argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
A Plan for the NHS and Social Care — House of Commons, 2021-05-19
Topic: Health
Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): This Government, with their 80-seat majority, are in an enviable position. They could put forward an ambitious and visionary plan to improve the country’s health and wellbeing and put social care at the forefront of their agenda. Yet here we are, following the biggest health crisis in 100 years, at a watershed moment, and the Queen’s Speech presents us with a Government who prioritise unnecessary and discriminatory legislation to introduce voter ID over ensuring that people can get the care that they need and over ensuring that we have a plan to train the next generation of doctors and nurses whom we will all rely on. What a waste of a precious opportunity of a mandate to bring about transformational change to the quality of British citizens’ lives Just nine words in the Queen’s Speech were devoted to social care, despite the Prime Minister’s promise on the steps of Downing Street 22 months ago to "fix the crisis in social care once and for all", and there is still nothing on unpaid carers. Instead, reform keeps being kicked into the long grass for this overlooked and critically important sector. Although it is welcome that the health and care Bill seeks to improve integration between health and social care, it does not address the fundamental issues facing our care system in terms of structure, workforce and funding—problems that were highlighted so tragically through the pandemic. Ministers need urgently to commit to cross-party talks. They have a clear choice: to leave a lasting legacy or be responsible for an abject moral and political failure on one of the biggest public policy challenges that this country faces. If the Prime Minister really wants us to believe that the NHS is safe in Conservative hands and that he genuinely cares about social care, then we need urgent action to ensure that we have enough doctors, nurses, carers, physios and other healthcare professionals both in the short and the long term. In 2019, there were about 100,000 full-time-equivalent vacancies in the NHS, and after a gruelling year, as we saw only yesterday with the nurse who treated the Prime Minister when he was in intensive care, many are needed. They are burnt-out, stressed and fed up of their good will being taken for granted With record waiting lists for both physical and mental health treatment, we clearly need some short-term solutions, but we must not shirk the long-term challenges. These shortages predate the pandemic. The Liberal Democrats support calls from the Health and Social Care Committee for a transparent and independent annual workforce report, with requirements for future staffing that cover the next five, 10 and 20 years and regular updates to Parliament on progress and resourcing. I implore the Minister to think big and not to squander this unique opportunity to bring about lasting, positive and long-term change in our health and care services and to improve the wellbeing of the British people.
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2021-12-13
Topic: Health
Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): Eighteen weeks ago, on 9 August, I asked the Government what assessment they had made of using community pharmacies. The response, in full, said: "No assessment has been made." Nine weeks ago, on 22 October, I asked the Government whether covid-secure transport would be available, so that the clinically extremely vulnerable could go for their booster jab appointments. The Government said they had made no assessment Six weeks ago, I asked the Government for guidance to the clinically extremely vulnerable. I asked them to sort out the confusion between third primary doses and booster jabs, and two weeks ago, on the same day that the British Medical Journal published data showing that omicron is more transmissible, I asked the Government whether they will renew contact-tracing funding for local authorities. A week later, they said they were still assessing it Will the Secretary of State apologise for the shocking levels of complacency in rolling out the booster programme over the past four months? And will he now apologise to all the patients who will have their treatment cancelled as a result of these new announcements?
Regional Growth — House of Commons, 2021-12-07
Topic: Culture
Alexander Morrison Carmichael (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): The Scottish Commercial Music Industry Taskforce understood that the extra money put into the culture recovery fund in the Budget will produce £40 million of Barnett consequentials for the Scottish Government. To date, the taskforce understands that only £9 million of that money has been released, putting our creative and cultural sector at a significant disadvantage. Will the Chief Secretary tell me today, or perhaps in correspondence, when the Scottish Government will receive the remaining £31 million?
