argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Coronavirus Response — House of Commons, 2020-07-20
Topic: Health
Charlotte Louise Nichols (Labour, Centre-left): Mercifully, our R rate in Warrington is low, but I am concerned about surrounding areas that many of my constituents commute to for work and that local authorities have not been getting patient-identifiable data, which would help them to quickly identify and address workplace outbreaks. I welcome the Secretary of State’s assurance that local authorities will be in receipt of this information from today, but what powers will they have to co-ordinate data sharing with each other to sit alongside this?
Coronavirus Response — House of Commons, 2020-07-20
Topic: Health
Chinyelu Susan Onwurah (Labour, Centre-left): Before asking the people of Newcastle or any city to undertake a local lockdown, the Government must provide clear national guidance, good local data and better local resources. Eighty per cent. of those traced are reached by local authority and public health teams; surely they deserve a greater proportion of the 18,000 tracers recruited nationally. Covid-19 was made a notifiable disease on 5 March, with a legal requirement to notify local authorities, yet the Secretary of State tells us he is only just sorting out the data protection issues of that now.
Coronavirus Response — House of Commons, 2020-07-20
Topic: Health
Deborah Angela Elspeth Marie Abrahams (Labour, Centre-left): I, too, welcome the Health Secretary’s change of heart and his assurance that complete pillar 2 testing data will be sent to local public health departments each day and not each week. The delay has inhibited local public health departments’ ability to contact and trace covid-infected people, letting the virus spread in some areas. Given that many of us have been asking for these data for a number of weeks now, what is his assessment of the number of people who have been infected as a result of the delay, the impact on public confidence, and the hit that local economies will take because of these failures?
Coronavirus Response — House of Commons, 2020-07-20
Topic: Health
Grahame Mark Morris (Labour, Centre-left): I hope the Secretary of State is aware of the tragic case of Kelly Smith, who sadly died when her cancer treatment was stopped during the covid lockdown. The Government’s aspiration to get cancer services back to normal by the end of the year is simply not acceptable. Too many cancers are incurable within a few weeks. Will he address this issue, and will he look at transforming radiotherapy services, which have emerged as being highly effective as a cancer treatment and can be delivered even if there is a second spike in the pandemic?
Covid-19: Care Homes — House of Commons, 2020-09-09
Topic: Health
Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour, Centre-left): My brother-in-law’s father somehow contracted covid in a care home and, sadly, passed away. Like us, many families will have had to bear the tragedy of not being able to comfort their loved ones as they grieved their loss. Scotland has the highest care home death rate in the UK, and last month it was revealed that at least 37 hospital patients who had tested positive for coronavirus were discharged into care homes, which helped to turn them into breeding grounds for the virus, resulting in the loss of invaluable lives. So what discussions has the Minister had with Scottish Ministers about why that was allowed to happen?
Engagements — House of Commons, 2020-09-09
Topic: Health
Keir Starmer (Labour, Centre-left): Yesterday, I spoke to a mum who lives in London. She has a four-year-old daughter, who had a very high temperature yesterday morning. She phoned 111, and was told to get a test. She tried to book, and was told the nearest was Romford. That was 9 o’clock in the morning. She explored that, but there were no tests there. She was then told Haywards Heath, halfway to Brighton—on exploration, no tests there. By lunch time, this mum was told the nearest place was Telford or Inverness. A slot became available in Lee Valley in the afternoon—one slot—but, unfortunately, that was being offered across the country, including to people in Manchester, and it was impossible to book. At 9 o’clock last night, she was told the nearest centre was Swansea. This is, frankly, ridiculous. Who does the Prime Minister think is responsible for this?
Engagements — House of Commons, 2020-09-09
Topic: Health
Keir Starmer (Labour, Centre-left): I will hear the measures later on, but we will in principle support them, as I have supported all the measures the Prime Minister has introduced, as he well knows. It is the right thing to do, and I have asked people to follow Government advice at every opportunity Nobody is attacking here. The Prime Minister needs to know how anxious hundreds of families are. In the past few weeks, they have been sent all over the country or told there are no tests. It cannot be brushed off. Earlier this year, the Health Secretary said: "Anybody who needs a test can get a test, and it’s the most important thing that you can do to stop the spread of this virus." This is a very serious issue, but the Government line on it seems to be changing all the time. Yesterday, the director of NHS Test and Trace said, "Can I…offer my…apologies to anyone who cannot get a covid test...it’s our laboratory processing" that is the problem. This morning, the Health Secretary changed tack and appeared to blame the public. I note that he made a statement yesterday and faced questions but he did not say anything about the excuse that he puts forward this morning that emerged overnight. So who is right—the director of Test and Trace, who says it is a laboratory problem, or the Health Secretary, who says it is the public’s fault?
