argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Assisted Dying Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2015-01-16
Topic: Health
Colin MacKenzie Low (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, I strongly agree with what the noble and learned Lord, Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood, just said. We need to recognise that the amendments are not really about clarity but about conferring on the Bill the stigma which traditionally attaches to suicide. The use of the term suicide breaches the Samaritans’ guidance on language, which states that: "Inappropriate or careless use of language can perpetuate stigma or sensationalise a death" The term suicide is inappropriate when discussing the rational choice of a mentally competent terminally ill patient who is seeking a peaceful and dignified death. The American Psychological Association has stated that: "It is important to remember that the reasoning on which a terminally ill person [whose judgments are not impaired by mental disorders] bases a decision to end his or her life is fundamentally different from the reasoning a clinically depressed person uses to justify suicide" The amendments add nothing to what the debate should be about and distract us from discussing the mechanics of the process, which I think we should get on with The Bill would legalise the provision of assistance to a dying competent adult to control the time and manner of their death when that death is imminent and unavoidable. It would not legalise assistance with suicide for those who are not terminally ill, and I think that we should leave the Bill as it stands.
Assisted Dying Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2015-01-16
Topic: Health
David Alton (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, I will be brief because I did hear what the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Chester has just said. I understand that the House will want to move to a conclusion but I was very struck by the remarks made a few moments ago by the noble Lord, Lord Dobbs, about suicide. I would like to return to that point in a moment. However, I support my noble friend Lady O’Neill for three reasons: the first is because of language, the second because of law and the third because of practice On the question of language, the noble Lord, Lord Dobbs, being a well known and very accomplished writer, will be familiar with the influential dystopian novel 1984 by George Orwell, who said in it that, "if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought … It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words" The words that we use to describe our actions are crucial. There are so many other examples in law of euphemism, the word used earlier by the noble Lord, Lord Brennan, where we have distorted language to disguise the realities of what we are doing. I do not accuse the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, of doing that in his Bill but it is quite clear on page 4, line 11, where Clause 6(2) states: "In the Suicide Act 1961, after section 2B (course of conduct), insert—" So the law will be changed. It is not the Dying Act but the Suicide Act that we are seeking to change There is language and law, but there is practice as well. The noble Lord, Lord Dobbs, talked about suicide. At an earlier stage, I mentioned that my father was one of five brothers who served in the Second World War. His eldest brother lost his hearing and became deeply depressed. He was very ill at the end of the war and took his own life. I agree with what the noble Lord said about the stigmatisation, particularly of mental health, and the suicides which can follow from it. We must be acutely aware of that In 2000, the World Health Organization issued new guidelines about suicide. It said: "Suicide is perhaps the most tragic way of ending one’s life ... Every effort should be made to avoid overstatement". Interestingly, given the media coverage of these events, it also said: "Front page headlines are never the ideal location for suicide reports … Suicide should not be depicted as a method of coping with personal problems … Instead, the emphasis should be on mourning the person’s death" This House wisely published a Select Committee report on these questions. It stated: "Dying is not only a personal or individual affair. The death of a person affects the lives of others, often in ways and to an extent which cannot be foreseen" The ending or taking of a life is not a trivial question. We must say what we mean. The language must be clear and we must be aware of what the practice will involve. As I have said in this House before, I wish that we placed as much emphasis on helping those who wish to live by providing assisted living as on assisted dying, especially those who are vulnerable and feel at risk as a result of this legislation.
Assisted Dying Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2015-01-16
Topic: Health
Jeremy Purvis (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): To some extent, that illustrates the point I was making. The Bill cannot be described as sophistry or as trying to secretly or behind the scenes change the law in a subtle or slightly insidious way. It is being presented to Parliament in the clearest of terms. All the issues were aired during the extensive Second Reading debate, in which every Member was able to take part, where even the definition in the Oxford English Dictionary was presented. All these issues have been aired; the question is about the right balance of terminology that the public, the medical profession and the legal profession understand and the legislation will hold. That is why I hold that this is the correct term for the Bill.
Covid-19 — House of Lords, 2022-01-20
Topic: Health
John Woodcock (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, the Health Secretary claimed in the media this morning that the Government are actively considering removing the mandatory isolation period at some point in the near future. Presumably, if that goes ahead, it will place greater responsibility on lateral flow testing to show that you are negative, and so that would be an even more difficult moment to introduce charges for those tests, as the Government are also apparently considering.
