argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
NHS Test and Trace — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Helen Olivia Bicknell Whately (Conservative, Centre-right): Well, it is very good to hear of the set-up in York that the hon. Member describes, and what I can do is take away from here and follow up to ensure that there is joint working, which we know is a really effective way to bring together national resources with the local resources, expertise and knowledge that are so important in tackling this virus.
NHS Test and Trace — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Helen Olivia Bicknell Whately (Conservative, Centre-right): The context is the huge increase in the testing capacity of our system that we have already seen, going from in the order of 2,000 tests a day back in March to well over 200,000 tests a day now and building up to 500,000 tests by the end of this month. I recognise also that there is both the Lighthouse labs—what is known as pillar 2 testing system—and the important part that NHS testing facilities play in the pandemic. And of course the hon. Member will know that a huge amount of money has been and is going into the NHS to support its response to covid.
NHS Test and Trace — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Helen Olivia Bicknell Whately (Conservative, Centre-right): It may be helpful to say that, since the NHS Test and Trace system started, it has contacted 78.5% of those who have tested positive, and then 77% of their contacts have been reached. There is an important part of the system where the national contact tracers are handing over to local authority contact tracers who are able to access the same system and are supported in contact tracing but, critically, are also using their local knowledge of the local area to increase the success rate. It is really important that people are reached wherever possible and advised to self-isolate May I also say how much I appreciate and thank all those who are doing the right thing by self-isolating, both those with symptoms and those who have been contacted by contact tracers?
NHS Test and Trace — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Helen Olivia Bicknell Whately (Conservative, Centre-right): I do not recognise the hon. Gentleman’s suggestion that there could be a two-tier system. What we have in place is a universal system where everybody who has symptoms is able to access a test. As he well knows, where we know there are particular risks, such as for those in care home settings, there are also tests for those who do not have symptoms so that we can pick up outbreaks early. A huge amount of resource and investment is going into developing new technologies for testing—easier testing, quicker tests and tests that can be done at greater scale—because this is all part of building up our testing capacity, so we can suppress this horrid virus.
Education, Health and Care Plans — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Christopher Lionel John Loder (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the Secretary of State and Ministers for their focus on Dorset County Hospital in the recent investment announcements, but in my West Dorset constituency, I have totally unacceptable waiting times of up to two years for EHCPs for children and their parents. That is totally unacceptable. They face the most difficult of situations and, I am afraid, are losing hope. Will the Minister help me in supporting these desperate children and parents who need to get their EHCPs done?
Education, Health and Care Plans — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Helen Olivia Bicknell Whately (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes an important point about how we need to see children and young people getting in place, as soon as possible, the support that can help them and about how there are waiting times for these plans. There are two things I can say in response. First, in the context of covid, NHS England has made it clear to NHS organisations that they must restart and restore services that support children and young people with EHC plans and in the assessments for those plans. Secondly, in the review of the SEND system, we are indeed looking at how we can address some of the problems in the system and achieve better integration across health, care and education.
Breast Screening — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Johanna Peta Churchill (Conservative, Centre-right): Women at greatest risk of breast cancer continue to be prioritised for screening. The NHS has worked hard and has significantly reduced the backlog of delayed breast screening appointments from over 468,000 in June to under 52,000 in September. All services have now been restarted and, in Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the message is clear: when you get a screening invite, please attend; if you are worried about anything, contact your general practitioner.
Breast Screening — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Johanna Peta Churchill (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Lady for her question. Cancer nurse specialists are a particular interest of mine, and the long-term plan identifies that everybody deserves to have personalised care from a cancer nurse specialist. We did see the rate decline from 91% in 2018 to about 89% in 2019, and we are focused on making sure that everybody has a cancer nurse specialist. We promised it in the long-term plan and it is our ambition to deliver that personalised care to every woman. As I have outlined, the backlog of breast cancer screening has gone down but, again, I urge women who are called for screening to come forward. It is safe and, as with me, it could make all the difference.
