NHS: Leeds General Infirmary

Baroness Howarth of Breckland Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd April 2013 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, my noble friend raises quite a large number of points. I simply say to her that in regard to Leeds, which is the matter on which I have been briefed, the decision to suspend surgery was taken because concerns had been raised from a variety of sources about the safety of surgery at the unit. Mortality data were supplied to the National Institute for Cardiovascular Outcomes Research with significant flaws, and until those flaws had been rectified, it was impossible to be sure that the trust was operating within acceptable mortality thresholds. Those mortality concerns have, I understand, been resolved, which is why low-risk children’s cardiac surgery has been resumed at the hospital. However, NHS England’s appeal on the Safe and Sustainable review—which, I emphasise, is quite separate from the events of late March and early April—has to be a matter for NHS England. The review of children’s heart services was an NHS review, independent of government, and if NHS England wants to appeal the decision and thinks that there are good grounds for doing so, that is a matter for it.

[Baroness Howarth of Breckland]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that the people most affected by this are the children and many of the families who do not understand and cannot comprehend what is going on at the moment across these services? I declare an interest as the patron and trustee of Little Hearts Matter, which deals with hundreds of children who have half a heart and therefore all have surgery across the country. The Government may not have a direct interest in dealing with this matter but what are they going to do to make sure that the health services reassure these families that wherever they get surgery it will be safe for their children?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, children’s heart surgery has been the subject of concern for more than 15 years. Clinical experts and parent groups have repeatedly called for change, and there is an overwhelming feeling in the NHS that the time for change is long overdue. The review that has taken place was about making sure that children’s heart services are as good as they possibly can be, and that has to be the message to the parents involved. It is of course an extremely complex issue but it is generally accepted that concentrating surgical expertise will deliver better outcomes for the children concerned. In view of the legal proceedings, it is very difficult for me to go any further than that at the moment.

Care Quality Commission

Baroness Howarth of Breckland Excerpts

Thursday 14th March 2013 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, the noble Baroness is quite right: there is no room for complacency in this area. Care has to be right every time, not just three-quarters of the time. I noted from the CQC’s report that, although it recorded a number of common issues undermining the majority of good home care from a significant minority of providers, many of these were fairly minor. However, the noble Baroness has alighted on a very important failing among several of the agencies inspected. I do not have national information on late and missed calls but in the work that we are doing with local authorities, providers and, indeed, the CQC, all of whom share responsibility for driving improvement in services, this will inevitably be an area of focus for it.

[Baroness Howarth of Breckland]

My Lords, does the Minister agree with me that while the examples of good practice are very welcome, what was most surprising was the comment on safeguarding, which noted that many services are not meeting the requirements of good practice in relation to reporting to local authorities and have out-of-date procedures? Bearing in mind the plethora of advice from the Department of Health, what do the Government intend to do to bring these services into line as these are the most serious cases, where people are in real danger?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, strengthening adult safeguarding arrangements is a key priority for the Government. We are committed to preventing and reducing the risk of abuse and neglect to adults who are in vulnerable situations and generally to supporting people to maintain control over their lives. As the noble Baroness may know, we are legislating to put safeguarding adults boards on a stronger statutory footing. That will better equip them both to prevent abuse and to respond to it when it occurs.

Care Homes

Baroness Howarth of Breckland Excerpts

Monday 28th May 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Howarth of Breckland]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that one of the greatest inhibitors of long-term, consistent care is funding for individual placements? I speak and declare an interest as the president of Livability, which delivers long-term care for some elderly and a large number of younger disabled people. The great difficulty is ensuring that local authorities will commit to funding in the long term at an appropriate level.

[Earl Howe]

The noble Baroness is of course right, which is why it is so important that we reach what I hope will be a cross-party consensus on the future funding of long-term care and social care generally. We have committed to legislating as soon as we possibly can on that subject.

Health: Clinical Commissioning Groups

Baroness Howarth of Breckland Excerpts

Thursday 26th April 2012 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

As my noble friend may remember from our debates on the Health and Social Care Bill, we have undertaken to ensure that no member of a commissioning support organisation may also be a member of the governing body of a CCG. Having said which, it is important that CCGs have the freedom to take advice on back-office functions and other matters that will assist them in their clinical decisions.

