argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Coronavirus — House of Commons, 2020-03-11
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): The four NHSs are also working together. I discussed this with Simon Stevens, the chief executive of NHS England, today. That cross-border work is, of course, important, and it is something that my opposite number in the Welsh Government has raised. As a Chester boy, I get the point, and I will make sure that we keep that level of co-ordination, as well as the co-ordination at the point of the chief medical officer May I answer an earlier question better than I did before, Mr Deputy Speaker? My hon. Friend the Member for Dudley South (Mike Wood) asked whether GPs were getting their protective equipment. We have rolled out protective equipment to almost 100% of GP surgeries now.
Coronavirus — House of Commons, 2020-03-11
Topic: Health
Dean Russell (Conservative, Centre-right): Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State on this campaign, which has kept the level of conversation stable and consistent throughout. This week, sadly, we also had a constituent pass away at Watford General Hospital, and I pay tribute to the family and to the staff who work so hard My question is on the broader responsibility of this place, councils, local government and anybody in a public position. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the main message we need to get out is for people to remember that, on the frontline, the most important thing they can do is regularly wash their hands for 20 seconds? That is not much to ask of the general public, but it is the most frontline thing they can do to stop the spread.
Coronavirus — House of Commons, 2020-03-11
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): That is incredibly important, and we have to keep reiterating it, even though we may have heard it a thousand times—I may have said it even more than that. Although there is a huge debate about coronavirus and what we can do as a country, there are some really simple things that are really effective.
Coronavirus — House of Commons, 2020-03-11
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): First, the Leader of the House, Mr Speaker and the House of Commons Commission, advised by Public Health England, are best placed to come forward with guidance on the details of how this place can run should a significant number of colleagues and, potentially, staff be unwell or self-isolating Secondly, it is very hard, from central Government, to make sure we reach all the people who will need the sort of support the hon. Lady describes. This is best done through local authorities, which is why we have introduced a £0.5 billion fund for local authorities essentially to do whatever they think is necessary in these circumstances.
Coronavirus — House of Commons, 2020-03-11
Topic: Health
Robin John Millar (Conservative, Centre-right): I also thank my right hon. Friend for his conduct and his handling of this situation It is true that Wales has seen very few registered cases of coronavirus relative to other parts of the UK. Indeed, I believe we have no registered cases of coronavirus in north Wales. None the less, I welcome the installation of temporary testing sites by the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board. Will my right hon. Friend confirm that the Welsh Government have access to the same advice as he does, and that they are being fully included in the preparations he is making here in the UK?
Coronavirus — House of Commons, 2020-03-11
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, absolutely. This is a four-nations approach, and the Welsh CMO is in daily contact with the English CMO, the Scottish CMO and the Northern Irish CMO. Indeed, they are also working with the chief medical officer of the Republic of Ireland. The basis of the scientific advice is the same across the four nations. Although, as my hon. Friend reports, there are no cases in north Wales, I am afraid this virus will continue to spread and we should expect there will be a case in north Wales before too long.
Coronavirus — House of Commons, 2020-03-11
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): This is really important and quite difficult. Our general approach is that people who become ill should stay where they are and be treated in the country in which they find themselves. This comes back to the previous question, because the first two victims of coronavirus in the UK were not British citizens, but they were treated brilliantly by the hospital in Newcastle. The treatment they received was fantastic, and rightly so. Of course there are cases and examples where we have to support people to come back to the UK. For instance, this afternoon a flight from California landed, bringing people from the cruise ship that had been off California. But the general principle should be that people are supported and treated where they are.
Coronavirus — House of Commons, 2020-03-11
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful for the constructive tone in which the hon. Gentleman asked the questions. This is an example of the House working well, because he and I have sometimes had cross words across this Chamber, but he has asked these two questions quite rightly. The advice given on 111 has to be dependent on the circumstances presented to the clinician giving that advice on the other end of the phone. It is really important that I do not fetter their discretion, but if he comes to me with details of the individual case and wants me to double-check that his constituent got the right advice, I am happy to do so On the second point, the deputy chief medical officer had a discussion with the Prime Minister today that was videoed and put on Facebook, and in that she was clear on this question about masks. There is not an advantage in wearing a mask if you are healthy—that is the advice from the medics here—but there is an advantage in respect of keeping others safe if someone who is ill wears a mask. There are also examples of when medical staff will need to wear the right type of mask to keep them safe. But the general advice is: don’t wear a mask unless you are advised to by PHE; or if you are ill, it is perfectly reasonable to wear a mask to stop infecting others—that is an act of generosity.
