Mental Health: Social Work

Baroness Trumpington Excerpts

Monday 23rd June 2014 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

The noble Lord is quite right. The importance of mental health knowledge across social work in its entirety—adults, children, adolescents and families—is vital. Mental health is a key factor for people with substance abuse problems and other complex social and health needs that defy neat categorisation. The Chief Social Worker for Adults, Lyn Romeo, is working with the Chief Social Worker for Children and Families, Isabelle Trowler, to produce a statement of the knowledge and skills required across children’s and adult services and the need for students and qualified social workers to be able to work with mental health issues in all contexts.

[Baroness Trumpington (Con)]

My Lords, what is the Minister’s solution to the situation that arises when a social worker moves from one district to another without necessarily taking their portfolio of work with them? I speak having been a Minister when a social worker was murdered when the person who killed her had changed district but the social worker had not been informed of the move.

[Earl Howe]

My noble friend makes an extremely important point about continuity of care. Not only is this important in terms of sheer administration; it is vital for the health of the service user or patient, as the social worker is very often the key point of contact for vulnerable people living at home and maybe on the brink of being admitted to NHS in-patient care. My noble friend makes a very good point. If I can amplify those remarks in any way I will write to her.

Children: Obesity

Baroness Trumpington Excerpts

Wednesday 6th February 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Trumpington]

My Lords, perhaps I may ask the Minister two questions. First, does he not agree that cheap food has become far more delicious than it was in the youth of most people in this Chamber? Secondly, children like to copy their heroes. Could not the media be persuaded to make greater use of physical heroes, such as footballers, tennis players or any kind of sporting hero, in order to promote less obesity?

[Earl Howe]

My noble friend makes a very good point about role models. To a certain extent, that has been tried and tested in the past with some success. As regards food and its taste, I would say each to their own, but she is right that we are encouraged in all sorts of subtle ways to eat more than we used to in years gone by. The responsibility deal calorie reduction pledge specifically enables businesses to contribute to our challenge to the nation in this area, which we issued as part of the call to action on obesity in 2011, to reduce total calorie consumption by 5 billion calories a day.

Health: HIV

Baroness Trumpington Excerpts

Thursday 29th November 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hughes of Woodside]

My Lords—

[Baroness Trumpington]

Our turn. I am not sure whether I am in order but I should like to congratulate, through this House, the Minister on his award yesterday as Minister of the Year in the Lords.

[Earl Howe]

I am exceedingly grateful to my noble friend for that and for not asking me a question that I was unable to answer.

Diabetes

Baroness Trumpington Excerpts

Tuesday 10th July 2012 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, the Department of Health recognises that artificially sweetened or low-calorie drinks can play a role in helping people to reduce the number of calories they consume and offer a wide choice of low-calorie options. As for the safety of artificial sweeteners, all food additives, including sweeteners, are thoroughly tested for safety prior to approval and are subject to review by independent expert bodies. The Food Standards Agency considers that all approved sweeteners can be safely consumed at current permitted levels.

[Baroness Trumpington]

My Lords, this morning I was in a Waitrose and I looked at all the packets of cereals. Each one had a different sugar-based flavour, such as chocolate and apricot, and all the cereals contained sugar of different kinds. What is the Minister’s reaction to that?

Alcohol

Baroness Trumpington Excerpts

Thursday 2nd February 2012 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, the Government fully recognise the adverse effects on society of alcohol misuse and the devastating consequences that it can bring to individuals. That is why we feel it is so important to issue the alcohol strategy that I mentioned in my initial Answer. I understand that there are no plans in government to widen the use of breathalysers, but we are clear that irresponsible sales of alcohol need to be controlled, and that area will be covered in the strategy. On the noble Baroness’s particular question on pricing, we recognise that the irresponsible sale of alcohol at a loss to gain wider trade can lead to binge drinking. That is clearly undesirable for all sorts of reasons. We are committed to ending the sale of heavily discounted alcohol, and that will send a message to retailers and, indeed, the public that we take the issue very seriously.

