Covid-19 Vaccination: Coronary Disease

Debate between Lord Davies of Brixton and Lord Markham

Tuesday 23rd April 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

The main thing that the vaccine did was prevent any bad effects if you did get Covid. While it might not have reduced transmission much, its main benefit was that it reduced the effects if you had it, as well as hospitalisations and deaths. Making Covid a less serious disease, basically, enabled us to open up the country and we were one of the first to get going again because we knew that the disease no longer posed the high risk that it did before we had the vaccines.

[Lord Davies of Brixton (Lab)]

My Lords, I have some personal experience here. One week after I had my first course of Covid vaccination, I had an attack of pericarditis and ended up in St Thomas’ Hospital. I am convinced that there is a link, but it is important to look at the longer-term effects—having an attack of Covid causes more heart problems, as well as having a long-term impact on your general health.

[Lord Markham (Con)]

The noble Lord is absolutely correct. The MHRA study on heart inflammation, which he mentioned, said that there is that side-effect for one to two people per 100,000—unfortunately, the noble Lord seems to have been one of them. However, if you get Covid it affects 150 people per 100,000. On balance, if you have not had the vaccination, your risk is 22 per 100,000. The statistics are very clear.

Suicide Prevention Strategy

Debate between Lord Davies of Brixton and Lord Markham

Thursday 26th October 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Davies of Brixton (Lab)]

My Lords, on the suicide prevention strategy more generally, does the Minister share my concern at the figures published today by the ONS showing that the suicide rate among offenders in the community is six times that of the general population and the suicide rate among female offenders in the community is 11 times that of the general population? Surely this points to the need for priority action.

[Lord Markham (Con)]

The noble Lord is absolutely correct. The priority groups identified include people in the justice system for exactly that reason; likewise, as I mentioned, middle-aged men, who are three times more likely to commit suicide. There is a strategy behind each priority group—people with poor mental health, people on the autistic spectrum, pregnant women, people who self-harm, children and young people, as well as people in the justice system—in terms of how we help and support them.

NHS Procurement: Palantir Contract

Debate between Lord Davies of Brixton and Lord Markham

Thursday 22nd June 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

Yes. I really appreciate having this opportunity to state categorically that the NHS will remain the data user here. The data controller will remain in place for each individual institution; sometimes it is the GP and sometimes it is the hospital. Fundamentally, everyone’s data will be allowed to be used only by the NHS in these circumstances. There are no circumstances in which Palantir—or any other supplier should it win—will have access to see individuals’ data.

[Lord Davies of Brixton (Lab)]

My Lords, health service data is incredibly valuable. The Minister should, and probably does, understand the sensitivity of Palantir in this context. The Minister said that the quality of the contract was the only criterion. Where does price come into it? How can we build in protections against predatory pricing by the sitting tenants of contracts, who create an effective monopoly?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I think I said that we wanted the best supplier to win; I will check and correct the record if I mentioned quality only. Quality is very important because the contract has to be good, of course, but the price has to be right as well. There are a number of criteria. Again, we will hold a session so will be able to take noble Lords through the whole process. I am confident that, at the end of that process, people will feel confident that we have reached a decision on the best supplier across all the criteria.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Markham (Con)]

Round about autumn time. Currently, we think that the contract will be awarded in September and then finalised. The new database should in place by April. Having this transition arrangement until June gives us a safety net to make sure that everything is in place.

[Lord Davies of Brixton (Lab)]

My Lords, I welcome the opportunity of a meeting to discuss data security. Can the Minister say whether it is anticipated that that security will go beyond what is currently being established in legislation going through Parliament? If it will be stronger, why are the other protections not stronger?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I am sorry; I am not sure that I completely followed the question. It is fundamental here that everyone’s data is strongly protected in the best possible terms. As I say, we will arrange in the next few weeks a meeting where we can answer all the questions that noble Lords have and have the experts in the room as well.

Hospitals: Maintenance

Debate between Lord Davies of Brixton and Lord Markham

Thursday 9th February 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

Clearly, we want to give each trust the freedom to spend where it needs to. Obviously, there are overall Treasury rules but the main thing is the increased allocation we have made available in this space. We have spent £1.4 billion in the past year, which is a 57% increase, recognising that it is a good thing to put preventive maintenance in place to get on top of the backlog.

[Lord Davies of Brixton (Lab)]

My Lords, I may not be doing the Minister much justice but I admire his ability to give straight answers. I also admire his ability to maintain the fiction of 40 new hospitals. Does he accept that the Nuffield Trust puts the number of hospitals that any person in the street would recognise as new at three?

[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.

Excess Deaths in Private Homes

Debate between Lord Davies of Brixton and Lord Markham

Tuesday 10th January 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

This whole area is all about the number of beds and the occupancy. This analysis was done around the October plan for patients, where we said that we were going to put in 7,000 beds and a £500 million discharge fund. What was clear, as per the announcement yesterday, was that the high level of Covid beds—9,500—and the over 5,000 flu beds were far more than any of us estimated. That increased bed occupancy means that we have had to look to increase supply again and at the number of discharges to social care. That is the root cause of the problem. That is why we acted again yesterday to provide even more care in those places.

[Lord Davies of Brixton (Lab)]

My Lords, although my noble friend quite rightly emphasised the particularly concerning figures in a particular week, this is a reflection of a longer-term trend that has taken place. Does he accept that a particular concern is the high number of non-Covid-related deaths during the last summer? Normally, you expect to see a dip during the summer, and it simply did not take place this time. Is he seized with the urgency of dealing with this issue?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I am definitely seized with the urgency. I was able to speak to Sir Chris Whitty about a number of those, including last summer. The heatwave was a factor then: we had over 2,500 excess deaths caused by the heatwave over those couple of weeks. There were multiple factors. You have heard me say, again from Sir Chris Whitty, that cardiovascular disease is a real concern: for those three years that people missed going to their primary care appointments, they did not get their blood pressure checked in the same way, and we did not get the early warning indicators. That is another thing that you will hear me talk further about, so that we can get ahead of the curve, because those are the areas of excess death that we risk in future.