Coronavirus — House of Commons, 2020-03-11
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): Absolutely. I agree very much with the hon. Lady about the importance of sign language and the signing of this session. I thank the House authorities for arranging it Yes, new guidance on care homes will be put out this week. If the hon. Lady passes on the details of her individual case to the Minister for Care, I am sure that my hon. Friend will be happy to look at it.
Public Transport: Face Coverings — House of Commons, 2020-07-02
Topic: Health
David Anthony Evennett (Conservative, Centre-right): Wearing a face covering is an easy way to help protect us all from coronavirus, especially in more confined spaces such as public transport. Will my right hon. Friend join me in urging my constituents in Bexleyheath and Crayford to make that small change which can help us to control the virus and save lives?
Public Transport: Face Coverings — House of Commons, 2020-07-02
Topic: Health
Grant Shapps (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend is right about the importance of face coverings. We have seen very high levels of compliance. According to the Office for National Statistics, on the week of 26 June, it looks like 86% compliance was in existence. We did say that in the early days we would ensure compliance was enforced gently, but I inform the House that TfL, Network Rail and British Transport police will be tightening up on that. I have just signed the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Wearing of Face Coverings on Public Transport) (England) Regulations 2020, which under regulation 8 give powers to TfL to increase enforcement.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-07-02
Topic: Health
Cheryl Elise Kendall Gillan (Conservative, Centre-right): As the Secretary of State will know, many of my constituents in Chesham and Amersham depend on Heathrow for their work. Do the Government plan to introduce a covid-19 testing programme at airports, and is he working with our trading partners to establish a common international standard for health screening to accelerate the recovery of the aviation sector and rebuild consumer confidence in our airports and our aviation industry?
Education Settings: Autumn Opening — House of Commons, 2020-07-02
Topic: Health
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): Sadly, the hon. Gentleman was not on mute. I can absolutely assure him that Public Health England has signed off all this advice. He might take the opportunity to read what Public Health England recently said about Leicester. It stated that while there had been "good provision of primary school access for children" since the beginning of June, researchers said they could find no "analytical link" between this and "any real or apparent rise in new infections" in Leicester. Conservative Members are all committed to opening all schools for all children of all year groups. I look forward to working with the hon. Gentleman and many Opposition Members who are equally committed to doing the same. We are only doing this because we know it is safe to do so.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2020-07-02
Topic: Health
Mark Ian Jenkinson (Conservative, Centre-right): It is an honour and a privilege to be addressing you from these green Benches, Mr Deputy Speaker, and most unexpected for a Wukkington lad like me. It would be fair to say that neither the timing nor circumstance of my maiden speech are as I imagined, with my original timing altered by the loss of one of Workington’s great artists—a much-loved former teacher and my wife’s grandmother—followed by lockdown, and the circumstance altered by a socially distanced Chamber and our new normal in the light of coronavirus On that subject, I must pay tribute to the huge sacrifices that each and every one of my constituents has made to stop the spread of the virus and to the huge effort from many individuals and businesses with their contributions to local community and national efforts. If I was to look for one positive in recent months, it would be the way that so many of my constituents have stepped up to the plate to support those around them The scale and speed of the Government’s response to coronavirus has been unprecedented. The measures that we have seen across the grant schemes, rate relief schemes, furlough schemes and bounce-back loans have been welcomed by my constituents in Workington. There is more to do and there are lessons to be learned, but I am incredibly proud to be here today to support the Government in their efforts.
Cancer Services — House of Commons, 2020-06-23
Topic: Health
Johanna Peta Churchill (Conservative, Centre-right): Essential and urgent cancer treatment has continued throughout the pandemic and cancer specialists, as always, are discussing the best treatment options with their patients. We are working to ensure that referrals, diagnostics and cancer treatment are back at pre-pandemic levels across the whole of England as soon as possible. Due to covid-19, the 21 cancer alliances in England have established hubs to ensure dedicated cancer care away from hospitals dealing with the virus. From the end of April, local systems and cancer alliances have continued to identify ring-fenced diagnostic and surgical capacity for cancer in line with issued guidance. Regional cancer senior responsible officers must now provide assurance that these arrangements are in place to help minimal regional variation.
