argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Self-Isolation) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-10-22
Topic: Health
Karan Bilimoria (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, with millions of people and many thousands of businesses in tier 2 and tier 3 areas, the support measures announced today by the Chancellor will bring a huge sigh of relief to many, especially those in the hospitality sector. However, it is no exaggeration to say that successful, affordable mass testing could transform the way we live and work in the months ahead. The Minister has worked very hard in this area. Will he give us an update on the 20 million 15-minute antigen tests that have now been procured and are being deployed around the country The Prime Minister, the Health Secretary, the Transport Secretary and even the Minister have consistently used Public Health England’s 7% figure to reject calls for the introduction of airport testing. By contrast, 30 other countries are now implementing airport testing on arrival. Some have gone further to test after five days of quarantine to reduce the number of asymptomatic carriers who might be missed. Today, the Daily Telegraph reported that "Oxera and Edge Health, said the 7 per cent figure was ‘significantly understated’ because it excluded not only travellers who might have symptoms but also those whose viral load could be detected … ‘If all infected passengers (including detectable symptomatic passengers) who attempted to enter the UK population but were prevented from doing so were to be included in the estimate, this estimate would be 63 per cent.’" That is nine times 7%. They also said that the public health report was based on a modelling exercise and did not take into account "‘real-world’ evidence from … airport testing regimes such as Jersey, where only a tiny fraction of arrivals tested positive without any onward community transmission." Will the Minister explain why we cannot implement airport testing, which will help our tourism industry, business, airports and airlines, which have suffered so much through this pandemic?
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Self-Isolation) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-10-22
Topic: Health
Ilora Gillian Finlay (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, these regulations read as punitive. Currently, around 18% of people self-isolate after developing symptoms, but only 11% of people in contact with them quarantine for 14 days. It seems that one in 10 with Covid is a high spreader, inadvertently passing the virus to around 80% of the subsequent cases. Containing these outbreaks requires very rapid testing and tracing, because in two and a half days each will have doubled in size Non-adherence is associated with men, younger age groups, having a dependent child at home, lower socio- economic grade, greater hardship during the pandemic and working in a key sector. We hear of those who cannot miss work for financial reasons, whose housing makes self-isolation impossible, whose caring responsibilities mean that self-isolation would cause disproportionate suffering for others, whose mental health and welfare are deteriorating, or whose cognitive difficulties mean that they cannot understand why they are being punished by being kept away from the activities and people they depend on Crippling fines and a police record will only disincentivise people to seek testing and disclose their contacts. The criteria behind the instruction to self-isolate are not transparent and there is no appeal mechanism for those who feel they have been inappropriately instructed. That runs counter to the principles of co-production and the findings from the CORSAIR study, which showed that practical support and financial reimbursement, with targeted messaging and clear policies, are likely to improve adherence. Punitive measures set up blame and division, not supportive collaboration. Any instruction must help people understand the benefit to them and those they care for, not jeopardise health by driving people to conceal their symptoms I am sure that is a risk that our hard-working Minister recognises and does not want to take.
Public Health Restrictions: Government Economic Support — House of Lords, 2020-10-15
Topic: Health
Nicholas Trench (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, it is easy to forget that the combination of nearly full support for the employed and the self-employed, and getting people to stay at home, was part of a suite of measures that was successful, in less than three months, in drastically reducing the number of cases and deaths, if what ultimately was lacking was test and trace. What research is there now on transmission of the virus during a working day? Will the Government consider that such national measures will be needed again if we are to beat the virus and avoid destitution for large numbers of people?
Covid-19: Response — House of Lords, 2020-07-27
Topic: Health
Narendra Babubhai Patel (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, Amnesty has reported that the UK has had 540 deaths among health and care workers, second only to Russia. Compare that to Spain, which has had 63 deaths. Have the Government carried out a root-cause analysis to find out the causes of these deaths, and will they publish the results? If the Government have not carried out such an analysis, will the Minister agree that one should be carried out with some urgency in case there is a second wave of infection?
Covid-19: Response — House of Lords, 2020-07-27
Topic: Health
Mary Watkins (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, the Statement is clear that the intention is to mass-vaccinate the population once we have a vaccine that is safe and effective. Can the Minister inform us of Her Majesty’s Government’s plans to achieve this, in the light of concerns among general practitioners that they will be overwhelmed, and given that as many as one in six people in a recent survey said that they would not take up the vaccine if it was available? Do the Government intend, for example, to deploy the many nurses and doctors who volunteered to assist earlier this year to deliver vaccinations for both flu and Covid-19? Will they engage faith leaders in encouraging the uptake of vaccinations through proper explanation of the benefits to individuals and to society as a whole of so doing?
