We are supporting the National Health Service to recover from the impact of the pandemic, improve the quality and safety of care, increase NHS staff vaccination rates and the availability of face-to-face appointments with general practitioners. The Department has regular discussions with NHS England and NHS Improvement on the provision of services. We are currently completing the annual assessment of the performance of the NHS in England for 2020/21, which will be published in due course.

NHS England is reviewing this guidance and will consider the recommendations made by the Equality and Human Rights Commission during this review. The Department will ensure that any revised guidance adheres to relevant equalities legislation.

The review is led by the Chief Nursing Officer for England and the Deputy Chief Nursing Officer as the Senior Responsible Officer. The review is overseen by a steering group including representatives from the Department, the CQC, NHS England and NHS Improvement clinical leads, NHS England's safeguarding Lead, and representatives from civil society organisations including the LGBT Foundation, Stonewall, Sex Matters and Fair Play for Women. Any revised guidance will be approved by senior leaders in the organisation and comply with relevant equalities legislation.

NHS England is reviewing this guidance and will consider the recommendations made by the Equality and Human Rights Commission during this review. The Department will ensure that any revised guidance adheres to relevant equalities legislation.

The review is led by the Chief Nursing Officer for England and the Deputy Chief Nursing Officer as the Senior Responsible Officer. The review is overseen by a steering group including representatives from the Department, the CQC, NHS England and NHS Improvement clinical leads, NHS England's safeguarding Lead, and representatives from civil society organisations including the LGBT Foundation, Stonewall, Sex Matters and Fair Play for Women. Any revised guidance will be approved by senior leaders in the organisation and comply with relevant equalities legislation.

No specific assessment has been made. NHS England’s guidance Delivering same-sex accommodation is currently under review. We are working with NHS England to ensure that the privacy, dignity and safety of all patients is protected. Any updated guidance will adhere to relevant equalities legislation.

The Department has not made an assessment. The United Kingdom supports a timely, transparent, evidence-based, and expert-led study into the origins of COVID-19.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for developing authoritative, evidence-based guidance for the National Health Service in England on best practice. NICE evaluated the clinical and cost effectiveness of fampridine for use in the management of multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2014 but was unable to recommend it for routine use. NICE is currently updating its clinical guideline on MS and recently consulted on draft guidance. However, it was unable to recommend fampridine to treat mobility problems in people with MS. The independent guideline committee acknowledged that while it is a clinically effective treatment for some patients, at its current price it is not cost effective for the NHS.

NICE will carefully consider comments from stakeholders in finalising its recommendations. It is for local NHS commissioners to make funding decisions on the use of fampridine taking account of NICE’s guidance. The availability of treatments in Scotland and Wales is a matter for the devolved administrations.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for developing authoritative, evidence-based guidance for the National Health Service in England on best practice. NICE evaluated the clinical and cost effectiveness of fampridine for use in the management of multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2014 but was unable to recommend it for routine use. NICE is currently updating its clinical guideline on MS and recently consulted on draft guidance. However, it was unable to recommend fampridine to treat mobility problems in people with MS. The independent guideline committee acknowledged that while it is a clinically effective treatment for some patients, at its current price it is not cost effective for the NHS.

NICE will carefully consider comments from stakeholders in finalising its recommendations. It is for local NHS commissioners to make funding decisions on the use of fampridine taking account of NICE’s guidance. The availability of treatments in Scotland and Wales is a matter for the devolved administrations.

We are still in the early stages of understanding the impact of the Omicron variant on vaccine efficacy, where evidence is limited. NHS England and NHS Improvement do not hold data of how many patients have acquired COVID-19, including the Omicron variant, whilst in hospital or how they became infected.

NHS England and NHS Improvement work with National Health Service trusts to ensure hospitals are implementing robust COVID-19 infection prevention and control measures in all areas to prevent the transmission of the virus. This includes physical distancing, optimal hand hygiene, equipment and environment decontamination and extended use of face masks by healthcare staff, patients and visitors, which is continually reviewed.

We have no plans to put in place processes by which unvaccinated staff may be subject to criminal liability for infecting patients with COVID-19. Organisations are responsible for ensuring safe systems of work, including managing the risk associated with infectious agents through the completion of risk assessments approved through local governance procedures. National guidance outlines the recommended principles to support local decision making within individual organisations. The vaccination programme has significantly weakened the link between cases, hospitalisations and deaths and will continue to be our first line of defence against COVID-19. We encourage those who are eligible for a booster vaccination, including NHS staff, to ensure they have this vital extra protection.

In light of the concerns raised by stakeholders about the potential impacts of these measures on workforce pressures and the pressures on services, particularly over winter, the Government has made the decision to include a grace period of 12 weeks in regulations. This grace period will mean an enforcement date of 1 April 2022, crucially avoiding the winter period and helping to minimise workforce pressures.

