argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Engagements — House of Commons, 2021-12-01
Topic: Health
Keir Starmer (Labour, Centre-left): Well, there we have it. The Prime Minister says, "I deny that my hospital building programme has been flagged red as unachievable, but I do not have the confidence to publish the report." The more we look at this promise, the murkier it gets. I have a document here, which was sent to the NHS by the Department of Health and Social Care. It is called "New hospital programme communications playbook"—I kid you not—and it offers "advice to make it easier to talk about the programme" You might think that everyone knows what a new hospital is. I certainly thought I knew what a new hospital was before I read this guide, but it instructs everyone to describe refurbishments and alterations in existing hospitals as new hospitals. We can all agree that refurbishments are a very good thing, but they are not new hospitals. So how many of the 40 are fix-up jobs on existing hospitals and how many are actually the new hospitals that the Prime Minister promised?
Downing Street Christmas Parties Investigation — House of Commons, 2021-12-09
Topic: Health
Lilian Rachel Greenwood (Labour, Centre-left): The Prime Minister has repeatedly told this House that all covid rules were followed in Downing Street. Will the Minister publish the covid risk assessments undertaken prior to any parties, social events or gatherings that took place on Government premises in November and December last year?
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-23
Topic: Health
Emma Ann Hardy (Labour, Centre-left): As part of the Minister’s workforce review, will he look at the Carr-Hill formula, which local GPs tell me incentivises GPs to go to areas with longer life expectancy—therefore, wealthier areas—at the expense of areas such as Hull? It feels like the funding mechanism for GPs is not fair.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-23
Topic: Health
Rachael Helen Maskell (Labour, Centre-left): Anyone who on Sunday was on the March with Midwives will understand the real crisis now facing that profession—a particularly acute once since it is also about women’s health. Is there not a need to ensure that plans are not just on paper, but expedited, so that we are sure of seeing real delivery of those much-needed staff?
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-23
Topic: Health
Emma Ann Hardy (Labour, Centre-left): One reason I want to emphasise the importance of new clause 28 is that we are anticipating a greater demand for mental health services, and therefore a greater demand for mental health professionals working in the NHS. Only by having regular reviews will we be able to anticipate what that demand will be and prepare accordingly.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-23
Topic: Health
Rachael Helen Maskell (Labour, Centre-left): One of the key workforces is, of course, in public health, where the aim is to shift the balance by increasing prevention so that we do not need all the doctors and nurses and other health professionals further down the road. The health visitor delivery programme led to a heavy stream of new health visitors, but it had other consequences. That is another reason why the right hon. Gentleman’s amendment is so important: we see rapid changes in the workforce which could have other consequences.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-23
Topic: Health
Dawn Petula Butler (Labour, Centre-left): I rise to speak in support of new clause 12, which stands in my name and those of many hon. Members across this House, on the protection of the title of "nurse". The Government’s response to Alison Leary’s petition implies that we are on the same page on the issue of protecting the title. As the Minister said, this is not a party political thing; it is about the safety and protection of patients and the public. I hope that the Government will vote in favour of new clause 12 today, as it is long overdue and brings nurses into line with paramedics and physiotherapists in terms of the protection of titles It is shocking that anybody can call themselves a nurse, whether or not they have any qualifications or a first aid certificate—they may have no qualifications at all and they can call themselves a nurse. As we know, when someone calls themselves a nurse, that gives them a certain standing in society and people automatically think they know what they are doing. The nursing profession has some harrowing stories of parents taking advice from somebody who called themselves a nurse but was not one, and the tragic and devastating consequences. It is really important that we have the opportunity to put this right today—in fact it would be dangerous not to do so. Throughout the pandemic, people have been struck off as nurses, yet they are still using the title of "nurse" as they publicly deliver misleading and dangerous information about the pandemic. The public and patients have the right to know that the treatment and advice they receive is from a registered healthcare professional Many other countries protect the title of "nurse". The protection of the title is supported by more than 70 nursing organisations, including the Queen’s Nursing Institute, the Institute of Health Visiting, charities, those representing the public using health and social care, Unison Health, Unite and the Royal College of Nursing and its Professional Nursing Committee.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-23
Topic: Health
Taiwo Owatemi (Labour, Centre-left): I would like to put on record my support for nurses, particularly on Nursing Support Workers’ Day. Does my hon. Friend agree that the priority that nurses are asking for and that NHS staff are looking for is not restructuring, but investment in resources, a plan to address the staff shortages and retention struggles that the NHS has, and a clear strategy to address the winter waiting times and demands on services such as operations and GP services?