Cancer Services — House of Commons, 2020-06-23
Topic: Health
Johanna Peta Churchill (Conservative, Centre-right): I regularly engage with cancer charities and would be delighted to look at them to see where we are making good headway and where, perhaps, we could have discussions about other things that need to be targeted. While I have the hon. Gentleman on the screen, I would also like to highlight the fact that the Greater Manchester cancer alliance has led the way in its response to this pandemic. It was one of the first to establish a surgical hub model to ensure that cancer surgery was able to continue and that the local cancer system as a whole responded well. The alliance has also been looking to accelerate the rapid diagnostic centre to help promote diagnostics, so I thank everyone for that.
Cancer Services — House of Commons, 2020-06-23
Topic: Health
Johanna Peta Churchill (Conservative, Centre-right): I would say that, as soon as people notice any signs that might worry them, they should seek help. We have worked at pace to ensure that services have been resumed and are able to deliver for patients. Ensuring both early diagnosis and that patients can access the treatment that they need swiftly is our key ambition. We know that, following the guidance that has been delivered, we are achieving that throughout the system. Covid-19 has upended all our lives, and some decisions have been made to ensure the safety of patients, but we are now firmly back on track and will ensure that patients get the care they need.
Cancer Services — House of Commons, 2020-06-23
Topic: Health
Johanna Peta Churchill (Conservative, Centre-right): I assure the hon. Gentleman that, just as we have seen from working closely on the Medicines and Medical Devices Bill that is going through Parliament, there are lessons to be learned. There have been improvements in certain areas of radiotherapy in which it has been determined that fewer treatments actually mean a quicker and—I would not use the word "gentler"—an easier path for the patient. I would be happy to continue working both with him and with the cancer charities to ensure that we can improve that pathway for patients.
Adult Day Centres: Reopening — House of Commons, 2020-06-23
Topic: Health
Helen Olivia Bicknell Whately (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for her birthday greetings. She makes a really important point: as day centres reopen, they need to be safe for staff and users. Risk assessments will need to be carried out, and some may need to use personal protective equipment. Public Health England is developing guidance on the use of PPE in community settings. Local authority-run services should have PPE provided by the local authority, and services provided by other organisations that struggle to get PPE from wholesalers should be able to access emergency local supplies.
Referral-to-Treatment Waiting Lists — House of Commons, 2020-06-23
Topic: Health
Edward John Comport Argar (Conservative, Centre-right): The most recent performance data published by NHS England for April 2020 shows an 8% reduction in the size of the waiting lists compared with April 2019, from 4,297,571 to 3,942,748. However, it is important to note that reduced referrals due to covid-19 are likely to be the cause of that, and there are a number of people waiting longer.
Referral-to-Treatment Waiting Lists — House of Commons, 2020-06-23
Topic: Health
Edward John Comport Argar (Conservative, Centre-right): I gently say to the hon. Lady that I do not think that contracting to ensure sufficient capacity in our NHS at all times, so that it was never overwhelmed, which it has not been, was a waste of money. In response to her substantive point, we continue to work with the independent sector and the broader NHS to get elective surgery and other non-emergency procedures restarted at pace.
Covid-19: BAME Health — House of Commons, 2020-06-23
Topic: Health
Johanna Peta Churchill (Conservative, Centre-right): We know that health inequalities are stubborn, persistent and difficult to change—we knew that before covid-19, but that is not a reason to accept them. We fully agree that more needs to be done to reduce the disparity in health outcomes within the BAME community and the broader community. That is why we will ensure that the work on health inequalities goes on at pace.
Test and Trace — House of Commons, 2020-06-23
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): NHS Test and Trace was introduced on 28 May, working with local authorities to prevent and contain the spread of covid-19. I am encouraged by the early results, which show that in the first two weeks of operation 87,000 people were contacted by NHS Test and Trace and agreed to self-isolate.
Test and Trace — House of Commons, 2020-06-23
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): Obviously, as soon as possible. I agree very strongly with the hon. Lady about the importance of contact tracing—the Test and Trace programme is one of the largest of its kind—to ensure that, as we manage to lift national measures, which we can because the disease is clearly under control and the number of cases is coming down, we can then respond through local action.
Test and Trace — House of Commons, 2020-06-23
Topic: Health
James Michael Davies (Conservative, Centre-right): NHS Test and Trace will play an important part in our continued fight against covid-19, but efficient co-ordination across Great Britain will be vital to its success. What steps has my right hon. Friend taken to ensure effective joint working between England, Wales and Scotland?
Test and Trace — House of Commons, 2020-06-23
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): That is an incredibly important question. Of course, I would add Northern Ireland to that group. We have regular meetings. I have a weekly call with my counterparts in the devolved Governments. Of course, the devolved Governments have a huge role to play in this. I will give whatever support I can to help the Welsh Government to make sure that they can deliver contact tracing, and indeed the wider testing programme, as well as possible.
