argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2015-02-24
Topic: Health
Questions: Not enough GPs want to practise in rural Wales. I am told that one of the reasons is that GPs registered in England have to go through a bureaucratic process to be able to work in Wales. Will my hon. Friend the Minister work with the Welsh Government to ensure that we have a common registration process so that GPs can move between England and Wales without having lengthy, time-wasting new bureaucracy?; A recent Ashcroft poll shows that only 15% of the public think that this Government have the best approach to running the NHS. Will the Secretary of State stand up at the Dispatch Box and apologise for his top-down reorganisation of the NHS and his Tory privatising Health and Social Care Act, and accept that the public will never trust the Tories with the NHS?; I have previously made Ministers aware that there are no beds for females in Dorset who need intensive psychiatric care. Our local newspaper, the Daily Echo, reports that such places will not be provided in Dorset for another three years. Meanwhile, patients are being sent as far away as Bradford. Do Ministers regard that as satisfactory? Are there enough resources coming to Dorset, or is it a local organisational issue?; Bolton’s accident and emergency department has been in crisis recently, partly because the clinical commissioning group closed the town’s walk-in centre. Will the Secretary of State support my petition calling for its reinstatement, or will he say, more predictably, “It’s not me, guv; I’m just the Secretary of State for Health”?; My constituent Wilma Ord was prescribed Primodos in the 1970s, an oral hormone pregnancy testing pill that she blames for her daughter’s birth defects. As the Secretary of State is aware, it was announced back in October that an inquiry would be established to look into the whole issue. What progress has been made in setting up the inquiry and what assurances can he give my constituent, and the many other women and families affected throughout the country, that the inquiry will be fully comprehensive, transparent and independent?
Timothy Paul Loughton (Conservative, Centre-right): A constituent of mine has pointed out that, despite it being a long-term condition, drugs for cystic fibrosis are not subject to an exemption from prescription charges, apparently because, when it was first diagnosed, it was considered to be only a children’s disease. Will Ministers look into this anomaly?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2015-02-24
Topic: Health
Questions: Not enough GPs want to practise in rural Wales. I am told that one of the reasons is that GPs registered in England have to go through a bureaucratic process to be able to work in Wales. Will my hon. Friend the Minister work with the Welsh Government to ensure that we have a common registration process so that GPs can move between England and Wales without having lengthy, time-wasting new bureaucracy?; A recent Ashcroft poll shows that only 15% of the public think that this Government have the best approach to running the NHS. Will the Secretary of State stand up at the Dispatch Box and apologise for his top-down reorganisation of the NHS and his Tory privatising Health and Social Care Act, and accept that the public will never trust the Tories with the NHS?; I have previously made Ministers aware that there are no beds for females in Dorset who need intensive psychiatric care. Our local newspaper, the Daily Echo, reports that such places will not be provided in Dorset for another three years. Meanwhile, patients are being sent as far away as Bradford. Do Ministers regard that as satisfactory? Are there enough resources coming to Dorset, or is it a local organisational issue?; Bolton’s accident and emergency department has been in crisis recently, partly because the clinical commissioning group closed the town’s walk-in centre. Will the Secretary of State support my petition calling for its reinstatement, or will he say, more predictably, “It’s not me, guv; I’m just the Secretary of State for Health”?; My constituent Wilma Ord was prescribed Primodos in the 1970s, an oral hormone pregnancy testing pill that she blames for her daughter’s birth defects. As the Secretary of State is aware, it was announced back in October that an inquiry would be established to look into the whole issue. What progress has been made in setting up the inquiry and what assurances can he give my constituent, and the many other women and families affected throughout the country, that the inquiry will be fully comprehensive, transparent and independent?
Jane Ellison (Conservative, Centre-right): This issue came up in a debate on cystic fibrosis last year and I am very happy to look at it again. I looked at it subsequent to that debate, in response to an inquiry from, I think, the hon. Member for Colchester (Sir Bob Russell), but I am happy to look at it again and get back to my hon. Friend the Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton).
