Jimmy Savile: NHS Investigations

Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall Excerpts

Thursday 26th February 2015 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, I cannot give a specific undertaking on the timescale that we envisage for the consultation or on any legislation that might ensue from it because that raises the question of whether any legislation is necessary. That is what we want to know from the consultation process. However, I can tell my noble friend that the Home Office will be leading the consultation in conjunction with all the other relevant government departments.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall (Lab)]

My Lords, the noble Earl repeated a phrase in the Statement referring to Jimmy Savile as a one-off. Although that is qualified in the sentence that follows, nevertheless the reference is made. Does he consider that describing these incidents as a one-off characteristic of an unusual individual is tremendously helpful? We know that he was not a one-off because a number of other people working in NHS settings engaged in similar behaviour and have already been convicted. Many other people who were not working in NHS settings but doing other kinds of job—for example, in the rock music business—were also engaging in this kind of behaviour. Perhaps we need to take more account of the fact that, hard as it is for us to recognise, there are circumstances in which people, given the opportunity, will engage in this kind of behaviour and will continue to do so. Thinking of them as, as it were, bad apples does not help us to grapple with that reality.

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, the noble Baroness is right. It is with that thought in mind that Kate Lampard did not simply pigeonhole Savile as a one-off but has come forward with recommendations, most of which we have accepted, as to the wider lessons we should learn from this sorry saga. We know that, while the scale of Savile’s activities was probably unprecedented, there are others who have been found guilty of similar offences.

NHS: Financial Tariff for 2015-16

Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall Excerpts

Wednesday 4th February 2015 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

It is the view of Monitor and NHS England that providers of specialised services should make every effort to deliver care that is both clinically appropriate and cost-effective in order to manage demand—where, after all, their clinicians have significant influence. NHS England considers the proposed rule to be warranted—this is about the 50:50 split in the tariff—because rapidly growing expenditure that exceeds population prevalence growth is unlikely to reflect efficient and effective services, which, when one thinks about it, are in patients’ best interests overall.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall (Lab)]

Going back to the question asked by the noble Baroness, Lady Barker, I am sure the Minister will have seen recent reports showing that there is a serious shortage of mental health beds in the health service at the moment. Indeed, I believe that at one point in the very recent past there were no more than four or five available in the entirety of the UK—or certainly in England. Parity of esteem is a fine phrase, but is it really being played out in practice?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, it would require a full-scale debate for me to lay out in full all the things that we are doing to promote parity of esteem in the health service. The noble Baroness is right that in certain parts of the country there has been acute pressure on bed numbers, but bed numbers have been increased in some of those areas, and NHS England is paying close attention to the need to ensure that those who need in-patient treatment receive it.

HIV

Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall Excerpts

Thursday 15th January 2015 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, I pay tribute to the work of the Halve It coalition in raising awareness about the importance of increasing HIV testing. My noble friend is right that apart from ignorance often GPs are reluctant to discuss HIV testing or are unaware of the importance of early diagnosis and possible indicator symptoms. My department was pleased to fund the Medical Foundation for AIDS and Sexual Health’s HIV testing in primary care project that provides a web-based interactive resource for GPs in primary care to help make testing easier in GP surgeries.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall (Lab)]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that one of the biggest disincentives to testing is the amount of stigma that still remains against those who are known to have HIV? Alongside encouraging people to have tests, can he say what Public Health England is doing to combat that stigma?

[Earl Howe]

The noble Baroness is absolutely right. If we were to single out three things that are important in this context, they would be prevention, testing and tackling stigma and discrimination. The NHS, local authorities, government, community and faith groups, the media and individuals themselves all have a part to play in eliminating HIV-related stigma. Our framework for sexual health improvement is clear that action needs to continue to eradicate prejudice based on sexual orientation. That depends on building an open and honest culture where everyone can make informed decisions and responsible choices about relationships.

NHS: Accident and Emergency Services

Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall Excerpts

Wednesday 7th January 2015 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

I am grateful to the noble Baroness. It is worth observing that while the standard is that 95% of people arriving at A&E should be seen and treated within four hours, that standard has not been met in recent weeks. Nevertheless, on average, hospitals are seeing and treating around 90% of patients. The department is working closely with the College of Emergency Medicine. Indeed, I have the college’s paper in front of me. I am well aware of the issues that it has identified, but it is worth noting that the college says that the latest figures show that in England hospitals and their staff have coped extraordinarily well.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall (Lab)]

My Lords, can the Minister confirm that staffing, particularly of emergency medicine doctors, is acute in the sense that probably enough are being recruited but not enough are being retained in emergency medicine and that there is a significant loss of those qualified practitioners overseas? What is being done to address that?

