PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Mental Health Services: Coronavirus (24 June 2020)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what mental health support has been provided to clinically extremely vulnerable people shielding during the covid-19 outbreak; and what estimate he has made on the number of people that have accessed that support.

Asked by:
Dr Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour)

National Health Service mental health services have remained open for business, offering support using digital, telephone and face-to-face approaches, including 24 hours a day, seven days a week crisis helplines, clearly accessible from trust websites.

The NHS has written to service providers, including general practitioners (GPs), on 4 June asking them to undertake a series of actions to support people who have been asked to shield. This includes ensuring every shielding individual has a named care coordinator to help coordinate different aspects of their healthcare, including accessing appropriate mental health care from NHS mental health services via their GP or other routes. A copy of the letter is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2020/06/C0583-nhs-update-on-shielding-june-2020.pdf

No estimate has been made as the data does not identify people who are shielding.

Answered by:
Ms Nadine Dorries (Conservative)
3 July 2020