and with permission i'd like to make a
statement on coronavirus
and about our plans to put us in the
strongest possible position for this
winter
like many other countries around the
world we're continuing to see
a concerning rise in cases with 3900
new cases recorded yesterday and this
week the number of patients
in mechanical ventilator beds has risen
above 100
for the first time since july the battle
against coronavirus
is not over and while we strain every
sinew
to spring free of its clutches with
winter on the horizon
we must prepare bolster our defenses
and come together once again against
this common foe
one of our vital lines of defense has
been taking targeted action
at a local level we've seen local action
work
well in some parts of the country and
now we must take
further action mr speaker we've seen
concerning rates of infection in parts
of the northeast
sunderland for example now has an
incidence rate
of 103 positive cases per 100 000
population
and in south tyneside gateshead and
newcastle
the figures are all above 70. as a
result
local authorities wrote to me earlier
this week
asking for tighter restrictions and
we've taken
swift action to put them in place
from tomorrow in northumberland north
tyneside
south tyneside newcastle upon time
gateshead
sunderland and county durham residents
should not socialize with
other people outside their own
households or support bubble
hospitality for food and drink will be
restricted to table service only
and late night restrictions of operating
hours will be introduced
so leisure and entertainment venues must
close between 10 pm
and 5 am mr speaker
i know the whole house knows that these
decisions have a real
impact on families on businesses and on
local communities
and i can tell everyone affected that we
do not take these decisions
lightly we agree with the local councils
that we must follow the data and act and
the data says that we must act
now so we can control the virus
and keep people safe and i know that the
people of the northeast will come
together
to defeat this virus as defeated we must
mr speaker we're working to bolster our
health and care system
too winter is always a stretching time
for health and for care but this winter
presents particular challenges people
will be spending more time indoors than
in the summer
where we know that the virus is more
likely to spread
and we know that we will need to deal
with coronavirus
along with the usual pressures that that
season
will bring so today i want to set out
our plans to support the nhs
and social care this winter turning
first to the nhs
i can tell the house that we've
allocated a further 2.7 billion pounds
to the nhs to support it during winter
months
this funding in addition to the extra
funding for ppe
and testing will help the nhs with the
vital task of operating
safely in a world in which covid is
still at large
and the task
which is critical of working through the
backlog
of elective work that was inevitably
caused by the first peak
mr speaker our emergency departments are
on the front line
of the fight for life in the nhs
today i'm delighted to announce a series
of measures to support our urgent and
emergency care system this winter and
beyond
and i want to thank and pay tribute to
catherine henderson
the president of the royal college of
emergency care
with whom i've worked closely to develop
these proposals
i want to thank her and through her all
of the those who work in emergency care
for their service
in the face of adversity i saw
i saw this again this morning at st
thomas's hospital
at a e and i know that all of us
support the work of those who work in
our emergency
care facilities right across the country
and i very much hope that yours mr
speaker will be
opening soon in chorley mr speaker we
will make our emergency departments
bigger many are simply too small
this was true even before the pandemic
but it's even more acute now
so we're investing to expand capacity in
urgent and emergency care so hospitals
have the space to continue treating
patients safely in the coming months
in august we confirmed 300 million
pounds for emergency upgrades across 117
trusts and i can today go further
and announce 150 million pounds to
expand 25 more emergency departments
including some of the most constrained
in the country like worcester
and the royal shrewsbury this extra
funding will put us in the strongest
possible position
for this winter and boosts the crucial
work to accelerate non-coveted care
mr speaker it's not just about the space
but about the service
so we're working to get patients the
right care in the right place
by expanding the role of nhs one on one
during the peak of this pandemic we saw
millions of people
using nhs111 on the phone or online
to get the best possible advice on
coronavirus
helping them to stay safe and where
possible stay out of hospital
where they could have unknowingly spread
the virus
it's crucial that ahead of winter we use
this window of opportunity to seek out
what worked
and build on it so we provide a better
service for patients and protect the nhs
of course no one will ever be turned
away from our emergency departments
in the most serious of cases however
we've worked with the royal colleges
with the nhs and others to develop a
better
quicker and more clinically appropriate
service for patients by using
nhs111 first how it works is this
we'll invest 24 million pounds to
increase call handling capacity
and to make sure that there are more
clinicians on hand to provide expert
advice and guidance
and we'll build on our trials to make
nhs111 a gateway to the emergency care
system
providing a first port of call for
patients so
in future rather than having to cue in
an emergency ward
we're testing that people should call
nhs one one one first
to book an appointment with whoever can
give them the most appropriate care
whether it's a gp a specialist
consultant a pharmacist a nurse
or community services and of course if
they need to go
to the emergency department then nhs 111
will be able to book them into an
appropriate time slot
we want to see this approach lead to
shorter waiting times and better
availability of appointments
for patients we'll consult on how its
performance is best measured
and with successful pilots we'll roll
out nhs 111 first
to all trusts from december finally mr
speaker
i wanted briefly to update the house on
our work to protect
care homes one of the worst things that
we know about this virus
is that it reserves its greatest impact
for those who are physically
weakest especially the elderly and so we
must do everything in our power to
protect
residents in social care in may we
introduce the adult social care
infection control fund which has helped
adult social care providers to reduce
the rate of transmission
this was used to fund important measures
like improving infection prevention
and paying staff to self-isolate and i
can
now inform the house that we will extend
this fund
for six months and provide over 540
million
pounds of extra funding for providers
this brings our total funding for
infection control measures
in social care to over a billion pounds
and we'll also shortly be bringing
forward our adult social care winter
plan
because we'll do whatever is humanly
possible to protect
our care homes from this virus so that
they're a place of sanctuary this winter
mr speaker we'll soon be facing winter
in this fight
and whether it's on our nhs emergency
care wards or in our care homes
we'll strain every sinew to give them
what they need so they're well equipped
for this pandemic
and indeed for the years ahead and i
commend this statement to the house