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-23
Topic: Health
Dawn Petula Butler (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend makes a valid and valuable point. One way we can show our appreciation for nurses’ work is to protect their title, but we should not do that instead of addressing any of the issues she mentioned, along with ensuring that they receive a pay rise I thank the people who have petitioned for the change in my new clause for a number of years, including the former Secretary of State, the right hon. Member for South West Surrey (Jeremy Hunt), who is no longer in his place but supports my new clause; the Labour Front-Bench team; Ann Keen; the chief nursing officer for England, Ruth May; Professor Mark Radford, the chief nurse at Health Education England; the previous chief nursing officer for Northern Ireland, Charlotte McArdle; Andrea Sutcliffe, Matthew McClelland and the Nursing and Midwifery Council; Mr Paul Trevatt; Professor June Girvin; Dr Crystal Oldman; Ms Shamim Donatta Ayiecho; Ms Leanne Patrick; Mr Gerry Bolger; Ms Catherine Eden; and the Florence Nightingale Foundation leadership scholars. The Government know that there is a lot of support for new clause 12 and I hope it passes today.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-23
Topic: Health
Clive Anthony Lewis (Labour, Centre-left): Listening to the hon. Member’s speech, I think he is giving the game away in some ways, because what I am hearing, if I understand him correctly, is that he wants to see a core of healthcare provided by the NHS and then the more lucrative parts of the NHS—administration and other parts—siphoned off to the private sector, which is a model we have seen in the US and which this Bill makes so much easier.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-23
Topic: Health
Justin Piers Richard Madders (Labour, Centre-left): Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker—[Interruption.] It has been a long day, Mr Deputy Speaker, but we will get there I will speak to the amendments tabled in my name and those of my right hon. and hon. Friends. As the Minister said, this group of amendments covers a large range of important areas, so I will be brief New clause 27 flags up the issues around waiting times. Passing any amendment requiring a report is, of course, not a total solution, but it might be a source of focus. As Labour has said many times since 2010, winter pressures, waiting times and the flight into private healthcare to get earlier treatment have exacerbated the issues.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-23
Topic: Health
Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour, Centre-left): Many of my constituents find it increasingly difficult to book an appointment with an NHS GP or dentist, forcing them either to go private or to suffer without treatment. Does the shadow Minister agree that, after a decade of failure and misguided policies, the Government must take urgent remedial action? However, the term "waiting time", to which he has just referred, is not mentioned once in the Bill.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-23
Topic: Health
Geraint Richard Davies (Labour, Centre-left): Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that there is concern in Wales, where we are protecting the private personal data of people receiving medicine and healthcare, that in England there will now be a gateway for the private sector to take people’s data and use it for its own reasons? That is one reason that we would not want to give the English our data.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-23
Topic: Health
Barbara Mary Keeley (Labour, Centre-left): I rise to speak to amendment 73, which would introduce safeguards around the discharge-to-assess process The discharge-to-assess process may have been a necessary element of the NHS’s pandemic response, but it contains gaps in safeguarding that leave unpaid carers vulnerable to financial impact and risks to their health. Many unpaid carers have to begin caring overnight, when their relative or friend, who may be quite unwell, is discharged from hospital without a plan for their care at home. Without a carer’s assessment to check whether a person has the capability or capacity to take on such a commitment, weeks can pass before any plan is made, leaving carers and the people they care for struggling in a desperate situation The Government’s own impact assessment on discharge to assess states baldly: "There is an expectation that unpaid carers might need to allocate more time to care for patients who are discharged from hospital earlier. For some, this could require a reduction in workhours and associated financial costs." Organisations that support unpaid carers are outraged by that statement. The Government’s expectation that carers can just drop everything to take on a new caring burden is insulting, particularly given the extra caring burden that 3 million people have already taken on during the pandemic I recently queried that point with the Secretary of State at the Health and Social Care Committee. In response, the he wrote to the Committee to say that the Government do "not expect unpaid carers to need to give up work or reduce their working hours to look after friends or family while their long-term health and care needs assessments are completed". When the impact assessment says one thing and the Secretary of State, after being questioned about it, says another, I have to question the understanding in the Department and among Ministers of the discharge-to-assess policy and its impact on the 13 million carers in the country.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-23
Topic: Health
