Health Data: Research and Analysis
Debate between Lord Evans of Rainow and Lord Turnberg
Lord Turnberg (Lab)
My Lords, following that question, one of the major problems in gathering this vital data for research is that general practitioners are careful about it and are limiting its availability. They feel that they cannot betray the confidentiality of their patients. What encouragement can we give to GPs that they can release this important data?
Lord Evans of Rainow (Con)
I am not aware that GPs are withholding such important data. If the noble Lord knows of any evidence, I ask him to let me know. I reassure the noble Lord, and indeed the House, that the Department of Health and Social Care and the NHS in England have committed to transforming how NHS health and social care data is made available for secondary uses. Secure data environments allow data to be accessed for research in secure systems without people’s identifiable information being seen or the data having to be sent between individuals. If the noble Lord has any specific cases, I ask him please to write to me.
Measles Cases
Debate between Lord Evans of Rainow and Lord Turnberg
Lord Evans of Rainow (Con)
I am grateful to my noble friend for his helpful suggestions. I do not have an answer to his question here and now but I will certainly feed it back to the department.
Lord Turnberg (Lab)
My Lords, it is extremely difficult to influence public opinion when people latch on to the misinformation that is floating around. One way of combating it is by using different techniques to get to the public. I wonder whether the security agency has engaged with PR companies or used IT, such as TikTok and various other things which I know nothing about but which seem to influence public opinion.
Lord Evans of Rainow (Con)
The noble Lord raises a very good point. There are modern communications tools, such as TikTok, which young people use. Given the collective memory of this dreadful disease that our parents or grandparents used to talk about—how debilitating measles in the first half of the 20th century could be in ruining lives, including affecting babies’ ability to see and hear—this is a success story. We almost eradicated this disease in 2015, but the collective memory means that it is perfectly safe in some people’s eyes. There is misinformation saying that not to take this vaccination is a safe thing to do. It is not and we have to do more, including through social media, to make sure that younger people realise they should get their children vaccinated.
Immunisation: Winter 2023-24
Debate between Lord Evans of Rainow and Lord Turnberg(1 year, 10 months ago)
Lords ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Lord Evans of Rainow (Con)
I thank the noble Baroness for that excellent question. The Government are committed to child health, and, after clean water, vaccination is the most effective public health intervention for saving lives and promoting good health. The Government work with the NHS and the UK Health Security Agency to support accurate and up-to-date information on the benefits of vaccines to be available to parents, carers and patients. The NHS has recently concluded a call and recall campaign for parents or carers of anyone aged one to six who has missed their measles, mumps and rubella vaccination, or for anyone who missed it for any reason when invited to their GP, to catch up on their vaccination. GPs offer opportunistic vaccinations for anyone who visits the GP for any reason. There is a lot more we can do, such as using social media to appeal to younger people, but the Government are doing all we can.
Lord Turnberg (Lab)
My Lords, vaccination is the most effective way of preventing a whole host of diseases, yet the pharmaceutical industry finds it very difficult to invest in this area because it is so costly and full of risks. What encouragement are the Government giving to help the pharmaceutical industry to produce vaccines?
Lord Evans of Rainow (Con)
The UK has an outstanding record of producing vaccines in this country. We are a world leader, and the Government work closely with that sector to make sure we are a global leader in such things.