Epilepsy — House of Commons, 2015-02-26
Topic: Health
Norman Peter Lamb (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I take this issue extremely seriously. There has been an EU-wide review of the risks involved. The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency issued new guidance in January, and the British National Formulary has also been updated. The Department is considering the introduction of a "red flag" system to notify GPs of the risks posed to women of child-bearing age, and I personally am very keen to introduce such a system.
Covid-19: Recovery Strategies — House of Lords, 2020-06-11
Topic: Health
Amirali Bhatia (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, according to the recent letter from the Prime Minister, as from 15 June all shops will be able to reopen. This means that thousands of small and large shops will open, provided that a safe distance between people is managed. Places of worship will be allowed to open from this weekend, and zoos and drive-in cinemas will also be allowed to reopen from 15 June. All that will bring thousands, perhaps millions, out on to the streets and open grounds. The coronavirus is still alive and the Government’s decisions could cause a spike in the pandemic across the country, thereby putting enormous strain on the NHS and other front-line workers All this will require the population to follow the guidelines. The risk lies in whether this will be possible. The videos of the recent processions show that social distancing was not observed. The effects of this will be reflected in coming weeks. The Government might be taking an enormous risk in opening things up prematurely. There is obviously a need to calibrate between priorities of health and the economy. The decision is one of the most difficult for any Government for perhaps the last two centuries.
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services — House of Commons, 2015-02-02
Topic: Health
Norman Peter Lamb (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): The hon. Lady is absolutely right. Unless we understand the prevalence of the problem, it is impossible to plan services effectively. I am delighted that we have secured the funding for an updated prevalence survey in 2015-16. It will be an expanded survey compared with the previous one. We want to cover as wide an age range as possible, to cover early years. That will give us the data, information and evidence we need, but I would then want us to do regular repeats to ensure that we maintain an understanding of prevalence.
NHS: Reform — House of Lords, 2015-07-16
Topic: Health
Ilora Gillian Finlay (Crossbench, Unknown): The way that the Minister has been speaking has made it sound as if the majority of consultants do not work on weekends, and I question the validity of that. The consultants who are on and on call are dealing with emergencies at the weekend and are very often in. However, without diagnostic back-up, without physiotherapy and occupational therapy, without specialist nurses and without community services to which they can discharge patients, they effectively have to function with one hand tied behind their back—sometimes both. You cannot provide modern medicine without that broader team. If you are going to free up hospital beds, you have to be able to discharge patients safely, knowing that they will have the care they need. The 24 hours post-discharge is when patients are at their most vulnerable I will question one thing the Minister said. He gave a six-week timeframe for the BMA. Does that also apply to the NHS Pay Review Body negotiations? What will be done to make sure that all the other staff also move on to contracts that will provide that infrastructure, right through from operating department staff to, as I said, allied healthcare professionals and so on The Statement referred to end-of-life care. Could the Minister inform the House when there will be a response to the report What’s Important to Me. A Review of Choice in End of Life Care, which was undertaken for the National Council for Palliative Care? I declare an interest as its incoming chairman. It has been submitted to the Department of Health, but there has still not been a response to it, even though it has been universally welcomed by both providers and patient groups My last question relates to digital innovation. I welcome the fact that the noble Baroness, Lady Lane-Fox, with her tremendous skills, will be brought in. What are the Government’s targets and how rapidly are they planning to roll out digital innovations? Will they undertake in the process to decrease the paper-load bureaucracy, so that staff can be freed up to deliver front-line patient care, and are not caught by risk-averse processes and procedures that force them to spend a lot of time in documenting or double-checking, when the evidence base for that improving patient care is extremely thin?
International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Bill — House of Lords, 2015-02-06
Topic: Health
Jeremy Purvis (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, the whole concept of seeking to add legislative exceptions to the UK meeting its international obligations, in comparison with other levels of expenditure choices that any Government of the day may make, is not consistent either with our undertaking to meet the 0.7% target or with the Bill. That alone would be sufficient reason for me not to accept the amendment, but there are two others The first is that the amendment does not make clear what "health spending" means. Is it health spending in England? Is it United Kingdom health spending? Is it health and social protection? Is it health and social care? Is it current health expenditure or health capital expenditure? The second proposed new paragraph of the amendment refers to education: is it education across all nations of the United Kingdom? I need not go on, other than to highlight the deficiency of the amendment The second reason is that the amendment is slightly confusing. I suspect that if I had accepted previous amendments for only one report over a five-year period, this amendment could not have been moved because it calls for annual reporting, which the mover of the amendment said was not an appropriate way to go forward because there should be a single five-year report.