Engagements — House of Commons, 2020-09-09
Topic: Health
Keir Starmer (Labour, Centre-left): Hundreds of families have been trying to get a test in the last week, and they cannot get one. I do acknowledge the number of tests overall, but this is basic stuff. People who have got covid symptoms are very anxious about themselves, their children, their families and what to do. It means they cannot go to work and they cannot send their children to school. It matters, and if they cannot get tests the Prime Minister needs to take responsibility and not just tell us about the future or something else, but address this problem I want to take it further, because it is not just that people are being told to go hundreds of miles. Somebody contacted me yesterday and said: "My wife has a temperature and they said we needed to isolate and get a test done. I have been trying to book a test". This is yesterday, Prime Minister. They continued: "the site says, ‘No capacity’. Then I tried for a home test kit and they are telling me that there are no kits available at present." That is the situation yesterday. Yesterday, there were no tests available in London and it was the same the day before. Prime Minister, what is happening?
Engagements — House of Commons, 2020-09-09
Topic: Health
Keir Starmer (Labour, Centre-left): We all want test, trace and isolate to succeed, and I have offered my support before. The Prime Minister is ignoring the problem: if people are being told to go hundreds of miles, something is wrong. This has got a lot worse in the past week or two—all Members of the House know that, because they have all had constituents telling them that. The Prime Minister talks about capacity. The latest Government figures were updated last night. They show that, on average, 75,000 tests are not being used every day. If 75,000 tests are not being used, why yesterday were people being told to go hundreds of miles for a test? Why yesterday were people being told that there is no capacity?
Engagements — House of Commons, 2020-09-09
Topic: Health
Keir Starmer (Labour, Centre-left): Why can we not just hear from the Prime Minister an honest answer? If he stood at the Dispatch Box and said, "I know something’s gone wrong in the last couple of weeks. We have been getting hundreds of examples of people being sent all over the place or being told there is no test. I have looked into it. I have worked out what the problem is and here is my plan", people might be reassured. But, as ever, he pretends the problem is not there. The infection rate is rising. This is the very point at which we need a functioning testing regime. Far from the "world-beating" system we were promised, the Government cannot even get the basics right. The Government are lurching from crisis to crisis. They still lack even basic incompetence—[Interruption.] They lack competence. [Interruption.] Yes, Prime Minister, they lack competence, and that is what is holding Britain back. My final question is this: when is the problem with test, trace and isolate going to be fixed?
Engagements — House of Commons, 2020-09-09
Topic: Health
Katharine Helen Brooks-Osborne (Labour, Centre-left): Yesterday, the Health Secretary said, and I quote:"We have the largest testing system imaginable."—[Official Report, 8 September 2020; Vol. 679, c. 527.]Yet in my constituency of Jarrow, which is one of the Government’s areas of concern, people are struggling to get a covid test. This is not criticism or an attack on our NHS, but it is months since the Prime Minister promised us all a world-leading test, track and trace system, so I ask him: where is it?
Engagements — House of Commons, 2020-09-09
Topic: Health
Rushanara Ali (Labour, Centre-left): The £150 million spent on faulty masks, the £120 million spent on contracts awarded to a Tory council and the staggering £1 billion-worth of contracts awarded without proper due diligence—where has the money gone, Prime Minister?
Awarding of Qualifications: Role of Ministers — House of Commons, 2020-09-09
Topic: Health
Katherine Anne Green (Labour, Centre-left): I accept how difficult it was to predict the way in which the pandemic would open out in March and to decide on a course of action, and it is important that we understand how those decisions were taken, but what is not acceptable—
NHS Parking Charges — House of Commons, 2020-09-09
Topic: Health
Zarah Sultana (Labour, Centre-left): I rise to present a petition on behalf of the residents of Coventry South regarding hospital parking charges, alongside an online petition on the same topic, which has been signed by 2,219 people The petition states: The petition of residents of the constituency of Coventry South, Declares that NHS staff deserve thanks and recognition for their extraordinary service through the Coronavirus pandemic; notes that parking charges have recently been re-imposed at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire; and further notes that NHS staff have faced a decade of falling pay and that, despite this, a pay rise has still been refused to nurses, porters, cleaners and many other staff The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Government to scrap hospital parking charges for staff, patients, and visitors, and to ensure that there is a pay settlement for NHS staff that gives them the recognition they deserve And the petitioners remain, etc [P002594]
Local Restrictions: Reducing Covid-19 Transmission — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
William Roffen Esterson (Labour, Centre-left): Yesterday, the Health Secretary told me: "we have been putting the extra money into…councils"—[Official Report, 5 October 2020; Vol. 681, c. 637.] What money is that? He announced £7 million, split between nine councils, as compared with £12 billion for Serco. That is not putting the extra money into councils, is it? So may I ask him to show respect for Members of this House and, more importantly, for our constituents, and answer the question: when is he going to stop relying on the outsourcing giants and to support local public health teams with the funds they need, because that is how he and this country are going to fix test, trace and isolate?