[Baroness Howarth of Breckland]

My Lords, I have spent a great deal of time working in governance with professionals from many different groupings and, however experienced professionals are in their own trade, they are not always very clear about governance issues. This is often true of trustees in voluntary organisations as well as in clinical governance in the health service. What plans does the Minister have for training and advice to the new bodies in order to ensure that people who often believe that they know the answers really do know them?

[Earl Howe]

The noble Baroness makes an extremely important point, which is why we have laid great stress on training and ensuring that the NHS Commissioning Board will develop appropriate guidance on procurement, avoiding conflicts of interests and avoiding unfair competition entering the arena.

Health and Social Care Bill

Baroness Howarth of Breckland Excerpts

Tuesday 13th March 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Walton of Detchant]

My Lords, I shall be extremely brief in supporting what my noble friend Lord Patel has said. I have listened with care to the debate. This is a huge workforce in which at the present time the standards of professional behaviour and competence are immensely variable, where the standard of education among the individuals performing these tasks is also extremely variable, and where it is clear that an improvement in standards not only of care but of responsibility and training is absolutely vital. The question we have to ask is how this can best be achieved.

I found the arguments of the noble Baroness, Lady Pitkeathley, very persuasive, and of course I understand the stance she is taking as the chairman of the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence. It is soon to have its name changed, but a rose by any other name will smell as sweet. It will have responsibility for accrediting the voluntary registration of a large number of individuals working in the National Health Service. She is persuaded that a voluntary register for these healthcare support workers would be adequate and satisfactory. However, as my noble friend Lord Patel has asked, what will prevent those individuals who are responsible for or who own care homes taking on board and employing people who are not voluntarily registered? This is a crucial issue, as indeed is the point —it has not been effectively clarified to my satisfaction—about what sanctions may be applied to people who do not fulfil all the eligibility criteria that are to be established for that voluntary register. Having said that the noble Baroness, Lady Pitkeathley, was very persuasive, I am afraid that I find my noble friend Lady Emerton infinitely more persuasive.

For that reason, I have not the slightest doubt that I strongly support the amendment. It is not suggesting that a new register and national body for care assistants or a support workers’ national council needs to be established. The virtue of the amendment is that individual healthcare support workers in England would be regulated in accordance with the terms of the Nursing and Midwifery Order 2001, which is already a statutory order. It seems to be a neat solution to an extremely difficult problem. For that reason, I strongly support the amendment.

[Baroness Howarth of Breckland]

My Lords, I had not intended to speak in this debate, but I want to strike what might be a slightly discordant note at this point in the proceedings. I have a question for the noble Baroness, Lady Emerton, and the noble Earl in relation to clarification.

I will speak later in relation to social workers and that bit of social care which we seem to have forgotten. What has concerned me most in this debate is the total confusion between social care workers and healthcare workers. What really concerns me about the amendment is that it appears to be the health professional who must give instruction to those working in a variety of establishments. I declare an interest as someone who is responsible as a trustee for a large number of elderly and disability care homes. In some of those places, someone qualified in social care and not healthcare is in charge of the establishment. They are therefore responsible for ensuring that the programmes of care are designated with some healthcare professionals, because in nursing homes you need both working together.

I want to be absolutely sure that we do not arrange more confusion, which we will be discussing later today in relation to social care, and undermine even further those people who are looking after the real day-to-day care, not the medical health needs. You need people looking after medical health needs in these establishments, but you also need to worry about stimulation, relatives visiting, the psychological approach to the people in the home, how they will get to hospital and helping the hospital to understand what people with disabilities are saying. All of those things are crucial and need equal registration and care.

I am attracted to the voluntary register because it means that we can look at all these people who are working in the field who have their own professional positions but are different. I would like some clarification and for the House to understand that there is not just a medical group of people caring but a whole tranche of people out there in establishments and in the community looking after those needs, which I am sure noble Lords, if they were in that position, would also want to have looked after.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath]

My Lords, this has been a good debate and I, too, congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Emerton, on her initiative in bringing forward her amendment. I should remind the House that I chair an NHS foundation trust and, like my noble friend Lady Wall, we employ many hundreds of healthcare support workers. I agree with everything my noble friend said.