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2021-11-29
Topic: Health
Richard Gordon Thomson (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of his statement, and I add my own thanks for the work that the NHS does and continues to do in all parts of these islands to keep us all healthy and safe. The emergence of omicron, including the six cases in Scotland, along with the evidence of community transmission, shows that this is absolutely no time to be complacent. For all the measures being taken at the border, with day two PCR testing, we risk missing a number of cases as they cross the border because of the incubation period. Surely a more effective approach would be to introduce day eight PCR testing, accompanied by eight days of isolation—and surely it would be better to do that now, than to be bounced into doing that by events further down the line Secondly, the Secretary of State issues a call for us all to work together, and I am sure we all wish to be able to do that, but does he share my disappointment that when the First Ministers of Scotland and Wales today called for a Cobra meeting to be convened, that possibility appeared to have been dismissed out of hand already? Will the Secretary of State prevail on the Prime Minister to convene and attend an urgent Cobra meeting involving all four nations, so that people might be persuaded that he is on top of this development, as we would all expect him to be Finally, does the Secretary of State agree with the Opposition Front-Bench spokesperson, the Chair of the Select Committee and me that the emergence of this variant shows that none of us is safe until all of us are safe? However much is being done, and however much the UK has done to date, more still needs to be done to achieve as close to 100% global vaccination as possible, including through the vaccination programmes we are in, and by increasing global vaccine production and overcoming the barriers that patent law might place in the way of our achieving that.
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2021-11-29
Topic: Health
James Neale Hanvey (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The emergence of omicron is not really much of a surprise; it is more a case of when, not if. Anecdotal evidence from South Africa suggests that, while it may be more infectious, the potency seems to be more limited. Of particular concern are the mutations to the spike protein in two specific areas, so what action are the Government taking to put in additional resources to adjuvant therapy development, especially given the impact on monoclonal antibody therapies and the vaccine, and what is the status of genomic surveillance in the UK at present?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2021-11-29
Topic: Health
Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Most countries in Africa missed the World Health Organisation target for a mere 10% of their populations to be vaccinated by the end of last month as they struggled to secure supplies of vaccine. As the Secretary of State has heard today, no one is safe until everyone is safe. What more will his Government do, with international partners, to ramp up the sharing of vaccines with developing countries to lessen the risk of further variant emergence, and what support can be given to those countries to tackle the mistrust of the vaccine among some sections of their populations?
Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission — House of Lords, 2019-05-13
Topic: Health
Judith Anne Jolly (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, I thank the Minister for repeating the Statement. I had the honour of responding to Baroness Jowell’s maiden speech on 23 May 2016. I looked it up in Hansard this morning. She recalled Seamus Heaney’s injunction to his wife: "‘Noli timere’—‘Do not be afraid’".—[Official Report, 23/5/16; col. 167.] As it turned out, we did not have long to wait for her to show how fearless she could be. I responded to her maiden speech by saying that I felt sure she would make her mark very soon. Sadly, she did not have as huge an amount of time to make her mark as I had expected—but nobody who was in the Chamber for her valedictory speech in January 2018 will ever forget her demonstration of total fearlessness 5-ALA received FDA approval for use in the USA on 3 July 2017, just over a year after Baroness Jowell joined your Lordships’ House. Use in the UK was given NICE approval on 10 July 2018, just two months after she died. I clearly welcome today’s announcement, but I have some questions for the Minister about 5-ALA and its rollout. What weight does NICE give to treatments that have received approval by the FDA? Is it usual for a treatment that is so obviously effective to wait nearly a year before being used routinely? Will it be universally available to all those who stand to benefit from it?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2015-02-24
Topic: Health
Questions: Not enough GPs want to practise in rural Wales. I am told that one of the reasons is that GPs registered in England have to go through a bureaucratic process to be able to work in Wales. Will my hon. Friend the Minister work with the Welsh Government to ensure that we have a common registration process so that GPs can move between England and Wales without having lengthy, time-wasting new bureaucracy?; A recent Ashcroft poll shows that only 15% of the public think that this Government have the best approach to running the NHS. Will the Secretary of State stand up at the Dispatch Box and apologise for his top-down reorganisation of the NHS and his Tory privatising Health and Social Care Act, and accept that the public will never trust the Tories with the NHS?; I have previously made Ministers aware that there are no beds for females in Dorset who need intensive psychiatric care. Our local newspaper, the Daily Echo, reports that such places will not be provided in Dorset for another three years. Meanwhile, patients are being sent as far away as Bradford. Do Ministers regard that as satisfactory? Are there enough resources coming to Dorset, or is it a local organisational issue?; Bolton’s accident and emergency department has been in crisis recently, partly because the clinical commissioning group closed the town’s walk-in centre. Will the Secretary of State support my petition calling for its reinstatement, or will he say, more predictably, “It’s not me, guv; I’m just the Secretary of State for Health”?; My constituent Wilma Ord was prescribed Primodos in the 1970s, an oral hormone pregnancy testing pill that she blames for her daughter’s birth defects. As the Secretary of State is aware, it was announced back in October that an inquiry would be established to look into the whole issue. What progress has been made in setting up the inquiry and what assurances can he give my constituent, and the many other women and families affected throughout the country, that the inquiry will be fully comprehensive, transparent and independent?; When I asked the Minister last June what guarantees he would give to GP practices at risk because of the withdrawal of the minimum practice income guarantee, I was told that NHS England would ensure threatened practices “get to the right place.”—[Official Report, 10 June 2014; Vol. 582, c. 400.]Over the past seven months, those discussions have not alleviated the threat to two highly regarded practices in my constituency that face closure. Will the Minister agree to meet me and representatives of the practices to discuss what is really happening, and to consider what can be done to save them?
