Covid-19: Restrictions

Baroness Campbell of Surbiton Excerpts

Thursday 7th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My noble friend puts it well. I always welcome the challenge of noble Lords on any subject whatever, but I agree that underlying many of the objections to lockdown appears to be an assumption that some lives matter less than others. Whether you are asthmatic, diabetic, infirm or just old, I think that your life is worth just as much as everybody else’s. That is why I am extremely proud of the national effort to work together to protect those who are less advantaged and to protect our health service.

[Baroness Campbell of Surbiton (CB) [V]]

My Lords, thousands of people who are currently extremely vulnerable are now in greater danger from a lack of protection against the virus. Our care workers are more likely to come into contact with coronavirus, and requests for testing have escalated. Therefore, can the Minister please tell me when I and countless others who employ personal assistants can expect them to be vaccinated? Our workforce is not currently prioritised in the same way as care home workers and registered agency carers.

Covid-19: Vaccination Prioritisation

Baroness Campbell of Surbiton Excerpts

Wednesday 25th November 2020 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Campbell of Surbiton]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to ensure that high-risk adults under the age of 65 are prioritised for access to any Covid-19 vaccination ahead of adults less at risk who are over the age of 65.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Lord Bethell) (Con)]

My Lords, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has found that mortality increases exponentially with age and has published interim advice accordingly. An age-based programme captures many with underlying conditions. None the less, the sub-committee is reviewing evidence on clinical risk factors, including the clinically extremely vulnerable, and the committee will update its advice if necessary after review.

[Baroness Campbell of Surbiton (CB) [V]]

I thank the Minister for his Answer. As someone who has been shielding since early March, I celebrate those involved in producing the vaccines in such a short time. However, I am concerned to learn that those under 65 in the clinically high-risk categories have been given a lower priority for the vaccine, knowing that 59% of people who have died from the coronavirus have been high-risk disabled people. Can the Minister please provide the JCVI’s evidence that informed the Government’s decision that those in high-risk categories under 65 are less vulnerable to the virus? Disabled people tell me that they have not felt shielded or protected throughout this pandemic, and this priority decision seems to confirm that belief. I urge the Government to think again.

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

I reassure the noble Baroness that no final decisions have been made; this is only interim advice. I point out in particular that the behaviours of individual vaccines might be quite different for different groups of people. It is only when we have the final phase 3 data on the vaccines that we will be able to make the decisions that she alludes to. We are considering the extremely vulnerable carefully. As I mentioned, a review is under way to see whether clinical factors should play a greater role in prioritisation.

Coronavirus Act 2020: Temporary Provisions

Baroness Campbell of Surbiton Excerpts

Monday 28th September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Campbell of Surbiton (CB) [V]]

My Lords, I take this opportunity to repeat my urgent request that the easement powers in the Coronavirus Act be switched off now and not extended further. I and 30 other Members across the House wrote to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in the other place to make this request after hearing many worrying accounts of highly vulnerable individuals losing care and support when it was most needed.

Easement powers permit local authorities to reduce or withdraw care services normally protected by the Children and Families Act, the Mental Health Act and the Care Act. They were intended to be used only if local authorities were unable to comply with all their legal duties during the worst stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, and then only if the easement did not contravene individual human rights. After the powers took effect on 31 March, eight councils officially implemented easements and by July said they had stopped. According to Disability Rights UK’s latest joint statement with Liberty, seven councils have since returned to using the powers.

There is mounting evidence that disabled children, adults and older people are experiencing disproportionate stress and serious health risks as a direct result of decreased care and support services during this pandemic. A survey by Mencap found that seven out of 10 people with learning difficulties experienced a reduction in their support.

Over 60 disability charities have reported that significant numbers of disabled and older people had their care cut to the point where they were unable to cope with basic daily human needs—eating, washing and using the bathroom. This cohort is at most risk, not just from the virus but from lack of care and support. Grim data from the Office for National Statistics bore this out when it recently concluded that disabled people were twice as likely to die from Covid-19.

