Believe that he is of us do not believe that he is telling the truth to the people of this country. Mr speaker, i think that the member who just spoke com pletely that the member who just spoke completely mrs the tone and has missed the point of what we are trying to do as a nation, to pull together and this time of great difficulty. Misses the point. It is absolutely the case that our prime goals are to flatten the carbon nature the nhs always, always has the capacity to treat those who need it. Those two objectives have thus far been met and of course there are challenges, enormous challenges, distributing 1 billion pieces of ppe is not straightforward. On the point of it whistle blowers, he is completely wrong to say that it is not possible to raise an issue within the nhs by
contrast, thousands of people do it in public and in private every single day. So it saddens me that a member of this house might get the tone wrong so badly, there are reasonable questions to be asked and we try to answer them in a reasonable way and i think thats the best way for the house to proceed. So gary streeter. Can i put on record my personal thanks to the secretary of state for his remarkable personal effort over the past few weeks. I think hes doing a terrificjob in past few weeks. I think hes doing a terrific job in unprecedented circumstances also i welcome what he says about non covid 19 treatment earlier this afternoon. Will he as 0011 earlier this afternoon. Will he as 50011 as earlier this afternoon. Will he as soon as possible send out a clear plan to enable elective surgeries to ta ke plan to enable elective surgeries to take placements again in hospitals that do have capacity so we dont build upa that do have capacity so we dont build up a nasty backlog . Yes, this is an incredibly important issue. We
wa nt to is an incredibly important issue. We want to get the non covid 19 treatment back up and running as quick as possible, safely possible and putting in place the arrangements that went do go into hospital without covid 19 then they are not infected by people who are in hospital with covid 19. That segregation is a very important part of our considerations. The answer is yes, within very short order we will start to restart the nhs. He talks about elective operations, an important part but so too is people presenting themselves and giving people the confidence to call their gp or call 111 if they have a problem because we know for instance in cancer that early diagnosis is critical and i want people who think fit they have got a risk to come forward for that treatment. Rosie cooper in lancashire. Thank you mr speaker. In a Statement Today and
that the Health Select committee, the secretary of state has implored Cancer Patients to come forward and assured them of treatment yet since the Health Select committee i have been inundated with messages from all over the country from desperate patients whose treatment has been stopped, interrupted or not even started because of covid 19. So i would like to ask the secretary of state what he is doing to ensure that there is not a gap between his welcome words and what is actually happening. Can he guarantee that treatment will go ahead and give patients confidence that we have got covert free covid 19 free hospitals by widespread testing of staff and finally ensuring death and Service Benefits will be paid to all Health Care Workers who died of covid 19, both now and retrospectively . Thank you very much mr speaker. I would like to be
absolutely clear, as i was at the Health Select committee which i thought was a very good discussion, about this point about Cancer Treatment. There is some Cancer Treatment. There is some Cancer Treatment that it is clinically inadvisable to undertake during an epistemic likeness, because if you ta ke epistemic likeness, because if you take somebodys immune system down to very low levels, that puts them at significant risk so i cannot give the guarantee that all Cancer Treatment would go ahead, because even though we have capacity now end the nhs and cab confidence that capacity will not be over capped by the virus, the virus is still at large in the community. There are some Cancer Treatments it is clinically inadvisable to undertake now, especially around immunothera py. Having said now, especially around immunotherapy. Having said that, yes, we do want people to come forward and we do want to have as much Cancer Treatment as possible going ahead, where it is safe to do
so, considering the impact of the virus. And that is why i do want people to come forward if they have a risk and we will treat them as best as we possibly can, within the constraints of the fact that we have very serious virus stalking the land. Constraints of the fact that we have very serious virus thank you, secretary of state. Front line workers in things like itu and ca re line workers in things like itu and care homes are used to death, is pa rt care homes are used to death, is part of thejob. Care homes are used to death, is part of the job. But not on this scale and not in these circumstances. What is he and his department doing to support the Mental Health of front line workers both now and in the future when the pandemic passes . This is an incredibly important question, we have put in place a helpline for all front line workers in the nhs to make sure that they have the support they need i will make sure, working
with the honourable member and others, i will make sure that that support stays in place long after this crisis is over. Thank you, mr speaker. Will he join this crisis is over. Thank you, mr speaker. Will hejoin me in welcoming the extra ordinary effort by all those involved in getting nhs louisa jordan in glasgow ready to receive patients if needed . Can you outline what discussions hes had with the Scottish Government counterpart between the nhs hospitals. Can he outline what steps he is taking to do with the long term nhs nursing shortages . Im terribly sorry, i dont recognise those reports at all. There is no impact at all of brexit on our coronavirus response. And the good news is that weve had thousands of