Adult Social Care — House of Commons, 2021-12-01
Topic: Health
Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): This statement is incredibly thin. It feels as though the Government are trying to fiddle with the light bulbs on the Titanic as it is starting to go down. We have an enormous crisis, where people who need care cannot get it and end up going into ambulances, ambulances are now queueing up outside hospitals, and hospitals cannot discharge patients back into their homes or the community because the care is not there. The statement and the White Paper do not address the fundamental problem of fragmentation and integration. The Minister has already accepted that this is now just a first step. Will she be clear with us today on when she will bring forward concrete proposals for how to tackle the problem of fragmentation and integration between the NHS and care?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-11-23
Topic: Health
Questions: Hundreds of local people have responded to my High Peak GP surgery survey, and I look forward to presenting Ministers with the results shortly. One of the top concerns is about how we can improve access to primary care. One way would be finally to build a major new health centre for Buxton. The local NHS already owns a suitable town centre location with outline planning permission; all it requires is the capital funding. Derbyshire Community Health Service NHS Trust has submitted a strong bid, which I support, so will the Secretary of State meet me to discuss how we can deliver the proposal and improve healthcare for Buxton and the whole High Peak?; Now that the cap on care costs has unravelled, many of my constituents feel misled and betrayed, especially those with modest capital in the value of their home. How can it be that those with the most will contribute the least and that those with the least will contribute the most? Where is the equity, where is the fairness, and where is the justice in any of that?; My constituents benefit from the excellent healthcare provided at Hillingdon Hospital, but it is long overdue a rebuild. Can my right hon. Friend give me an update on when we might expect to see progress on those plans?; New research from the Disabled Children’s Partnership shows that nearly three quarters of disabled children and young people have seen their conditions regress in the pandemic because of a lack of adequate support. Therapies, short breaks and health services have all been massively reduced, and there are huge backlogs. Will the Secretary of State outline how the Government plan to rapidly sort that out?; The capital transformation of acute hospitals in Shrewsbury and Telford has been eight years in the making. Will the Secretary of State confirm what is now needed to start delivering the £312 million of capital committed by the Conservative Government to improve Shropshire’s healthcare facilities? Will he also confirm that it does not make sense to head down the rabbit hole of a new hospital and start this whole process all over again?
Sarah Louise Green (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): Women across the country have lost jobs and life savings as a result of chronic pain and disability caused by complications after the use of medical mesh. Many, including one of my constituents, have had to pay for corrective surgery overseas. The Government have so far refused to set up agencies to provide financial redress, as was recommended in the Cumberlege report. Will the Secretary of State revisit the Cumberlege report, and in particular the need for financial redress?
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-23
Topic: Health
Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I congratulate the right hon. Gentleman on amendment 10 and on how he has built such a coalition of support. Many of the challenges facing those with mental health concerns are because, as he says, there simply is not the workforce—it has hardly grown over the past decade. There are over 16,600 full-time equivalent vacancies and a waiting list of 1.5 million. His amendment, which would require a report every two years, is so important for ministerial accountability because the targets in the five year forward view have not been met, so we have no chance with the 15-year projection.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-23
Topic: Health
Sarah Jane Olney (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right, and that is the point I want to make: we need to boost the status of our care home staff and improve their terms and conditions. We need to improve their pay. This lady who I spoke to on Saturday was telling me that she gets paid for the hours she spends in people’s homes, but not the time spent travelling in between. It is clear to me that the crisis of staffing we are experiencing in our care sector—I think every one of us as MPs is hearing about it regularly from our constituents, who are at the sharp end of that—is as much about workforce planning and improving terms and conditions. The Government needs to give that the most urgent attention, and amendment 10 would go some way to resolving that, although it will not resolve it entirely I know that Ministers will push back against the cost of boosting the workforce in all areas of the NHS, but they must surely realise the cost of failing to do so. The right hon. Member for South West Surrey. along with the hon. Member for Central Ayrshire (Dr Whitford), spoke about the cost of locum resource in the NHS. It is not just about the direct cost of locums or of worsening health outcomes as people wait longer for treatment; it is also about the lost productivity of days off sick, the cost of poor mental health as lives are put on hold and, as has been mentioned many times, the cost of exhausted and demoralised staff who are overwhelmed by the demands on the NHS. We cannot afford to continue to fail to effectively plan our healthcare workforce I am also very happy to support the amendments tabled by the hon. Member for North West Durham (Mr Holden) on virginity testing and hymenoplasty. I am delighted that the Government are adopting the provisions on virginity testing. We still have much to do to make this country a safe place for women and girls, but all progress is to be welcomed, and I am very glad that this opportunity to bring to an end the degrading practice of virginity testing has not been lost. I congratulate the hon. Member for North West Durham on all the work he has done and, although they may have left the Chamber, the representatives of the other charities referred to earlier. I hope in due course we will see the provisions for hymenoplasty as well, when the review has concluded.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-23
Topic: Health
Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): Does the hon. Member agree that it would be helpful if the NHS had a duty, as I have attempted to capture in new clause 63, to identify carers, so that their health and wellbeing is taken into account when decisions are made about the people for whom they care? Does she agree that it would be helpful if the Minister responded to new clause 63 in winding up?
