argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Medicines and Medical Devices Bill — House of Lords, 2021-01-14
Topic: Health
Rosalind Altmann (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, first, I apologise to the House because this is the first time I have spoken on this Bill, so I will not detain the House long. However, I support the aims of the amendment. This is something I have felt strongly about for some years Tackling anti-vax disinformation can be life-saving, and continuing to promote anti-vax messaging can be so damaging to public health as well as individual health. As the noble Baroness, Lady Thornton, rightly said in her excellent introduction—I am grateful to her for tabling the amendment—the online anti-vax messaging problem is growing. It is not just from a tiny minority in any one country; there could be systemic efforts to damage public health in our country and others. Given that those minority views can be spread, potentially to the severe detriment of the public and those who perhaps tend to support those views, believe them or be convinced by them, I should be very grateful if my noble friend would explain to the House the Government’s position. What do they believe they can do to combat the anti-vax messaging, not least as we are in the middle of this dreadful pandemic, for which the way out seems to me and many others to be to vaccinate as much of the population as we can, as soon as we can, to enhance their protection? Therefore, this is a very important and live issue, given the dreadful consequences that the pandemic is having not only on health through the virus itself, but on other aspects of public health and the country’s wider ability to support our beloved NHS.
Medicines and Medical Devices Bill — House of Lords, 2021-01-14
Topic: Health
Michael Morris (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I declare an interest in that I am married to a retired general practitioner I congratulate the noble Baroness on her proposed new clause. Whether the detail is correct is another matter, but the principle that she is promoting is absolutely right. I make my observations as someone who, before he came into politics, was a senior director in the fifth-largest advertising agency in the world. I was actually handling the UK Government’s COI account—that is, the general one for specific purposes I have four observations. First, all misinformation must be refuted immediately, wherever it occurs—whether it is in the main media or other media. That is not just social media; it includes radio, TV, print, posters, et cetera. Secondly, every medical professional body must make it unequivocally clear that disinformation must be refuted. Thirdly, I suggest that all medical outlets should provide a clear statement, in poster format, for hospitals, surgeries, clinics and pharmacies. Fourthly, consideration should be given to how best to communicate with schools, universities and colleges In conclusion, we must all remember the terrible harm that was done to the MMR—measles, mumps and rubella—programme, largely by one pioneering rogue doctor. Against that background, I plead with the Minister to ensure that we have a robust new clause and a plan, worked on now so that it can be communicated instantly, if possible.
Medicines and Medical Devices Bill — House of Lords, 2021-01-14
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I am enormously thankful for that constructive debate. This change to the Devices Expert Advisory Committee should be welcomed. It provides for if not equivalence then equality between the medicines and medical devices regimes. It provides for transparency, which we value enormously, and it indicates our direction of travel, the step change and the commitment to patient safety that the MHRA will enshrine As has been noted, the committee already exists. It currently meets, and it has an impact and an effect, but these measures mean that it will be strengthened. This change is put forward not solely by the Government; it was a recommendation in the review authored by my noble friend Lady Cumberlege. It adds to the collective picture of improvements that we are making, from future regulation of devices to the medical devices information system. I reassure my noble friend Lord Lansley that we have a profound commitment to creating a regulator in the MHRA that has international influence. I say to the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, that patient representatives are already on the DEAC. As Dr June Raine made clear in her briefing to noble Lords, she and the MHRA are massively committed to the patient safety agenda and to mobilising the patient safety voice through instruments such as the DEAC but not solely through it It is a delegated power, but one that I hope noble Lords agree is contained. It will allow us to ensure that the structure and focus of the committee can be kept under review to make best use of its impact, and the regulations will be subject to public consultation and all the steps therein. The noble Baroness, Lady Thornton, has tabled Amendments 51 to 53 to the government amendment, which would change the nature of the regulations such that they "must" rather than "may" be made. However, as I have set out, the committee already exists; it functions now. It will be strengthened by the regulations. We are committed to a more structured decision-making process that improves transparency. There is no equivocation or doubt; these regulations will be made The powers provided by Amendment 50 in my name will enable movement towards a more transparent, proactive, whole-life cycle approach to vigilance. Fundamentally, they will make a difference in the oversight of medical devices to the benefit of patients and patient safety I am grateful to noble Lords who have continued to shine a light on the importance of device safety. I hope that this additional tool in the arsenal demonstrates continued commitment and that I have provided sufficient reassurances for the noble Baroness to feel able to withdraw the amendment.