nurses and other clinicians come back into Service Since this crisis started. A professor of in fact deliver Infectious Diseases based in shanghai points of the fact that pa rt shanghai points of the fact that part of chinas very successful effo rts part of chinas very successful efforts to control the virus was immediate quarantining in that people go to a clinic, they are immediately tested, they wait for the results. It is a 15 minute test. And if that test is positive theyre quarantined there and then. Will the Health Secretary consider this as a potential for a very significant mitigation as we open up our economy against the chances of a second wave of this virus . Well, of course we look at all options. What i would say is that under the test, track and trace strand of course the
policy advice on how people should isolate if they test positive is an important part of that. We have that advice currently in place. But of course test, track and trace really does also rely on self isolation to make sure that it is implemented properly. Test, track and trace is about finding out who needs to take action and then they do need to take the action that is currently set out. We now come to the final question. On the 11th of march i asked the secretary of state whether it was right to allow over 3000 Atletico Madrid fans to travel to anfield to watch a Champions League game when they couldnt have watched their team game when they couldnt have watched theirteam in game when they couldnt have watched their team in madrid because attending football matches that was banned because it was a covid 19 hotspot. The Liverpool City Region 110w hotspot. The Liverpool City Region now has a higher than average incident of covid 19 than the uk and english average. The mayor of madrid, the director of health in
liverpool have both said it was a mistake to let the match go ahead and the governments chief medical adviser has said that the idea there isa link adviser has said that the idea there is a link is an interesting hypothesis. Does he now admit that the covenant was behind the curve in banning such things. And will he undertake to investigate whether there is any link between that match and an increased incidence in liverpool . This is of course a question for the scientists and what matters now is making sure that whether people are in liverpool, across the north west, that people get the treatment that they need and we get the curve under control. Order, order. That concludes scrutiny proceedings for today. Before suspending the house i wish to place on record my thanks and i believe the thanks of the whole house for the commitment, the ingenuity of all those who made todays proceedings possible. I can
say almost everything has gone smoothly. But we will learn lessons as we do this more. Especially with marks made yesterday. I wish to address howl marks made yesterday. I wish to address how i will do with points of order from monday. Members must give notice of points of order to my office before sitting. If i am satisfied that the matter to be we leave events there in the commons for now. An unusual prime ministers questions for obvious reasons. A maximum of 50 mp5 were allowed in the commons so an awful lot of mps over a video link. Our Political Correspondent was listening to all of that and will take us through an unusual event. It was unusual, but it worked, you heard there at the end that speaker of the house of commons, thanking all those who put ina commons, thanking all those who put
in a herculean effort to make it work and it was, by and large success , work and it was, by and large success, there was only one question that didnt materialise and that was a very first question after keir starmer, the labour leader. The scottish secretary didnt actually appear but after that it all seems to go pretty smoothly and mp5 were able to put their points and questions and reflect the concerns of their constituents. That was followed by matt hancock, he has regularly appeared at the downing street briefing, today he was at the dispatch box to in order to update the house and update politicians on the house and update politicians on the governments handling of this pandemic crisis. One of the key figures that came out actually in response to a question from keir starmer, the labour leader, in the preceding prime ministers questions was about the number of care workers who have lost their lives after contracting covid 19 and matt
hancock said it is 15. That of course on top of the 69 nhs workers who have also died since the outbreak of this pandemic. Keir starmer, pleasantries were exchanged between himself and dominic raab who is deputising for borisjohnson while he is still recovering. It was courteous, it was polite and civil but it was pointed and the questions we re but it was pointed and the questions were extremely targeted on two main issues and they really are focused on the promises made by the government and delivery of those promises around the number of tests to be carried out by the end of the month and also why there seems to be a struggle on protective equipment. Dominic raab obviously tried to a nswer dominic raab obviously tried to answer those as best as he could but keir starmer did some up by saying there is a mismatch in the promise and the delivery of those promises on those key areas. And joe, i think
you have a number of guests to talk to about this session this afternoon . Well, yes following parliament in terms of virtual proceedings we can talk to three mps who of course would normally have been inside the chamber. Iain duncan smith, the conservative mp and former leader of the conservative party, Rachel Reeves who is a member of the shadow cabinet and drew hendry for the snp. I would like to start for Iain Duncan Smith, picking up start for Iain Duncan Smith, picking up on that question of a mismatch between promise and delivery, do you think that the government could have done a lot more to make the testing for care workers and nhs medical staff easier in terms of access . Well, i think the point that was made and it is the point is that