I am sure that many noble Lords watched the “Panorama” documentary highlighting the plight of severely disabled children and their parents who are driven to breaking point because their vital support services were put on hold or withdrawn altogether in the name of the pandemic. I could give countless other examples, but time at the moment prevents.

The latest report by the Joint Committee on Human Rights concluded:

“The Government must justify its reasoning for the continuation of the powers to trigger easements to social care provision, and they must only continue if absolutely necessary”.


I would argue that the continuation of the easement powers is neither necessary nor proportionate. I am sure that, with an urgent review of the evidence, the Government will see that if they truly want to protect their most vulnerable citizens, easement powers must cease. If not, we are condemning them to another six months of misery, and possibly death. This is not protecting our most vulnerable citizens.

Covid-19 Update

Baroness Campbell of Surbiton Excerpts

Thursday 10th September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

I completely recognise the problem identified by my noble friend. I reassure her that the expert sub-group NERVTAG is developing a predictive risk model to enable a more sophisticated approach to clinical risk and to identify more clearly those who need to shield. The model incorporates known relevant risk factors, such as age, sex, BMI and ethnicity. We are working at pace and will continue to engage patients, those on the shielding list, healthcare professionals and the voluntary sector as we embed this important insight into what we do.

[Baroness Campbell of Surbiton (CB) [V]]

My Lords, the Minister will be aware of the difficulties faced by disabled and older people during the first major lockdown, such as insufficient social care support services. Will the government guidance to this group now change to address those difficulties, especially if the R rate keeps rising over the coming months? Will he now consider switching off the social care coronavirus easement powers, which were meant to be only a temporary measure, especially as local authorities are now telling us that they no longer use them? These easement powers are a major cause of anxiety among older and disabled people, and it would be an easy thing to do—just switch them off. They are no longer needed, yet they cause untold anxiety.

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, I am not sure that I have a precise answer to the noble Baroness’s question on easement powers. It was my impression that they had not been used in the vast majority of areas—only in a few areas—and that, where they had been applied, their use had been of a mainly administrative rather than practical nature. However, I am happy to look into the question that she asks and to reply to her by letter.

Covid-19: Mental Health

Baroness Campbell of Surbiton Excerpts

Tuesday 16th June 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell [V]]

My noble friend is entirely right that the fears described as mental health issues are about not only Covid itself but the economic and social consequences. The impact on mental health of the financial crisis 10 years ago was profound, and largely driven by fears of economic hardship. That is paramount. Reducing the distancing is not currently government policy, but we have that under review and news is expected.

[Baroness Campbell of Surbiton (CB) [V]]

My Lords, the CQC reports that deaths of patients detained under the Mental Health Act have doubled in one year, to 122; 56 of these patients died with either confirmed or suspected Covid-19. In the same period, we have also seen the increased use of restraints and seclusion within secure units. What plans do the Government have to address and help reduce inequalities, to prevent further tragic deaths? What steps have they taken to review these questionable restraint and seclusion practices in psychiatric hospitals?

[Lord Bethell [V]]

My Lords, the investment we are making in mental health is profound. Our commitment is to £2.3 billion of extra funding by 2023-24. This is the sort of money necessary to provide the resources that will lead to a kinder, gentler type of mental health provision. I hope it will address the issues that the noble Baroness raises.

Hospitals: Patient Safety

Baroness Campbell of Surbiton Excerpts

Thursday 21st May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell]

The situation of cancer patients is of grave concern. We have restored all the treatments, surgery and other systems necessary for treating cancer, and we have put in place testing facilities so that those with suppressed immunity can be tested and therefore enter treatment centres with confidence. It is a situation that we maintain under review, and we are working hard to ensure that drugs and painkillers are in ready supply.

