division_name: Testing of NHS and Social Care Staff
motion: <p class="indent" pid="e1367.2/2" pwmotiontext="yes">That this House expresses thanks to the heroic work of frontline NHS staff who have saved lives throughout the Covid-19 pandemic; pays tribute to the at least 312 NHS and Social Care staff who have died of coronavirus in the United Kingdom; recognises the impact that coronavirus will have upon the NHS to deliver routine care including mental health care without additional Government support; notes that NHS waiting lists are projected to reach 10 million by the end of 2020, that cancer referrals fell 60 per cent during the peak of the coronavirus lockdown and that four out of five children have reported their mental health has got worse during the pandemic; further notes that there is a backlog of NHS care that needs to be tackled and that it is vital to prepare NHS services to deliver safe care alongside care for coronavirus, including preparing for winter and ensuring necessary supplies of PPE and medicine; is concerned that routine testing of NHS and Social Care staff is not currently in place; and calls on the Government to implement a routine weekly testing programme for all NHS and Social Care staff to enable NHS services to safely resume and ensure the continuity of services throughout the winter alongside a functional, national, public test, trace and isolate system.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="e1367.2/7" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Children are not the face of this pandemic. But they risk being among its biggest victims.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="e1371.1/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;A clear testing strategy is now more important than ever&#8221;&#8212;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="e1371.1/8" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;need rapid testing available for all staff and patients, whether showing symptoms of COVID-19 or not&#8221;&#8212;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="e1371.1/10" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;It&#8217;s absolutely essential to regain public confidence that we are able to test our staff regularly&#8221;&#8212;says Derek Alderson of the Royal College of Surgeons. And, of course&#8212;<phrase class="honfriend" name="Jeremy Hunt" person_id="uk.org.publicwhip/person/11859">the right hon. Member for South West Surrey (Jeremy Hunt)</phrase> will not be surprised that I am going to quote him in this debate&#8212;it is a position shared by the former Health Secretary, now the Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee, who in today&#8217;s Telegraph makes the case with far greater eloquence than I could ever muster:</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="e1371.1/11" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Until we minimise the risk of asymptomatic transmission by introducing weekly testing for all NHS and care staff, we are failing in a basic duty of care to the people most likely to die if they get the virus.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="e1373.1/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Another media non-story when there are so many important &#8216;real&#8217; stories of this crisis&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="e1374.0/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;NHS Professionals employed us as clinical tracers, but we were recruited by Capita&#8230; Sitel provided access to the tracing applications and systems, and these all required different usernames and passwords. Synergy CRM assigned cases&#8230;CTAS captured contact tracing information, RingCentral was used for voice calls, and MaxConnect was used for storing knowledge about contacts. All of these systems were accessed through Amazon Workspace.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="e1375.0/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;and recognises the unprecedented action the Government has taken in its tireless efforts against Coronavirus to protect the NHS and save lives.&#8221;</p>