Daniel Leonard James Poulter (Conservative, Centre-right): I am sure that the hon. Lady would like to support the plans we have put in place to ensure that we increase the number of GPs by 2020, and to ensure that 50% of doctors leaving foundation training go into careers in general practice.
Trade in Animals and Related Products (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 — House of Lords, 2019-05-13
Topic: Health
Robin Teverson (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, I have been very impressed by the debate. I remind Members of the House that there will be a debate on Wednesday afternoon on Brexit and biosecurity, which goes through this whole issue and applies much more broadly. The speakers’ list is still open. I am sure that the Minister and I would very much appreciate further participation.
AUKUS — House of Lords, 2021-09-16
Topic: Defense
Desmond Browne (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, like the noble Lord, Lord Ricketts, I have had insufficient time to get my head around the implications of what I consider to be quite a momentous announcement. I assume that the Government worried those implications to death before they agreed to join, so I have two questions First, assuming that the method of propulsion for these boats will use highly enriched uranium—a fissile, weapons-grade material—and the safeguarding of this material will be outside the IAEA structure, who will take responsibility for that safeguarding? What steps can we ensure are taken, and how will they be reported Secondly, this is the first time in history that a non-nuclear arms state will acquire a nuclear submarine. What assessment have the Government and their allies made of the sort of signal this sends to our adversaries that are nuclear arms states? Have we considered that this will be interpreted by them as permission to equip all their allies and friends with nuclear submarines? If so, this has momentous consequences for the proliferation of these materials and weapons in the world.
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2021-12-08
Topic: Health
Hannah Mary Bardell (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): As an inactivated whole virus candidate, the Valneva vaccine being developed in my Livingston constituency could well have advantages over other vaccines when it comes to the emerging omicron virus. Will the Secretary of State reconsider his disastrous decision to deny the people of these islands a vaccine that may well tackle the further pandemic? The EU can see its value, as it has bought 60 million doses.
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2021-12-08
Topic: Health
David Melvyn Linden (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): It is quite clear from the tone of the Health Secretary’s comments tonight that things are going to get worse before they get better, and that we are in something of a holding position. Can he confirm that the Chancellor was involved in initiating plan B and that the Government, and indeed the Treasury, will again do whatever it takes in terms of generosity in financial support to those most vulnerable in our communities?
Ukraine Update — House of Lords, 2022-04-27
Topic: Defense
John Attlee (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I offer my support for everything the Ministry of Defence, the Secretary of State and other government departments are doing. Is the Minister aware of one difficulty: the paucity of briefing that we are receiving? This means that we will know what the media want us to know, but not what Ministers and officials need to tell us and can tell us. This is important, because without these briefings we cannot speak with authority outside the House and be more effective in supporting the policy, while not ignoring our constitutional duties Does the Minister also agree that it is premature to consider our defence expenditure at this point without knowing what the outcome of the conflict will be? On the point about resupply made by the noble Baroness, Lady Smith, I hope the Minister will be able to state that she will not hesitate to increase the production of defence materiel as required and without any artificial constraints.
Assisted Dying Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2021-10-22
Topic: Health
Robert Maurice Lipson Winston (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, is a great privilege to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, for whom I have huge respect. In my career delivering babies, I have also seen some of the terrible and moving things she describes. I have great respect for her important speech and her great work in moving this Bill. But many noble Lords have received vast correspondence, and it is clear that there is massive public interest in this debate, as almost never before, and many misunderstandings about its implications, which can be seen from what has been written. It raises the most important moral question and needs clarity without euphemism. "Assisted dying" could equally be applied to palliative care, so the Bill’s title does not represent what is really intended. The word "euthanasia"—from the Greek "eu", meaning well or good, and "thanatos", meaning death—is what we are actually talking about I met a teenager in a school last week who asked me this question: do you think we should strive for a perfect society? She went on to ask whether that is really desirable. I said that, in an imperfect world, we have to do the best we can, and this is what we are to debate today. I hope that we do so in a respectful and thoughtful manner. I will say no more but will hear what other noble Lords have to say. I beg to move.
