Readying the NHS and social care for the COVID-19 peak
Public Accounts Committee
Closed
Inquiry
On Monday 22 June, in the next of our new series of work on NAO reports into the Government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we will question the Permanent Secretary and Finance Director at the Department for Health and Social Care; the Chief Executive of the NHS; NHS England; Public …
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6
Recommendations
20
Conclusions
1
Report
1
Oral session
2
Letters
1
Event
Activity timeline 5 events
18 Nov
2020
2020
16 Oct
2020
2020
29 Jul
2020
2020
21 Jul
2020
2020
22 Jun
2020
2020
Oral evidence
Oral evidence sessions 1 session
22 Jun 2020
View on parliament.uk
Reading the NHS and social care for the COVID-19 peak
Amanda Pritchard · NHS England
Catherine Frances · Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
Professor Paul Johnstone · Public Health England
Rosamond Roughton · Department for Health and Social Care
Sir Chris Wormald · Department of Health and Social Care
Sir Simon Stevens · NHS England and NHS Improvement
Steve Powis · NHS England
Reports 1 report · click to expand
| Title | HC No. | Published | Items | Response |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fourteenth Report: Readying the NHS and social care for the COVI… | HC 405 | 29 Jul 2020 | 26 | Responded |
Recommendations & Conclusions
7 results
6
Recommendation
Not Addressed
Fourteenth Report: Readying the NH…
Policies designed to create additional capacity quickly, while necessary, have resulted in a lack of...
Policies designed to create additional capacity quickly, while necessary, have resulted in a lack of transparency about costs and value for money. The NHS boosted its potential maximum capacity for the peak in April by building Nightingale hospitals across the …
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Government Response
The government response completely failed to address the recommendation regarding transparency on the costs and utilisation of private hospital contracts and Nightingale hospitals, instead providing information about the Restoration and Renewal of the Palace of Westminster.
HM Treasury
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1
Conclusion
Not Addressed
Fourteenth Report: Readying the NH…
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence...
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department of Health & Social Care (the Department), NHS England & NHS Improvement (NHSE&I), the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (the …
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Government Response
The government response lists various officials responsible for areas like NHS resilience, social care, PPE supply, Test and Trace, and vaccines. It also notes that adult social care provision is a local government responsibility without a single equivalent to an NHS Chief Executive.
HM Treasury
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10
Conclusion
Not Addressed
Fourteenth Report: Readying the NH…
Some organisations such as Care England highlighted to us the flawed nature of this policy...
Some organisations such as Care England highlighted to us the flawed nature of this policy and reported that, given the absence of testing and inadequate PPE, social care felt abandoned.21 When we challenged the Department and the NHS on such …
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Government Response
The government response only restates the committee's conclusion that discharging patients without testing was an appalling error, without providing any further information or action.
HM Treasury
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11
Conclusion
Not Addressed
Fourteenth Report: Readying the NH…
We remained concerned that the Department had continued its policy of discharging people untested into...
We remained concerned that the Department had continued its policy of discharging people untested into care homes even once it was clear there was an emerging problem.26 The number of first-time outbreaks in individual care homes peaked at 1,009 in …
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Government Response
The government response provided is a restatement of a PAC conclusion regarding discharge policy, and does not specifically address the content or concerns raised in conclusion #11.
HM Treasury
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12
Conclusion
Not Addressed
Fourteenth Report: Readying the NH…
This Committee has warned before that the Department lacked an effective overall strategy or plan...
This Committee has warned before that the Department lacked an effective overall strategy or plan to integrate health and care and that poor outcomes could arise as a result.29 As Care England told us, for too long “adult social care …
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Government Response
The government response provided is a restatement of a PAC conclusion regarding delayed social care reform, and does not specifically address the content or past warnings raised in conclusion #12.
HM Treasury
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24
Conclusion
Fourteenth Report: Readying the NH…
Under its reasonable worst-case scenario, the Government expected over 4% of the population might require...
Under its reasonable worst-case scenario, the Government expected over 4% of the population might require hospital admission for COVID-19 and 30% of those would require critical care. NHSE&I told us that the number of COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital had …
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HM Treasury
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25
Conclusion
Fourteenth Report: Readying the NH…
Between mid-March and mid-April, the NHS and armed forces are to be commended for increasing...
Between mid-March and mid-April, the NHS and armed forces are to be commended for increasing the number of beds available for Covid-19 patients from 12,600 to 53,700 in 63 C&AG’s Report, para 3.16 64 RSC0012 National Institute for Health Research …
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HM Treasury
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Correspondence 2 letters
16 Oct 2020
Correspondence from Julian Kelly, NHS Chief Financial Officer, re Readying the NHS and social care for COVID-19, dated 18 September 2020
Parliament page
21 Jul 2020
Correspondence from Public Health England in relation to the Committee's inquiry Readying the NHS and social care for the COVID-19 peak, dated 2 July 2020
Parliament page