argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Human Medicines (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-12-02
Topic: Health
David Goddard (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I do not intend to take up too much of the time of the House, but I want to make a couple of comments and ask the Minister three questions about the SIs and the context in which they sit. These instruments are technical in nature, but the subject area—the regulation of medicines and medical devices—is a key issue for millions of people across the United Kingdom It is clear that in a no-deal EU exit scenario, the UK’s current participation in the European regulatory network for medical devices would end. The MHRA would then take on the responsibility for the UK market currently undertaken through the EU system, to ensure the continued safety of patients. The instruments are designed to enable the regulation of medical products and devices across the UK to be continued beyond the implementation period, so the regulations need maximum scutiny The EU and the UK markets for medicines and medical devices are closely linked, and enormous numbers are involved. I doubt whether the general public have any idea of the scale. According to the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, every month at least 45 million packs of medicines are exported from the UK to the EU, and 37 million packs are supplied from the EU to the UK. The UK still also relies heavily on the EU for its supply of medical devices, with more than half its £5 billion budget for imported medical technology being spent on devices originating from the EU From January 2021, changes to legislation on these issues will no longer flow through from updates at EU level. I therefore hope that the Government will explain clearly how this vital supply chain will be not only maintained but improved. A number of issues in relation to the Medicines and Medical Devices Bill have raised concerns about the Government’s approach to the future regulation of medicines and medical devices. I will pick out just three for the Minister to consider The first issue is patient safety. There is a balance to be struck between innovation and patient safety. The Government need to provide assurances that patient safety will be an overarching consideration in their approach to new devices, some of which have been controversial in the past. The scandal of the women affected by mesh implants is an obvious example of where things have gone wrong The second issue is about alignment and collaboration. The EMA centralises the process for licensing and the monitoring of drug safety. Pharmaceutical companies could prioritise the EEA market over the UK market if the processes diverge too far, leading to delays in medication and medical devices being available in the UK The third issue—to me, possibly the most important—is patient data. The Government need to provide assurances that patient data will be protected and used appropriately. That should be front and centre of their approach, to give confidence that patient data will be protected and will not be shared with third parties.
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (All Tiers) (England) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-12-30
Topic: Health
Paul Scriven (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, we are at the point of a national emergency. If things continue as now, the NHS will fall over in the next few weeks. The virus is moving at frightening speed, yet the Government have not kept up. The time for the Government to follow public health and not public opinion is now. Hope is on the horizon with the vaccines, but short-term action is more important to keep people alive than extenuating future positives These regulations were too little, too late. Today the Government have to go further. The balance between the economy and saving lives is difficult, but you cannot contribute to the economy if you are dead. Government policy based on balancing the splits in the Tory party over lockdowns has to stop. The number of new cases, people dying and the stress on the NHS show that further action is required now, to slow the spread of the virus, keep people alive and protect the NHS. The Government have to follow the SAGE advice and implement a lockdown until R is well below one. Evidence shows that secondary school pupils do spread the new variant, and therefore action is required on secondary school openings. Not to do so will endanger public health. To mitigate the educational issues facing young people, a Covid-19 premium must be implemented and given to schools so that young people get the support they need to catch up. This should be in place for the whole of this Parliament and not just a payment to schools for the next few months The NHS is getting to the point of not being able to cope. When will the promised insurance policy Nightingale hospitals be open to take, in London, say, 100 Covid-19 patients, rather than transferring people over 300 or 400 miles? People seek decisive and evidence-based leadership from government—not to do so is the biggest gift for the virus. These regulations have not stopped the speedy spread of the virus and deaths. Further action is required now.
National Health Service — House of Commons, 2015-01-21
Topic: Health
Atta-Ur-Rehman Chishti (Conservative, Centre-right): I pay tribute to the work my hon. Friend does in his constituency. I often see it on Facebook and read about it on the internet. He is a tireless campaigner for the health service in his constituency. He mentioned the A and E in his constituency. A linked issue is that of resources. In my constituency, £13.4 million has just been invested in resources for the A and E department—
DWP Data — House of Commons, 2015-07-21
Topic: Health
Gordon Marsden (Labour, Centre-left): DWP Ministers tried to sit on information from internally generated data which suggested that one in five deaths of benefit claimants had been linked to sanctions. Perhaps we can be forgiven our scepticism about the Minister’s definition of autumn: after all, this Government publish their autumn statements in December More important, what steps will the Minister take to look into cases that have led from morbidity to mortality? In my constituency, the failure of Atos to pay home visits to severely ill people on some occasions has caused real health problems. A constituent of mine had motor neurone disease, but failed the assessment for employment and support allowance.