Test and Trace — House of Commons, 2020-06-23
Topic: Health
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (Conservative, Centre-right): NHS Test and Trace is currently tracing the contacts of about 700 people every day who have the virus, but the Office for National Statistics says that 2,500 new people are being infected every day, which means that since the programme started, up to a quarter of a million people have not been asked to isolate who should have been. It is a big achievement to get the programme going, but that is also a big gap. What are the Secretary of State’s plans to close it?
Test and Trace — House of Commons, 2020-06-23
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): I am not sure I agree with my right hon. Friend’s figures in terms of the assumptions that underpin them. We have had this discussion and this exchange before. There are a whole number of asymptomatic cases. The critical thing about Test and Trace is to find as many of the asymptomatic cases, and as many of the positive test result cases, as possible. We need to do that over time by expanding the programme.
Test and Trace — House of Commons, 2020-06-23
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): I am afraid the hon. Lady is wrong. The trials in the Isle of Wight showed that the app worked on Android phones, but was blocked from working effectively on Apple phones; hence we are now working with Apple and Google, as we have been over the past few weeks, to find a system that can be effective. But I will not sign off on an app where we do not know and have not been told by some multinational company what it is recommending to people because, after all, the critical thing that matters in test and trace is that people isolate to break the chain of transmission.
Test and Trace — House of Commons, 2020-06-23
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): It is very strange taking these questions from the SNP spokesman, given that I am working with the SNP Government on resolving exactly these problems in Scotland, and maybe the SNP would do better to focus there. In response to the second question, honestly, we have put £300 million of support into local directors of public health to tackle this pandemic, and I know that her colleagues in the Scottish Government are working hard with local authorities in Scotland as well in exactly the same way.
Test and Trace — House of Commons, 2020-06-23
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): I have not got those data exactly—[Interruption.] If the Opposition would care to engage on the substance, rather than not taking this seriously, yesterday, we delivered the 8 millionth test in this country. We have delivered more than 100,000 tests on almost every day since the end of April and at the end of last week we were delivering 230,000 tests a day. I think what we need from the Opposition is support for the testing programme, because that is what people care about.
Infant Mental Health Awareness — House of Commons, 2020-06-23
Topic: Health
Timothy Paul Loughton (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to the Secretary of State for that short answer. We have heard much about the impact of lockdown on school-age children away from school, but little on the impact on babies and new parents facing particular challenges on their emotional wellbeing. Has the Secretary of State or the Minister, if she has got her voice back, seen the research published during Infant Mental Health Awareness Week by the First 1001 Days Movement last week, suggesting that three quarters of parents with children under two are feeling the detrimental impact of the lockdown, particularly BAME parents? What are the Government doing to put this crucial cohort on the radar and provide support before they grow up and take the problems to school and beyond?
Social Care Sector — House of Commons, 2020-06-23
Topic: Health
Helen Olivia Bicknell Whately (Conservative, Centre-right): Social care is at the frontline of this cruel global pandemic here in the UK and around the world. We have brought together support across Government, the NHS, Public Health England, local health protection teams, the Care Quality Commission and local authorities, and done our utmost to help care homes and home care services to look after those in their care. The majority of care providers have been covid-free. Our support includes access to testing, PPE, guidance based on evidence from around the world, improved oversight and funding.
Social Care Sector — House of Commons, 2020-06-23
Topic: Health
Helen Olivia Bicknell Whately (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes an important point. I know that the current restriction on visiting is hard for residents in care homes and their families, and has a real impact on health and wellbeing. We are updating our visitor guidance and intend to publish it soon.
Cancer Centres: Radiation Therapy — House of Commons, 2020-06-23
Topic: Health
Johanna Peta Churchill (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Gentleman and the other members of the all-party group on radiotherapy and cancer for meeting me and officials recently. It is expected that each of the 50 NHS trusts that provide radiotherapy will be able to deliver stereotactic ablative radiotherapy no later than 31 March 2021. Increased external quality assurance capacity means that we could complete the roll-out process for all commissioned indications quicker than that. I am sure the hon. Gentleman would agree that such a result would be fantastic.
Cancer Centres: Radiation Therapy — House of Commons, 2020-06-23
Topic: Health
Johanna Peta Churchill (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman will know which parts of that are still open for discussion between us, but we are of course driving hard to make sure that patients get their radiotherapy and treatment as quickly as they can. The NHS has a "Help Us Help You" campaign: it is open for business and people should make sure that they attend any appointment they are called to.