Covid-19 — House of Lords, 2021-01-28
Topic: Health
Rachel Trixie Anne Gardner (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I had wanted to speak from personal experience, since, as someone aged over 80, I have been very satisfied: I have been given both of the injections and I think well of them. However, I will ask the Minister about the plans to impose hotel quarantine on travellers from 12 countries with new Covid variants. As an Australian, I know that Australia has been using this system for quite a long time. It has a high profile at the moment because the Australian Open tennis players are in hotel quarantine. How can we be certain that travellers will not seek to hide their country of travel origin by routing through other countries to avoid restrictions and costs? In addition, how effective is it to ask all other travellers to quarantine for 10 days after arriving when my noble friend Lady Harding tells us that track and trace reports that only 60% of people isolate when asked to do so? Should all travellers be made to quarantine in hotels?
Covid-19: Road Map — House of Lords, 2021-02-23
Topic: Health
Natalie Evans (Conservative, Centre-right): My noble friend is right and, like the noble Lord and the noble Baroness, I pay tribute to everybody involved in this fantastic effort. As my noble friend will know, more than 17.7 million people across the UK have had their first dose. Our target remains to offer the first nine priority groups, including everyone over 50, a vaccination by 15 April and all adults over the age of 18 a vaccination by 31 July. It is a fantastic target and we are confident that we will meet it.
Covid-19: Road Map — House of Lords, 2021-02-23
Topic: Health
Natalie Evans (Conservative, Centre-right): I can certainly assure the noble and gallant Lord that the design of the road map has been informed by the latest scientific evidence and is a balance between the societal and economic impact of lockdowns and restrictions and the risks posed by the virus. As I said in response to a question from the noble Lord, we will make an assessment against the four tests at every point of the data, but there will be five weeks between each step.
Future of Health and Care — House of Lords, 2021-02-23
Topic: Health
Lucy Neville-Rolfe (Conservative, Centre-right): While the costs of reorganisation are certain, the expected benefits may or may not be realised. The fate of the Lansley reforms is a lesson for us all. The country will judge the performance of the NHS over the coming decade in the light of this truth. Will the Minister specify objectives against which the new reforms can be assessed?
Future of Health and Care — House of Lords, 2021-02-23
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, the objectives outlined in the White Paper are reasonably clear. The four headline objectives are to make it easier for different people in the system to join up to find ways to address complex issues, to remove unnecessary bureaucracy, to empower local leaders to make the best decisions for the populations they serve and to facilitate a range of other improvements held back by existing legislation This is a large Bill with a very large number of measures. It is not, and does not pretend to be, unified by a single thought or held together by an ideology or motivation of any particular philosophy. It is the application of a very large number of recommendations that have come out of a huge engagement with the NHS family, patients and other stakeholders. As such, it is a pragmatic, thoughtful and restrained approach to an important piece of legislative housekeeping of this much-loved healthcare institution.
Future of Health and Care — House of Lords, 2021-02-23
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): The noble Baroness is right that there are distinctive qualities to social care and medical care, but the lived experience of most patients and residents is that those living in social care are very often heavy consumers of the NHS. As far as most of them are concerned, the support and treatment they are given needs to be much more closely linked. For instance, it is a strange anomaly that many living in residential social care have a completely different budget and sometimes completely different staff providing their medical treatment and their care treatment. This is not a functional distinction that we are seeking to overturn; what we are seeking is to get those teams of people and the decisions made about the care of individuals working much more closely together. We are not seeking to introduce a revolution in the funding of social care, and the financing of social care by local authorities and private individuals will continue, but we would like to see the distinction between social care and NHS medical care become more seamless, more joined up and, therefore, more effective.
Future of Health and Care — House of Lords, 2021-02-23
Topic: Health
Michael Ian Grade (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, the front line of social and community care—indeed the whole of the NHS—begins with local pharmacies, which, as the Government well know, are in dire financial straits, closing down at a rate of four or five every week. I ask my noble friend the Minister: is it the Government’s policy to wait until these vital community services have all gone bankrupt before they act?