National Health Service — House of Commons, 2015-01-21
Topic: Health
Simon Hugh McGuigan Burns (Conservative, Centre-right): It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton (Sir Gerald Kaufman), although he would not expect me to agree with everything he has just said I listened to the right hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle (Alan Johnson) with considerable interest. One thing that struck a chord with me was when, at the beginning of his speech, he said, basically, that the NHS should not be a political football. I could not agree more. It does a great disservice to the people who work so hard—the doctors, nurses and ancillary staff—to provide health care for the citizens of this country, to see it turned into a party political football. Let me explain what I mean by a political football The Opposition have, of course, a democratic right to hold the Government of the day to account for their stewardship of the health service, as they do on education or anything else. Of course, every individual Member of Parliament, regardless of party, has a right to fight for the interests of their constituents with regard to health care if they feel that it is failing their constituents.
National Health Service — House of Commons, 2015-01-21
Topic: Health
Simon Hugh McGuigan Burns (Conservative, Centre-right): First, competition was introduced on the current scale by the Blair-Brown Government, and secondly, there is nothing wrong, per se, with competition to get the best providers providing the best care for patients, so long as they keep to the sole ethos of the NHS, which is that that good care be provided free at the point of use for NHS patients. We saw that under his Government and under the Major Government, and this Government have used the private sector to ensure that patients are treated more quickly. We want them to be treated as quickly as possible, and if there is not enough capacity in the NHS, and if a private provider can provide the capacity, I see nothing wrong with that, and neither do most people in this country, if they are treated more quickly Returning to the walk-in centre, there were 40,000 attendances last year, 10,000 of which were by people beyond the Mid Essex CCG area. Of the remaining attendances, one third should have been self-caring or using their community pharmacy or 111, which the CCG is paying for, and another third should have been using their community pharmacy or GP, which the NHS is paying for. The CCG was therefore paying twice for the same care for the same patients, which is an utter waste of money. That money should be being used to care for more patients quicker, which is why the CCG has taken the decision it has. It is a rational decision, because the centre is failing to meet the aims it was set up for and instead ensuring that the NHS pays twice for the same patient to be treated. In place of the walk-in centre, there will now be an urgent care service at the local hospital for those people who should be going there. Sometimes, politicians have to do the right thing, regardless of political point scoring. Where it is in the interest of patients and the configuration of services, they should take the right decision, be reasonable and responsible and explain why it is the case In conclusion, I am delighted to see the hon. Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott) in her place. I am fascinated to note that the nub of the motion is a call for an extra £2.5 billion for the NHS, which I am sure she strongly supports. What worries and concerns me—she may have a problem when it comes to voting at 7 o’clock tonight—is that the motion goes on to say that it is going to be "funded by measures including a tax on properties worth over £2 million" Given the battle the hon. Lady had on the radio with a member—a right hon. Member— of her party from a southern Scottish constituency, I imagine that she is in turmoil, wondering how to justify that funding from that source.
National Health Service — House of Commons, 2015-01-21
Topic: Health
Steven John Baker (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my hon. Friend agree that the two brands in the NHS that the public really understand above all are A and E and GPs, and all the time we are talking about A and E we are getting away from the fact that sometimes care is better provided in a specialist stroke or heart centre?