HIV: Stigma

Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall Excerpts

Monday 1st December 2014 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, sex and relationship education plays an important part in exposing young people to the whole subject. Guidelines are available that schools must follow. They include sections on HIV and sexually transmitted diseases generally. As I say, secondary schools must follow those guidelines.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall (Lab)]

My Lords, building on the question from the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, does the noble Earl agree that stigma starts very young? It builds on attitudes that are adopted by young people. The importance of PHSE programmes in schools is therefore very great. In what ways are his department and the Department for Education working together to ensure that these programmes are delivered—not just that they are recommended, but that they are delivered? Does he further agree that it would be a good thing if they were a regular and statutory part of the curriculum?

[Earl Howe]

I shall expand on my previous answer. Sex and relationship education is compulsory in maintained secondary schools, although not in academies. All maintained schools and academies have a statutory requirement to have due regard to the Secretary of State’s sex and relationship education guidance, which dates from 2000, when teaching sex and relationship education. The guidance makes it clear that all such education should be age-appropriate and makes the following points about HIV and sexually transmitted infections:

“information and knowledge about HIV/AIDS is vital; young people need to understand what is risky behaviour and what is not; young people need factual information about safer sex and skills to enable them to negotiate safer sex … Young people need to be aware of the risks of contracting a STI and how to prevent it”.

They also need to know about the diagnosis and treatment of HIV and STIs.

Medical Innovation Bill [HL]

Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall Excerpts

Friday 24th October 2014 Lords Chamber

Amendment 10 not moved.

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall) (Lab)]

I must inform your Lordships that if Amendments 11 and 12 are agreed to, I cannot call Amendment 13 on grounds of pre-emption.

Amendments 11 and 12

Moved by

NHS: Hospital Waiting Times

Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall Excerpts

Thursday 10th July 2014 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

A handful of trusts are unable to report the full range of figures on their waiting times. They are given support to enable them to do so either by Monitor if they are foundation trusts or by the NHS Trust Development Authority.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall (Lab)]

My Lords, I do not believe that the House heard the noble Earl address the issue raised by my noble friend Lord Turnberg. It was not about cash but about share. Can he expand a little on why the share of GDP allocated to the National Health Service is set to go down?

[Earl Howe]

The share of GDP is only one measure. We have to take into account the state of the economy. If the party opposite had been elected to office, it had in fact decided that the share of the cake should be less than the one we have allocated. We have had to strike a balance and I believe that we have done so in a responsible way.

Health: Talking Therapy

Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd December 2013 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, the noble Lord’s perception would be shared by many, which is why we have been very clear in our mandate to NHS England that parity of esteem is of the essence, and we will hold the service to account for that. I do not have the specific statistics that the noble Lord seeks but we know that more people are being treated in secondary mental health services now than two or three years ago. However, the proportion who needed to be admitted to in-patient psychiatric care fell over that period, and that reflects increasing emphasis on care in the community.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall (Lab)]

My Lords, as someone who has benefited from CBT on a number of occasions, may I ask whether the noble Earl agrees that it is not just a question of whether people need the therapy but rather that they receive enough of it? Following the question of the noble Lord, Lord Alderdice, about the number of people who could benefit from this, what is the average number of sessions of talking therapy that a National Health Service mental health patient will receive and is it, generally speaking, enough?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, I apologise to the noble Baroness as I do not have that information in my brief. If it is available, I will write to her with the answer.

NHS: Accident and Emergency Services

Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall Excerpts

Thursday 25th July 2013 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

The answer to the noble Baroness’s question is yes. We are looking very carefully at workforce issues and the mix of skills needed in those A&E departments that have been struggling. I refer not simply to A&E consultants but also specialists in their field—perhaps alcohol is a good example—who can deflect the pressure away from staff looking after acutely ill patients.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall]

My Lords, building on the question from the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, is there evidence that current difficulties in the administration of A&E departments are discouraging young doctors from regarding emergency medicine as an attractive specialism? Are the Government doing anything to encourage them to look at emergency medicine more favourably and to ensure that, if they do so, there will be jobs for them in the departments?

[Earl Howe]

That is very much in the focus of Health Education England, which oversees workforce issues in the health service. There has been a shortage of A&E consultants for some time and Health Education England is looking at that area very carefully. A&E is a discipline that has not traditionally proved attractive to trainee doctors for a number of reasons. It is very stressful and the remuneration is perhaps less than in other areas of medicine. That needs to be addressed and is very much an area of scrutiny.

Public Health England Advisory Board Membership

Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall Excerpts

Thursday 4th July 2013 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, yes.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall]

In view of the answer that the Minister gave to my noble friend a few moments ago about not operating a positive discrimination policy, is it possible or even likely that the next round of advertisements will also result in the appointment only of men?

[Earl Howe]

I simply cannot tell because we do not know which candidates have come forward. It may be that no women come forward. I hope that that is not the case. We make a point of advertising our appointments on the website of Women on Boards UK Ltd—the noble Baroness may be aware of it—which is an open UK-wide organisation for women seeking to leverage their professional skills, if I can put it that way, on to leadership roles. We will see what happens, but I assure the noble Baroness that while there will not be positive discrimination, there certainly will not be negative discrimination either.