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services — House of Commons, 2015-02-02
Topic: Health
Norman Peter Lamb (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his generous remarks—perhaps he ought to talk to his Front-Bench colleagues about my commitment. He is absolutely right to highlight the fact that although there is quite a mixed picture across the country, in many areas there has been disinvestment in children’s mental health services. They are local decisions, and they are not decisions that I accept. That is why I made the serious point about the absolute importance of introducing waiting time and access standards, including in children’s mental health services. We need data so that we can monitor performance against those standards, and we need a payments system that does not disadvantage mental health. I also share his view that we need to change the way services are organised and commissioned so that we focus much more on prevention.
Arrangement of Business — House of Lords, 2020-07-15
Topic: Health
Charles Hay (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, the hybrid sitting of the House will now begin. Some Members are here in the Chamber, respecting social distancing, and others are participating remotely, but all Members are treated equally. If the capacity of the Chamber is exceeded, I will immediately adjourn the House. The usual rules and courtesies in debate apply We now come to questions on the Statement on the publication of the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review. It has been agreed in the usual channels to dispense with the reading of the Statement, and we will proceed immediately to questions from the Opposition Front Bench. I ask that questions and answers be brief.
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Leicester) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-07-29
Topic: Health
Christopher Holmes (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, I pay tribute to all those in Leicester who are working so hard to bring this local outbreak under control. They deserve all our support and thanks Does my noble friend the Minister agree that, in essence, there is no such thing as a pandemic, just a series of local outbreaks? To this end, will he comment on the approach that should be taken to effectively bring local outbreaks under control? Similarly, I ask my noble friend: how do you hide a factory—secrete a sweatshop? Will he confirm that the Health and Safety Executive, not just in Leicester but countrywide, dramatically scaled back its operations, as did other inspectorates, at the beginning of the Covid outbreak for—yes, you guessed it, my Lords—health and safety reasons? This decision meant that a situation such as the one in Leicester was surely inevitable. What is being done to address this situation Similarly, at the beginning of the Covid outbreak, not the recent resurgence in Leicester, what efforts were made to ensure that communications could be obtained in different formats: large print, on tape, email for blind people, different languages—particularly in areas such as Leicester where there were clear language needs? Can my noble friend the Minister confirm what efforts were made in that respect, both at the beginning of the outbreak and, indeed, with the recent resurgence in the city of Leicester?
Covid-19 Update — House of Lords, 2020-10-06
Topic: Health
Brian Mackenzie (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, it is increasingly apparent that the key to successful test, track and trace is the provision of a speedy test result, without which the whole process is delayed. Sir Paul Nurse of the Crick Institute makes the case for locally based laboratories to do this more efficiently. A similar argument applies to using the skills of local authorities to track and trace contacts. Will the Government reconsider their obsession with a centralised, world-beating system?
National Health Service — House of Commons, 2015-01-21
Topic: Health
Norman Peter Lamb (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): The NHS across the UK, including urgent and emergency care services, is facing enormous challenges. By the end of this Parliament, there will be nearly 1 million more over-65s than there were at its start, which means substantially more patients with more complex health needs, but such pressures are not unique to England. All hon. Members need to think very carefully about how we pursue the debate on the challenges and pressures that the NHS is facing. Patients and the NHS do not need or want cynicism and party point scoring. My right hon. Friend the Member for Chelmsford (Mr Burns) and my hon. Friend the Member for Cambridge (Dr Huppert) were absolutely correct to make that point.
Junior Doctors (New Contract) — House of Commons, 2015-11-17
Topic: Health
Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Claiming in July that senior doctors do not work outside 9 to 5 was perhaps felt to be antagonistic. Contrary to the figures quoted by the hon. Member for Dudley North (Ian Austin) last Monday, A&E figures for NHS England are 5% below those in Scotland. With such disappointing figures before we even get into winter or face a work-to-rule, and in the presence of eye-watering deficits, how does the Secretary of State plan to support hospital trusts through the winter?
