Health Protection (Coronavirus, Wearing of Face Coverings in a Relevant Place) (England) Regulations 2020

Baroness Gardner of Parkes Excerpts

Friday 18th September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Con) [V]]

[Inaudible] the regulations and amendments that the Minister has moved, together with the clarity they bring. However, in future we should seek to ensure that regulations swiftly follow any announcement. My family tell me that too often they see young people, particularly young men, not wearing masks when required. This selfish behaviour puts others at risk. With the rise in the number of cases of coronavirus infection, compliance with the regulations is essential. I ask the Minister what more can be done to educate people and encourage them to wear face masks.

Anti-obesity Strategies

Baroness Gardner of Parkes Excerpts

Monday 14th September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

The noble Lord is probably aware that a letter has been sent to GPs inviting them to step up to their responsibilities for face-to-face meetings. Everyone should have a face-to-face meeting if that is what they require and need. One of the surprising and interesting outcomes of the Covid epidemic is that many mental health services have been successfully delivered through video links. It has meant that people who may feel vulnerable about attending a GP’s surgery or mental health clinic have had the opportunity for consultations. We will look at how to expand that kind of interaction.

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Con) [V]]

My Lords, I have spoken to GPs about this issue. Particularly in cases of obesity—which they all agree is more common for people living in deprived areas—they say the difficulty now is that patients do not come in person to a surgery. Therefore, if someone tells you their obesity is still well under control, you have no way of assessing that. They suggested that I put it to the Government that there should be better liaison between schools and GPs, because schools see families all the time and become good judges of whether people are putting on weight. They can also provide exercise and advice on diet. GPs are willing to look after these people but say that if you cannot actually see them, how do you know that what they are telling you is the truth? What will the Government do to encourage liaison between schools and GPs?

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My noble friend makes an incredibly thoughtful, practical point. Of course, it is easier to tell whether someone is abiding by their obesity commitments if you see them face to face. With regard to schools, I remind her about the hundreds of millions of pounds going into school exercise through the sugar tax payment. That is completely transforming exercise in schools and will have a profound effect over many generations.

Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Leicester) Regulations 2020

Baroness Gardner of Parkes Excerpts

Wednesday 29th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Con) [V]]

Oh, my Lords, I had not expected to speak again but I am only too pleased to do so. I have sat here all day through this virtual proceeding, and many interesting things have been said.

I had word from family in Australia, and the family member living in Melbourne said that everything has been quite devastated by the second lockdown. However, his wife, who was flying home to him, has been held in Sydney for 14 days. That is the latest report from Australia.

I am sorry if this communication is not what your Lordships expected—it is certainly not what I expected, as I thought that earlier would be my only moment to say a word. I wish everyone a good Recess.

Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (No. 2) (England) Regulations 2020

Baroness Gardner of Parkes Excerpts

Friday 24th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Con) [V]]

My Lords, I note that if we do not approve these regulations today, they will cease to apply, and I would not want that to happen. I welcome them and would like to register the thanks of the dentists, who have now been allowed to work again, to the pharmacists, who have done such a good job during the pandemic. Another bit of good news is that relating to outdoor pools, as many people have approached me on that subject. I hope that this review will prove to be a basis on which we can build. Things have worked very well but it has not been easy for people to follow exactly what they have been meant to do. I strongly support these regulations.

Pharmacies

Baroness Gardner of Parkes Excerpts

Monday 20th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell [V]]

The noble Baroness is entirely right. We have introduced a new framework—the community pharmacy contractual framework—which has down- played some services that were not offering value for money but has enhanced some services that have made a huge impact, many of which are of a clinical nature. The settlement also includes a transitional payment, which will help to secure the financial resilience of the pharmacy sector. We could not be more committed to the community pharmacy sector. I believe that the future of healthcare in this country will depend much more on the role of pharmacies delivering the kinds of services that the noble Baroness outlines.

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Con) [V]]

My Lords, the essential difference between community pharmacies and dentists and doctors and so on is availability, which is much greater in community pharmacies. Availability, continuity and reliability are things that all patients benefit from. I am therefore very supportive of this. I remember so often as a dentist hearing from patients that they had had dental pain at some incredible time and the pharmacy was the only place where they could get any immediate help. I would like the Minister’s assurance that this will continue.