Assisted Dying Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2021-10-22
Topic: Health
Joan Bakewell (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I support the Bill so eloquently proposed by the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher. I am, like her, a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group, which gives support to all those seeking the freedom to make choices about their own death. It is the mark of a humane and enlightened society that this should be so The group supported Paul Lamb, left paralysed and in daily pain after a car accident, who, with his fellow activist Tony Nicklinson, spearheaded the 2012 legal bid to change the law on assisted dying. In its landmark judgment on that case in 2014, a majority on the Supreme Court ruled that they were indeed open to changing the law on assisted dying, but they felt that Parliament should first debate the matter. That is where we are today. Today I speak to assisted dying for the terminally ill. The last time such legislation was proposed, by my noble and learned friend Lord Falconer, I arranged a play reading in the House of Lords. The play, "Cancer Tales", was by Nell Dunn, the famous author of the TV plays "Cathy Come Home" and "Up the Junction", both of which informed public attitudes to the subjects they dealt with. The discussion that followed the performance showed that both sides of the debate had much in common. I think that will be seen today Since then I have witnessed deaths. I sat beside someone who was dying in great pain. I called on the palliative care nurse, who examined the patient and then slightly increased the morphine drip to reduce their suffering. On another occasion, I was present when a family member of a dying patient beseeched the attending nurse to help relieve the awful suffering. The nurse paused, said "This can have significant effects", and then increased the morphine drip. On both occasions, the final moments of life passed in peace and compassion. Easeful death is a gift the compassionate should legally bestow on patients in their dying days. As expressed in this Bill, this depends on agreed consent, mental capacity and the declared wish of the dying The Bill does not threaten the disabled. They are not ill and they are not dying in agony. It does not threaten people who feel they are a burden to those around them. They are not ill or dying in agony. The safeguards are many. The involvement of responsible people is mandatory. This is a measure of great humanity ringed around with practical and moral constraints. It deserves our support.
Assisted Dying Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2021-10-22
Topic: Health
Margaret Jay (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, this is the fourth Assisted Dying Bill that I have supported in your Lordships’ House; with each one, my conviction that this is a necessary reform gets even stronger. Today, my commitment is made more passionate by one particular personal experience: the assisted death of my closest American friend, someone I used to call my sister. She had been diagnosed with terminal illness, with terminal lung disease, and she wanted to be remembered as someone full of life, which she certainly was, rather than as a debilitated cancer patient Her son wrote a powerful account of how she chose to end life for the Washington Post, and I quote him: "On a Sunday evening in July 2018, my 81-year-old mother raised a small red glass to her lips. In it was a mixture of water, grape juice and a fatal dose of a medically prescribed drug … She was sitting up in a hospital bed in her Washington DC home, bathed in warm early evening light, and chatting and passing time with me, my sister and all her grandchildren … Finally, there was nothing more to say. Surrounded by family, she seemed composed and unafraid, ready to shed the anxiety, pain and humiliations that come with terminal lung cancer. Without the slightest hesitation, she drained the glass and lay back on her pillows. Within a minute, her features softened and her eyes closed. She fell into a heavy sleep, her breath audible. It wasn’t long before her breathing slowed, and then stopped." Some time later I went to Washington to speak at her memorial, held at a chapel attached to Washington National Cathedral. It was a traditional service led by an episcopalian minister. The circumstances of her death were clearly acknowledged and understood. Afterwards the large congregation gathered in the chapterhouse where we exchanged memories over tea and sandwiches. Nothing about that occasion was clandestine or fearful. It was a familiar ritual, the kind of comforting rite of passage that we have all experienced, this one sanctioned by the law and accepted by society and made possible by the District of Columbia Death with Dignity Act, passed in 2016 The DC law is very similar to the one that the noble Baroness has proposed today. After three previous Bills and, frankly, decades of discussion, it is time that we acted to make this kind of civilised, gentle choice at the end of life available in our capital city and indeed throughout the United Kingdom.