Medicines and Medical Devices Bill — House of Lords, 2021-01-12
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my noble friend for her very kind and generous words, and for making it clear that she will not move her amendment. I reassure all noble Lords that their words are on record and will have a bearing and influence on the development of the patient safety commissioner as it is rolled out My noble friend’s question was about timing and speed. I hear her admonishments loud and clear. She knows that once we have committed to something we will deliver it. I ask for her forbearance. There is a global pandemic on. I cannot guarantee that this is the number one priority because we need to do the vaccine and we have to get Britain back on its feet. Those are distractions that I cannot hide from the House, but I reassure my noble friend and all those involved in the debate that a commitment has been made very clearly and we are now moving to deliver it.
Medicines and Medical Devices Bill — House of Lords, 2021-01-12
Topic: Health
Michael Morris (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, in the past I have had the privilege of working with two pharmaceutical companies, a US pharmaceutical company Upjohn and Reckitt pharmaceuticals. I think that as a country we face a unique opportunity at this point caused by Brexit and a situation where we have a major industry which has all the potential to be a world leader. But this point in time is going to go away unless we act. This is a watershed Bill. It creates an opportunity to enhance the role of the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. The industry and all of us should want the UK to be an attractive market for investment in medicines, medical devices and therapies for all our UK patients. It creates an opportunity to make significant improvements in UK clinical research environments and, very importantly, it increases the commercial trial activity to make the UK the number one destination for life sciences supporting UK public health.
Afghanistan — House of Lords, 2021-04-21
Topic: Defense
Mark Lancaster (Conservative, Centre-right): Like many who served in Afghanistan, it is impossible not to have mixed feelings about this week’s news. However, it is nearly seven years since UK forces engaged in combat operations in Afghanistan. I feel that their departure is less of a question than the sustainability of the legacy of the institutions that we have tried to build there. On paper—I emphasise, on paper—the Afghan national army is 185,000 strong and funded almost entirely to date by the US. Is my noble friend confident that the structure, size and capability of the Afghan national army are sustainable in the long run?
His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh — House of Lords, 2021-04-12
Topic: Defense
Andrew Robathan (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I cannot emulate some of the very eloquent tributes we have heard, and nor shall I attempt to. I hope that I will not repeat too many, either. Prince Philip has been a constant in the life of this nation and in the life of the overwhelming majority of the British people for as long as anybody can remember, and all my life too I want to look at his military service. We have heard of his outstanding service in the Royal Navy in the Second World War, but he was Captain General of the Royal Marines for over 60 years. When I was at university I was in the Royal Marines, so he was my Captain General In the Army, he was colonel of a great many regiments—too many to list. In the Household Division, in which I served, he was colonel of the Welsh Guards. When I went to Sandhurst, and shortly afterwards, he appropriately handed on that post to the Prince of Wales. He then became Colonel of the Grenadier Guards for over 40 years and a familiar sight on the Queen’s birthday parade, initially on horseback and subsequently with Her Majesty in a carriage There was a healthy rivalry—it was normally friendly—between the Coldstream Guards, in which I served, and the Grenadier Guards, so I would not presume to speak for the Grenadiers, but I know that he was a much-loved, respected and admired Colonel. I was often on parade with him as a rather insignificant young officer He took the job very seriously. The first time I met him was in 1979 when he was visiting the Grenadier Guards recruits and staff at the guard’s depot in Pirbright, where I was idling my time away as a training officer. I was in my office planning range work or some such with the colour sergeant, when, rather as the noble and learned Lord, Lord Judge, remembers, the Colonel of the Grenadier Guards suddenly came through my door. I was startled, and we both leapt to our feet. He said, "And what are you doing in here?" I was doing a bit of an impression of a goldfish gawping, struggling for words. Then he said, "I expect you’re hoping someone like me doesn’t barge into your office." Of course, he put me at ease, and we all relaxed. I smiled then and I still smile at that amazing instance He was an amazing and brilliant exemplar of public service and duty, from which we can all learn. We and the British people mourn him and will miss him. We should thank him for his service and send our loyal greetings and condolences to Her Majesty.