Margaret Greenwood (Labour, Centre-left): Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker The proposed NHS payment scheme in the Bill will, in effect, give private healthcare companies the opportunity to undercut NHS providers, and I believe we will then see healthcare that should be provided by the NHS increasingly being delivered by the private sector, with money going into the pockets of shareholders rather than being spent on patient care. If that happens, NHS staff may well find themselves forced out of jobs that currently provide Agenda for Change rates of pay, NHS pensions and other terms and conditions, and find that only private sector jobs with potentially lesser pay and conditions are available for them to apply for if they wish to continue working in the health service My amendments 54, 55 and 56, which are supported by the Royal College of Nursing, are intended to ensure that the pay rates of Agenda for Change, pensions, and other terms and conditions of all eligible NHS staff are not undermined as a result of the adoption of the NHS payment scheme, and that all relevant trade unions and other organisations representing staff who work in the health and care sectors are consulted by NHS England on the likely impact of the proposed scheme On hospital discharge, I have tabled amendment 60, which would remove clause 80 from the Bill. The hospital discharge proposals pose risks to patients and staff. In its written evidence given to the Bill Committee, the RCS said: "In the context of current high vacancy rates across district and community nursing, and poor understanding of workforce shortages across the health service, public health and social care, along with chronic underfunding due to failure of the current service payment model to recognise community nursing, this legislation should not seek to demand a service delivery approach which transfers such disproportionate risk to nursing staff and patients." As of May this year, 4 million patients had been discharged since 2020 under discharge to assess and the temporary measures of the Coronavirus Act 2020. I asked the Government how many of those patients had been readmitted within 30 days but they told me that they did not hold the data. In effect, they did not know; they do not have that information. Back in June of this year, the Government told me that the national health service had commissioned an independent evaluation of the implementation of hospital discharge policy, and that the evaluation was under way. It was due to report in autumn 2021—that is, now. Yet the NHS told me last week that the report containing the evaluation had not yet been finalised. It is therefore a matter of extreme concern that the Government are pushing ahead with a policy that is risky to both patients and staff without properly understanding its clinical outcomes, and that they know they are doing so. I ask the Minister to withdraw clause 80 from the Bill.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-23
Topic: Health
Peter Christopher Dowd (Labour, Centre-left): I am afraid that I do not have time. Let the Secretary of State report on access to NHS dentistry and give it a seat at the table on integrated care boards and partnerships, along with other health professionals. In conclusion, these proposals are about a comprehensive national care strategy that will help both patients and the NHS, and giving dentistry the attention that it deserves. Those are the areas we need to focus our attention on. They need a bit of tender loving care.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-23
Topic: Health
Margaret Greenwood (Labour, Centre-left): Will the Secretary of State comment on the discharge-to-assess proposals? I am concerned, because his Department told me that a report about how the process goes was meant to be published in autumn. His Department told me back in May that 4 million people have been discharged under discharge to assess—that is, having their care needs assessed after they have left hospital rather than before—but the same Department did not know what the clinical outcomes were and it did not know how many people had been readmitted to hospital within 30 days. I would have thought that it was essential that MPs were provided with that information and with a full outline of the clinical outcomes of that policy. Will he comment on that and tell us what he can do about it, so that we really understand what is happening?
Prayers — House of Commons, 2021-11-26
Topic: Health
Lindsay Harvey Hoyle (Labour, Centre-left): Before we begin proceedings on private Members’ Bill, I wish to inform the House that the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care contacted me last night to confirm that he will be coming to the House at the earliest opportunity today to update the House on covid-19. I am grateful to him for this, and proceedings today will be interrupted at 11 am for the statement.
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2021-11-26
Topic: Health
Patrick Bosco McFadden (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Secretary of State, the NHS and everyone responsible for the booster programme that is helping to protect us as we enter the winter months, but is not one of the lessons of the news he has announced today that, if we do not tackle the enormous vaccine inequality around the world, we will continue to be exposed to new variants of this type? In Africa, for example, just 6.6% of the population have been vaccinated. Of course, it is every Government’s first duty to protect its own people—everyone understands that—but does he agree that the United Kingdom and other rich countries in the world must do more to ensure that surplus doses that we do not need are distributed to countries that do need them, rather than not being used and ultimately, in some cases, destroyed?
Public Health — House of Commons, 2021-11-30
Topic: Health
Rachael Helen Maskell (Labour, Centre-left): Dr Harries is a public health professional who therefore understands what public health measures need to be taken to secure our wellbeing against the pandemic. Why are the Government not listening to what public health professionals are advising?
NHS Trusts: Capital Spending — House of Commons, 2021-11-02
Topic: Health
Andrew John Gwynne (Labour, Centre-left): I am pleased that the Minister mentioned the opportunity to provide eight additional rebuilds of hospitals, because Stepping Hill Hospital has served the people of Stockport and surrounding areas well since it was built in 1905. However, all hospital buildings reach the end of their useful lives and, with a £40 million maintenance bill, that one certainly has. The council and the foundation trust have submitted ambitious plans to rebuild the hospital on a new site in the town centre, moving it to a more accessible location with state-of-the-art facilities and helping to regenerate the centre of Stockport. This is a win-win, so will the Minister look favourably on these plans?