National Health Service — House of Commons, 2015-01-21
Topic: Health
Paul Christopher Maynard (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes an important point, which is that so many different terms are used and answers given in this Chamber and elsewhere about where patients need to go. What they actually want is reassurance and confidence that when they go somewhere they will get the right treatment at the right time that solves their problem. They do not want it to be overcomplicated, and neither do we We have heard a lot of criticisms of this Government’s health reforms—they seem to be very unpopular on the Opposition Benches in particular—but let me highlight two that have been very good. One of them goes back to my younger days—when I had a finer figure, perhaps. My first proper job—Opposition Members will not like this—was as a health policy officer in the Conservative research department in 1999, so I listened with delight to the right hon. Member for Holborn and St Pancras (Frank Dobson) telling me all about the wonders of his time, because I scrutinised it quite carefully on a daily basis. I used to get a monthly present from the Association of Community Health Councils for England and Wales in the form of the London "Casualty Watch", a monthly census of trolley waits in London accident and emergency departments. It was a pretty thick document. The census detailed page after page of trolley waits of more than 24 hours, and it was a shocking indictment of how Labour was running the NHS at that time That situation led to one of the Labour Government’s most shameful decisions: to abolish community health councils. I know that many Labour Members are embarrassed about that even now. One of the great things about our health reforms is that we have brought back Healthwatch, which has proved to be a thorn in the side of local health providers, of Members of Parliament and of the Government. We have brought back the ability of ordinary patients to affect the nature of the care in their communities. That is happening right now in Blackpool, and it is making a difference. I am delighted about that Another positive element involves putting public health matters into the local council. As I have said, Blackpool faces immense public health challenges, but putting Dr Rajpura, our local director of public health, into the council has been a tremendous success. It has helped to pull together all the disparate strands within the town as we face those challenges. Again, this has happened only as a result of our health reforms Another example that I want briefly to mention is the fact that some of our local nurses at the hospital have spun out their rehabilitation service into a community interest company called Spiral, which is now winning awards for the quality of its patient care. I am concerned that, if Labour were to reverse all these changes, the good things we have achieved would be washed away and lost, and the people who would suffer would be my constituents, including those who have turned to Spiral for their rehabilitation. That is my real concern.
Misuse of Drugs Act — House of Commons, 2021-06-17
Topic: Health
Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The Misuse of Drugs Act has damaged individuals, families and communities and entrenched social injustice. The war on drugs has been lost. This Government have failed, and there is nowhere with more evidence of the problems of criminalisation than here in Scotland, when we consider the stark number of drug-related deaths. Rather than adopting a public health approach, this Government ignore that possibility. They have failed on an unprecedented scale. In Scotland, this is a public health emergency, and it must be treated as such. This Government have an opportunity, on the 50th anniversary of the legislation, to consider whether the Act is still fit for purpose The UK Government wish to take a hard line on this issue, but that simply is not working. The introduction of safe consumption facilities to reduce public harm is one solution, but they have blocked reform at every turn. The Government are entrenching the problem by refusing to amend or repeal this outdated legislation, and the Scottish Government, who wish to fall in with international best practice by decriminalising the use of drugs and introducing safe consumption rooms, are unable to do so. In comparison, Portugal ended the criminalisation of drug use 20 years ago. Since then, drug-related deaths have fallen and remained below the EU average, the number of drug offenders in prison has more than halved and the number of drug-injection-related HIV diagnoses has fallen dramatically Does the Minister agree that we should aim for a similar outcome in the UK? If he does, when will he take action to make that happen? The UK Government must now allow the Scottish Government to implement a range of public health-focused responses, including the introduction of supervised drug consumption facilities, or devolve the power to do so to the Scottish Parliament. We are facing a public health emergency. This Act continues to fail too many families, and too many have lost loved ones. We can change this, and we must change this. If this Union is truly strong, surely it can withstand this. It can take a pragmatic approach and it can act. If this Government will not act, they must devolve the power to Scotland to take that action. Inaction is not a solution, and their compliance and ignorance are complicit in the problem. Drug-related deaths are real. These are not just figures; they are real people, real families and real communities, and they need real action.
Misuse of Drugs Act — House of Commons, 2021-06-17
Topic: Health
Stuart Campbell McDonald (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): In a sense, it is a real pleasure to take part in this debate, as has been said, principally because it has been a terrific one with some fantastic contributions from all parts of the House. I commend the hon. Members for Manchester, Withington (Jeff Smith) and for Reigate (Crispin Blunt) for securing this debate on an incredibly important topic, and for their persistent pursuit of a policy-based approach to the subject. I could offer the same commendation to lots of Members in the Chamber, including hon. Friends In other ways, I very much regret having to take part in this debate. First, because, as other Members have said, I do not think it should be home affairs or policing spokespersons speaking today; it should be health spokespersons and we should be debating this issue absolutely through the prism of public health, not criminal justice. Secondly, like every hon. Member in this debate, I wish that we did not have to be here because drugs had been suppressed or eliminated a long time ago, but clearly we are as far away from that being a reality as we ever have been. That is fundamentally why Members are pushing for reform. There is no sign of significant change under the current regime Hon. Members have illustrated eloquently that this is a crisis, in terms of scale and the impact that it is having on individuals. Addressing this crisis will absolutely require the use of the full range of tools at the disposal of Governments: measures to address poverty and inequality; education; prevention; tackling stigma; treatment; harm reduction; recovery; mental health; housing; and, of course, law enforcement and criminal justice too—every arm of government must be involved. We have debated and will continue to debate all the different policy responses, but today the focus is on the Misuse of Drugs Act at 50, the legislation that underpins and, I am afraid, casts a shadow over everything else we do to combat drugs. I share the analysis of the vast majority of hon. Members who have spoken that, in the 50 years since it was passed, the evolution and, sadly, the growth of the drugs trade has been extraordinary, as has been our understanding of it, but our legislation has tragically failed to move on in response. Indeed, many would argue that it was the wrong response at the outset, as the hon. Member for Reigate eloquently said.