The noble Baroness, Lady Howarth, raised an important point. We are coming on to the issue of social care regulation and the House will know that I am very concerned about the transfer of social care regulation to what is essentially a health body. The noble Baroness, Lady Emerton, will want to respond, but it seems to me that what she has tried to do is to allow the House to have a specific debate on healthcare support workers. The amendment is very much a statement of principle and we will come on to social care workers in a later debate.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Howarth of Breckland]

My Lords, if the noble Earl thought I was being unkind to the noble Baroness, Lady Emerton, he may think that I am being even more unkind when I come to address him. I want to make it absolutely clear that I was asking the noble Baroness whether she had seen the defect in her amendment. Delegated powers would go from health professionals to the social care professionals and not from the social care professional leaders in establishments down to social care providers. That was a significant defect which I think the noble Baroness herself noted, as did other noble Lords, during the course of the debate. That was all I was raising but it leads on to this debate about the social care profession and how it is valued when compared with other professions. That is why this debate, at this moment, is crucial to social workers.

I ask the Minister this question. Is it the Government’s intent to remove the profession of social work from the nation’s vocabulary? That may sound an unkind question, but social workers are beginning to feel that they do not belong anywhere. Their name is not in any of the Bills. Indeed, their professional organisation is being wiped out, as they see it. I will not repeat the points made my noble friend Lady Meacher about some of the protections around people practising and training with clients. They have to practise alone. They are not supervised day-to-day by having someone with them who is also registered in a proper way. All of these things undermine the profession.

When the Conservatives were in opposition, the Conservative Party set up an inquiry to look into social work, taking the view that it wanted to encourage and enhance the social work profession. I was very grateful and felt that it had made a real difference to the way that social workers were valued. In that inquiry, the Conservative Party acknowledged the difficult work that social workers undertake with disruptive families, the mentally ill, children, the disabled and those with learning difficulties—in fact most of the groups in our society that other people do not wish to have to deal with day to day. Those people can be intransigent, difficult and often stubborn and social workers have to develop new skills in order to move families on into change, particularly in the present environment. That moved on to the Munro review of child protection and the hope that social workers would gain more control over their lives and the way that they worked, lessening the bureaucracy and enabling them to do more.

However, to have their designated regulatory body removed and to be absorbed into what they see as a healthcare organisation will detract from all of that. The people you meet out there who are involved in social work worry about where they stand in terms of the whole of the social care sector. If you talk to them alone, you will find that they are pretty low, depressed and fragile and that affects the way that they carry out their work. It affects the enthusiasm and joy with which social work can be carried out.

I am having real difficulty. Perhaps the clerks will recognise that. I do not want to speak at length because what I have said is to the point. I will not go through the amendments. Other noble Lords will do that in detail. Of course, a principal social worker would make a difference. In a former position, the noble Lord, Lord Laming, made a huge difference to the social work profession. It felt that someone, somewhere, was there on its behalf. We have people in the Department of Health, but they are not given the strength and status that Herbert had when he stood in that position and made that difference.

There were difficulties with the regulator, but I have just spent eight years working in another organisation that had difficulties. If you work hard enough and long enough, you can get it right. It is not right to give up in the middle and to change things so fundamentally that people do not recognise that it has anything to do with them. Certainly, social workers are not recognising that the new regulator will have anything to do with them.

I am sorry to speak so strongly and so generally but, sooner or later, someone has to speak up for those people who are doing what I call the dirty work of the nation on behalf of all of us. It may be that my cold is not helping and I am not my usual gentle self, but I feel extraordinarily strongly that, unless the Government take it upon themselves to encourage and make social workers feel valued, understand their work and differentiate them from the medical care area, we will have fewer social workers of ability on the ground and they will make more mistakes. More mistakes will mean more difficulties for children and old people, never mind the field day that the press will have, and we will be on a downward spiral. I ask the noble Earl to look at the issue that the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, is raising and to do what he can to stop that from happening.

[Baroness Pitkeathley]

It is a great pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Howarth, who I deservedly call my noble friend. I very much hope that the Minister will give her the assurances that she seeks. With regard to my noble friend’s amendments on the General Social Care Council, I take the view that we are where we are, however much I wished that different decisions had been taken. Noble Lords will appreciate that, as the first chair of the General Social Care Council, I would say that, wouldn’t I?

However, I take this opportunity to pay tribute to the councils and staff of both the General Social Care Council and the Health Professions Council for the professional and mature way that they have approached the difficult situations in which they found themselves. Their behaviour has been an example to us all and particularly, as far as concerns the GSCC, the fact that high staff morale has been maintained throughout this process is nothing short of a miracle and a great tribute to its leadership.

