Care Bill [HL]

Debate between Baroness Masham of Ilton and Lord Black of Brentwood

Wednesday 3rd July 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Black of Brentwood]

My Lords, I shall speak to Amendments 78E, 87K and 88J, which are in my name. They raise the issue of companion animals—mostly cats, but dogs as well—and the positive role that they can play in the care of elderly, vulnerable and sick people, whose welfare is at the heart of the Bill. I should declare an interest as president of the Printing Charity, as it runs two homes providing sheltered accommodation and financial support and care for people from the printing industry.

Amendment 78E includes the positive contribution of a companion animal to an individual’s well-being in the list of factors to which a local authority must have particular regard in exercising its functions under Part 1. Amendment 87K includes identifying the role of companion animals in the care and support of an individual when a local authority is assessing their needs and those outcomes that an individual wishes to achieve in day-to-day life. Finally, Amendment 88J deals with the issue of companion animals in regulations under Clauses 9 and 10. Taken together, their purpose is to ensure that the benefit which companion animals can provide to well-being, a subject not currently covered in the Bill, is not overlooked by those implementing and interpreting it.

It is estimated that 25% of people over retirement age own one or more pets. For the elderly and vulnerable, the companionship that cats and dogs can bring cannot be overstated. Academic research over many years has documented this. One study by Brooks, Rogers and others, published just last year, highlighted the emotional and practical impact that companion animals offer. Noting that they provide unconditional support and love, as we all know, the study concluded that,

“the policy implications of this study suggest that pets might usefully feature alongside consideration of the usual support systems associated with the management of long-term conditions and in planning how needs might be ... creatively met”.

That, of course, is precisely what this Bill is designed for and what these amendments are crafted to deliver.

Cats in particular can help those who are vulnerable, through age or health, in three ways. First, there is a powerful body of evidence about the contribution of cats to physical health. According to one study published recently in the Journal of Vascular & Interventional Neurology—not a magazine I look at frequently, but it is there—they contribute to a reduction of fatal cardiovascular disease by around 30%.

Secondly, the ownership of a cat brings positive benefits to an individual’s mental health. Research conducted in 2011 for Cats Protection and the Mental Health Foundation among people with a mental health problem found that 76% of people who owned a cat felt they could cope with everyday life much better as a result, and that 87% said it had a positive impact on their well-being. Cats can be especially helpful for depression during the winter period—a particularly important point since, as we now know, this goes on for about nine months of the year. As the Cinnamon Trust, which works tirelessly to support the elderly and their pets, summarises it:

“Pets have the ability to bring happiness and laughter and lift depression. Communication with other people is often easier when a pet is present for reassurance”.

Thirdly, cats make particularly suitable companion animals for those with chronic health problems, including those who are immobile or disabled. I know that this is a charge always made against cat lovers, so I am not forgetting our canine friends. I highlight, for instance, the excellent work of the innovative Dementia Dog Project, which helps to keep people in the early stages of dementia active and engaged with their local community, as well as providing a constant companion to reassure those suffering from dementia in new or unusual situations. This project in particular shows that a dog may aid a sufferer to stay on longer in his or her home—an important ambition that many noble Lords have highlighted in this debate—and may even slow the onset of this terrible disease.

Real-life examples of how cats promote well-being and play a vital role in an individual’s care appear regularly in the excellent magazine, The Cat, which is a publication I do look at regularly and is published by Cats Protection. In recent months, there have been stories about how their cats helped an owner to cope with epileptic seizures, helped a seven year-old boy to deal with the debilitating problem of selective mutism, and comforted a 17 year-old girl confined to bed with the life-long incurable condition of Behçet’s syndrome. One particularly moving story related to how a visit from a cat to an elderly lady who was in a hospital ward and suffering from severe dementia got her to speak for the first time in three months.

There are many other examples. Indeed, I think of the experience of my own mother. In the last year of her life, she was widowed, immobile and more or less housebound. Her faithful cat, Toby, was her constant companion. She talked to him, laughed with him and moaned and shouted at him; he cared for her in return. Indeed, he lay on her bed as she died. That companionship is a priceless gift, which this legislation should protect. Let me explain briefly how these amendments might help, as I ask my noble friend the Minister to consider these three issues.

First, one of the many problems that those who are elderly with a pet can face is how to care for it when they go into a care home. There are some amazing care and retirement homes which welcome pets but others do not have a policy on them, which can cause anxiety and distress to those who need to enter one. For a person to have to give up what might be their sole companion is a tragedy for an owner and for the pet. It also adds to the growing burden on many animal charities, which are having to take increasing numbers of abandoned pets as economic problems have bitten hard in so many families.

Secondly, it would encourage those at the front line of care—GPs, in other words—to become aware of the role of a pet in an individual’s life. Many GP surgeries include in their information about the over-75s whether a companion animal forms part of the client’s household. The signal sent from amending the Bill would encourage many more GPs and clinical commissioning groups to ensure that this important information is routinely collected for all age groups, including the elderly.

Finally, the Bill needs to be drafted widely enough in its definitions of well-being and needs assessments to allow for money, whether budgets or direct payments, to be used where necessary to support an individual who perhaps wishes to retain a pet but is having problems due to health. Professional pet-sitting or feeding may be needed when an individual is hospitalised and where there are no friends or family to help. Knowing that a pet is being cared for can help encourage otherwise reluctant individuals to go into hospital for treatment and relieve anxiety. Equally, in cases where a care assessment shows that a companion animal would bring individual health benefits, money may be needed to help an individual obtain a companion animal. There are many examples of such budget programmes in other countries—most notably, I think, in Australia—where health and local authority budgets are pooled to provide companion animal support programmes. This principle should be embedded in regulation and statutory guidance for all relevant implementing bodies.

Most importantly of all, these amendments would ensure that the role of companion animals is given proper recognition and protection through an individual’s care journey. Some may be too vulnerable or frail to request that their beloved pet is taken into account when their care is planned. Others may need help or assistance in retaining their companion. Others still may not be aware of how a cat or a dog could improve their quality of life, ease their loneliness or help tackle a chronic disease. The amendments I have tabled would ensure that this happens as a matter of routine and is not left to chance in the way that, tragically, too often happens now.

[Baroness Masham of Ilton]

My Lords, today is bowel awareness day. I have been chairing a reception for bowel care this afternoon. Two of the speakers had disabilities: one with multiple sclerosis and one a tetraplegic, paralysed from the neck down. Both needed bowel care and they both said that dignity and respect were so important. Amendment 78ZA should therefore be a must for the Bill. There are many important amendments in this group, including those on well-being and companion animals, which I support. Happiness is something we should all aim for.