Covid-19: Response — House of Lords, 2020-07-27
Topic: Health
Molly Christine Meacher (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, I pay tribute to the Minister for the way he answers all our endless questions. I want to raise two issues of huge importance. I understand that the system of track and trace, in the absence of an app, will not be sufficient to prevent a second national wave of Covid-19. Can the Minister tell the House when we will introduce the Google/Apple app? Secondly, have the Government assessed the cost of full regular community testing, which would involve the entire population being tested weekly? This would certainly be costly, but surely it will be infinitely less costly than a second national wave of Covid-19—in terms of the demolition of the economy—particularly if we can use the Southampton saliva test.
Covid-19: Response — House of Lords, 2020-07-27
Topic: Health
Rajinder Paul Loomba (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, we are all aware that more than 45,000 people have died as a result of Covid-19, and the number is still rising. Is any statistical analysis by gender available, and how will the Government support the Covid widows who have may lost the breadwinner in their family?
Social Distancing: Two-metre Rule — House of Lords, 2020-06-16
Topic: Health
Christopher Rennard (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, yesterday a Health Minister in the Commons repeated the mantra that advisers advise and Ministers decide. But trust in government has diminished greatly in recent weeks, so people need to know what is advised before accepting what Ministers decide. Can the Minister assure us that the advice to be provided by the Government’s scientific and medical advisers to this review will be published as it is written and submitted by them, independently of any government pressure, so that we will know whether or not any proposed change really is based on scientific and medical advice? There is a consensus that the Government were late on lockdown, late on face masks and late on testing and tracing, so we do not want to be premature in reducing the two-metre distance rule. Should we not be sure that we have a full track and trace system in place before considering easing the distance rules?
Covid-19 Update — House of Lords, 2020-12-15
Topic: Health
Sheila Clare Hollins (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, 200,000 people are on their GP’s learning disability register and get the flu jab on the same terms as over-65s, but only one in 10 of this group has been prioritised for vaccination. My research 25 years ago found that these people were 58 times more likely to die before the age of 50 in ordinary times, and PHE research found a death rate 30 times higher for 18 to 34 year-olds with learning disabilities than for others of the same age during the first wave. To require them to wait until their chronological age group is eligible seems discriminatory. Will the Minister commit to look at this again?
Covid-19 Update — House of Lords, 2020-12-15
Topic: Health
Ilora Gillian Finlay (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, I declare that I chair the National Mental Capacity Forum. I ask the Minister to express thanks to staff in his department as they continue to work with us and the Ministry of Justice to run a rapid-response webinar on Friday, requested from primary care leads yesterday, following their pilot, to support primary care as vaccination is rolled out to care homes, where many residents have seriously impaired capacity. We aim to disseminate the latest guidance and ensure appropriate information to support understanding for consent to vaccination, including easy-read and pictorial versions of information.
Covid-19 Update — House of Lords, 2020-12-15
Topic: Health
John Anderson (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, I am reliably informed that only two of the 14 passengers in a carriage on the 5.48 am Southeastern train from Gravesend to the London terminus this morning were wearing masks, so clearly the message is not getting through. Adding to the words that the Minister offered to the remarks of the noble Lord, Lord Winston, on the challenges that have appeared this morning of the long- awaited test release scheme, I ask: why not resolve this in part by passengers obtaining a test evidencing a negative result within 72 hours of travel into the UK? Further, if they have received a vaccination abroad or a negative test result abroad, will official confirmation from an appropriate authority from abroad be acceptable to the United Kingdom?
Coronavirus Vaccine — House of Lords, 2020-12-03
Topic: Health
Narendra Babubhai Patel (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, as we embark on a mass vaccination programme, it is important that we follow up all those who are vaccinated, or at least a cohort of them, with whatever vaccines are used, in a scientific way. It is important that structured scientific data collection is implemented. Do the Government plan to do that, and who will be doing it? I hope that it will be UK academic institutions, because there is much more science to learn post vaccination about the effectiveness of different vaccines and the science of the new way of developing these vaccines.
Covid-19 Update — House of Lords, 2020-11-30
Topic: Health
David Brownrigg Craig (Crossbench, Unknown): Can the Minister confirm that the initial advice from the independent committee on vaccinations is that, after NHS and care homes staff, priority should be given to people over 80 in the rest of the population in order of age and risk? That is medically sound advice, but in the wider national interest would it not be preferable that those who contribute to recovery and education are prioritised over the more elderly who successfully kept themselves free from the virus and do not expect to continue to benefit at the expense of working individuals?
