Health and Social Care Act 2012

Debate between Lord Bradley and Lord O'Shaughnessy

Thursday 5th July 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bradley (Lab)]

My Lords, we should first congratulate and celebrate the establishment of the first NHS hospital at Park Hospital, now Trafford General Hospital, in Greater Manchester. But we should also have concern that the devolution deal for health and social care for Greater Manchester is being impeded because of the Health and Social Care Act. What changes would the Minister recommend to ensure that the ambitions of the devolution deal to integrate health and social care and physical and mental health are progressed as rapidly as possible?

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

I join the noble Lord in congratulating Trafford General Hospital. I think that one of my colleagues is there today, unveiling a plaque. I am grateful to him also for raising the devo deal for Greater Manchester. It is a very important deal that goes further than any other in the area of health and social care. If it is the case that it is impeded by the Act—and I do not think that that is necessarily a given—I would say that the changes that need to be made ought to be promoted and proposed by Greater Manchester and by the clinicians themselves. That is exactly the sort of thing that the Prime Minister has asked for.

Social Care

Debate between Lord Bradley and Lord O'Shaughnessy

Thursday 7th December 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

I am grateful to my noble friend for raising both those points. She is quite right about respite care. Local authorities have a duty to provide it, but I also note that there is pressure on the system. Indeed, the issue of one particular respite home, Nascot Lawn, has been raised. It is something I am interested in and I am looking at it. I will take that point away. We are trying to look at the care service in the round, so respite care must be part of that.

My noble friend is right about paying care workers properly. We have increased the national minimum wage, now moving on to the national living wage, precisely to provide a proper recompense for people who work in that sector and, critically, to start to provide a proper career structure so that people can move on, add to their skills and progress while staying in the caring profession.

[Lord Bradley (Lab)]

My Lords, I was pleased to be a member of the Select Committee on the Long-Term Sustainability of the NHS, the title of which was extended to include social care. The consultation seems to be constructed to continue the siloing of social care away from the broader care system between the NHS and social care. Will the Minister confirm that the whole relationship and integration of the NHS and social care will be included in the consultation? Will he confirm when the Government will respond to our Select Committee report, which was published last April?

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

I thank the noble Lord for raising that point. I apologise again for the lateness of our response to the Lords committee. What I hope is now the final version is with me for approval, and I hope it will be provided very soon.

On the Green Paper, we all want more integration between health and social care. We know that is important for the people who are increasingly using those services who are in older age, have comorbidities and are moving in and out of different settings of the time. Social care is paid for on a different basis from the NHS. That is critical. We have to get a sustainable financial basis on which we distribute social care while thinking about how it interacts with the health service. The Green Paper is trying to crack a nut that, frankly, has eluded Governments for the last 20 years.

Mental Health and NHS Performance Update

Debate between Lord Bradley and Lord O'Shaughnessy

Monday 9th January 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

I thank my noble friend for her warm welcome. I take that point very seriously. Clearly, parity of esteem is no good unless it is applicable to everybody who is suffering from a particular illness. I am not fully aware of the details of the nature of the disparity with black and minority ethnic families but, if there is a problem, making sure that we fulfil this ambitious and I hope welcome strategy is going to make sure that we can lift performance of those services for people in minority ethnic groups.

[Lord Bradley (Lab)]

My Lords, I declare my health interests. Can the Minister explain why it will take at least four years to stop the appalling situation where children have to go out of their local area to receive their mental health treatment?

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

I thank the noble Lord for his question. I was not aware that it would take four years for that to stop. What we are dealing with here is an historic challenge, which is that mental health services not just in this country but in countries all over the developed world have not been at the same level as services for physical health. The strategy that we have set out today and the further elements to come will be one way of making sure that those young people can be treated close to home. Clearly, there will always be cases and instances where they need to travel. On Friday, I had my first ever ministerial visit to Oxford mental health trust and was able to observe the fantastic work that it is doing across a wide area but with a specific residential school and, interestingly, linking up with the university psychology research department. There were young people who were coming to take advantage of that from all over the country. I realise that this is, if not unique, an unusual coagulation of good factors. As part of making sure that you can get treatment for mental illness or support to build mental health locally, we need to make sure that there are more centres of excellence that can be accessed by those who are in acute need.