Health: Folic Acid Fortification

Debate between Earl Howe and Lord Swinfen

Wednesday 2nd April 2014 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

That is an issue that we will of course weigh up as we look at the risks and benefits and take a decision, as we will in the next few days.

[Lord Swinfen (Con)]

My Lords, what are the risks of adding folic acid to flour?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, the scientific committee pointed to several risks. One is that an overdose of folic acid may mask vitamin B12 deficiency, particularly in the over-65s—and this may be an issue in which a number of us wish to declare an interest. The committee also pointed out that although there was no specific evidence of a link to bowel cancer, there are nevertheless experts who believe that the evidence is equivocal in that area, and we need to take the balance of opinion very seriously.

NHS: Private Companies

Debate between Earl Howe and Lord Swinfen

Monday 11th February 2013 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

The noble Lord raises an important point. A great deal of work is currently being done on the way in which the education and training of NHS clinical staff is funded. Changes are being made this year in order to make funding fairer and more transparent generally, and the Government will consider any further recommendations that Monitor may choose to make in this area if they would bring about further benefits to patients.

[Lord Swinfen]

My Lords, how will the quality of the work be evaluated?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, the system will operate in a way that ensures that non-NHS providers who provide services to the National Health Service pass a quality test with the Care Quality Commission. They will be obliged after that, should they receive the benefit of contracts from the NHS, to demonstrate that they have abided by the terms of the contract.

NHS: Health Tourism

Debate between Earl Howe and Lord Swinfen

Monday 28th May 2012 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, were that situation to occur, the issues arising from it would be little different from the issues today in that health is already devolved. However, I cannot speculate on whether there would be a different policy on immigration in Scotland compared to south of the border as we are really not in that territory yet.

[Lord Swinfen]

What checks are actually carried out to ensure that patients are entitled to free National Health Service care?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, it is incumbent on NHS trusts when a patient presents directly to them to ensure that the person in front of them is entitled to NHS care, and they have various means of doing that. However, primary care in this country—care delivered by GPs—is not subject to any checks of that order.

NHS: General Practitioners

Debate between Earl Howe and Lord Swinfen

Wednesday 23rd May 2012 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, the Government have laid down no bar on homeopathic medicine. The prescribing of homeopathic remedies is very much a matter of clinical judgment and we would not wish to fetter that.

[Lord Swinfen]

My Lords, to what extent are general practitioners using telemedicine to cut down the time needed to obtain specialist medical advice for their patients?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, this is a very exciting area. I have seen some extremely good examples of telemedicine that will deliver not only greater efficiency within the health service, sometimes enabling clinicians to diagnose conditions in patients from a remote standpoint, but also greater safety and effectiveness of care for patients. For example, I saw a demonstration of stroke diagnosis that can be done remotely by laptop. This is an area on which the department is focusing a lot of attention, not least through the 3millionlives initiative, through which we hope over the next few years to ensure that 3 million people benefit from telecare and telemedicine.