argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Cancer Strategy — House of Commons, 2016-12-08
Topic: Health
Nicholas Dakin (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Minister for his response to what he was right to say has been a very good debate among critical friends, to steal the excellent point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Washington and Sunderland West (Mrs Hodgson). My hon. Friend the Member for Poplar and Limehouse (Jim Fitzpatrick) and the hon. Members for Bosworth (David Tredinnick) and for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) all highlighted the importance of public health measures, and particularly smoking cessation campaigns, in preventing cancer. We are reassured that we will have the plan "soon" The hon. Member for Crawley (Henry Smith), who is the chair of the all-party group on blood cancer, spoke movingly from personal experience about how blood cancers thunder into people’s lives unexpectedly. The hon. Member for Castle Point (Rebecca Harris), who is chair of the all-party group on brain tumours, echoed that in much that she said about the need to do something about these cancers that are stuck. She reminded us that brain cancer is the biggest killer of young people, and she was right to say that although the cancer strategy is a strong step in the right direction, we need to do more. The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) echoed the point that we need to do even better. As the hon. Member for Bosworth said, if we have moved from 60% to 70%, why not to 80%? The hon. Member for Bury St Edmunds (Jo Churchill), a cancer survivor herself, posed a series of very challenging questions—exactly the sort of questions that should drive better performance as we move forward We are at a pivotal moment for the cancer services. I know that many people will be heartened by the Minister’s comments both today and on Tuesday, at the Britain against Cancer event. He was right to say that it is easy to write strategies, but now is the time to deliver Question put and agreed to. Resolved, That this House has considered the Cancer Strategy one year on.
Community Pharmacies — House of Commons, 2016-11-02
Topic: Health
Katherine Anne Green (Labour, Centre-left): It is a privilege to represent my hon. Friend’s mother, and he, of course, knows my constituency well. The constituency has high levels of deprivation, and our primary care services face incredible pressure owing to unsuitable practice premises and the difficulty of recruiting GPs. Does my hon. Friend agree that with only seven weeks’ notice, it is impossible for GPs, other primary care providers and pharmacists to accommodate and make provision for these cuts in a way that will allow them to continue to support deprived communities in my constituency and, indeed, the constituencies of all Members?
Community Pharmacies — House of Commons, 2016-11-02
Topic: Health
Catherine McKinnell (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. Over the past few years, a significant amount of work has been put into the Think Pharmacy First campaign, whose aim is to take pressure off GPs, ambulances and A & E services, but is "Think Pharmacy First for cuts and closures" really what the Government have in mind?
Community Pharmacies — House of Commons, 2016-11-02
Topic: Health
Jonathan Michael Graham Ashworth (Labour, Centre-left): I should like to make a bit of progress, if I may. As I said earlier, I am extremely conscious that other Members wish to speak. As we have heard, the former Health Minister said that 3,000 community pharmacies could close. When pressed about the figures last month, the current Minister said "no community will be left without a pharmacy."—[Official Report, 17 October 2016; Vol. 615.] I hope he will confirm that he still stands by that statement. He also claimed: "Nobody is talking about thousands of pharmacies closing". —[Official Report, 17 October 2016; Vol. 615, c. 602-3.] He obviously did not receive the memo from the right hon. Member for North East Bedfordshire. But what did he say when he was pressed by my hon. Friend the Member for Worsley and Eccles South (Barbara Keeley) about the number of closures? What soothing, reassuring words did he offer to all our constituents? He said, "I do not know." I am sorry that the Minister has not got a clue, but I hope that when he winds up the debate he will be able to tell us how many pharmacies will close as a result of these cuts. If he is not prepared to tell us that, will he tell us how many services will be cut?
Community Pharmacies — House of Commons, 2016-11-02
Topic: Health
Maria Eagle (Labour, Centre-left): Many pharmacies in Halewood deliver medication, up to 8.30 pm, to elderly and vulnerable people who cannot get out of the house, and to care homes. What does my hon. Friend think will happen if those pharmacies have to close?
