argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Ebola Outbreak: Democratic Republic of the Congo — House of Lords, 2019-05-20
Topic: Health
Annabel Goldie (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my noble friend, who raised a number of important issues. As she rightly identified, in Uganda the Government have already vaccinated more than 4,400 health workers in high-priority districts and are rapidly responding in testing alerts of potential cases. I have a little information about Rwanda. Through funding to UNICEF and the WHO, the UK is backing the Government’s preparedness plans, including the training of healthcare workers—that will be of interest to the noble Baroness—vaccination planning and the screening of people passing through Rwanda’s borders. In South Sudan, another neighbouring country, 1,150 health workers have been vaccinated and UK support has led to the installation of an Ebola screening facility at Juba International Airport. In Burundi, we have deployed a humanitarian expert to support preparedness and co-ordinate UK effort and support. We are also strengthening the WHO’s capacity for effective co-ordination, supervision, monitoring and evaluation of Burundi’s preparedness efforts to prevent, detect, investigate and respond to EVD.
Torture Overseas: Ministry of Defence Policy — House of Lords, 2019-05-20
Topic: Defense
Frederick Richard Penn Curzon (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I shall now repeat in the form of a Statement the Answer given earlier today in another place to an Urgent Question which asked my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Defence whether she would make a Statement on the Ministry of Defence’s policy on co-operating with the use of torture overseas. The Answer is as follows: "The UK Government stand firmly against torture and do not participate in, solicit, encourage or condone the use of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment for any purpose. Our policy and activities in this area are in accordance with both domestic and international law The MoD’s policy is fully aligned with the Government’s policy on sharing and receiving intelligence, and the Investigatory Powers Commissioner has been entirely satisfied with our activities and has not identified any issues of concern However, the Prime Minister has asked the commissioner to review the Government’s consolidated guidance and submit proposals for how it could be improved. Once he has done so, and the Government have had a chance to consider them—I anticipate this will be a matter of weeks—the MoD will issue new internal guidance, as necessary, in light of any updated guidance that is published" That concludes the Statement.
Torture Overseas: Ministry of Defence Policy — House of Lords, 2019-05-20
Topic: Defense
Frederick Richard Penn Curzon (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness and I align myself completely with the sentiment that she expressed at the beginning of her question. Central government consolidated guidance sets out the principles which govern the interviewing of detainees overseas and the passing and receipt of intelligence relating to detainees. That guidance must be adhered to by officers of the UK’s security and intelligence agencies, members of the UK Armed Forces and employees of the Ministry of Defence. An internal policy document within the Ministry of Defence was prepared to, as it were, make the consolidated guidance more accessible and practical for those implementing it in the field. The MoD concedes that, as currently worded, there is an ambiguity in the internal document. I should stress that this ambiguity has not led to any problem or difficulty in the actions taken by the department, Ministers or members of the Armed Forces. It has been identified that the internal policy document could give the incorrect impression that Ministers could in all circumstances simply choose to accept legal consequences and act illegally. That is absolutely not the case. Ministers may not proceed when it would be unlawful, as opposed to when they would simply be assuming legal risk, which applies to any ministerial decision. I reassure the noble Baroness that, to my knowledge and that of my officials, Ministers have in no circumstances taken a decision which was unlawful in this context.
Torture Overseas: Ministry of Defence Policy — House of Lords, 2019-05-20
Topic: Defense
Frederick Richard Penn Curzon (Conservative, Centre-right): The noble Lord should bear in mind that this has never been a live issue in the Ministry of Defence. The point that he makes is also weakened by the fact that the Investigatory Powers Commissioner does not judge every piece of paper that happens to circulate across government; he or she will judge a department by its actions. To date, the commissioner has judged the Ministry of Defence to have acted entirely in accordance with the consolidated guidance. If I mis-spoke in responding to my noble friend Lord King and referred to the Investigatory Powers Commissioner as the Information Commissioner, I apologise. I did not mean to do that.