Budget Resolutions — House of Commons, 2021-11-02
Topic: Health
Margaret Greenwood (Labour, Centre-left): I have listened with interest to the Minister’s points about the national health service. If the Health and Care Bill goes through, as the Government intend that it should, instead of having a national health service, we will have 42 independent systems that will all have to meet strict financial limits. The Bill also has provision to make things wide open for the private sector to start delivering care that the NHS currently delivers. What would the Minister say to those NHS workers who may not be able to secure a job in the NHS any longer, because that role has been taken over by a private company, thus losing Agenda for Change pay and terms and conditions?
Medical Cannabis (Access) Bill — House of Commons, 2021-12-10
Topic: Health
Jeffrey Smith (Labour, Centre-left): I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time Before I begin, I want to thank briefly a number of people who have advised me and helped bring this Bill forward today. Among others, particular thanks go to Professor Mike Barnes and Professor David Nutt; to Rudi Fortson; to the parents of children with treatment-resistant epilepsy who have talked to me—Hannah Deacon, Matt Hughes and Emma Appleby; to Peter Carroll and the great campaigners at End Our Pain; to the brilliant Adam in the Public Bill Office here in Parliament; and to Alex Worrell in my office in Parliament We have a problem that is acknowledged in this House—across this House, I think—and certainly outside this House, and I know that Ministers also appreciate the problem and want to try to find a way around it. That problem is that medical cannabis—cannabis-based medical products—is a very helpful and effective treatment for a number of medical conditions, but significant numbers of people who would benefit from being prescribed medical cannabis on the NHS are not able to get the prescriptions that they need When I was drawn in the private Members’ Bill ballot, I wanted to try to find a legislative way forward to address this problem. I had hoped to agree an approach with the Government. I had a number of conversations with Ministers. I do believe that Ministers want to find a way forward on this but, unfortunately, that has not been possible, which is why I have put forward the proposals that are before us today. As I say, I do not think there is a lack of will from the Government, but that reflects an inflexibility in the system, which is at the root of the problem. The Bill’s modest proposals try to find a way to help overcome the barriers. It is not a magic bullet and it will not resolve all the problems, but in due course it might help some patients to get the medicine that they need.
Medical Cannabis (Access) Bill — House of Commons, 2021-12-10
Topic: Health
Jeffrey Smith (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. That is one example of a significant number where lives have been transformed by this medicine. There is frustration that people cannot get it as they should When the Government passed the Misuse of Drugs (Amendments) (Cannabis and Licence Fees) (England, Wales and Scotland) Regulations 2018, which moved cannabis from schedule 1 to schedule 2, it became legal for clinicians on the specialist register to prescribe cannabis-based medical products. That legalisation came in the wake of a high-profile campaign by patients who were unable to get the medicine that they needed. The highest-profile cases—many will remember Alfie Dingley and Billy Caldwell—were of children with severe treatment-resistant epilepsy. Medical cannabis helped their conditions remarkably, as the hon. Gentleman just outlined, but generally they had to get it from abroad—usually from the Netherlands—or on the illegal market The 2018 regulations, which legalised cannabis-based medical products, offered a hopeful way forward for those children and others. Hon. Members and the public would be forgiven for thinking that the problem was resolved, but, three years later, only three prescriptions for medical cannabis have been obtained through the NHS—three prescriptions in three years. Cannabis-based medical products are an appropriate treatment for a larger number of people and they have been able to access private prescriptions, but often they pay a fortune. I am told that there are about 10,000 private prescriptions for cannabis-based medicines in the UK for various conditions, including chronic pain, Tourette’s, anxiety and epilepsy, but virtually no one can access them on our national health service.
Medical Cannabis (Access) Bill — House of Commons, 2021-12-10
Topic: Health
Alexander David Sobel (Labour, Centre-left): One public perception that is wrong is about how medicinal cannabis is produced. It is produced in secure conditions by highly trained people, creating good-quality jobs in secure premises. It is not done in a back bedroom somewhere. Should we not be bringing those industries forward to give relief to thousands of people across the UK through the NHS?
Medical Cannabis (Access) Bill — House of Commons, 2021-12-10
Topic: Health
Antonia Louise Antoniazzi (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the hon. Lady for her generosity, but it is very frustrating to be sitting on these Benches and listening to what she is saying, because it is not true. The problem is that children have been dying, and these families have tried absolutely everything. The unlicensed drugs that children have had to take before they even had access to medicinal cannabis put them practically into a coma just to be alive; that is not acceptable. Please—I beg her to come and join the all-party parliamentary group, and to educate herself and her colleagues better.