Healthy Life Expectancy: England

Debate between Baroness Merron and Baroness Pidgeon

Monday 18th May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

I recognise the noble Lord’s point. We are certainly seeking to give individuals the ability to grasp the opportunity to live well for longer and to support them in their choices. For example, in addition to the points I made to the noble Lord, Lord Krebs, we are working on restricting volume price promotions such as “buy three for the price of two” offers on less healthy food and drink.

[Baroness Pidgeon (LD)]

My Lords, given that the UK is an outlier compared to similar countries, what work are the Government doing to introduce proactive, preventive health measures, such as routine health MOTs for people, to try to reverse this trend?

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

I welcome the noble Baroness to her Front Bench on the important matter of health and social care. I am most grateful for her question. We have to be ambitious, which is what the 10-year health plan is doing, in transforming how we tackle the biggest causes of ill health. We are going to take a whole-society approach and a whole-person approach, rather than dealing just with conditions. To the points made earlier, we will be working with individuals—as in the public—and in partnership with business and civil society.

Miscarriage Care

Debate between Baroness Merron and Baroness Pidgeon

Monday 18th May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Pidgeon]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what plans they have to improve miscarriage care and support.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Baroness Merron) (Lab)]

My Lords, miscarriage can have a devastating impact on women and their families, and we are determined that they receive the support they need. We committed in the women’s health strategy to improve care for women, including carefully considering the graded model of care for repeated miscarriage. The National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce will develop the national action plan to improve maternity and neonatal safety and experiences, and it will follow the pending recommendations of the independent investigation by the noble Baroness, Lady Amos.

[Baroness Pidgeon (LD)]

There are around 250,000 miscarriages in the UK every year. Following the recent Tommy’s Graded Model of Miscarriage Care report, will the Government now review the specific requirement for women to experience three miscarriages before being able to access the support that could help prevent another loss?

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

This is an extremely important area, and I acknowledge very much that the current situation is not working for women or their families. To emphasise, we very much welcome the report from Tommy’s miscarriage centre at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital, which is about the effectiveness of its piloted model of sporadic or recurrent miscarriage care. I visited them when I first took office and was very taken by their work. I am glad they have reported, and, as confirmed in the women’s health strategy, we shall be looking very closely at this. It will deal with and refer to the point the noble Baroness makes.

Anti-depressants: Cost, Risks and Ramifications

Debate between Baroness Merron and Baroness Pidgeon

Wednesday 11th December 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

I assure the noble Lord that NICE keeps all its clinical guidance under active surveillance to ensure that it can respond to any new evidence that is relevant, including relevant clinically related literature, that could possibly impact on its recommendations. More broadly, guidance recommends that suicidal ideation should be monitored in people with depression who are receiving treatment, particularly in the early weeks of treatment. That includes specific recommendations on medication for people at risk of suicide.

[Baroness Pidgeon (LD)]

My Lords, a study in 2019 found that a third of women were prescribed anti-depressants by their GP to combat symptoms of the menopause. What are the Government’s current assessment of this situation and of adherence to NICE guidance in this area? If the Minister does not have full details to hand, perhaps she can write to me.

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

I would be very pleased to write further to the noble Baroness. This is a very important point about support for women during the menopause. However, a prescription is made only after discussion with the patient about it and other alternatives, and the clinician has to follow and comply with the guidelines. Patient choice is absolutely key here. Every individual is an individual, and only what is appropriate should be prescribed—if needed.