Learning Disabilities Mortality Review — House of Lords, 2019-05-15
Topic: Health
Nicola Blackwood (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, with the leave of the House, I shall now repeat as a Statement the response given to an Urgent Question on the learning disabilities mortality review originally made by my honourable friend the Minister of State for Care in the other place. The response was as follows: "Mr Speaker, I should like to start by restating our commitment to reducing the number of preventable deaths among those of our population with a learning disability and to address the persistent health inequalities that they experience. It is completely unacceptable that people in our country with a learning disability, and indeed autism, can expect a shorter life than the rest of the population as a whole Each and every death that might have been prevented is an absolute tragedy. We must not compound that tragedy by failing to learn lessons we can that might improve the care that is provided in the future. That is why the Government in the first place asked NHS England to commission the learning disability mortality programme, known as LeDeR The principle behind it is a relentless determination to learn from these deaths and to put in place changes to the way that care is organised, provided and experienced to make a real difference both locally and nationally. It means challenging often deep-rooted, systematic cultural issues that have existed for decades. It is driven by the fact that we are clear that the quality of care offered to people with a learning disability sometimes falls very short of the standards we expect—and that is simply not good enough The existence of the LeDeR programme testifies to our commitment to address that. It is so that people with a learning disability can access the very best possible care and support. The annual reports published by the LeDeR programme and the recommendations it makes, to which we respond, are a key part of this. Over the weekend, the media reported on the findings of a draft of the third annual LeDeR report, which is due to be published shortly, and in making this Statement I record my deep regret at this apparent leak. It is also my regret that Her Majesty’s Opposition should table a UQ based on leaks, and indeed that the Speaker’s Office should see fit to grant it. I have committed in the past, and I will commit once again, to bring the final report before Parliament on the day of publication, which we are told by NHS England will be in the next few weeks. I know that honourable Members will feel as concerned as I do by some of the things that have been leaked in the report, which I shall be very happy to discuss in more detail when the report is fully published".
Learning Disabilities Mortality Review — House of Lords, 2019-05-15
Topic: Health
Nicola Blackwood (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the noble Baroness for her important questions. On her first point, which is that the Government have had the report since March, I should like to be very clear that this is not a government report; it is an independent report from the University of Bristol. It is free to publish it when it is ready, although it was commissioned by NHS England, so the Government are not in control of the timetable for publishing it The noble Baroness is 100% right, however, on her point about "do not resuscitate" orders. The reports that we have heard that disabilities such as Down’s syndrome are being used by some doctors as a reason not to resuscitate are entirely unacceptable. We are taking immediate action and a letter will be sent to health professionals to make clear that that is not an acceptable reason to put in place a "do not resuscitate" order. On her last point about resourcing and the effectiveness of the LeDeR programme, progress has been made in implementing it: 15 out of 24 of the recommendations have already been completed, and in others we are making real progress. NHS England has trained more than 2,100 experts to carry out reviews, 1,500 reviews have been completed and a further 1,500 are in progress, but I have no doubt that given the situation in which we find ourselves, questions will be taken into account by NHS England and the department.
Learning Disabilities Mortality Review — House of Lords, 2019-05-15
Topic: Health
Nicola Blackwood (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my noble friend for his question. He is absolutely right: it is a disgrace that the reports demonstrate that too many people with learning disabilities are still dying prematurely and, all too often, for preventable reasons. We must ensure that we drive through the entire health system a change to make this come to an end. This is partly a matter of leadership, which is why it is absolutely right that Stephen Powis, the NHS England medical director, will write personally to doctors saying that it is not appropriate for DNRs to be based on disability and learning disabilities. It is why learning disabilities have been made a priority throughout the long-term plan and key programmes in the plan prioritise improving the physical healthcare of people with learning disabilities; that is important because it drives the issue up the priorities list of those working on an already-busy schedule. It is also why the consultation on mandatory training will be brought forward as a matter of priority. Only when you have that combination of leadership, the practical healthcare programmes funded in the long-term plan and training will you get the culture change that my noble friend rightly identified as necessary.
Brexit: Common Security and Defence Policy Missions and Operations (European Union Committee Report) — House of Lords, 2019-05-15
Topic: Defense
John Horam (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I will wind up briefly by thanking all noble Lords who made contributions to this debate. It has been a genuinely interesting and well-informed session. I also thank my noble friend the Minister for the clarifications he was able to bring on a number of subjects. The theme throughout, endorsed by everybody, was that as we leave the European Union it is absolutely in the UK’s interests that we continue to play a significant part in common security and defence operations. As the Minister himself just said, Europe’s security is our security. It is in our interests and, as the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Portsmouth said, it is also the right thing to do.