[Lord Bethell [V]]

As the father of four small children, I completely endorse the noble Baroness’s point. Many a night have I been outside a hard-working pharmacist’s shop looking for advice, support and essential medicines. I pay tribute to the hard-working community pharmacy sector, whose pharmacists are often up until midnight helping their local communities and hard-hit fathers like me.

Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review

Baroness Gardner of Parkes Excerpts

Wednesday 15th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell]

My Lords, I completely share the view of the noble Lord and of the patient groups who have unequivocal admiration for the noble Baroness, Lady Cumberlege, who has done the nation a great service with this report. As he knows, the Primodos case is subject to legal dispute, so I cannot comment on it from the Dispatch Box, but no one can read the report without feeling great disappointment that those hardships were suffered by those women. It is of enormous regret to us all.

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Con) [V]]

My Lords, I am pleased to speak today very briefly. I have known the noble Baroness, Lady Cumberlege, for years since I worked in the health scene myself. She is widely experienced, and no one could have done a better report. It is very impressive and certainly not to be ignored. The various points that she has made, including the nine major recommendations, are all sound and people are very aware of them. We must realise that, though the health service is much loved by everyone in the country, there are failings which we have to accept and work on. I congratulate the noble Baroness on this marvellous report and hope that, as she urged in her press conference:

“This report must not be left on a shelf to gather dust.”


I am pleased to commend the report and the remarks passed.

[Lord Bethell]

The noble Baroness is entirely right. The report must not be left on the shelf. We have already done much, and in the Medicines and Medical Devices Bill we will do more. The other recommendations will be taken extremely seriously.

NHS Dentistry Services

Baroness Gardner of Parkes Excerpts

Thursday 11th July 2019 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the availability of National Health Service dentistry services.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford) (Con)]

My Lords, nationally, access to NHS dentistry remains high, with 22 million adults and 7 million children seen by a dentist in the 24 and 12-month periods ending 31 December 2018 respectively. However, we know that there are areas of difficulty and more work remains to be done. NHS England, in its role as commissioner, is responsible for commissioning NHS dental services to meet local need and is actively looking into dental access issues.

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Con)]

That is rather a disappointing Answer, although it certainly ties in with my experience: it was declared in Manchester that no children could have operations done under general anaesthetic because all slots were taken for the clearance of baby teeth. When I saw that, I wrote to the Mayor of Manchester, who has great experience in the field of health from when he was in the House of Commons. I did not even get an acknowledgement, so after a time I wrote again, saying that perhaps my letter never reached him so I was resending it, but to this day I still have not had an acknowledgement. The press reports get worse and worse about the shortage of these possibilities.

[Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford]

I am very sorry to hear of my noble friend’s experience with the Mayor of Manchester. Children’s oral health is now better than it has ever been, with more than 75% of five year-olds in England being decay-free, which we welcome. However, the number of children requiring tooth extraction remains a concern. It fell slightly between 2016 and 2017-18, which we welcome; however, we recognise that there is much more to do. That is why the NHS outcomes framework is working to ensure that we perform better, with much work being done to target improved oral health of young people, with the Starting Well core framework and Starting Well pilots in the 13 areas of greatest deprivation.

Domestic Abuse: General Practitioner Charges

Baroness Gardner of Parkes Excerpts

Thursday 15th November 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord O’Shaughnessy]

The noble Baroness will appreciate that this is not a matter for the Department of Health and Social Care, but it is something that I will be happy to look into. What I do know is that the draft domestic abuse Bill is looking to establish a domestic abuse commissioner. It may be that it is through that route that support of that kind may be made available.

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Con)]

My Lords, do we have any special reception facilities for men or women who have been abused? When I served on the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, we had an opportunity to consider the excellent procedures in place in Brazil, a country which has taken this matter very seriously indeed. Over the years, this issue has been raised quite often, but do the police here pay any special attention to it, and do they protect those men or women who say that they have been attacked?