Reading Terrorist Attack — House of Lords, 2020-06-23
Topic: Health
Jeremy Purvis (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I will not ask the Minister to comment on the ongoing investigation because I know that she will not. There have been reports that the detained person had been accessing mental health services. Will she assure the House that, if lessons are to be learned from this tragic incident, the availability of mental health services in the community beyond those in the criminal justice system will also be considered? Even before this crisis, the Government’s record on providing mental health services for those seeking them has been very poor. Can we be assured that mental health services, specifically for young people and for those coming out of a criminal justice or prison situation, will be included as part of her stocktaking exercise?
Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill — House of Lords, 2020-06-23
Topic: Culture
Christopher Fox (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, this will be something of a novelty but I am going to be gracious. As is appropriate, I congratulate the Government on bringing forth Amendment 49, as did the noble Baroness, Lady Neville-Rolfe, and on sweeping away as many as possible of the Henry VIII clauses, as they are known. My noble friend Lady Barker set out the challenge for this Bill and the reasons for retaining some powers to change and mutate it as it goes forward. Because of the haste and scale of the Bill, there is a great challenge from non-conventional businesses, so to speak The point about museums is a very good example of where it is a question not just of the future of the museum but the future integrity of a collection, which suddenly becomes an asset. While it may not be possible to save a museum, it should be possible to save a collection—but, when very many collections are going up for sale at the same time, clearly the capacity to deal with that is eliminated; that is just one very niche example of the challenge for the Government. In this set of amendments, the Government have shown an ear to the debate and have reacted accordingly.
Health and Care Bill — House of Lords, 2022-03-03
Topic: Health
Philip Alexander Hunt (Labour, Centre-left): I am sorry to interrupt, but does the Minister not take my point that it is not that Ministers will have to use those powers; it is that they have powers that will change behaviour immediately in the health service? That is the issue.
Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2019-02-26
Topic: Health
Molly Christine Meacher (Crossbench, Unknown): I shall speak very briefly. I welcome very much Amendments 13 and 22 in particular in relation to independent hospitals. In Committee, a number of us raised that issue and were very concerned that independent hospitals, which are often hundreds of miles away from a person’s home, could act as the responsible body and make crucial decisions where perhaps they have a commercial interest in keeping that person on their premises With the permission of the current Minister, I will applaud the noble Lord, Lord O’Shaughnessy, because I feel I know that he played a key role in making sure that these amendments found their way into the Bill. The stipulation that the local authority shall be the responsible body is important. Although I understand what the noble Baroness, Lady Thornton, is saying, it seems to be a huge step forward to take the responsible body away from the independent hospital. I would like to feel that local authorities—the professionals dealing with the assessment of such cases—would have a real interest in making sure that those people returned home, if at all possible, as soon as possible. That is what all this should be about The other matter I will raise briefly is that of people in domestic settings, where deprivation of liberty is at stake. At our recent meeting with the Bill team we were assured that such cases would be dealt with under this new piece of legislation in the course of the normal care planning process, rather than requiring a reference to the Court of Protection. When an elderly person is caring for a demented husband or wife, the last thing they need is some bureaucratic requirement. This seemed very important, and I was delighted when the Bill team gave us an assurance that this, too, was being dealt with There is nothing in the Commons amendments on this, but I wonder whether the Minister could give the House an assurance that it will indeed be the case that people in domestic settings will be dealt with within the local authority planning process, and will not require a reference to the Court of Protection.
Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2019-02-26
Topic: Health
Mary Watkins (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, I welcome the Minister to her new role, and look forward very much to working with her. I also acknowledge that the Government have gone a very long way in responding to previous amendments in the name of Lady Hollis and myself with regard to the supply of information to the cared-for person and other relevant bodies I turn briefly to my Amendment 25A. While I fully appreciate that it is not always practicable for the responsible body to ensure that a copy of the authorisation record is given to the cared-for person and other bodies immediately after authorisation, as outlined, Commons Amendment 25 is not at all specific about the time limits. I believe this means that busy clinical staff may not always feel it necessary to chase up this issue and make time swiftly to explain issues to the cared-for person or the appropriate person. This needs to be done quickly enough in terms of ongoing deprivation of liberty safeguard orders for appeals or challenges to the authorisation to be made, if individuals so require.