I agree with other Lords who have called the social work profession fragile. It needs to be promoted and defended if we are to maintain and extend the recruitment that the noble Baroness, Lady Howarth, has reminded us is so important for those people who do the difficult work in our society—which is rarely recognised until the tabloid press attacks it. I must draw your Lordships’ attention to the College of Social Work, which has just been established, which will have the promotion and defence of this fragile profession as part of its remit. It has had a difficult start, as is well known, but I believe that it has the potential to promote and support the profession to which we are all so indebted.

Health and Social Care Bill

Baroness Howarth of Breckland Excerpts

Wednesday 29th February 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Masham of Ilton]

My Lords, I have added my name to Amendment 96. These patients can have very complex and varied needs. Will the Minister give an assurance that they will not fall through the net between the Commissioning Board and the CCGs? There will be a great need to have excellent communication between the Commissioning Board and the CCGs. There is concern, as has been shown here today—and if there is concern here, my goodness, what will be the problem outside when funds have to be found for these patients? I implore the Minister to sort this out.

[Baroness Howarth of Breckland]

My Lords, I wish to add my voice to the need for clarification, as raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, between the services provided by the national and regional boards for rare diseases and conditions. I declare an interest as a patron and trustee of an organisation that deals with children with hypoplastic left heart syndrome and some similar conditions of right heart defects.

As the Minister will know, a recent Safe and Sustainable review has been looking at how those services should be delivered. Obviously the complex surgical procedures need to be carried out in specialist hospitals, but the aftercare very often takes place locally. The Safe and Sustainable review having stalled during the discussion about this Bill, parents are extraordinarily concerned about how that will be taken forward. I say this as an example but it is true of all families who have children or adult relatives with rare conditions that they want to be absolutely assured that the right service is commissioned at the right level, and need to know how that assessment is going to be made. At the moment it is extraordinarily unclear and I think that is why the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, has tabled her amendment and the other issues have been raised.

All I am seeking is that clarification, partly because I have got to go and tell the parents this weekend at their AGM.

[Baroness Hollins]

My Lords, I have been reflecting on the amendment tabled by my noble friend Lady Finlay. I declare an interest as one of my daughters has one of the conditions that she mentioned in her speech.

This lacuna must be addressed because the discretionary powers of clinical commissioning groups to apply the appropriateness test provide no assurance for those with these rare diseases. Today’s debate shows that it is essential that this is addressed in the Bill. I hope that the Minister will be able to suggest a way in which perhaps a government amendment might be able to address this lacuna.

Organ Transplantation

Baroness Howarth of Breckland Excerpts

Monday 27th February 2012 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, it is a well established principle of law that there is no property in a corpse. This means that, as a general rule, the law does not regard a corpse as property protected by rights. In other words, there can be no ownership of a dead body. However, the law does prescribe what may lawfully be done with the body of a deceased person. For example, a person can say while they are alive what they would like to happen to their body after death, such as donation of organs. My noble friend raises an extremely important point about A&E. The number of donors from A&E units is improving but it is generally recognised that it had to because performance was not good. Since 2007-08 there has been a 388 per cent increase in donations from emergency medicine, which is good news, but there is much more that could be done. The transitional steering group that we have set up under the chairmanship of Chris Rudge is looking at that area as a priority.

[Baroness Howarth of Breckland]

My Lords, it is widely recognised that the Government and the previous Government have made huge strides in this area but from a fairly low position. Many countries in Europe—particularly Spain—do much better than we do. What are we doing to ensure that we are learning from others and making the improvement even faster? Every day is someone else’s life.

Health and Social Care Bill

Baroness Howarth of Breckland Excerpts

Monday 27th February 2012 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Listowel]

In rising briefly in support of the amendments, I pay tribute to the Government for their contribution in this area already. This is a personal view, but in my experience the best professionals will find a way through against all odds and against the system to work together in partnership to improve outcomes. What the Government have been doing with the social work workforce in terms of raising the threshold of entry to social work, the additional support for newly qualified social workers and the review by Professor Eileen Munro on child and family social workers is a welcome part to this. I hear again and again from people on the front line that an obstacle to integration is continual structural change. When disciplines have stability and can grow together they can learn to work in partnership effectively. Finally, I welcome the building of capacity in the social work workforce, which will assist with the question of better integrated working.