Public Health — House of Commons, 2021-11-30
Topic: Health
Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): The Liberal Democrats will support the regulations, but we have grave concerns about whether the Government are doing enough to protect people, to protect the NHS, and to buy scientists the time that they need in order to learn more about the new variant We know that masks are effective. We know that they reduce transmission, and they are a small price to pay for the guaranteeing of all our other freedoms. They also allow the clinically extremely vulnerable to leave their homes, which many of them have not done for a very long time. They continue to shield, cut off from society, because they do not have the confidence even to enter a shop or board a bus. I am worried by the Secretary of State’s pledge to abandon masks in a few weeks’ time if omicron proves to be no more dangerous than the delta variant, because the delta variant is still dangerous, and the NHS is already on its knees before we go into the worst of the winter I wish there were more support for those in self-isolation. For too long, the support has been too stingy and too hard to access. We must create a sense among people that it is their civic duty to self-isolate if they are asked to do so, and if the Government ask people to self-isolate, they must step up and provide proper financial support. I would also like to see the reintroduction of the encouragement to "work from home if you can" from the Government. The colleagues have also mentioned ventilation, on which the Government have been far too slow to act. In schools right across England, people have been crying out for ventilation for months and months, but the Government have been dragging their heels.
Public Health — House of Commons, 2021-11-30
Topic: Health
Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I take that point. We know that many of these measures often result in a lose-lose situation. A real problem over the past 18 months has been the way in which people have tried to frame this as public health versus the economy, because for me, having a strong and healthy workforce and a strong and healthy economy are two sides of the same coin. Notwithstanding that, I am encouraging the Government to ask people to work from home where they can, in order to strike the right balance that would reduce levels of transmission. I am not suggesting a blanket mandate for everybody to stay at home; I am suggesting encouraging people to work at home where they can, in a balanced way.
Public Health — House of Commons, 2021-11-30
Topic: Health
Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I thank the right hon. Member for his intervention, but I respectfully disagree with him. What we have learned over the past few months, from public health directors in particular, is that the more measures we take, the better protection we have. It is not an either/or. If we wear a mask, wash our hands and limit the amount of time spent in close proximity to someone else, we limit our overall chances of either catching covid or passing it on. The more measures we can take, the better. Notwithstanding that, when I was talking about working from home, I was not referring to children studying at home. I was talking about the working population. I recognise that there have been enormous impacts—
Public Health — House of Commons, 2021-11-30
Topic: Health
Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I disagree with some of those points. As a liberal, I believe fundamentally in giving people the most personal freedom they can have up to the point at which it interferes with the personal freedom of others. We hear a lot in this House about personal freedom, particularly from those on the Conservative Benches, but there is very little discussion about our broader responsibilities to others. That is the challenge that we as legislators have in this House: it is about getting the balance right. I do not think this is about putting restrictions on businesses because of the failures of our health service. GPs in particular are struggling with their workloads and with the abuse resulting from campaigns against them that are being led by national newspapers. If we had a stronger workforce to deal with these issues, and if the NHS had not been run into the ground, we would have more frontline health workers to deal with these problems right now. However, I am mindful of the Deputy Speaker’s entreaty to stick to the regulations, to which I now want to return As I said at the start, we will support these regulations. I agree with other Members that it is vital we have full scrutiny of any decision to repeal, extend or renew the regulations in any shape or form in the coming weeks. I implore the Government to take action and consider these restrictions in the light not only of this new variant but of the overall pressures across our NHS, whether on GPs, ambulance services or elsewhere.
Public Health — House of Commons, 2021-11-30
Topic: Health
Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): Does the hon. Gentleman not accept that the major incentive for people to be vaccinated is to reduce their own chances of hospitalisation and death, not just so they can go to the local pub, shop or anywhere else?
Public Health — House of Commons, 2021-11-30
Topic: Health
Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): Although I recognise the right hon. Gentleman’s assertion that covid accounts for 6% of patients in hospitals, I urge him to think about the impact that covid in-patients have in the hospital setting. We know, for example, that for every one patient being treated, an entire ward can be taken out, because it has to be cleaned and if a staff member catches covid, they have to take time off work. I have asked the Government to produce an assessment and provide this House with the details of the impact of covid patients on the availability of beds, staff and elective procedures. Will he support me in asking the Government again to provide that assessment so that we can take an informed decision in this House as to whether these restrictions are necessary and how they may or may not help?