Local Restrictions: Reducing Covid-19 Transmission — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): I chair the Government’s local action gold committee, which considers the latest data and advice from experts, including epidemiologists and the chief medical officer, and the Joint Biosecurity Centre. Through this process, we consult local leaders and directors of public health. We have seen local actions in some parts of the country bring the case rate right down and we need to make sure that we are constantly vigilant to what needs to happen to suppress this virus.
Local Restrictions: Reducing Covid-19 Transmission — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): We are, as the hon. Gentleman said in his question, putting money into local councils in areas where local action needs to be taken. We have an open dialogue with councils and local mayors about what needs to be done. But I urge him, on behalf of all of his constituents in Sefton, that it is better to support the whole effort to control this virus, not just part of it.
Local Restrictions: Reducing Covid-19 Transmission — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): I discuss these matters with the Cabinet Secretary and other colleagues across government all the time, and I also speak regularly to the Mayor of London. We maintain vigilance over the transmission of the virus right across the country.
Covid-19 Laboratory Testing Capacity — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): As part of the drive towards the capacity target of 500,000 tests a day by the end of October, we have announced additional Lighthouse labs as part of the national lab network, and work is ongoing to expand the UK’s lab capacity inside the NHS.
Covid-19 Laboratory Testing Capacity — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Gordon Leonard Henderson (Conservative, Centre-right): The Lighthouse labs do not appear to be delivering sufficient test results. Schools and care homes in my constituency are still having to wait an unacceptably long time for covid-19 test results, and the delays are making it difficult for them to operate properly. What is my right hon. Friend doing to make better use of the many life science companies in Kent, including those at Discovery Park in Sandwich and at the Kent Science Park in my constituency of Sittingbourne and Sheppey? Those companies have laboratories in which some of the tests taken in Kent could be analysed.
Mental Health Service Provision — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Nadine Vanessa Dorries (Conservative, Centre-right): As I said in an answer to the hon. Member for Tooting (Dr Allin-Khan), we are committed to spending on children and young people’s mental health services, which is growing faster than the overall spend on mental health, and the overall spending itself is growing faster than the NHS budget.
Long Covid — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Johanna Peta Churchill (Conservative, Centre-right): I am sure that the right hon. Gentleman would welcome yesterday’s announcement that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network will work with the Royal College of General Practitioners to develop guidelines to support patients and practitioners in the treatment of and recovery from the disease. This follows on from the NHS launch in July of the Your COVID Recovery service, which provides personalised support for individuals. In addition, we are funding research into covid-19, including a study of 10,000 patients who were admitted to hospital with covid, building our understanding of the long-term effects and helping direct those improved treatments that are needed.
Long Covid — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Johanna Peta Churchill (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the right hon. Gentleman for that statement and I will read the document that he mentions with interest. It is a new disease on which we are still gathering evidence and data, so that we know how we can best support the individual in their recovery and, arguably, in their new covid-tinged life. I assure him that that is precisely what I shall be doing—looking at the evidence base and making sure we work with the colleges and general practitioners to ensure that we get the right answers.
Adult Care: Covid-19 — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Helen Olivia Bicknell Whately (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes an important point about the importance of visiting both to the individuals living in care homes, and to their family and friends. Achieving the balance between protecting care home residents from the risk that covid might be brought into the care home, where it is so hard to control, and giving them access to visitors, has been one of the hardest areas to get right over the past few months. That is why in the summer we issued guidance on safe visiting and gave more freedom on the decisions about visiting to local authorities, with directors of public health working with care homes. I want us to continue to support and enable safe visiting for care homes.
Adult Care: Covid-19 — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Fiona Claire Bruce (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the Minister for the social care winter plan announced two weeks ago. Can she tell me when this half a billion pound infection control fund will be released to councils covering constituencies such as mine in Congleton, in order to help protect residents and staff over the winter?
