Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Diabetes Screening: Covid-19

Tuesday 1 September 2020 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 2 Partly answered 0 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Jim Shannon inquired about the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on diabetes screening.
  • The minister stated that diabetic eye screening continued for those at the highest risk during the pandemic.
  • Funding for urgent gastric procedures for morbidly obese individuals was discussed, alongside a new dietary approach to diabetes announced by the government.

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Questions & Answers

Q1 Jim Shannon DUP Fermanagh and South Tyrone
NHS
Context

The UK is facing challenges in maintaining health screenings due to the ongoing pandemic.

Question

What recent assessment has been made regarding the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on diabetes screening?

Answer from Jo Churchill (Minister for Patient Safety, Pharmacy and Access to Healthcare)

Diabetic eye screening has continued throughout the pandemic for those at the highest risk. NHS England and NHS Improvement are working closely with service providers to ensure that where services took the decision to reschedule screening appointments during the pandemic, those services are restored as soon as it is safely possible to do so in order to minimise any risk to individual patients and with appointments based on clinical need.

Answered
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Q2 Jim Shannon DUP Fermanagh and South Tyrone
NHS
Context

The UK has a rising obesity rate, which poses additional risks during the pandemic.

Question

What funding has been set aside for those who are morbidly obese and need gastric procedures urgently to improve their health in light of increased mortality risk from COVID-19?

Answer from Jo Churchill (Minister for Patient Safety, Pharmacy and Access to Healthcare)

As well as our world-leading obesity strategy, we have today announced a targeted dietary approach to diabetes. From next week, thousands of people will be able to access a rigorous weight-loss programme to help tackle type 2 diabetes. The diet and lifestyle plans have been shown to put diabetes into remission for many people who have been recently diagnosed. This will provide 5,000 more patients with the first stage in an NHS drive to increase access to the NHS diabetes prevention programme and builds on the commitment to get another 200,000 people into the life-changing programme. We know that diabetes increases the risks of other health challenges and coronavirus, so it is vital that we take immediate action to help people.

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