argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Barts Health NHS Trust — House of Lords, 2015-03-19
Topic: Health
Frederick Richard Penn Curzon (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I will now repeat in the form of a Statement an Answer to an Urgent Question tabled in another place and given by my honourable friend the Minister for Public Health on the subject of Barts Health NHS Trust. The Statement is as follows: "The NHS Trust Development Authority announced on Tuesday 17 March that Barts Health would be placed into special measures. This followed a report by the Care Quality Commission that rated services at the Barts Health site at Whipps Cross as ‘inadequate’. As a result of this decision, the trust will receive a package of tailored support to help it to rapidly make the necessary improvements for patients. This will include the appointment of an improvement director and the opportunity to partner with a high-performing trust The Chief Inspector of Hospitals has highlighted the scale of the challenge ahead and this is an opportunity to ensure that the trust has the extra support it needs to meet this challenge. Barts Health has already announced that it has begun to strengthen management arrangements at Whipps Cross, in response to concerns raised by the CQC We make no apology that, under the new rigorous inspection regime led by the Chief Inspector of Hospitals, if a hospital is not performing as it should, the public will be told. If a hospital is providing inadequate care and we do not have confidence in the ability of its leadership to make the required improvements without intensive support, it will be put into special measures. It will remain in special measures until it is able it to reach the quality standards that patients rightly expect While the trust is in special measures, it will receive increased support and intensive oversight to help it address its specific failings. This process is publicly transparent so that patients and the public can see and track for themselves, online through the NHS Choices website, the progress that their trusts are making. Any changes or additional support required for the trust leadership are put in place early on in the improvement process, as has already taken place at Barts Health The expectation is that an NHS trust or foundation trust will be reinspected by the CQC within 12 months of being placed in special measures. It is the job of the Chief Inspector of Hospitals to recommend when a trust is ready to exit special measures. The NHS Trust Development Authority or Monitor will then formally decide to take the trust out of special measures when they consider that the trust is able to sustain the quality of care at the level that patients expect A total of 21 trusts have been put into special measures over the past 20 months as a result of this new approach to poor care. Six trusts have exited the regime and there has been progress at nearly all the others. The willingness to recognise poor care has been critical in starting a journey to improvement and we make no apology for upholding the high standards of care that are rightly expected of the NHS" My Lords, that concludes the Statement.
Barts Health NHS Trust — House of Lords, 2015-03-19
Topic: Health
Frederick Richard Penn Curzon (Conservative, Centre-right): Early on in the Government’s term of office, we analysed all the trusts that were subject to PFI liabilities. The worst affected trusts were singled out to be given ongoing financial support by the Department of Health. Barts has a very large PFI debt of about £1 billion, and I have asked whether it is considered that this in itself has proved to be a deciding factor in the trust’s financial stresses. The advice I have been given is that it is not seen as a particular cause of the difficulties now being experienced.
Barts Health NHS Trust — House of Lords, 2015-03-19
Topic: Health
Frederick Richard Penn Curzon (Conservative, Centre-right): It is precisely because we have wanted to confront the issue across the NHS that so much has been done following the report of Sir Robert Francis into Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust. All the recommendations flowing from that report should resonate with every part of the NHS. The recent work done by Sir Robert on whistleblowing can be put into the same category. There are lessons and messages for the NHS as a whole, and I believe that progress is being made, as it needs to be in particular quarters.
Barts Health NHS Trust — House of Lords, 2015-03-19
Topic: Health
Frederick Richard Penn Curzon (Conservative, Centre-right): The Statement related to Whipps Cross specifically, but the Trust Development Authority took the decision to place the entire trust into special measures. That was a slightly unusual step to take but I think that it reflected the concern that it felt about the management of the trust generally. However, the TDA also singled out some areas at Barts for particular praise. It is important to stress that patients will receive the good care that they have known about at Barts in the future.
Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2015-06-29
Topic: Health
Susan Williams (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, we have talked about the Secretary of State’s ability to intervene, which in itself is also a check and a balance. The orders will be debated through both Houses of Parliament. I will make some progress on this, and if the noble Lord wants to intervene further, he is very welcome to For the debates it will be important that full details of the deal concerned, how it was arrived at and the outcomes expected of it will be fully available to Parliament. As I said in the earlier short debate, I am ready to consider whether the standard Explanatory Memorandums are sufficient to ensure that Parliament has all the information it needs in this unprecedented process of devolution. As to a requirement for a combined authority to publish an annual report on its deal in relation to health, there will be a process, as I said in one of our debates last week, for evaluating the progress on each deal agreed with each area. For example, the Greater Manchester deal has an extensive programme of evaluation, with evaluations being public documents available to all with an interest in the area and the progress being made. I do not believe that it is appropriate to make a requirement about the reporting or evaluation of some particular aspect of a deal—an aspect which may not be in all the deals that are agreed I turn to some specific points that noble Lords have made. The noble Lord, Lord Warner, talked about the Secretary of State for Health overturning decisions if he did not like them. It is a bit more than that. I think he could intervene if he thought that decisions would be detrimental to people’s health or well-being. That was the point I was hoping to convey, but perhaps I did not do it articulately enough.