Community Pharmacies — House of Commons, 2016-11-02
Topic: Health
Jonathan Michael Graham Ashworth (Labour, Centre-left): I do not need to say what I think; I need to say what the sector thinks, and the sector has made it clear today that it will have to cut services such as the delivery of medicines to some of the most elderly and vulnerable members of society.
Community Pharmacies — House of Commons, 2016-11-02
Topic: Health
Benjamin Peter James Bradshaw (Labour, Centre-left): Although the Government say that they want to devote a greater proportion of overall health spending to primary care, our Health Committee’s report on primary care, published in the summer, showed that a smaller proportion was being devoted to the primary care sector, which, of course, includes pharmacies. Is that not the ultimate false economy? If we do not invest more in primary care, all the pressure goes into the acute sector.
Community Pharmacies — House of Commons, 2016-11-02
Topic: Health
Jonathan Michael Graham Ashworth (Labour, Centre-left): If I may, I shall make some progress. I promise to give way to the hon. Gentleman in a few moments, but I know that others wish to speak The Government will say that they are mitigating the cuts by introducing a pharmacy access scheme, but the scheme takes no account of the needs of the most deprived communities. The four constituencies that top the health deprivation and disability indices are Liverpool Walton, Blackpool South, Manchester Central and Blackley and Broughton. Not one pharmacy in those constituencies is eligible for the pharmacy access scheme. The least deprived constituencies are Chesham and Amersham and Wokingham. In Chesham and Amersham, 28% of pharmacies are eligible for this mitigating scheme, while in Wokingham 35% are eligible. [Interruption.] The Minister says that it is a disgrace, but those are the figures. Only this Department, which spins figures all the time and which has been discredited for the way in which it uses them, can call a pharmacy cuts package an "access scheme" Today, in an article in The Times, the Minister himself focuses on cities such as Leicester and Birmingham. He claims that if you walk "along roads in Leicester you will see 12 pharmacies within ten minutes of each other" As the Member of Parliament for Leicester South, I walk along roads in Leicester every day. I do not know whether the Minister has actually walked along any of those roads; he has never told me that he has. Let me therefore extend an invitation to him to come to Leicester, where he will see numerous community pharmacists in areas with a high proportion of black and ethnic minority communities providing specialist services for families who have relied on them for 20 or 30 years, often dealing with elderly people and speaking to them in Gujarati, Urdu and Punjabi. Many of those people will have to go to GPs’ surgeries and A & E departments if the pharmacies are closed. The Government’s assessment takes no account of the disproportionate effect that the cuts will have on black and ethnic minority communities in cities such as Leicester and Birmingham.
Community Pharmacies — House of Commons, 2016-11-02
Topic: Health
Jonathan Michael Graham Ashworth (Labour, Centre-left): If the hon. Gentleman wants to tell his constituents he is in favour of closing pharmacies, good luck to him Of course it is not just pharmacy closures that we will see. The National Pharmacy Association has reported today that that 81% of community pharmacies will have to restrict services that help elderly people and 86% will have to restrict free services such as delivering medicine to housebound patients. Does that not confirm that the elderly and the most vulnerable will be hit the hardest by the cuts to community pharmacies, and the Government are entirely to blame?
Community Pharmacies — House of Commons, 2016-11-02
Topic: Health
Jonathan Michael Graham Ashworth (Labour, Centre-left): The hon. Gentleman talks of efficiencies; he will presumably have seen the research that says if people cannot get to a pharmacy one in four will go to a GP. We will see greater demand on GP surgeries and A&E departments. That is not efficient. It is a false economy, which is why the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee has said the proposals are "founded on ignorance of the value of pharmacies to local communities, to the NHS, and to social care, and will do great damage to all three. We cannot accept them." It is why the chief executive of Pharmacy Voice described the decision as "incoherent, self-defeating and wholly unacceptable", and it is why charities such as Age UK have said the plans are "out of step with messages encouraging people to make more use of their community pharmacists, to relieve pressure on overstretched A&E departments and GP surgeries." Age UK has hit the nail on the head: these cuts to community pharmacies completely contradict everything we have been told by Ministers over recent years and will lead to increased pressures and increased demands on GP surgeries and A&E departments.