Shotley Bridge Community Hospital — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Kevan David Jones (Labour, Centre-left): I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing the debate. He is right about the community support in not only his constituency but North Durham, which the hospital also serves. If the moneys are in place, that is welcome news, but there seems to be confusion locally about where the site will be and whether there will be 16 beds. Does he have an update on those details?
Covid-19 — House of Commons, 2020-10-22
Topic: Health
Christopher John Bryant (Labour, Centre-left): In this case, the point is that we will not achieve herd immunity just by trying to let everyone get the disease. That is an immoral proposition. We have all heard the line that this virus is not that dangerous and is less dangerous than flu. I am sure that we have all had emails about it. The facts—and again there are no alternative facts here—are that covid is more easily transmitted than flu and has more complications for more people. Between January and August 2020, there were 48,168 deaths due to covid-19—not associated with it—compared with 13,619 deaths due to pneumonia and 394 deaths due to influenza. The number of deaths due to covid up to 31 August this year was higher than those due to influenza and pneumonia in every single year since 1959, including years when we did not have a vaccine for flu The other theme of the great declaration is supposed to be focused protection. Again, that sounds great—"let’s protect the most vulnerable"—but we cannot just shut the elderly and vulnerable away and throw away the key. They do not live in hermetically sealed units, funnily enough. They rely on nurses, carers, home helps and family members. All those people would presumably have to be locked away. Is somebody going to suggest that the most vulnerable communities—in fact, the BAME community—are en masse all going to be locked away, as well as the overweight, no doubt, and all the men? Of course, that is a complete and utter nonsense. By one estimate, we would be incarcerating a quarter of the whole UK population There is a cruelty at the heart of this proposal: it is basically survival of the fittest. Yes, it does make me angry when people propose it. It makes me angry for those who have lost loved ones this year, who seem to be ignored. It makes me angry for the NHS staff who have slogged their way through the misery on our behalf and need us all to realise that there is a much better creed than survival of the fittest, and it is that we are all in this together.
Childcare: Parental Access — House of Commons, 2020-10-12
Topic: Health
Tulip Rizwana Siddiq (Labour, Centre-left): Data from Ofsted shows that the number of nurseries and other childcare providers with coronavirus cases has, on average, been doubling every week since the start of September, yet many early years workers cannot access covid tests or get quick results, which is forcing them to stay at home. I have heard from a nursery in Surrey that has been forced to close as a result, affecting 40 children and depriving their parents of childcare. Will the Minister confirm whether childcare workers still qualify for priority testing? If so, why are they not getting it?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-10-12
Topic: Health
George Edward Howarth (Labour, Centre-left): The Prime Minister is aware that, if we are to tackle these horrendous rises in covid-19 in the Liverpool City Region, we need a much more effective track, trace and isolate system, but we do not have one yet. Will he accept my suggestion that we establish a Liverpool City Region test, trace and isolate taskforce, including the NHS, local authorities, the Metro Mayor and other stakeholders, to report by the end of this week with suggestions on how the unused NHS capacity that exists could be used more effectively, so that we have a proper test, trace and isolate system in place?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-10-12
Topic: Health
Dawn Petula Butler (Labour, Centre-left): Instead of supporting the established system in public health, the Prime Minister has invested £10 billion in privatised companies. It has not controlled the virus, it has not saved lives and it has not rebuilt the economy. In Brent, the wonderful CEO, Carolyn Downs, with the leader of the council, Mo Butt, had control of local testing. We were able to test people very quickly, and in surrounding areas. The Government have taken the majority of the testing away. People are told they have to travel miles to get tested and, in addition, care workers have waited seven days to get their test results. When will the Prime Minister stop his obsession with this centralised approach and go for a decentralised approach that works?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-10-12
Topic: Health
Mohammad Yasin (Labour, Centre-left): The Prime Minister keeps telling us that test and trace provision is being increased, yet the covid-19 testing facility at Bedford’s Borough Hall has just reduced its service provision from seven to four days a week at a time when the infection rates are rising. So I have a simple question, Prime Minister: why?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-10-12
Topic: Health
Neil Coyle (Labour, Centre-left): The chief execs of 17,000 hospitality businesses—representing half a million jobs and millions of customers every week, including many in my central London Southwark constituency—say that not one of them has seen a super-spreader incident and none has had direct contact from the tracing system. Testing and tracing is not working, so why will the Prime Minister not get a grip and fix those systems, instead of floundering, trying to find someone else to blame, and putting more lives and more jobs at risk?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-10-12
Topic: Health