[Lord O’Shaughnessy]

My noble friend is right to say that domestic abuse can affect anyone, although of course it happens predominantly to women. The police, local authorities and the third sector are there to provide support for both men and women when they are abused.

Health: Stroke

Baroness Gardner of Parkes Excerpts

Wednesday 14th November 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord O’Shaughnessy]

The noble Baroness is absolutely right. In 2017, NHS England announced a rollout of the mechanical thrombectomy procedure to 24 centres across England. It is expected that 10% of stroke patients will be eligible. It leads to big reductions in disability after stroke, is now approved by NICE, and will be a significant part of the long-term plan which we will publish by the end of the year.

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Con)]

My Lords, my husband had a stroke and it was not recognised. It was a clot. He got to the hospital rather late and his arm was definitely damaged for ever more. He died 10 years ago; the stroke did not affect his continuing to live. The hospital in Newcastle was so far ahead in clot-busting that it was three years ahead of London. I remind the House of how much effort Lady Rendell, who is no longer with us, put into Act FAST, a campaign to let people know pretty quickly what the symptoms are and not to delay so that they have more hope of being successfully treated. We have made great progress, but there is a clearly a lot more to make.

[Lord O’Shaughnessy]

I did not know that my noble friend’s husband had had a stroke; I am grateful to her for sharing that with the House. She is right that the examples of Newcastle and Northumbria have shown that hyperacute stroke units—the centralisation of services—save lives. Closing hospitals or changing services can be controversial, but in stroke we know that it makes a big difference. It is a focus of what we need to do, and we need to take courage on that. The Act FAST campaign, which my noble friend mentioned, has been incredibly successful in making sure that we get fast action when people have a stroke. More than 5,000 fewer people have been disabled by stroke since that campaign started.

The NHS

Baroness Gardner of Parkes Excerpts

Thursday 5th July 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Con)]

My Lords, I emphasise that I have worked in the health service for well over 60 years, but there is still such a lot to learn about it. Something important to have come out of today’s debate is that we should look at a lot of things again.

I know that the noble Lord, Lord Mawson, spoke about doing away with health centres. I do not agree at all with that. As a dentist, I found that health centres were a very effective way of giving treatment to children. Parents, especially now that you have to pay for dental examinations, no longer take their children to their own dentist twice a year, which is what used to be the practice. Now, children are lucky if they are seen before they are in pain, which is a most awful reason for anyone to go for treatment: you are automatically very worried and unhappy from the start.

I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Darzi, on securing this debate. It is very far-reaching and should be considered in detail. Certainly we should use more of those health centres, as we did in the past, and more respite care, or cottage hospital-type recovery after hospital. We are using a very expensive facility to keep people in hospital during their recovery when they would probably much rather be in slightly more homely surroundings. Of course, they would have to be adequate for the treatment that they were recovering from, but all these things are possible if enough thought is applied to them: that is what I believe should happen.

In these couple of minutes which is all we have, I pay tribute to the very many dentists and doctors—huge numbers of them—who came from the Commonwealth in the early days of the National Health Service. In Australia, where I graduated, anyone who had been in the forces was allowed to go to university if they had enough qualifications. As a result, 150 dentists a year qualified in Sydney and there was no work for them; they were just out digging the roads or working on the Snowy River scheme; anything to be earning a crust. Then someone discovered that, yes, there were jobs over here. The first ones came and they passed the word on to all the others. In the early years, in this country, the big thing was that people looked to full clearance of teeth at the age of 21 as the desirable situation in dentistry, which was unbelievable. When we arrived, children’s teeth were in a terrible condition.

Commonwealth dentists, in particular from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, all of whom had a higher degree, which was acceptable here, did a huge amount. We almost got the situation completely under control, but now it is as bad as it ever was. In Manchester, we find that children cannot have ordinary operations under general anaesthetic because every slot is taken with clearance of baby teeth: that is just hard to believe. I have almost run out of time so I will not go on further, but I think we have a lot to think about and a lot to aim at. I want to pay tribute also to Lord Pitt, David Pitt, who did a marvellous amount here, coming from quite a different part of the Commonwealth. He was a hospital patient in the hospital I was chairman of and was so undemanding it was just hard to believe. There is still a great deal for us to do.