European Union (Future Relationship) Bill — House of Lords, 2020-12-30
Topic: Health
Judith Anne Jolly (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Judd The two health-related issues that I shall raise relate to our reliance on radioactive isotopes produced in the EU, to which Clauses 27 and 28 relate, and the employment of health and care workers from EU states, on which the Bill is silent Approximately 1 million UK patients each year rely on radioisotope procedures to diagnose or treat many conditions. These include cardiovascular imaging and cancer treatment. In addition to the TCA, the UK and the EU signed a nuclear co-operation agreement which is to define the future of the UK’s relationship with the European Atomic Energy Community, or Euratom. This is a good deal for clinicians, for researchers and, of course, for patients We import around 80% of the medical radioisotopes we use, most coming from the Netherlands, Belgium and France, and it will be critical that their transit is smooth and without delays, or we will not get what we pay for. These cannot be stockpiled, and as soon as they are produced they begin to decay. The longer the delay in transit, the smaller the dose of useful isotope that remains. These amendments are good for our health Less positively, I regret that in the Bill there is no mention of mutual professional recognition of qualifications. Will the Minister outline how this will now function, or is the idea now defunct? The EU’s policy of freedom of movement and mutual recognition of professional qualifications within the EU meant that British health workers could work across the EU, and many health and social care professionals currently working in the UK come from other EU countries. This includes 55,000 of the NHS’s 1.3 million workforce and 80,000 of the 1.3 million workers in the adult social care sector. These will not be easy to replace. A recent rough estimate of the current shortfall of nurses across all disciplines in England is 43,000. Now, EU nurses are feeling unwelcome and the number leaving the NHS to return home has grown. Are EU nationals working in our health and care sector still welcome? The Home Secretary is on record saying that we should be reliant on British staff Finally, I return to scrutiny. The noble Baroness, Lady Taylor of Bolton, made some powerful remarks, and her Constitution Committee’s response to the Bill makes for interesting reading. It notes the Bill’s omission of sunset provisions and disagrees with the Government on post-legislative scrutiny of the Bill, recommending that the House should decide how best to scrutinise the trade and co-operation agreement. I get the impression that today’s debate is not the end of scrutiny, only the beginning.
Vaccination Strategy — House of Lords, 2022-01-13
Topic: Health
Syed Kamall (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the right reverend Prelate for raising this incredibly important issue. I know a number of noble Lords across the House feel very strongly about this. Indeed, many of us are part of diaspora communities and understand that many communities across the world are very concerned. From the start of the pandemic, the UK has worked to support access to Covid-19 vaccines. We helped to establish the international joint procurement initiative, COVAX. At the end of 2021, the Government confirmed that they had delivered more than 30 million Covid-19 vaccines to other countries, benefiting more than 30 countries. We have invested £71 million to help COVAX secure early supply deals. The UK is one of the largest donors to the COVAX advance market commitment, which supports access to Covid-19 vaccines for up to 92 low and middle-income countries. I have a list of a number of other initiatives that we have taken part in. In addition, in bilateral, G7 and G10 discussions, we have put this issue on the agenda, making sure that we are working in a multilateral way across the world to help those countries.
Vaccination Strategy — House of Lords, 2022-01-13
Topic: Health
Syed Kamall (Conservative, Centre-right): The noble Baroness makes an incredibly important point that I am sure we all agree with. This is a combination of two issues. One is reaching those communities that generally, pregnant or otherwise, are not being vaccinated. The other is making sure that pregnant women are receiving the message that it is safe to have the vaccine. We are doing this through a number of channels, including through medical staff and the NHS, but we also have a number of targeted campaigns, looking at those communities to make sure we build trust, break those gaps down and give them the confidence to come forward and be vaccinated.