International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Bill — House of Lords, 2015-02-27
Topic: Defense
Mark Schreiber (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, the speeches of the noble Lord, Lord Reid, and the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Stirrup, emphasise a very important point: the synergistic act between aid and the military. We know that the help we recently sent to Sierra Leone to combat Ebola had to be assisted by military forces to make it possible to administer it. I suspect that there are a lot of instances where the provision of what we loosely call aid is the need to make it possible to deliver the aid I suggest—it may not be a matter for this amendment, although I think it is the point of the amendment—that very much more careful consideration be given to the extent to which the Ministry of Defence budget is used to facilitate aid. Particularly now, in the days of ISIS, that so much is needed to introduce minimum stability—to help refugees, for example—I suggest that one could look at the defence budget and the aid budget as a single budget and use that synergy to make both most effective. It is quite extraordinary to me that we set aside the aid budget with a special ring-fence and do not do the same for defence, especially when we are underspending on it.
International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Bill — House of Lords, 2015-02-27
Topic: Defense
Michael Bruce Forsyth (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I am a very humble sort of chap. I have sat here this morning, participated in the debate and have listened to former Cabinet Secretaries, former Permanent Secretaries, former chiefs of staff with great experience in defence, former Secretaries of State and former Treasury Ministers. There is an almost unanimous voice saying, "Look, we support the principle but, actually, the way in which this is being implemented is mistaken". No doubt the Bill will make its way towards the statute book and people will be able to change it in the future. However, on this matter of the defence of our country, we are in territory that is of fundamental importance Having listened to the speeches of the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Stirrup, the noble Lord, Lord West, and, speaking from the opposition Benches, a former Secretary of State for Defence, who has held quite a number of other positions—a vast experience of government—I am very surprised that my noble friend the Minister has not said, "You know what? We need to go back and think about this". I did not grasp whether she was saying that the Government remain committed to a target of 2% or that they would meet their 2% target this year. I shall happily give way to her if she can clarify what she was saying, because there is a degree of confusion about that.
International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Bill — House of Lords, 2015-02-27
Topic: Defense
Michael Bruce Forsyth (Conservative, Centre-right): I am most grateful to the noble Lord, who speaks from experience, and I agree with everything he says. What we spend at the moment on overseas development aid accounts for about a third of the defence budget. All my amendment would do is say, "If you want to increase the overseas aid budget, you can do so, but we have to meet that other target as well". That seems entirely reasonable and sensible, and I am afraid that the arguments put forward for not linking these two things were thoroughly inadequate. The advocates of the Bill have been hoist by their own petard I would just like to pay a small tribute to the noble Lord, Lord Davies, for saying right at the start that he would be consistent, but I was a little disappointed that he suggested that if I divided the House he might not be able to vote for the amendment because of the drafting. That seems to be something that he should be able to overcome. If the House decides to accept the amendment, I shall be quite happy for the Government to come back with new drafting. I am very happy to work with the noble Lord to ensure that we reach agreement on the drafting, just as we have agreed on the principle of maintaining the support for our Armed Forces and ensuring the security of our country.
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-11
Topic: Health
Lucy Neville-Rolfe (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the noble Lord, Lord Low, for his intervention. We have to legislate in an informed and evidence-based way. We have brought forward the provisions on the NHS and it is very good that noble Lords opposite support that at this late stage. We are not in the same situation in relation to other sectors. There are various arrangements and we are making general improvements on whistleblowing.
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-11
Topic: Health
Lucy Neville-Rolfe (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the noble Lord, Lord Wills. Of course whistleblowing can play a vital part in all areas. I said that right at the beginning. As far as this Bill is concerned, we are taking specific steps in relation to the NHS. Perhaps if I could make a little bit more progress, I could explain some of the other things that we are also doing.