His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh — House of Lords, 2021-04-12
Topic: Health
Bernard Francisco Ribeiro (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I join other noble Lords in extending my condolences to Her Majesty the Queen and members of the Royal Family. I would like to pay my tribute to His Royal Highness The Prince Philip by recording his contribution to surgery and the support he provided through his patronage of the medical royal colleges and specialty associations His longest association as a patron of a surgical college was with the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. Receiving his honorary fellowship at its 450th anniversary celebrations in June 1955, Prince Philip said: "In these days when everything is either raised or reduced to a science, which really means that the human element is removed as much as possible, it is refreshing to find the word ‘craft’ applied to something so august as surgery. But it is certainly the right word, for the surgeon is the craftsman who draws together the laboratory work of the chemist and the physicist, the nutritional expert and the bacteriologist, the biochemist and the psychologist, and, through the skill of his hands, is the person ultimately responsible for the multiplying of human enjoyments and the mitigation of human suffering." He went on to say: "I only hope that those people who, quite rightly, believe that surgery is more than a craft will forgive me, but I look at it, still, from the point of view of the patient. If anyone is going to tinker about with my insides I would rather he were an accomplished craftsman than an experimental scientist." That sentiment is still as true and relevant today as it was then; his many surgical procedures, from which he made successful recoveries, are testament to that belief and trust Despite his royal status, he was not a man to stand on ceremony, and I was surprised and humbled to see him line up in a queue for a buffet lunch at the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes. He brought the same approach to his interaction with young people. I recall attending a garden party at Buckingham Palace, representing the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland, of which he was patron for nearly 40 years. My wife and I were accompanied by my son and daughter, both at university at the time and, after a brief greeting and chat, he headed straight past us to our children "And what are you studying?", he said to my son. "Geography", he replied. "Well," he said, "you won’t have had any problems finding your way here today then." His interest in and support for young people from many walks of life, epitomised by the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, will, I am sure, become his lasting legacy for the next generation of schoolchildren.
Covid-19: Status Certification — House of Lords, 2021-04-29
Topic: Health
Patrick McLoughlin (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, the Government very clearly set out their road map for getting us out of the Covid situation. Although it was a very slow map, it has been well understood and appreciated by the public overall. They should do something similar for certification, because that would bring a lot of confidence to people. It should not be a mandatory scheme, but if people do not want to partake, they might find that they do not get some of the advantages of the many who do.
Botulinum Toxin and Cosmetic Fillers (Children) Bill — House of Lords, 2021-04-16
Topic: Health
Catherine Meyer (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I too fully support this Bill and thank my noble friend Lady Wyld for introducing it to this House If you need to be 18 to get a tattoo or a sunbed session, it stands to reason that Botox and fillers should also be illegal, to protect children under 18 from themselves and from unscrupulous practitioners. It is normal for teenagers to worry about their appearance. However, as we heard earlier, the pressure put on them by social media has led to the increasing normalisation of cosmetic interventions among the young. Children who are still growing should not be considered candidates for cosmetic treatments, particularly with products such as Botox, which paralyses muscle and is used to lessen the appearance of wrinkles. Of course, there may be instances where the prescription of Botox is medically needed, even for under-18s, as we heard, but Botox is at least classified as a medicine, so it must be prescribed by a medically qualified practitioner. The problem is that it can be injected by somebody with no qualifications at all Fillers, on the other hand, are classified as devices as opposed to medicines, which means that they are wholly unregulated. Children can, for instance, walk into a shop and get their lips injected by someone with no qualifications at all. Botox and filler parties are quite common among the young, where they inject each other. As with Botox, complications with fillers are not uncommon. They can include the filler moving away from the treated area into other parts of the face. As we heard, some individuals were left with rotting tissue and lumps on their faces, and required lip amputations The medical profession itself has tried for many years to get fillers classified as medicines and not devices and to close loopholes such as online purchase, whereby unscrupulous doctors prescribe a product and have it delivered for a fee to someone with no qualification whatever. The young and vulnerable should be protected from unscrupulous exploitation. In other countries, legislation prohibits cosmetic procedures under a certain age. In Germany, for example, no procedure can be done on someone under 18, whether aesthetic or otherwise, without parental consent. In Spain it is the same, and in France the law is even stricter. Clearly, the Bill must be approved, and I fully support it, but as this business is lucrative, it will be difficult to curb illegal trade. I also look forward to hearing the Minister’s responses to some of the questions that were raised about supply.