Health: Skin Cancer

Baroness Sharples Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd July 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

The noble Baroness is right but a law was passed in 2010, I think, banning the use of sunbeds on commercial premises by children under the age of 18. That law has had an impact but, in a sense, one can never do too much to raise public awareness, and we should do more.

[Baroness Sharples (Con)]

I have very recently had two areas of skin cancer. If you have any suspicions, is it not absolutely vital to see your doctor?

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My noble friend makes a very sound point. Harpal Kumar’s task force produced a report entitled Achieving World-Class Cancer Outcomes. If anyone wants a little bit of holiday reading, it is well worth reading at least the three-page letter at the front of the report. He recommends in the report that if a GP has a 3% or greater suspicion of cancer, the person in question should be referred for further investigations.

Alcohol: Calorie Labelling

Baroness Sharples Excerpts

Thursday 13th March 2014 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, I mentioned Sainsbury’s, which is setting a very good example in this area, but I can tell the noble Lord that Waitrose and the Co-op have also taken steps to display calories on their own-brand alcohol labelling. Naturally, we hope that others will follow their lead. As yet, none has, and it is a pity that Tesco has said that it will not, but we will continue to work on this issue. Work is also going on at a European level, and the noble Lord may like to know that the UK pressed for mandatory energy declarations during negotiations on the EU Food Information for Consumers Regulation. It met with significant resistance, and we did not succeed, but we are still pressing for that.

[Baroness Sharples (Con)]

Does my noble friend have any estimate of the number of shoppers who actually read the labels?

[Earl Howe]

No, I do not, but it is worth noting that 49 businesses have signed up to the voluntary responsibility deal pledge on awareness of alcohol units, calories and other information. Those organisations have published calorie information on their websites about every single alcohol product. If one is buying online, it is possible to compare one product with another.

Health: Tuberculosis

Baroness Sharples Excerpts

Wednesday 24th April 2013 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, as regards the very last point made by the noble Lord, he is absolutely right. To treat a multidrug-resistant case of TB typically costs between £50,000 and £100,000, and sometimes more if it is an even more complicated case, in comparison with about £5,000 for an ordinary case of TB.

In fact, to correct the noble Lord, if I may, the proportion of TB cases that were multidrug-resistant in the UK was not high compared with the rest of Europe. The only countries in western Europe with a lower proportion of cases that were multidrug-resistant in 2011 were Ireland, Iceland and Malta. However, I take his point about migrants from eastern Europe. Port health regulations give some powers at the port of entry but this involves knowing quite a lot about the individual, so we are left with what is open to us once the person is in the UK. Once here, health protection regulations can be used to provide local authorities with wider and more flexible powers to deal with incidents or emergencies where infection or contamination present a significant risk to human health, or could present such a risk. I could elaborate on those powers, if the House wished.

[Baroness Sharples]

My Lords, I had TB in my teens. I know that it often takes years to develop, but why are people not tested in their own countries before they come here?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, we are now introducing a system of pre-entry screening. We recognise the contribution that latent TB makes to the overall TB disease burden and that is why we have commissioned NICE to produce a clinical guideline on this. In the countries where TB presents the most significant risk, we shall in future insist that people are screened before they enter the United Kingdom.

NHS: Health Workers

Baroness Sharples Excerpts

Thursday 19th July 2012 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, the noble Lord has made an extremely creative and important point, and I will gladly take it back to the workforce colleagues in the department.

[Baroness Sharples]

Can my noble friend tell us how many matrons are in hospitals now?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, I cannot give my noble friend the precise figures for matrons, but what I can tell her is that in all NHS trusts there is now an emphasis on nurse leadership, however defined, so that at ward level and indeed at board level the input from nurses is heard and taken into account. That is important if we are to achieve what I think everyone wants, which is to drive the quality of care at the bedside.

NHS: Waiting Times

Baroness Sharples Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd May 2011 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, we are quite clear that timeliness remains an important ingredient in the care of patients. However, we are also clear that it is not the only measure of quality. On emergency surgery, there is no reason to expect that patients will be treated any less urgently in the future than they have been in the past. What matters is clinical priorities being set correctly.

[Baroness Sharples]

Is my noble friend aware that very recently I was in A&E on a trolley at St Thomas’s for just under five hours waiting for a bed?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, that does concern me. I do not think anyone could endorse the practice of patients remaining on trolleys. I hope my noble friend was seen and tended to in a timely manner, but what she describes does not sound to me as though it conforms with good clinical practice. However, I stress to her that the figures I have show that nationally hospitals as a whole are adhering to the new standards that have been set.

Homelessness: Tuberculosis

Baroness Sharples Excerpts

Tuesday 1st March 2011 Lords Chamber

Asked By

[Baroness Sharples]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have for detecting tuberculosis amongst rough sleepers.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Earl Howe)]

My Lords, from 1 April, the National Health Service in London will fund continued provision of the Find and Treat outreach service to detect TB among the homeless, including rough sleepers, and to help to ensure treatment completion. There are also initiatives for TB testing among the homeless in cities such as Liverpool and Leicester. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence is developing guidance on tuberculosis among hard-to-reach groups, including rough sleepers.

[Baroness Sharples]

I thank my noble friend for that encouraging reply, but is he aware that the chaotic lifestyle of homeless people with very poor immune systems means that they are extremely difficult to diagnose and to treat for the six-month period for which they need antibiotics? Are Her Majesty’s Government working with other organisations to help these homeless people?

[Earl Howe]

My noble friend is absolutely right: this is a particularly difficult group of people in that they are hard to reach. There is a high incidence of TB among the homeless in London and a service of the kind to which I have referred appears to be cost-effective in reaching those people. On my noble friend’s second question, we are engaging with the Mayor of London’s office to see how it can become involved in helping to deliver cost-effective services to this group of people.

Herbal Medicines

Baroness Sharples Excerpts

Thursday 13th January 2011 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, I pay tribute to the noble Baroness for the work that she does and I entirely endorse the approach to regulation that she has outlined. Certainly, we need to adopt a targeted, risk-based approach to regulation.

[Baroness Sharples]

Is the noble Earl aware that I owe my good health to a great extent to herbal medicine?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, that news is a source of pleasure to me and I am sure to the whole House.