Adult Care: Covid-19 — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Helen Olivia Bicknell Whately (Conservative, Centre-right): The infection control fund is being distributed in two equal instalments, the first of which has already been paid to local authorities. My hon. Friend’s local authority, Cheshire East Council, will be receiving £4.7 million in total, so it should already have received £2.35 million to go towards the extra costs for care providers and others in infection prevention and control.
Adult Care: Covid-19 — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Scott Leslie Mann (Conservative, Centre-right): As always, I commend the Department and the Secretary of State on their work during the pandemic. Although not every part of the response has been perfect—and we never expected that it would be—I am convinced that the Department has done its utmost to protect the public. I do have some concerns, however, about the transmission between care homes. What measures has the Department taken to prevent cross-contamination of covid between care homes, particularly from staff who work in multiple locations?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): On Friday we confirmed the 40 hospitals we will build by 2030 as part of a package worth £3.7 billion, with a further eight new schemes also invited to bid, all to ensure that we protect the NHS long into the future.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady has long been a campaigner on this subject. We have made significant progress in terms of expanding access where it is clinically safe to do so. On this, as on so many things, I will make sure that I constantly follow the clinical evidence.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend knows that for every person who tragically dies from coronavirus, at least one other person has long-term symptoms lasting more than three months, meaning that they have breathlessness and chronic fatigue and often cannot go back to work normally. In his letter to me of 14 September, he said that clinics were going to be set up so that they could get mental health support, face-to-face counselling and rehabilitation. Have those clinics been commissioned, and when will those long covid sufferers be able to access them throughout the country?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend makes an incredibly important point. I know very well the impact of long covid; it is something that I understand deeply. We are in the process of setting up those clinics and there will be further information on this very shortly.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): As the hon. Gentleman well knows, decisions on the distribution of any vaccine have not been taken. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation is the body that advises the Government on the appropriate clinical prioritisation of vaccines. It has published an interim guide, which he well knows about and we have discussed. That sets out the order of priority as an interim measure, but we await the data from the clinical trials of the vaccine before we will come to a clinically validated full roll-out plan. We are putting in place the logistical plans now, but on the decisions as to the clinical order of priority, we will take the evidence from the Joint Committee.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Joanna Mary Gideon (Conservative, Centre-right): With many GPs surgeries adapting to coronavirus guidelines by holding surgeries outside, often in car parks, one of my constituents was left feeling embarrassed and upset by having to discuss a sensitive and personal health issue within earshot of other patients waiting in line. Does my right hon. Friend agree that in times when alternative methods are replacing the usual privacy of face-to-face appointments behind closed doors, GPs surgeries must be sensitive to the whereabouts and comfort of their patients to ensure that others do not have the same experience as my constituent?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, I wholeheartedly agree with my hon. Friend, who speaks well for her constituent. I am very sorry that her constituent had that experience, and of course GPs should be sensitive, as the large majority are.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): I pay tribute to the group that the hon. Lady mentions. I have put a huge amount of effort into supporting social prescribing, including with funding, and I encourage her CCG to engage with such bodies to make sure that we can get funding to support them on the frontline.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): The Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, my hon. Friend the Member for Bury St Edmunds (Jo Churchill) has committed to consult on the subject to make sure we get to the right outcome.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): Of course I have met and continue to meet the families of those bereaved through coronavirus. With this particular group, I am afraid that when I last looked into it, they were in legal action—in pre-action protocol—with the Government, so I am advised that I should not therefore meet them.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Simon Richard Clarke (Conservative, Centre-right): It is important that communities, such as mine in Middlesbrough, can see a way out of the tighter local restrictions that have now been imposed. Notwithstanding my right hon. Friend’s earlier, very reasonable answer to the hon. Member for Bradford South (Judith Cummins) about the impossibility of setting hard metrics for the release from lockdown, can he set out what would constitute a path out? Does it include, for example, a sustained fall in transmission rates?