[Baroness Trumpington]

My Lords, may I ask the Minister whether the answers he has been giving fit in with the order that my noble friend Lord Strathclyde has on the Order Paper for later today?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, my noble friend is ahead of me, and I will have to write to her.

Health: Obesity

Baroness Trumpington Excerpts

Wednesday 19th October 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Trumpington]

My Lords, does the Minister realise that some of us eat like sparrows but end up like turkeys? Does the publication which he spoke of cover the situation of those of us whom I have just spoken of?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, my noble friend makes what is in fact a very complex point. Many of us believe that there is a genetic element to this, and indeed the 2007 Foresight report underlined the complexity around the causes of obesity. Genetic, psychological, cultural and behavioural factors all have a part to play in it. I do not have specific advice to give my noble friend—far be it from me to do so—but there is obviously a balance to be struck between calories in and calories out.

Health: HIV/AIDS

Baroness Trumpington Excerpts

Monday 5th September 2011 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

The noble Baroness is correct that about one-quarter of those with HIV are unaware of it, which is why testing in a variety of healthcare settings is vital and a targeted preventative approach to the two communities that I mentioned has to continue.

[Baroness Trumpington]

My Lords, following on from the previous speaker, perhaps my question is appropriate. The Minister knows my interest in this subject but would not the legitimisation of brothels be a great help, with regular health checks therein?

[Earl Howe]

My noble friend makes a serious point. This is not a subject on which I or, as far as I know, the Government have a fixed view, but I will ensure that her question is fed into our deliberations on the sexual health framework document.

NHS: Chiropody and Podiatry Services

Baroness Trumpington Excerpts

Tuesday 26th April 2011 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, I am aware of that study. If we apply the lessons learnt to the UK, the noble Lord may already know that approximately 100 people have an amputation due to foot ulceration, as a complication of diabetes, every week. The International Diabetes Federation has estimated that 85 per cent of these amputations could be prevented through early intervention by a diabetic foot team that includes a specialist podiatrist. Indeed, the diabetes foot protection team in Southampton, to take one area, reduced in-patient stays from 50 to 18 bed days and saved £1.2 million in the first three years.

[Baroness Trumpington]

My Lords, is my noble friend the Minister aware that I consider that any feet over the age of six months are utterly revolting? However, I have a serious question: will wounded servicemen, who are unable to reach their own feet due to injury, be given free chiropody?

[Earl Howe]

I am grateful to my noble friend. She will know that the injuries sustained by our service men and women in the theatres of conflict form a high priority for the National Health Service and the Defence Medical Services. Indeed, chiropody and foot care will play a large part, I am sure, in ensuring the mobility of those wounded personnel. The key will be to ensure that there are sufficient chiropodists and podiatrists to deliver the services required, and that requires a process of local determination and prioritisation to ensure that workforce numbers meet healthcare needs.

Health: NICE

Baroness Trumpington Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd November 2010 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, I think the noble Lord has perhaps misunderstood the purpose of the plans that we have set out. Prior to the introduction of value-based pricing, we will continue to ensure that the NHS funds drugs that have been positively appraised by NICE. I hope that that reassures him that clinicians are not going to be placed in an awkward position. We will be consulting on our plans for value-based pricing before the end of the year, but I can assure the House that the point of moving to a new pricing system is to increase patient access to new effective drugs. That is what we aim to do.

[Baroness Trumpington]

My Lords, my noble friend has already spoken about the time it takes to develop a drug—often many years. This costs money and accounts, in some cases, for the high price of the drug.

[Earl Howe]

My noble friend, with her experience, is of course quite right. I am told that it costs upwards of $1 billion to develop a new molecule and bring it to the market. It is a very expensive process. That is recognised in the freedom of pricing that currently exists for drug companies at launch and in the patents that they are able to enjoy in subsequent years.