[Baroness Howarth of Breckland]

My Lords, I want to speak briefly, not having spoken earlier. In answer to a Question from the noble Lord, Lord Walton, earlier in the day, the Minister talked about his great belief in the integration of services. Indeed, he talked about health and social care services in relation to people with neurological diseases. I have no doubt that the Minister and, I am sure, the Government have a great belief in integration. The problem is that it is in the “too difficult” box. Whenever we hear discussions about how we will make a start on the problem, there are real questions about how, about when, about the costs, about which particular authority, and so on. We had a demonstration earlier of the way in which different parts of the organisation—the health service and the local authority—can be set against each other in terms of the working together that they need to do.

I declare an interest as I am involved in a number of charities that have a health focus—a large number of very good partnerships of health and social care working together. I shall describe one briefly simply because I think it is helpful to have an example. It is a brain injury unit in Suffolk where the health services and a voluntary organisation with social care work in a pioneering way to ensure that people can return to the community instead of being hospitalised or unable to communicate with their families in any way. That kind of work is going on and I know that there are other pilots up and down the country looking at how financial services can be brought together.

I come back to a point that I was making at the beginning, which is that the too-difficult box means that there is a need to find a place to start. I do not know whether the Minister believes that this amendment, with Amendment 161A—it is important to look at them together as they give a balance of health and social care—sees them as the way of making a start. If not, I ask him the very pointed question: when will the Government start? Why is this called the Health and Social Care Bill because, as was said previously, expectations were raised enormously in those who receive social care services? In what way will the Government take the whole plan forward? I know that they have promised a Green Paper, a White Paper and to take things forward, but if we do not have a clear picture, the amendment itself will not help. It alone cannot bring about what people have been discussing, which is the culture change.

Those of us who have been involved in these services for 50 years and more—many who have already spoken can, unfortunately, claim that—have lived with these differences. They have had a profound effect on people’s lives, as the noble Lord, Lord Sutherland, said. We have experienced them personally because we have had families going through the services, and we have seen them professionally with patient clients. The other thing I rather worry about is the medicalisation of everybody in this because people who want social care do not necessarily want medicalised social care; they want medical care when they need it.

I am really asking the Minister, so I can think about whether I support these amendments: what is the alternative to ensure absolutely that the Government move forward in a proper programme that brings integration in health and social care to the benefit of every individual patient who needs that sort of care?

Health: Cancer Drugs Fund

Baroness Howarth of Breckland Excerpts

Monday 14th November 2011 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, it is of course for the devolved Administrations to make their own decisions about their individual needs and budgets. It will depend on whether commissioners in Wales are willing to accept the cost of treating a patient with a drug that is not normally available in Wales. I cannot generalise but it is up to Welsh commissioners to take that decision.

[Baroness Howarth of Breckland]

My Lords, I am aware that 2013 is approaching very fast. Does the Minister’s department have a timetable for the strategy that will be in place once the strategic health authorities have gone? Will there be consultation on those plans?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, as I told the noble Baroness, Lady Morgan, discussions are ongoing as to the arrangements that will be in place after the abolition of strategic health authorities. I cannot say that we have definite plans in place but I hope that we will be able to announce our plans soon.

Health: Obesity

Baroness Howarth of Breckland Excerpts

Wednesday 19th October 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hussein-Ece]

My Lords—

[Baroness Howarth of Breckland]

My Lords—

[The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord Strathclyde)]

My Lords, if both noble Baronesses are quick, we can get both in. Can my noble friend speak first, and then the noble Baroness?

[Earl Howe]

I agree with my noble friend that it is about educating both children and parents about healthy diets and healthy eating, and encouraging children at school to take up healthy diets.

[Baroness Howarth of Breckland]

My Lords, I know that the Ministry is very keen on co-ordination, and I am sure that one of the reasons why the team from the Food Standards Agency was moved into the Department of Health was to ensure that it could work on these issues. The Minister will remember that this team was outstandingly successful in its work on the salt campaign and was moving on to work on fat and sugar, which would have helped with the obesity problem. I understand that the team is now being disbanded. Is that sensible in the light of the Question of the noble Lord, Lord McColl?

[Earl Howe]

I am not aware that the team is about to be disbanded but I will take that concern away and write to the noble Baroness about it.