meet the promise to provide the tests on
time and have now moved the goalposts again.
I share the noble Baroness’s celebration of Florence Nightingale
Day, which is an important day for the nursing profession and for
all of us. We have made huge progress on testing in care homes in
the last three weeks. The new portal was made live on Monday and
care homes are now massively supported by satellite care home
facilities manned by the Army. I am not sure about the 6 June
date of which she speaks, but I reassure the House that care home
testing is the number one priority of our testing facilities and
is benefiting from the large increase in capacity.
(LD)
My Lords, over the course of this crisis we have seen substance
misuse and mental health services adapt their provision to better
support homeless people facing multiple problems. Could the
Minister say what the Government, in particular the new
homelessness task force, will do to ensure that these
flexibilities remain in place?
The noble Baroness is right to raise concern for the
homeless—surely one of the groups suffering the most in the
current epidemic. We are putting in place facilities for testing,
housing and mental health support for the homeless. We envisage
that these will continue for the length of the epidemic.