National Health Service (Cross-Border Healthcare and Miscellaneous Amendments etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 — House of Lords, 2019-03-27
Topic: Health
Andrew Lansley (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I did not have an opportunity to contribute to this statutory instrument earlier last week on the related SIs, for which I apologise, but I certainly contributed to the discussion on the then Healthcare (International Arrangements) Bill. This instrument relates directly to that. I am quite pleased to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Jolly, who asked some good questions. I shall not repeat what she said but I just say that, good questions though they are, none of this adds up to a criticism of the statutory instrument and its drafting, as such. Rather, these are matters of elucidation and practice in bringing the instrument in, so an amendment expressing regret would be slightly excessive under the circumstances.
School Exclusion: Timpson Review — House of Lords, 2019-05-07
Topic: Health
Theodore Agnew (Conservative, Centre-right): We have committed to the deployment of mental health leads in schools over the last two years, and they are being rolled out as we speak. Good mental health is an absolute priority. We recently issued the Green Paper on children and young people’s mental health. We are aiming to incentivise and support schools and colleges to identify and train a mental health lead. We are introducing new mental health support teams and are teaching about mental health in the new health education curriculum that will come into place in September next year.
NHS: Shortage of GPs and Nurses — House of Lords, 2019-05-08
Topic: Health
Questions: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to recent reports that there is a serious shortage of GPs and nurses working in the NHS.
Nicola Blackwood (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, the Government recognise the pressure on the NHS workforce. The forthcoming NHS people plan will set out how we will attract more people into training and keep the workforce that we have in the NHS. In 2018, Health Education England recruited a record 3,473 junior doctors into GP specialty training—a 10% increase since 2017. Demand for nursing courses is strong: the latest data, published this February, showed a 4.5% increase in the number of applicants compared with 2018.
NHS: Shortage of GPs and Nurses — House of Lords, 2019-05-08
Topic: Health
Questions: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to recent reports that there is a serious shortage of GPs and nurses working in the NHS.
Nicola Blackwood (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the noble Lord for his Question and I echo his sentiments exactly in thanking GPs, nurses and all of our NHS workforce. Probably every noble Lord in this Chamber has a personal story of owing the NHS for personal service, as we do as a nation. That is exactly why the Government have put in a serious plan to address the challenges within the workforce. First, within the long-term plan we identified an increase in funding that is higher within general practice and community care than the wider increase in funding of £4.5 billion. Secondly, we have recruited the highest number of GP trainees ever. This is not swapping statistics, this is identifying the fact that we are being successful in recruiting into a challenging specialty. Thirdly, we are opening brand new medical schools to ensure that we have the capacity to increase training, while recognising that it takes time to grow a doctor. Fourthly, we are putting in place incentive programmes to make sure that the job is more attractive, so that we can retain those individuals Within the new general practice contract framework we have put funding in place for up to 20,000 more support and technical staff working in GP practices in order to relieve the pressure within that job. This will help bring down delays in getting appointments and make sure that the job is more attractive in itself. When it comes to nursing, we have put in place a pipeline, with new nursing associates and the new nursing degree apprenticeship, and we see this starting to pay off. So there is an improving picture, but there is still some way to go. We are making sure that we put in place a serious plan and we are determined to deliver on it.
NHS: Shortage of GPs and Nurses — House of Lords, 2019-05-08
Topic: Health
Questions: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to recent reports that there is a serious shortage of GPs and nurses working in the NHS.
Nicola Blackwood (Conservative, Centre-right): The noble Baroness is right that driving out variation within the NHS is one of the key commitments of the long-term plan: it can be seen as a priority throughout every commitment within it. One of the ways in which we intend to do this is through the new undergraduate medical school places; the expansion in medical schools has been targeted specifically to address that. Those medical schools will be placed in key areas—Sunderland, Lancashire, Chelmsford, Lincoln and Canterbury—to ensure that we recruit doctors from right across the nation. That is something that I think she will welcome.
NHS: Shortage of GPs and Nurses — House of Lords, 2019-05-08
Topic: Health
Questions: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to recent reports that there is a serious shortage of GPs and nurses working in the NHS.
Nicola Blackwood (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the noble Baroness, who is very expert in this area. She is absolutely right that there is no point in our bringing new trainees into the system if we do not retain the expertise and the teaching quality within the system. We can be very proud of the quality we have within the system, which is why we have put in a number of programmes to address this. We have put in a targeted, enhanced recruitment stream to attract doctors into parts of the country where there have been consistent shortages. We have put a broad offer of support for GPs to remain within the NHS, including GP Career Plus, the GP Retention Scheme, the Local GP Retention Fund and the national GP Induction and Refresher Scheme. We have also put in place a number of schemes for nurses, including a scheme that will attract nurses into specific, targeted areas, such as mental health, learning disabilities and district nursing, where we believe we should make the career more attractive. We recognise that there is more to do, and in areas such as pensions, which the noble Baroness rightly raised, we are taking that issue up with the BMA and the Treasury.