NHS England and NHS Improvement are currently reviewing guidance to ensure that it remains focused on privacy and dignity for all patients. The content of this guidance will be determined through consultation with a wide range of stakeholders. The Department has no plans to collect information on National Health Service trusts that have allegedly accused women who request accommodation in single-sex wards of transphobia.

The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) (Coronavirus) (No.2) Regulations 2021 provide for a twelve-week grace period including the time needed for currently unvaccinated workers to receive a complete primary course of vaccine. There are no plans to change this date. We encourage all health and social care workers to receive the vaccine to protect the people they care for, themselves and their colleagues.

No such assessment has been made as this data is not collected centrally.

The vaccination requirements apply if a worker has direct face to face contact with service users as part of the provision of a regulated activity. This is not dependent on occupation. Existing measures, communications and guidance for all employees on how to mitigate the risk of transmission in the workplace will continue alongside the regulatory requirements.

The data requested is currently not collected centrally.

NHS England publishes the number of COVID-19 vaccinations administered to NHS Trust Health Care Workers in the NHS Electronic Staff Record (ESR). This covers all directly employed staff in NHS Trusts, but does not include data on agency staff and others that are not paid through ESR. This data is published weekly, with a percentage breakdown provided monthly. As of the latest data published data on 14 October, 92.4% of NHS Trust Health Care Workers in the NHS ESR had received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, whilst 89% had received their second dose. All primary schedules of currently deployed vaccines comprise two doses.

The data on General Practitioners (GPs) working hours broken down by number of days worked per week is not collected.

Data on the full-time equivalent work commitments of GPs, broken down into working hours bands, are shown in the following table:

Headcount of qualified permanent GPs (excludes GPs in training grade and locums) by work commitment in England, September 2021 ^{1,2, 3}

Data on the average salaries of GPs broken down by days worked per week or weekly hours bands is not collected.

Notes

1 Headcount totals are unlikely to equal the sum of components, due in part to individuals working across multiple roles and areas. Further information on the headcount methodology is available in the Data Quality statement.

2 Figures shown do not include staff working in Prisons, Army Bases, Educational Establishments, Specialist Care Centres including Drug Rehabilitation Centres, Walk-In Centres and other alternative settings outside of traditional general practice such as urgent treatment centres and minor injury units.

3 This is the third release to be based on the monthly collection of general practice workforce information. Following stakeholder feedback and the move to monthly publications we are reviewing the implementation of methodological changes introduced in the June 2021 publication. See the Methodology Review publication page of this release for more information. Until this review is complete, all published figures remain provisional and we will not be presenting a time series. Therefore, only statistics relating to September 2021 are included in this release. The time series will be reinstated once the review has been concluded and a methodology agreed.

This table shows the headcount numbers of staff by their work commitment, where 37.5 hours a week = 1 FTE

Data as at the last day of the applicable month

Source: NHS Digital

The information requested is not collected centrally. Any patient, irrespective of their gender, who has a history of violence or sex offences and may pose a risk to others should be risk assessed and any relevant action taken to ensure the safety of others.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have not received any information relating to these reports. All patients should be treated with respect and dignity, in accordance with the values of the National Health Service.

The information requested is not collected centrally. Any patient, irrespective of their gender, who has a history of violence or sex offences and may pose a risk to others should be risk assessed and any relevant action taken to ensure the safety of others.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have not received any information relating to these reports. All patients should be treated with respect and dignity, in accordance with the values of the National Health Service.

There are currently no plans to remove funding from general practitioners (GPs) who do not offer face to face appointments. NHS England and NHS Improvement, have stated that GP contractors should continue to offer a blended approach of face-to-face and remote appointments, with digital triage where possible. Patients input into the choice of consultation mode should be sought and practices should respect preferences for face-to-face care unless there are good clinical reasons to the contrary, for example the presence of COVID-19 symptoms.

The global sum allocation formula which underpins capitation payments to general practices is designed to ensure that resources are directed to practices based on an estimate of their patient workload and unavoidable practice costs. Under this formula, practices whose registered patients have greater healthcare needs are paid more per patient than practices whose registered patients have fewer healthcare needs. There are currently no plans to change the formula.

Public Health England’s findings show up to one in six infections among hospitalised patients with COVID-19 in England during the first six months of the pandemic could be attributed to hospital-acquired infection. This represents less than 1% of the estimated three million COVID-19 cases during this period.

Of the patients with hospital-onset COVID-19 that was probably or definitely hospital-acquired, 41.3% died within 28-days of contracting COVID-19.

PHE does not collect data on the number of people who were infected with COVID-19 by non-vaccinated National Health Service staff and subsequently died, as this information is unavailable.

Where there was sufficient evidence to show that an individual had behaved in such a way as to deliberately infect a patient, or carelessly or recklessly infect a patient with COVID-19 or any other disease, the employing organisation would consider the specific facts of the case in accordance with their local disciplinary policy and procedures. This may result in dismissal as the ultimate sanction.