Jimmy Savile: NHS Investigations — House of Lords, 2015-02-26
Topic: Health
Frederick Richard Penn Curzon (Conservative, Centre-right): My noble friend makes a series of extremely powerful and pertinent points and I am in agreement with the thrust of them. She is absolutely right that this is a matter of the culture of an organisation. While I think we can say hand on heart that the culture in the NHS has in many respects changed for the better in recent years, we must never be complacent about this. This matter was particularly identified by Sir Robert Francis in his recent report on whistleblowing, and we have accepted his recommendations. For example, we will ask every NHS organisation to identify one member of staff to whom other members of staff can speak if they have particular concerns and are not being listened to. We will also consult on establishing a new independent national whistleblowing guardian as a full-time post within the CQC to fulfil the kind of independent role that my noble friend refers to. In that context we are legislating to protect from discrimination whistleblowers who apply for NHS jobs. Therefore, I think that there are things that we can do with the mechanisms to ensure that the NHS is a more benign place for people who would otherwise feel too frightened to speak up Nevertheless, the further consultation on mandatory reporting which I have undertaken we will carry out will, I am sure, bring all this into the frame again. I have no doubt—at least, I hope—that my noble friend will feed into that consultation in the way that she has just indicated.
Jimmy Savile: NHS Investigations — House of Lords, 2015-02-26
Topic: Health
Frederick Richard Penn Curzon (Conservative, Centre-right): I take my noble friend’s point. However, I would hesitate before committing to a situation where, in every instance that a doctor or nurse examined a patient, they had to have somebody with them. In the real world, I do not think that is going to be practical. What one should have, however, is an assurance that whoever examines the patient, or performs some intimate caring service with the patient, should have been checked for both a criminal record and a previous employment history. I will take my noble friend’s point away, but I think that what I have said would be accepted by those in the National Health Service as the only practical way forward.
Jimmy Savile: NHS Investigations — House of Lords, 2015-02-26
Topic: Health
Frederick Richard Penn Curzon (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I agree with the noble Baroness’s last point. My understanding is that each survivor and each victim has had an apology, but I will look into the possibility of my right honourable friend adding to that As regards the civil servants involved, only one has been identified: Mr James Collier, who was, at the time, deputy secretary of the DHSS. Dr Gerard Vaughan, who was the Minister most closely involved with the building of Stoke Mandeville’s spinal injuries centre, assigned Mr Collier to ensure that the project went ahead. The inquiry found that Collier’s role was essentially to remove obstacles to the project. In effect, he was both an enabler and an instrument of the whole project. However, the report says: "If criticism is to be levelled at James Collier it is because he did not just sweep aside bureaucracy to enable the project, he was instrumental … in sweeping aside some legitimate concerns raised by statutory bodies such as the Oxford Regional Health Authority", once he had been placed in charge of the project. So the duty of a senior civil servant to "speak truth unto power" was not, I am afraid, one that he fulfilled. Mr Collier is still alive, and I do not think that it would be proper for me to criticise him other than in the terms that the inquiry has done, but essentially the investigation concludes that, "it would appear that Savile’s authority was given at the behest of politicians and then made possible by senior civil servants".
Francis Report: Update and Response — House of Lords, 2015-02-11
Topic: Health
Frederick Richard Penn Curzon (Conservative, Centre-right): I apologise to the noble Baroness. It is very important that that does not happen. This was very much a matter that Sir Robert had in his sights when preparing the report. We have a certain amount of protection for whistleblowers at the moment—the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, referred to this—and the current Government have augmented that protection, not least through the way in which we have improved the NHS constitution. But Sir Robert is clear that we need to go further and, in particular, to ensure that those whistleblowers who find their position untenable in an organisation and are obliged to leave are not thereby blacklisted by the NHS merely for having spoken up. We think that the measures Sir Robert has proposed will achieve this but, more importantly, they will ensure that there is a better form of conflict resolution, able to nip concerns in the bud at an early stage and at a local level.
Francis Report: Update and Response — House of Lords, 2015-02-11
Topic: Health
Frederick Richard Penn Curzon (Conservative, Centre-right): The noble Lord, as ever, makes a series of very important points. The personal qualities of these guardians need to be considered very carefully. At this early stage, we have made no firm proposals along those lines. As I have indicated, we think that every NHS organisation needs to identify one member of staff to whom other members of staff can speak if they have concerns, particularly if they feel that they are not being listened to. Clearly, the qualities of that local guardian need to be of a kind that inspires trust in the body of employees. As regards the national whistleblowing guardian, that will be a full-time post within the CQC. Again, it will require somebody of stature, sensitivity and trustworthiness so that the system can be seen to be robust.