Community Pharmacies — House of Commons, 2016-11-02
Topic: Health
Luciana Clare Goldsmith (Berger) (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend has made some crucial points about how the funding has been allocated across our country. There are 129 community pharmacies across the whole of Liverpool, yet just two of them will be eligible for this payment. Does my hon. Friend agree that that is absolutely outrageous and will impact on the entire population of Liverpool?
Community Pharmacies — House of Commons, 2016-11-02
Topic: Health
Jonathan Michael Graham Ashworth (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend is right, and even after this scheme is in place pharmacists who are eligible for the mitigating funds are still saying that they will have to close despite them. We believe in the importance of community pharmacies, because "pharmacies have a big role to play in this, as one in 11 or 12 A and E appointments could be dealt with at a pharmacy"—[Official Report, 25 February 2014; Vol. 576, c. 162.]— and: "Pharmacies have an important role to play, because they could save a significant number of A and E and GP visits."—[Official Report, 23 October 2014; Vol. 586, c. 1049.] Those are not my words: they are the words of the Health Secretary, said from that Dispatch Box over the last two years If the message the Health Secretary has been giving at that Dispatch Box is that community pharmacies are a way of relieving pressure on A&Es and GP surgeries, why is he now coming to the House to support cutting community pharmacies? It is a complete false economy. I will give way if he wants to explain that. He does not, probably because he knows it is a completely false economy.
Community Pharmacies — House of Commons, 2016-11-02
Topic: Health
Neil Coyle (Labour, Centre-left): Arundhati Patel runs the Jamaica Road pharmacy in my constituency and an alcohol cessation service is one of the services it provides to the local community. He pointed out there were 1,400 hospital stays in Southwark due to alcohol harm. On the point about efficiencies and avoiding visits to hospital that Members have talked about, is this not another example of what my right hon. Friend the Member for Exeter (Mr Bradshaw) called a false economy?
Community Pharmacies — House of Commons, 2016-11-02
Topic: Health
Jonathan Michael Graham Ashworth (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend is right, and Government Ministers, including the Health Secretary even on Monday, justify these as part of a package of efficiencies. Indeed when I raised this a few months ago with the previous Minister, the right hon. Member for North East Bedfordshire, he told me in correspondence that these cuts were necessary as part of delivering the £22 billion-worth of efficiency savings. So this is more proof that when they talk of efficiency savings, they are actually talking of cuts to frontline services.
Community Pharmacies — House of Commons, 2016-11-02
Topic: Health
Jonathan Michael Graham Ashworth (Labour, Centre-left): I am sorry, but I need to make progress The NHS is going through the worst financial crisis in its 68-year history. Even the previous Health Secretary, who is now in the other place, said he did not expect another five years of such tight budgets for the NHS The black hole in hospital finances last year was £2.45 billion. Under Labour, we spent the European average on health as a proportion of GDP; we are now spending less than Greece. We are seeing a huge financial squeeze on the NHS and the cuts are part of that squeeze agenda We want the Government to think again on the cuts, because they will lead to more pressures on GP surgeries and A&E departments. There is a consensus not just among the Labour party, but among our constituents, the sector, clinicians and indeed Conservative Members against the cuts. It is Ministers who stand outside that consensus. The hon. Member for Stevenage (Stephen McPartland) has said: "It does not make sense that we are encouraging pharmacies to take on a bigger role in the NHS, while potentially reducing the number of them." The right hon. Member for Broxtowe (Anna Soubry) has said: "I do not think this 4% cut is a wise move."—[Official Report, 20 October 2016; Vol. 615, c. 974.] The hon. Member for Colne Valley (Jason McCartney) said "when our A&Es are under so much pressure, we need community pharmacies".—[Official Report, 17 October 2016; Vol. 615, c. 598.] I agree and our message to Conservative Members who want to stand up for their constituents and who have been lobbied by pharmacists is, "Join us in the Division Lobbies and get Ministers to think again on these damaging cuts." I commend the motion to the House.