David Fuller Case — House of Commons, 2021-11-08
Topic: Health
Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): This is a truly harrowing case and I think many people will be shocked not just by the horrific nature of the crimes, but by the fact that many of the extra steps announced today were not already in place. Will the Secretary of State give an indication of how quickly he expects hospitals to adopt the extra steps of CCTV coverage, swipe access and DBS checks in every single hospital and mortuary?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2021-11-29
Topic: Health
Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): It is often said that how a society treats its most vulnerable is a measure of its humanity, yet a quarter of the clinically extremely vulnerable have yet to receive their third primary dose because of confusion that persists about the third primary dose and the booster. One in five of the clinically extremely vulnerable are still shielding without any Government guidance or support. For them, the uncertainty of the new variant is terrifying. Will the Secretary of State or one of his Ministers please meet me and patient groups to discuss our five-point plan on how we can protect the clinically extremely vulnerable this winter?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2021-12-08
Topic: Health
Timothy James Farron (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): We have a range of measures put in front of us, some of which will perhaps help a little bit, but will not actively control the virus very much, coupled with a colossal attack on civil liberties, which is a strange juxtaposition. Can I ask the Secretary of State to pay special attention to something that the Government have overlooked too much over the past two years, which is to invest in catching up with cancer? What the Government have done through this period is do a great job on vaccine roll-out, but I would love to see them show the same ringfenced dedication and commitment to catching up with cancer, given that we know that at least 50,000 additional people will lose their lives as a consequence of the covid situation.
Covid-19 Vaccinations — House of Commons, 2021-11-04
Topic: Health
Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I am grateful to the Minister for having fixed the problems with the booster booking system that I raised with her two weeks ago, but the system for third jabs for the clinically extremely vulnerable is still in total chaos. Some clinically vulnerable people are saying that their GPs do not know which group they are in and, even if their GPs do know, those people who are eligible for their third dose and their jabs cannot be identified on the online system. Will the Minister commit to fixing the system in the next 48 hours and urgently reinstate the monthly meetings that her predecessor held with patient groups, which have been trying to bring these concerns to her attention?
Medical Cannabis: Alleviation of Health Conditions — House of Commons, 2021-11-04
Topic: Health
Christine Anne Jardine (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): That is all very well, but it brings us back to the fact that there are children who are already benefiting from the drugs. Even the NHS has asked whether it would not be beneficial to have an alternative trial, such as an observational one, and to use that evidence, rather than having a clinical trial with all these pitfalls.
Bosnia and Herzegovina — House of Commons, 2021-11-09
Topic: Defense
Jamie Hume Stone (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I am sure that many others, like me, regret that the late Paddy Ashdown is not with us here today, because he would have a lot to say as an expert. There has been much talk about the tilt to the Indo-Pacific, and yet, as others have said, Russia and possibly China are not hesitating to get involved in European affairs in our own backyard. So I ask the Minister: first, is our defence poise possibly wrong in terms of the tilt to the Indo-Pacific? Perhaps we should concentrate on our own backyard. Secondly, I have spoken before about defence cuts and the cut in the size of the Army. I wonder whether I can tempt him to agree that this is no time to cut the size of our armed forces.
School-based Counselling Services — House of Commons, 2021-11-09
Topic: Health
Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): The hon. Lady is making an excellent speech and I agree with pretty much everything she is saying. On hubs, does she agree that some children and young people will not feel comfortable and will not want to access services through their school, for a variety of reasons? Community-based mental health support hubs that are a one-stop-shop for a variety of services are an essential complement to school-based counselling services.
Army Restructuring: Future Soldier — House of Commons, 2021-11-25
Topic: Defense
Jamie Hume Stone (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): The Secretary of State is a military gentleman and served in the same regiment as my brother-in-law. Two of his colleagues on the Treasury Bench served Queen and country diligently and well, for which we thank them. When they joined the British Army, it was a viable career with opportunities. My question to the Secretary of State is simple: can he say, with his hand on his heart, that the reduction in the size of the British Army will not, sadly, discourage people from following the successful path that he and his colleagues followed?
Health and Social Care — House of Commons, 2021-12-03
Topic: Health
Alexander Morrison Carmichael (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): The question that will be asked by people in those parts of the country where the ambulance service is already in crisis, such as Cornwall and Shropshire, is: how quickly can they get this money? We are three weeks from Christmas and we are already seeing a crippling of the service in these areas. When will they see improvement?