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Obligations of Hospitality Undertakings) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-10-09
Topic: Health
Manzila Pola Uddin (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, I acknowledge the exceptional pressure that the Government are under. The NHS faces a complex set of choices in protecting the nation and people’s livelihood, education and mental well-being According to a former president of the Bangladesh Caterers Association and Ahmed Samad Chowdhury of the Catering Circle—organisations with membership in the thousands—the hospitality sector is on its knees. I understand the obligation on businesses to continue making the necessary adjustments to ensure compliance and assist with the many challenges confronting the hospitality sector, but this also requires our Government getting test and trace into competent local hands Billions have been thrown to questionable private- sector companies without the adequate knowledge of communities and businesses, which has eroded trust in the NHS Test and Trace system. We already know about the lack of confidence in it, with data management fiascos contributing to the infection of individuals who may have unknowingly endangered their families and vulnerable loved ones The payment of £500 to support self-isolation while fines can be in the thousands really smacks of an incoherent government strategy, as does the rule of six and the 10 pm curfew. The Government must explain and justify this by sharing evidence with this House and citizens at large. Questioning and seeking clarification in this House should not be mistaken for dissent, given that the Government cannot competently keep our country safe The Government have lost trust. I have tried my very utmost best to be as co-operative as possible in these debates. Can the Minister say whether, in reviewing this legislation, the Government will re-examine their messaging appropriately for all communities and acknowledge that those people who are vulnerable remain vulnerable to this merciless disease?
Personality Disorder Support (North Essex) — House of Commons, 2015-02-24
Topic: Health
Questions: What discussions he has had with (a) the Haven project in Colchester and (b) NHS bodies in north Essex on the need for continuing funding for support for people with moderate to severe personality disorder.
Norman Peter Lamb (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I am very much aware of the work that my right hon. Friend and my hon. Friend the Member for Colchester (Sir Bob Russell) have done on this. It is interesting that all the other 10 pilots have continued. They are part of NHS trusts. This is the only one run by a voluntary sector organisation. It is an incredibly valuable service. I was struck by the extent to which people said how much they had reduced their hospital in-patient admissions as a result of the incredibly impressive preventive work that this service provides, and I want to look into it further.
Covid-19 — House of Lords, 2020-09-03
Topic: Health
Margaret Ritchie (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, reference has already been made by the Minister to the quicker saliva tests for Covid-19. For the avoidance of doubt, can he outline to the House the timeframe for these trials and an implementation timeframe if they are successful?
Covid-19 — House of Lords, 2020-09-03
Topic: Health
John Taylor (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, one in five NHS staff is from black and ethnic-minority communities, yet six out of every 10 UK health workers killed by Covid-19 have been BAME. What progress are the Government making in urgently finding out why so many BAME health workers have been so vulnerable, even to the point of losing their lives in the cause of serving others?
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) (No. 3) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-09-03
Topic: Health
Manzila Pola Uddin (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, I am pleased to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Noakes. We are in the seventh week of the regulations being in place and once more we are sleepwalking into approving regulations without an opportunity to amend or challenge decisions, undermining any notion of meaningful oversight I wish to make two points, the first being about localised lockdown. Despite what the Minister said, confusion seems to have reigned, creating significant turbulence in communities. By now, we should have established a blueprint for multiagency intervention in partnership with local leadership and health organisations, including local testing, as I have said before in this House. When the Government say that they are being decisive, that is not recognised by many communities, which consider that government approaches cause anxiety and resentment among residents, businesses, health professionals and law enforcement alike. Can the Minister inform the House what criteria and benchmarks are activating local lockdowns? I understand that the virus remains worryingly active, and I hope that noble Lords will agree that we must do all we can to mitigate the effect of uncertainties and the erosion of trust and confidence. That includes improving communication among minority communities, which at the moment can be considered negligent The other point that I wish to raise is on the impact of regulations on public gatherings. Every weekend I see young people in public and at social gatherings breaching the mask-wearing and social distancing rules, with no enforcement in sight. The health protection regulations are in place to protect the public from health risks, but they must not transgress, being used to impinge on civil liberties or stop peaceful, democratic protests. During these protests, some people have received excessive, punitive fines. Any draconian interpretation of the rules must not be countenanced or allowed to curtail our basic rights at a time when we are witnessing historic movements led by young people campaigning for social and political justice, equality and action on climate change. I agree wholeheartedly with the noble Baronesses, Lady Jolly and Lady Bull. Can the Minister assure the House that the Government are collecting robust data for equality impact assessments, on how and where fines are being issued, and on the ethnic and age breakdown?