Francis Report: Update and Response — House of Lords, 2015-02-11
Topic: Health
Michael Nicholson Lord (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, when I served in the other place, I tried very hard to persuade the then Government to bring back the traditional role of matron into our hospitals. I know that we have modern matrons, but they are not the same thing. It was a most disastrous day when we took matrons away from our hospitals; heaven knows why we did it. If we reintroduced that role, with all its responsibility—and particularly its authority—and an awareness of what goes on the hospital, many of the things that we are talking about today would be resolved.
Francis Report: Update and Response — House of Lords, 2015-02-11
Topic: Health
Frederick Richard Penn Curzon (Conservative, Centre-right): I am sure that my noble friend’s comments will strike a chord in many places. I am aware that we have had debates of this kind quite often in the past. Of course, it is open to any NHS organisation or hospital to appoint a matron if it so wishes—and indeed some do that. The key point here is that there should be appropriate leadership in nursing at a senior level in the organisation. The successful organisations of which I am aware have had a senior nurse on the board and someone who has taken direct responsibility for nursing standards throughout that organisation.
Francis Report: Update and Response — House of Lords, 2015-02-11
Topic: Health
Frederick Richard Penn Curzon (Conservative, Centre-right): The answer to that must lie chiefly with the way in which the CQC now operates. One of the domains that it pays attention to in its inspections is the well led domain. Is this an organisation that has leaders in it who are aware of what is going on in the hospital, have a clear vision and a strategy for that hospital and are in touch with patients’ views and experiences, not least through complaints? These, and a whole range of other factors, are what the CQC looks at when assessing the quality of the leadership. The noble Lord is, of course, quite right that this must be and remain a key ingredient of a successful NHS culture and good-quality care for patients. We now have a system in which poor leadership will be exposed quite rapidly.
Francis Report: Update and Response — House of Lords, 2015-02-11
Topic: Health
Frederick Richard Penn Curzon (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Stoddart, that the examples of poor care exposed by Sir Robert’s report were shocking. In many respects, the work he has done and the recommendations he has made constitute a wake-up call for everybody in the NHS—even those who are providing a very good service, which most of the NHS is providing There are many levels of protection for NHS employees. An employee can always lodge an appeal if they feel aggrieved and turn to their trade union for support in that context. We intend to consult widely on Sir Robert’s recommendations, including with the trade unions. We welcome their input to these ideas and look forward to further discussions—which, in the normal course, happen very regularly anyway.
Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill — House of Lords, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Michael Bates (Conservative, Centre-right): That was a good try but I am clearly in need of that break. Rather than answer now, I shall add my noble friend honourably to the list of the three Members to whom I shall write with clarification. However, inspiration has just come to me. Of course I knew the answer. GPs are not covered by this provision.
Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill — House of Lords, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Michael Bates (Conservative, Centre-right): As I sat down to take that intervention, further inspiration came to me on this matter. We are consulting GPs on their role in this, and we will have regard to the important points relating to patient confidentiality to which the noble Baroness referred Finally, Amendments 119 to 122 would allow the Government to make changes, through regulations, to Schedules 3 and 4 at any time after the Bill is granted Royal Assent, and before such time as the rest of this part commences. The amendments ensure that, in the event that there are additional bodies to which the Prevent duty should apply or which should be partners to Channel panels, then those bodies can be added to the appropriate schedule with as much notice as possible before the duties on them commence. This is clearly in the best interests of those bodies because it will give them time to prepare. This has particular relevance to the addition of Scottish bodies. The Government have made clear that it is our hope and intention that Scottish bodies will become subject to the Prevent duty, and we are currently discussing this with the Scottish Government We still wish to make the changes to the schedules as soon as possible after Royal Assent, and to have the duty commence for all specified authorities in England, Wales and Scotland at the same time. Therefore, I invite the Committee to agree these government amendments and trust that, in the light of my earlier clarification, the noble Lord will feel able to withdraw the amendment.
Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2015-06-24
Topic: Health
Susan Williams (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, perhaps I am not being clear enough. What I meant by bad decision is a decision that is made where the consequences are negative for the end user and have a detrimental effect, for example, on the patient or elderly person. The Secretary of State would have to intervene or call into question the decision of the collective bodies that had made it in partnership. Is the noble Lord more satisfied with that answer?
Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2015-06-24
Topic: Health
Susan Williams (Conservative, Centre-right): I remember the health scrutiny committees in the context of AGMA and the combined authority. I am loath to deal with this point tonight, so I will come back with a firmer reply in due course and request that the noble Lord withdraw his amendment.