Community Pharmacies — House of Commons, 2016-11-02
Topic: Health
Graham Peter Jones (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister talks about moving away from a dispensing model to a value-added model. I shall say something about healthy living if I get the opportunity to speak in the debate, but in relation to that shift, what is his view on warehouse pharmacies?
Community Pharmacies — House of Commons, 2016-11-02
Topic: Health
Maria Eagle (Labour, Centre-left): Many of the pharmacies in my constituency already provide such services, but they are now threatened by the Government’s proposals. Does the Minister not realise that, according to research carried out by Pharmacy Voice, in a constituency such as mine, which is No. 20 on the list of deprived areas, four in five people who cannot see a pharmacist will end up going to their GP? Does he not agree that that will achieve exactly the opposite of what he wants?
UK Military Personnel Serving Overseas: Vaccination — House of Commons, 2021-06-23
Topic: Defense
James Stephen Heappey (Conservative, Centre-right): First, there is an important point of fact: the battle group to which the right hon. Gentleman refers deployed in December 2020, before any vaccine had been certified. It would have been impossible to have vaccinated the Light Dragoons battle group before they were even deployed.
Community Pharmacies — House of Commons, 2016-11-02
Topic: Health
Luciana Clare Goldsmith (Berger) (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Minister for very kindly giving way. Will he correct the record on something? Pharmacies are not all private enterprises. Many co-operatives across our country provide community pharmacies, often in rural and isolated areas. For the purposes of this debate, will he clarify his understanding of the distinction between a community pharmacy and a GP pharmacy? That has not been clear in his remarks so far.
Community Pharmacies — House of Commons, 2016-11-02
Topic: Health
Stephen Pelham Pound (Labour, Centre-left): The hon. Lady makes an incredibly important point. People who go into a community pharmacy today will see a special treatment room where they can get phlebotomy, advice on blood pressure and all sorts of other things. Is it not perverse, cruel and utterly irrational to say to a group of professionals, who have done all this work to change the way they deliver their services, "Now we are finished with you. Out you go. You’ve done your bit. We are going to put you out and close down your pharmacy"?
Community Pharmacies — House of Commons, 2016-11-02
Topic: Health
Karin Marguerite Smyth (Labour, Centre-left): I was going to intervene on the Minister to follow up the point made by the Chair of the Health Committee. We are looking at bottom-up planning in England for the first time for a number of years with the sustainability and transformation plan process, so this is completely the wrong time to be making these irrational and random cuts.
Community Pharmacies — House of Commons, 2016-11-02
Topic: Health
James Dolan Cunningham (Labour, Centre-left): The hon. Lady makes two important points: this move is cuts-led, rather than well planned; and just as communities rely on their doctor, they rely on the facilities at their pharmacy. That is particularly true of elderly people and those with disabilities, who may have to travel miles, depending on where the pharmacy is.
Community Pharmacies — House of Commons, 2016-11-02
Topic: Health
Catherine McKinnell (Labour, Centre-left): I wanted to make this point to the Minister: the closure of community pharmacies will clearly lead to a poorer service, a loss of patient choice and poorer health outcomes for those in more deprived parts of the country. Is this not just another example of Government short-term cuts that will cost us more in the long term?
Community Pharmacies — House of Commons, 2016-11-02
Topic: Health
Neil Coyle (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister accused those who highlight concerns of "scaremongering". Atul, who runs St George’s pharmacy at the Elephant and Castle in my constituency, says: "We may survive the first set of"— in-year— "cuts by compromising on our services. But the second set of cuts next April will most definitely place us at a real risk of closure." Does the hon. Lady agree with Atul that it is right for us to highlight our concerns, especially in constituencies such as mine, where we face losing 18 community pharmacies?