[Baroness Campbell of Surbiton (CB)]

My Lords, there are many specialist units that provide ongoing support and life-saving treatment to people with long-term, complex disabilities. Many of these units have been turned into Covid wards, for example, the National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandeville. Will the Minister inform me when these units are likely to return to their original function? What is happening to this cohort of patients in the meantime?

[Lord Bethell]

My Lords, the NHS chief executive, Sir Simon Stevens, has written to all NHS organisations signalling a change in the phasing of our response to Covid and inviting them to return operations given over to Covid to their previous use wherever possible. I hope very much that this will lower the impact on patients that the noble Baroness described. If she has a specific example in mind, I would be glad to inquire about it.

Queen’s Speech

Baroness Campbell of Surbiton Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd October 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Campbell of Surbiton (CB)]

My Lords, I propose to speak about social care for disabled and older people, which of course impacts on their health and well-being. This area has been deeply neglected in recent years. We are, sadly, looking at a series of failures in this sector: failure to invest in older and disabled people’s participation in, and contributions to, families and communities; failure to make decisions about how to secure long-term funding; and failure to create a positive narrative around the fact that we are living longer—I know I do. The result is poor-quality and inadequate support services which we would not want for ourselves or those we love.

Users of care and support services are deeply fed up with successive Governments’ “all talk and no action” approach to social care reform, and the general reference to social care in the Queen’s Speech adds little to restore public trust. It is not acceptable in a modern society, and as one of the largest economies in the world, to limit social care to life-and-limb services. This is about all of us: our families and ourselves, not mythical “others”.

While we need the Government finally to act on ensuring sufficient investment in social care, which is so important to the health and well-being of our society, we must equally look beyond government to bring about the transformative change necessary to reshape care and support. Many people and groups are trying to take action to make things a great deal better. Their common aim—our common aim—is summed up by Social Care Future, a network of people receiving, providing and commissioning social care. As it says:

“We all want to live in the place we call home with the people and things that we love, in communities where we look out for one another, doing the things that matter to us. That’s the #socialcarefuture we seek”,


not life-and-limb services.

Government financial investment to achieve this is critical, but it has to be done differently. Currently, it is targeted at propping up creaking services that most of us fear having to use. As noble Lords know, my area of greatest knowledge is disabled people, who account for 50% of social care expenditure, yet they say this does not give them what they want or need to live and participate effectively in the community. This group is completely unable to accumulate wealth to pay for their own care, yet Governments continue to raid their meagre benefits and entitlements, which they need to survive, for this purpose. This is wholly unfair, counterproductive and highly questionable financially.

Only person-centred support to live as others do, funded through central taxation, will break the cycle of fear and inaction. There is great public support for this. I and others are proposing new ways to invest in support for people of all ages. We must move away from institutional practices by shifting power to people and communities. We must recognise the case for realistic investment in a fundamental right to independent living, as argued for by the Reclaiming Our Futures Alliance, a growing movement of disabled people’s organisations.

This year, the Independent Living Strategy Group, which I am privileged to chair, will embark on an independent inquiry into current support for disabled people, with recommendations for progressive change. This will underpin a Private Member’s Bill which I hope to table in the near future. I intend to call it the “access to living Bill”, because, after all, that is what everybody wants and deserves. They just want a life: they do not want a service and they do not want to live by handout to survive. They want a life and they want to participate. I will look for support for the Bill from the Government and from across the House, because I believe that this is the new future that we want for older and disabled people.

Social Care: Free Personal Care

Baroness Campbell of Surbiton Excerpts

Wednesday 26th June 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford]

I thank the noble Baroness for an important question. She is absolutely right that the Green Paper must be a priority. It will set out our sustainable plans for reform. We have welcomed the contributions that have been made by a number of recent reports. The noble Baroness rightly pointed to the IPPR, the Joint Select Committees, the Health Foundation, the King’s Fund and the Resolution Foundation. They have made some important proposals which are being considered as part of the Green Paper’s work going forward. The noble Baroness is right that we cannot wait for that, because there are people who need improvements in care now, and that is part of what the better care fund has been set up to do—to improve the spreading of best practice and the new models of care work which have been put front and centre for the long-term plan improvements. That was introduced in 2015, and has brought in the funds required, taking the total of increased funding to £7.7 billion by 2018-19. We are looking at how we can make sure that that improves. It has brought changes across the system.

