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Speech in Lords Chamber - Tue 29 Jun 2021
Hospital Waiting Lists

"My Lords, that was an interesting statement but it did not answer any of the Question, which is: what is the Government’s estimate of the time needed to get waiting lists back to the state of a year ago and, secondly, what plans do they have to regularly publish data …..."
Lord Balfe - View Speech

View all Lord Balfe (Con - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Hospital Waiting Lists

Written Question
DNACPR Decisions
Tuesday 22nd June 2021

Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many patients who were subject to Do Not Attempt Resuscitation (DNAR) orders and died in NHS hospitals in England between 1 April 2020 and 31 March, had the option "unknown" marked next to the "name of the relevant other" on the DNAR form.

Answered by Lord Bethell

The information requested is not held centrally.

Due to the concerns raised at the beginning of the COVID 19 pandemic around the application of Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) decisions, the Department asked the Care Quality Commission to review how these decisions were made. Their report was published in March. The Department has established a Ministerial Oversight Group that will be responsible for the delivery and required changes of the recommendations of this report, to ensure adherence to guidance across the system on how DNACPRs are used.


Written Question
DNACPR Decisions
Tuesday 22nd June 2021

Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many patients who died in NHS hospitals in England between 1 April 2020 and 31 March and whose death certificate gave COVID-19 as the cause of death were subject to Do Not Attempt Resuscitation orders.

Answered by Lord Bethell

The information requested is not held centrally.

Due to the concerns raised at the beginning of the COVID 19 pandemic around the application of Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) decisions, the Department asked the Care Quality Commission to review how these decisions were made. Their report was published in March. The Department has established a Ministerial Oversight Group that will be responsible for the delivery and required changes of the recommendations of this report, to ensure adherence to guidance across the system on how DNACPRs are used.


Written Question
DNACPR Decisions
Tuesday 22nd June 2021

Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many patients who died in NHS hospitals in England between 1 April 2020 and 31 March were subject to Do Not Attempt Resuscitation orders.

Answered by Lord Bethell

The information requested is not held centrally.

Due to the concerns raised at the beginning of the COVID 19 pandemic around the application of Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) decisions, the Department asked the Care Quality Commission to review how these decisions were made. Their report was published in March. The Department has established a Ministerial Oversight Group that will be responsible for the delivery and required changes of the recommendations of this report, to ensure adherence to guidance across the system on how DNACPRs are used.


Written Question
Pregnancy: Coronavirus
Monday 21st June 2021

Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have (1) to increase the opportunity for pregnant women to have two doses of vaccinations by the time their pregnancy is full term by ensuring that that the NHS vaccination booking system allows them to book a second dose of vaccine eight weeks after their first, and (2) to ensure that any NHS-supported applications used to enable such bookings reflect that opportunity.

Answered by Lord Bethell

Appointments for a second dose of the vaccine have been brought forward from 12 to eight weeks for those in priority cohorts one to nine who are yet to receive their second dose. This is in line with advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which the Government has accepted.

Pregnant women in priority cohorts one to nine due to age or clinical risk factor can book their second dose eight weeks after their first. Pregnant women in priority cohorts 10 to 12 can book their second dose 12 weeks after their first in line with their overall age cohort.

The National Booking Service operates according to the JCVI’s guidance on first and second doses. Local booking systems used by Primary Care Networks and general practitioner-led services have also been advised to operate according to this advice.


Speech in Lords Chamber - Thu 17 Jun 2021
Covid-19: Care Homes

"I think the question the public want the answer to is why so many people died in care homes. Will there be an inquiry which will try to get to the bottom of that simple fact?..."
Lord Balfe - View Speech

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Speech in Lords Chamber - Tue 08 Jun 2021
Covid-19 Update

"My Lords, could the Government try to get back the initiative so that we are talking about a health service and not constantly talking about Covid? I have some numbers: 114 people are in hospital with the delta variant. Of those, 83 are unvaccinated, 28 have had one dose and …..."
Lord Balfe - View Speech

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Speech in Lords Chamber - Thu 27 May 2021
Covid-19: Poverty

"My Lords, I draw attention to my position as a fellow of the Royal Statistical Society. There is an old adage that correlation does not necessarily indicate causation. While it is easy to talk about levels of poverty, there are other factors such as lifestyle and ethnicity, and there will …..."
Lord Balfe - View Speech

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Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 26 May 2021
COVID-19 Variant: Travel Guidance for Local Authorities

"My Lords, is it not time for the department to stop formulating rules that are neither enforced nor obeyed? Instead, if it wants to publish lists, could it not consider publishing a list of the growing waiting lists for treatments for cancer, heart problems and the many other things which …..."
Lord Balfe - View Speech

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Speech in Lords Chamber - Thu 20 May 2021
Covid-19 Internal Review

"Does the Minister see that we will keep on having variants of this virus and, to an extent, will have to learn to live with it? I am sure people would be much happier if we were to downscale the amount of advice that we get from a variety of …..."
Lord Balfe - View Speech

View all Lord Balfe (Con - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Covid-19 Internal Review