Community Pharmacies — House of Commons, 2016-11-02
Topic: Health
Kevin John Barron (Labour, Centre-left): I should say that I am chair of the all-party pharmacy group. I am sure that many of my colleagues will today talk about the savings and services that community pharmacies provide to the national health service. Although that is an important point, it is also essential that we highlight the good that they provide to patients. They do so much more than just deliver prescriptions to people. Let me just highlight the scale of their operations. Some 11,800 community pharmacies dispensed more than 1 billion prescription items in 2015 Community pharmacists are well prepared to adapt to many different problems with which they are presented. They help people to give up smoking, alter their diets, become healthier and manage their cholesterol. Effectively, they are on the frontline as far as the health of the public is concerned.
Community Pharmacies — House of Commons, 2016-11-02
Topic: Health
Anna Catherine Turley (Labour, Centre-left): My right hon. Friend makes an extremely important point. Pharmacies are right at the heart of their communities. As has already been mentioned today, access to those services is vital. In some areas—such as our two constituencies—bus services are being cut and people are finding it increasingly difficult to access services. It is nonsense for the Minister to say that it is a matter of seconds between pharmacies. Will my right hon. Friend comment on how important access to pharmacies is to our communities?
Community Pharmacies — House of Commons, 2016-11-02
Topic: Health
Nicholas Dakin (Labour, Centre-left): My right hon. Friend is right. Community pharmacies are at the heart of the gateway. Does he agree that there is a danger that the proposed cuts might end up costing more money than they save?
Community Pharmacies — House of Commons, 2016-11-02
Topic: Health
Michael Dugher (Labour, Centre-left): It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for North East Bedfordshire (Alistair Burt), who tried to be extremely helpful to the current Minister—most ex-Ministers have ex-Ministeritis and tend to be extremely unhelpful to current Ministers, but not so the right hon. Gentleman. However, he did use that figure of 3,000 pharmacies—one in four—facing closure. He has attempted to qualify it now, and his defence seems to be that he made the estimate without properly thinking it through. To that extent, there is remarkable continuity with his successor, who makes a number of assertions without remotely thinking them through. However, if we are now told that we have to disregard what the previous Minister said, why on earth we should believe what the incumbent says? Who is to say that, in a year’s time, after some reshuffle, the Minister’s successor will not come to the House and tell us at the Dispatch Box, "You don’t want to pay any attention to what the fellow before me said. He never knew what he was talking about." The Government’s impact assessment is worth closer examination, because it states: "the potential impacts…are assessed on the basis that there is a scenario where no pharmacy closes"— not one. That scenario is not shared by anyone else. Even the Minister, when asked how many would close, told the House, "I do not know." The impact assessment goes on to concede: "There is no reliable way of estimating the number of pharmacies that may close as a result of this policy." The Department literally has no idea. According to the impact assessment, the Department is officially clueless as to the impact on pharmacies.
Community Pharmacies — House of Commons, 2016-11-02
Topic: Health
Anna Catherine Turley (Labour, Centre-left): Does my hon. Friend agree that an impact assessment of the knock-on effects for the NHS more broadly would have been useful? One in four patients will probably seek with a GP an appointment they would have sought with a pharmacist. We have heard nothing from the Government about what the knock-on effect would be or what investigation they have done into that.
Community Pharmacies — House of Commons, 2016-11-02
Topic: Health
Luciana Clare Goldsmith (Berger) (Labour, Centre-left): I rise to speak in support of the Opposition motion. I put on record my thanks for the extremely hard work that has been done on this campaign by a number of my hon. Friends, particularly my hon. Friend the Member for Barnsley East (Michael Dugher) Community pharmacies play a really crucial role in my constituency and, indeed, right across the country. We know from the many statistics, and the surveys and inquiries that have been done, that they are trusted. When I speak and listen to my constituents, it is clear that they trust the community pharmacies that they engage with, and also develop very close relationships with the people who work in them. I see that for myself when I go to collect my prescriptions locally. They are enormously busy places. I note that the hon. Member for Hertsmere (Oliver Dowden) said that they just deliver drugs, but they do so much more than that within our communities.