Life Expectancy: Pensions, Health and Insurance

Debate between Baroness Wheatcroft and Lord Markham

Wednesday 26th April 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

My noble friend, whom I thank for that question, has characterised this issue in exactly the right way. Life expectancy is still increasing, but not at the rate it was. That is why the major conditions strategy was launched. I can give one example: cancer is one of the six major killers, and we are seeing 20% more cancer patients this year than we were pre-pandemic. So there are improvements in this space, and that is what the major conditions strategy is all about; but clearly, the record investment we are putting in needs to show that sort of output.

[Baroness Wheatcroft (CB)]

My Lords, the Minister’s ambition to increase life expectancy is not being helped by the current wave of doctors strikes, with extended waiting lists certainly bringing down life expectancy rates in some quarters. Can he tell the House why he and other Ministers will not get round the table now, with no preconditions, to discuss how this might be brought to a speedy end?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

The noble Baroness is absolutely correct: any strike action is regrettable, and we have a part to play, as do the unions, in trying to make sure that we reach a sensible place. We feel we have done that for nurses and ambulance drivers with the Agenda for Change, and clearly, we want to do the same for doctors. I think all noble Lords can agree that we do not want the impact on patients and healthy outcomes that strikes cause.

Hospitals: Maintenance

Debate between Baroness Wheatcroft and Lord Markham

Thursday 9th February 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I know that it is a lot more than that. The number of cohort 1 and cohort 2 hospitals being built at the moment is substantially more. This is a real programme; in fact, I invite all my colleagues here to a parliamentary open day, which I think will happen in the next month or so, when we plan to exhibit exactly what we are doing. We will have virtual reality glasses so that noble Lords can see the hospital of the future. Please come along and see for yourselves how real this programme is.

[Baroness Wheatcroft (CB)]

My Lords, the old joke about how many men it takes to change a light bulb tends not to go down well in PFI hospitals, where the answer can be “Several—and a lot of money”. In November, the Minister said to me that he was re-examining all these ruinous PFI contracts. Can he tell the House what progress he has made?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

We are actually making a lot of progress on them. A number of them, dare I say it, were introduced by Governments of a different colour and we are now working through and correcting those. At the same time, private capital can do a lot of good things. Many in the House will have heard me say just yesterday that if we put LED lightbulbs in every hospital, it would cost £400 million and save £100 million a year. That is the sort of thing private capital will fund every day of the week, probably at a 5% yield, giving us £95 million of savings a year. That is a good use of private capital, and the sort of thing I am looking at.

Care Homes: Severely Disabled People

Debate between Baroness Wheatcroft and Lord Markham

Wednesday 30th November 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

My noble friend identifies an ageing demographic, the challenges that brings to all of us and the pressure on adult social care and the centres. As I have said, this is a challenge, but there are high levels of satisfaction in the sector: 89% of people are satisfied and 64% are very satisfied. So, although we have not got this right in every case, we are broadly on the right track and getting good results.

[Baroness Wheatcroft (CB)]

My Lords, eight out of 10 of the largest providers of care for the disabled and children are at least in part private equity owned and, in many cases, wholly so. Their interest rates are already their major concern, and these are going up. Is the Minister concerned that these private equity-owned homes will be forced either to cut what they do and serve their customers less well, or close? If he is concerned, what is he doing about it?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

The financial health of this sector is an area of interest; we all of course recall some of the problems and failures about 10 years ago. I had a meeting on this subject just this week, identifying the health of the providers to see if that is of concern. The margins made in this space are fairly typical of other industries, so they are not indicative of an area under particular stress. But I have my mind on this issue and will keep an eye on it.

NHS: Waiting Lists and Increased Spending

Debate between Baroness Wheatcroft and Lord Markham

Tuesday 22nd November 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I thank the noble Baroness. As I say, we have committed to that workforce plan, and it will be detailed. We will look at every place in every part of the country because we understand that that is needed, and it is part of the critical plan to get on top of the 7.1 million waiting list. As I think we have accepted, it is not a quick win; it will get higher before it gets lower again. Clearly, however, we need to get on top of it, and we are focused on it. It is very much about the plan and the new spending plans that we put in place to address it.

[Baroness Wheatcroft (CB)]

My Lords, last year NHS trusts paid an interest bill of almost £500 million on PFI hospital contracts. This year, that bill will rise again. Can the Minister tell us what proportion of the increase in NHS budgets will go just to pay interest charges on these dreadful contracts, and what plans he has to try to renegotiate them?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I thank the noble Baroness; I will need to get back to her in writing on the detail of that. However, looking into the PFI contracts is very much part of my agenda; I had a meeting on that just last week, and we are reviewing it.

GPs: Anti-depressants and Alcohol

Debate between Baroness Wheatcroft and Lord Markham

Wednesday 16th November 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I agree with the premise of the question. Clearly we want the most efficient use of our resources. As I am sure the noble Lord is aware, there is a national review of overprescribing, which is looking at precisely these sorts of guidelines to make sure that medicine is used only when it is needed.

[Baroness Wheatcroft (CB)]

My Lords, there is clear evidence that the prescribing of activities, particularly cultural activities, is very effective in treating depression in many cases. What steps are being taken to encourage the prescribing of culture and other activities, as opposed to expensive drugs?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I agree that the first step should normally be cognitive talking-type therapies. As the House will be aware, we have been investing quite considerably in the mental health space. We have had a 25% increase in referrals to talking therapies, to 1.8 million in the past year alone. I very much agree that there should always be action to see whether we can help with those cognitive behavioural-type therapies first before resorting to prescribing drugs.