really stands in all of this is that for the uk to ramp up the scale of testing has been a monumental effort and it is important that. But germany has an enormous diagnostic, they export diagnostics round the world and people like britain have relied on upper time. The reality here is that as the government ramps up here is that as the government ramps up the hundred thousand, the real point is that i dont think is going to be tests available, the point is going to be how do we get people to those tests that needs to be tested and that means they are going to have to have many many more Access Points in towns, villages, all the area where there are care homes, they need to have something in reasonable striking distance that they can get through because one of they can get through because one of the problems is that it isjust too far away, so in the next week that will have to be the major focus of ramping up. Right, so you do accept without those mobile testing units it has been difficult for many care
workers and nhs staff to actually become tested and they are crying out for it, according to keir starmer . Well, it is notjust keir starmer . Well, it is notjust keir starmer who was talking about this, we are all looking at this from our owfi we are all looking at this from our own standpoint as constituency mps. The problem is matching the two things, availability and access and the point is that they are going to get that availability in the sense that they are ramping it up now, but is the key question that lies as distribution, a bit like the same answer to the ppe question, when we get the ppe in, it needs to be got to the care homes and that has been one of the issues and i have managed to get ppe to my constituency from the local authorities now, so it is going to be getting those testing places near enough for the care homes and to any of the outlying medical facilities that carers can get there before they go on shift or after they come off shift. Ok, i am going to talk about ppe are just a moment but Rachel Reeves, listening
to that, do you agree with the government and dominic raab, that the priority has been to make sure that the nhs isnt overwhelmed at any point by the number of cases of covid 19 . Any point by the number of cases of covid19 . Well, obviously that is important to protect our nhs and its capability to deal with a pandemic on this scale, but i thought it was telling in by ministers questions today that dominic raab couldnt a nswer today that dominic raab couldnt answer the question about how many people had died in our care homes and it does suggest, and actually Iain Duncan Smith just spoke to this, about the neglect of our care system in all of this. We know that they dont have the ppe, the testing is not being carried out and on a very basic level, the government dont even know, the first secretary didnt even know the number of people who had died working in our ca re people who had died working in our care sector people who had died working in our ca re sector service. People who had died working in our care sector service. Right, the Health Secretary has updated the house on that and ive given those figures, the figures of 15, are you
accusing the government of actual direct neglect of the care sector . |j think direct neglect of the care sector . think there has been neglect of the ca re think there has been neglect of the care sector, if you look, for example, at the story that keir starmer told in the house of commons today, about a care worker who he spoke to, who had said that she feels frightened and this is a horrible situation she said to be in andi horrible situation she said to be in and i took part in a call with keir starmer and other members of the shadow cabinet who had worked in the ca re shadow cabinet who had worked in the care sector shadow cabinet who had worked in the ca re sector across shadow cabinet who had worked in the care sector across the country who told very similar stories about their experience and if you combine that with the fact that, to be tested, if you work in a care home, you often have to travel many miles to be tested, you may not have a car and so effectively, you are not able to get about testing covid 19 and know your and so, the care sector has been neglected, the governments need to do much more to support people who work in the care sector and those who are in care as well
and those who are in care as well and frankly, when we see the deaths reported on a daily basis for our hospitals, but not for our care service, again it does suggest that they are the forgotten victims in a way of this pandemic. Iain duncan smith, can you just answer the broad point, has there been neglect, are they being treated in some way as a second tier of the health and care service . I would just caution a second tier of the health and care service . I wouldjust caution a bit about the use of the word neglect, neglect would suggest that the government has taken a conscious decision to leave them alone, that is not the case, i have dealt with ca re is not the case, i have dealt with care homes in my constituency and quite often, the communication links with them arent always great so we have been able to get ppe equipment to them for example, via the council and using my offices and i think this is where local mps can enormously help. But, letsjust ta ke enormously help. But, letsjust take a pace back, the reality is that this pandemic is on a scale that this pandemic is on a scale that we have never faced before, the
government has had some very serious challenges it has had to face, it has had to get the testing up from a country that doesnt do diagnostic testing in that same sense, secondly, getting ppe equipment in when every other country in the world is also desperate for