Catherine McKinnell (Labour, Centre-left): Thousands of women are carrying the anxiety not only of bringing new life into this world in the middle of a pandemic, but of potentially having to go into labour alone. Despite changes to the Government’s guidelines, too few hospitals are allowing women to take a birth partner into hospital with them. As somebody who experienced very painful and long labours, I cannot bear the idea of a woman facing that alone. In order that we do not look back in shame on how we treated pregnant women and new mothers during this period, will the Prime Minister do what he can to make sure that hospitals do their bit to ensure that women do not face labour alone?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-10-12
Topic: Health
Yvette Cooper (Labour, Centre-left): Just a month ago, the Prime Minister described his moonshot plan, under which millions of tests would be done and returned every day. He said, "if everything comes together, it may be possible even for challenging sectors like theatres to have life much closer to normal before Christmas." Families are now feeling that a normal Christmas is further away than ever, and local health officials in our area have said that people are waiting for six days, not a day, to get their test results. If we could come back from the moon and get back to what is happening on planet Earth, when will he have enough testing capacity in place so that my constituents can get their results in 24 hours?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-10-12
Topic: Health
Lucy Maria Powell (Labour, Centre-left): Can I thank the Prime Minister for listening to calls from Members from across Greater Manchester on both sides of the House to work with us locally to tackle the virus while remaining in tier 2, which I think he has announced today? But does he agree with me that it is vital we take the public with us, and that means credibility that the tough measures he is outlining really do follow the evidence of where transmission is occurring? He has yet to provide evidence that closing pubs and restaurants would make a material difference in transmission, but action on households would, so will he today recommit to working with Greater Manchester leaders on tackling household transmission—proposals put forward to his office last night?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-10-12
Topic: Health
James Ian Mearns (Labour, Centre-left): Would the Prime Minister confirm that the north-east is at tier 2? Can I recommend to the Prime Minister a document published this weekend by the Association of Directors of Public Health called "Protecting our communities"? This document suggests a comprehensive national strategy that embraces locally led responses. However, for these local interventions to work, directors of public health in local authorities in the north-east need the much heralded, but as yet not forthcoming, resources, so that with their local leadership working together with the communities they serve, we might have a real chance to turn back the tide of this virus. But we need the money—real money, not promissory notes from the bank of empty rhetoric.
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-10-12
Topic: Health
Kerry Gillian McCarthy (Labour, Centre-left): When my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne North (Catherine McKinnell) asked the Prime Minister about partners attending labour, he said that if she had any problematic examples, she should bring them to his attention. I have a constituent who so far in her pregnancy has lost two of her three triplets, one at eight weeks and one at 20 weeks. She was then told that she could not bring her partner with her to the 34-week scan. Obviously, scans ought to be good news for parents, but sometimes they are not. We had an intervention from the Mayor and support from the campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed, and her partner was then allowed to visit, but this is another issue. It is not just about attending labour; the partner ought to be there for scans as well.
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-10-12
Topic: Health
Diana Ruth Johnson (Labour, Centre-left): This morning, Professor Van-Tam said that the resurgence in covid-19 cases among young people is being spread to the older generation. We know that the World Health Organisation’s mantra is, "Test, test, test", but the test, trace and isolate system is not good enough. Does the Prime Minister think that universities such as Hull University in my constituency should set up their own testing facility for all their students, including asymptomatic students, as the University of East Anglia and Cambridge University are now doing?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-10-12
Topic: Health
Kevin Denis Brennan (Labour, Centre-left): Between 27 September and 3 October, 89% of positive cases were reached by local authority public health tracing in Wales, but for the equivalent period just 74% were reached by the outsourced, centralised system in England. That is not ideology; that is just better virus-control policy to save lives. Test and trace needs trust to be effective. Does the Prime Minister now acknowledge that outsourcing the system was an error?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-10-12
Topic: Health
William Roffen Esterson (Labour, Centre-left): Without evidence, people will not have confidence in the Government, so what is the scientific evidence for the restrictions that the Prime Minister has announced, which will affect 1.5 million people in the Liverpool city region? People need hope that these measures will be short-lived, so what is the exit strategy and specifically what will the infection rate have to fall to for the restrictions in the Liverpool city region to be lifted?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-10-12
Topic: Health
Chinyelu Susan Onwurah (Labour, Centre-left): Test, track and isolate must be made to work; without it, nothing can work. Can the Prime Minister tell me where transmission is occurring in Newcastle now, rather than guessing based on US data? If he cannot, after six months and hundreds of millions of pounds spent on private contractors to track transmission, will he accept that fundamentally what is not working in this pandemic is the Prime Minister, and the businesses and people of Newcastle are paying the price?