NHS: Shortage of GPs and Nurses — House of Lords, 2019-05-08
Topic: Health
Questions: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to recent reports that there is a serious shortage of GPs and nurses working in the NHS.
James O’Shaughnessy (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, the increased numbers of staff coming through GP and nurse training are of course incredibly welcome but the truth is that we have a problem now, which is that we need more doctors and nurses practising today. One way to do that is to look around the world to recruit people, but another way is to make sure that we make the most of the resources we have through technology. Can my noble friend tell the House what the department is doing to enable us to use technological solutions to improve the efficiency of the GPs who are practising today?
NHS: Shortage of GPs and Nurses — House of Lords, 2019-05-08
Topic: Health
Questions: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to recent reports that there is a serious shortage of GPs and nurses working in the NHS.
Nicola Blackwood (Conservative, Centre-right): My noble friend is absolutely right, and he has his own expertise in this area. I am pleased to be able to report that we have had an increase in recruitment of nurses and NHS workers from abroad. Compared with June 2016, we have over 5,200 more EU health and care staff working in the NHS, and we have had a 126% increase in the number of non-EU NHS workers, which shows the attractiveness of working within the NHS. But he is also right that we need to make sure that those who work in the NHS have access to the most innovative and effective tools possible, which is why, particularly within GP practice, we are launching the GP IT Futures programme. That will provide GPs with the best tools possible so that we can make their job more efficient while also allowing them to provide the best-quality care to patients.
NHS: Shortage of GPs and Nurses — House of Lords, 2019-05-08
Topic: Health
Questions: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to recent reports that there is a serious shortage of GPs and nurses working in the NHS.
Nicola Blackwood (Conservative, Centre-right): I slightly question the premise of the noble Baroness’s question, given that I am the daughter of an English doctor and a South African nurse. This has always happened in the NHS, and it is an absolutely acceptable process. Recruitments go back and forth between nations, and that has always been the case To move on to the noble Baroness’s question about morale in the NHS, particularly within general practice, it is essential that that it is addressed, and she is right that GPs are the bedrock of the NHS now and in the future. That is why we have announced in the long-term plan not only that we are investing an extra £4.5 billion in primary and community care, which is at a faster rate than the rest of investment within the NHS, but the new contract to develop partnerships to provide greater certainty for GPs to plan ahead and to give them the extra 20,000 support workers who can make the job within GP practice more effective and sustainable. That is also why we have announced the GP IT Futures programme to give them the tools that they need to deliver more effective services and to deliver better-quality care, and why we have announced targeted and enhanced recruitment schemes to support and retain GPs within practices, not only in hard-to-reach areas but within the pipeline. That demonstrates that the Government are completely committed to general practice and will retain that commitment as long as we are able to do so.
Hospitals: Listeria — House of Lords, 2019-06-17
Topic: Health
Nicola Blackwood (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the noble Lord, Lord Tunnicliffe, for his question. The purpose of the review is to build on previous work and to implement standards for higher-quality food for NHS patients. It will take a root-and-branch approach and will follow the evidence where it can make improvements. The terms of reference are to work with the NHS and stakeholders; they are currently under development, but will be shared with Parliament as soon as they are set in place I can also reassure the noble Lord on the question he raised about the products. While GFC manufactures a range of products, in the consumption data gathered from case records only sandwiches were identified as having been consumed. It is therefore anticipated that the review targeted at the NHS is the right approach.
Hospitals: Listeria — House of Lords, 2019-06-17
Topic: Health
Nicola Blackwood (Conservative, Centre-right): I am sure that the noble Baroness would like to hear exactly how effectively Public Health England and others responded in this case. Obviously, these cases should not have occurred in the first place, but the first case occurred on 26 April. There were two cases in one hospital. The second case in a different hospital did not occur until 16 May. It took one week for Public Health England to ascertain that this was a national issue and that the cases were indeed linked. Thereafter, products were withdrawn. Very swift action was taken by Public Health England and the Food Standards Authority and a clear and concerted investigation is now under way. It will be made clear that this sort of thing cannot happen again and that there will be severe consequences for any companies that do not take careful consideration of the consequences if they do.