NHS Long Term Plan — House of Lords, 2019-01-31
Topic: Health
Mary Watkins (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, on securing this debate, and draw attention to my interests as set out in the register. Like other noble Lords, I welcome the plan and the certainty it brings to health service funding, and in particular the aim to achieve parity of esteem between mental health and physical health through investing in the causes and consequences of poor mental health However, it is vital to provide truly integrated social and healthcare services in our population to promote healthier lives and provide support and treatment to those with a range of disabilities, including both physical and mental health conditions. Yet we still await the Government’s Green Paper on social care, which is another essential part of the jigsaw. Without clear indications of the funding source available for social care, the implementation of the NHS plan will flounder, with many people remaining in hospital when they are ready for discharge—not only older people with comorbidities but younger people with learning disabilities and autism, a proportion of whom are still in institutional care despite all political parties’ commitment to eradicating this approach. Public health budgets have been cut since 2015, yet we know, for example, that for every publicly funded pound spent on contraception there is a saving of £9 over 10 years—before considering the wider societal costs and impacts of unplanned pregnancies. The number of health visitors is being reduced in many local authorities—not necessarily because decision-makers want to do so, but because they must make provision for minimal statutory services, so they are faced with selecting the least-worst options to balance budgets. How swiftly will PHE budgets be restored and increased so that both contraception and health visiting services can be adequately provided The noble Lord, Lord Turnberg, and the noble Baroness, Lady Tyler, spoke eloquently on workforce issues, but I want to draw attention to the fact that, while we talk about the NHS having a shortage in the region of 40,000 nurses, there are a number of vacancies in the voluntary and independent sectors—particularly in nursing and care homes. At a conservative estimate, there is a shortage of at least 60,000 nurses in England. Yet the NHS plan says that by 2028 it will improve the vacancy rate by 5%. A simple arithmetic equation tells us that this means only 2,000 more nurses. What impact will this really have in assisting the delivery of the new plan Finally, there is a section in the plan relating to limiting A&E admissions for alcohol-related problems. This is an excellent aim, but surely the swiftest effective approach would be to introduce a minimum unit price for alcohol, as adopted in Scotland and recommended by medical experts in public health, not only in England but internationally. Could the Minister tell us how the review on minimum unit pricing in England is developing?
NHS Long Term Plan — House of Lords, 2019-01-31
Topic: Health
Colin MacKenzie Low (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, on securing this debate. There can hardly be a more timely and pertinent subject for debate at present than the case for a fully funded, comprehensive and integrated health and social care system in the context of the new NHS Long Term Plan. We have only three minutes, so I shall concentrate on just one thing which I actually know something about: eye health and visual impairment. In doing so, I declare my interest as a vice-president of RNIB and co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Eye Health and Visual Impairment Sight is the sense that people most fear losing. Ophthalmology has the second-highest number of out-patient appointments of any specialty. Due to demographic factors, the number of people in the UK affected by sight loss is projected to rise by more than 10% by 2020 and more than 40% by 2030. The British Ophthalmological Surveillance Unit—BOSU—found that more than 200 people every year experience severe and permanent sight loss due to delayed and cancelled appointments. Yet, extraordinarily, there is no mention of ophthalmology in the long-term plan For these reasons, my all-party parliamentary group undertook an inquiry into capacity problems in NHS eyecare services and the commissioning and planning of such services in England. The inquiry was supported by an independent secretariat hosted by RNIB, and funded by the Bayer pharmaceutical company, which had no role in the scope, development or delivery of the inquiry, however. The inquiry’s report—See the Light: Improving Capacity in NHS Eye Care in England—was published last June and contained 16 recommendations. Obviously I cannot go into all of them in any detail now, but they include measures: to ensure that eye health is accorded higher priority; on how capacity issues are addressed by sustainability and transformation partnerships plans; to ensure that the national tariff for ophthalmology does not disadvantage patients at particular risk of avoidable sight loss who require follow-up appointments; and to ensure that patients requiring follow-up appointments are seen within clinically appropriate timescales Finally, eye clinic liaison officers—ECLOs—play a vital role in signposting patients to support in the community following the often devastating trauma of a diagnosis of sight loss, but their availability is patchy. RNIB is therefore calling for all ophthalmology departments to offer ECLO support. I would be glad to learn from the Minister the department’s thinking on how ECLO services could be rolled out throughout the eyecare service, and to hear that the department is both taking our all-party group’s recommendations seriously and working for their implementation.