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): The level of cases matters, but so too does the direction of travel, and when the number of cases is falling—especially if it is falling rapidly—that is the sort of indicator that we will look at. One example is the action we took in Leicester a few months ago now, where we removed some of the most restrictive measures when the numbers were coming down sharply.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): I am very worried about the rates of transmission in the north-east, as I am about parts of the north-west of England. I look forward to working with the hon. Gentleman and colleagues from across the regions affected to take the action necessary to suppress this virus and to support the economy, education and the NHS right across this land.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Suzanne Webb (Conservative, Centre-right): I have first-hand experience of how effective the app has been, as it has kept my father covid-free before he goes into hospital tomorrow. Could my right hon. Friend update the House on the success of the app and advise me of what more Members can do to ensure that the covid-19 app continues to keep us all safe, including my father?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): The covid-19 app has now been successfully downloaded by around 15 million people, including my hon. Friend’s father. Every extra person who downloads it helps to keep themselves safe and keep others safe. I urge everybody in this House to download it—I hope you have, Mr Speaker. It is one of the tools in the armoury, and everybody can play their part in keeping this virus under control by downloading the app.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, absolutely. The testing facilities are one example of that. Testing facilities across the UK work very closely with the Scottish NHS, to ensure that people can get a test as close to them as possible. I think we have reduced the problem of people being sent to Inverness, but we continue to work to increase the capacity in Inverness and right across the country.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Andrew Theakstone Percy (Conservative, Centre-right): Partly in response to large queues and hours-long waits for tests in Canada, Health Canada has followed the US Food and Drug Administration in approving rapid testing, such as the ID NOW test, which can give a result in 15 minutes. Can the Secretary of State update us on where we are with the roll-out of rapid testing?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Mary Josephine Robinson (Conservative, Centre-right): Positive outcomes are more likely when cancer is detected early through breast screening, and evidence suggests that take-up of screening is generally higher when mobile units are used, yet women in Heald Green have missed out on local screening and been directed out of Cheadle to Macclesfield. It is the second time that their three-yearly checks have been disrupted, potentially affecting uptake and risking cancers going undetected. Will the Secretary of State agree to meet me to discuss ways to address the situation in Stockport and give women in my constituency access to the local mobile screening units they need?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, of course I would. I would underline some news announced by the Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, my hon. Friend the Member for Bury St Edmunds (Jo Churchill), which is that the breast screening backlog from the first peak, which was 450,000, is now down to just over 50,000. I pay tribute to the NHS and all those involved in screening who have done so much work to bring that backlog down, and I am very happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss this subject.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Anne-Marie Belinda Trevelyan (Conservative, Centre-right): I would like to thank the Secretary of State for his commitment to Northumberland hospital investment, with the Northgate Hospital investment announced last week. Does he agree that rural hospitals such as Berwick Infirmary—one of the most rural English hospitals—are places to develop the technology to enable us to reach many more patients, without them having to travel long distances to get to hospital?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): We have ended where we started this questions session: with my delight at a new hospital that has been funded and announced by the Prime Minister on Friday—Newgate in Northumberland. That is a very important development. My right hon. Friend makes a wider point about the importance of community hospitals, which are local to where people live. With modern advances in technology, we can deliver more services closer to people’s homes and in people’s homes, and then in community hospitals, while of course needing to build those superb hubs of science and care that our great hospitals are.
Areas with Additional Public Health Restrictions: Economic Support — House of Commons, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend is right that it is important, as we live with the virus and accept that it will be with us for longer, that we constantly learn from that and see what lessons there can be, not just in terms of, for example, regional air travel, but how that reads across into other matters such as non-pharmaceutical interventions. My right hon. Friend’s point is exactly why the Chancellor said yesterday that he will keep listening and striving to be creative. His track record has demonstrated that. I look forward to working with my right hon. Friend as we learn those lessons.