[Baroness Campbell of Surbiton (CB)]

My Lords, research carried out by the Independent Living Strategy Group, which I chair, concluded very recently that charging for the support disabled people need to go about their daily lives is unfair and counterproductive and undermines the primary purpose of the Care Act. Will the Minister tell me whether the Government have considered implementing the recommendations of the Darzi report, which called for extending the NHS’s “need, not ability to pay” principle to social care, especially for younger disabled people who have no savings and who want to save, to get a life, to get a house, to go to university and so on?

[Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford]

I thank the noble Baroness for the important point she has raised. The Government have established an interministerial group for disability chaired by the Secretary of State for DWP on exactly this point to identify barriers for those with disabilities and to drive forward co-ordinated action across government to try to address this. We are identifying organisations required to provide quality and comprehensive services based on clinical need which do not discriminate between patients on the basis of disability. I will take away the points the noble Baroness has raised because they are hugely important.

Disabled People: Social Care

Baroness Campbell of Surbiton Excerpts

Tuesday 20th February 2018 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Campbell of Surbiton]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to improve social care for disabled people below retirement age in the light of the change in title of the Department of Health.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Lord O'Shaughnessy) (Con)]

My Lords, the Government are committed to making sure that everyone who is assessed as having a care need can access high-quality support to maintain their independence. While the social care Green Paper will focus primarily on care for older people, it will also address questions relevant to adults of all ages with care needs. In addition, the Government are taking forward a parallel programme of work so that issues specific to working-age adults are considered in their own right.

[Baroness Campbell of Surbiton (CB)]

I thank the Minister for his reply—but, as he will know, the Government have transferred responsibility for the social care Green Paper for older people from the Cabinet Office to the Department of Health. Will he confirm that the Government will use this opportunity to review the scope of the Green Paper to include younger disabled people, because the proposed parallel process, which is not a Green Paper, is simply not acceptable when half of social care spending now goes on working-age disabled people? Please will the Minister confirm that both older and younger disabled people will receive parity of status and attention from the Government?

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

I thank the noble Baroness for her question. She is quite right to highlight the importance of reform for this group of people. We are talking about 250,000 people now, but that is projected to rise to 400,000 working-age adults in the next 15 years. I want to reassure her that, while the Green Paper itself is focused on care reform for older people, a parallel programme of work is going on. There is an important round table coming up which is being chaired by both the new Minister of State for Care, Caroline Dinenage, and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Communities and Local Government, with Mencap, Scope and others. We are giving the issue equal seriousness, as it deserves.

NHS and Adult Social Care

Baroness Campbell of Surbiton Excerpts

Wednesday 5th April 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

I thank my noble friend for that and for her contribution to the work of the committee. She speaks with great experience and authority from her role in running a local authority. She is quite right that technology offers huge opportunities. The key is to make sure that the NHS and social care systems see technology as an opportunity to improve productivity rather than as providing an additional cost. That is why we are taking a variety of actions through the life sciences industrial strategy, the accelerated access review and other routes to make sure that technology is improving outcomes.

[Baroness Campbell of Surbiton (CB)]

My Lords, the current social care narrative is dominated by the lack of residential homes and home care services for older people. Given that working-age disabled adults make up one-third of those reliant on social care, is it not time that we had a more comprehensive government social care strategy that reflects the diverse needs of all service users, and to work with disabled people to produce it?

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

The noble Baroness makes an incredibly important point. Despite the ageing population, the fastest-growing part of the adult social care budget is, I think, for adults with learning difficulties. She is quite right that there needs to be a comprehensive approach. That is why additional funding is going in to support not just older people but working-age adults too.