Contraceptives and Hormone Replacement Therapy Drugs
Lord Kakkar Excerpts(4 years, 7 months ago)
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Lord Bethell
The noble Baroness is entirely right to express her frustration. It is enormously frustrating for those concerned and for our medicine supplies. Medicine production is a long-term business. There was a point when HRT consumption went down, but then demand grew exactly when some production facilities had backed off their supply. It was an incredibly unfortunate combination of events that has led to this situation, but I reassure the House that we are working extremely hard to provide alternatives and to replace those most favoured products that are in short supply at the moment.
Lord Kakkar (CB)
My Lords, I remind noble Lords of my declared interests. Has thought been given to whether novel therapies that might soon become available from research elsewhere in the world might be applied to the management of patients infected with coronavirus in our own country? Is the Minister content that the current regulations that govern the use of medicinal products in man are sufficiently flexible to allow for drugs that not only currently exist but might be repurposed for this, and for novel and innovative therapies, neither of which might be licensed for use in the United Kingdom at the current time, to be made available without further impediment if that was thought to be a useful intervention?
Lord Bethell
The noble Lord, Lord Kakkar, is entirely right to stress this point about regulation. I assure him and the House that we are working extremely closely with Public Health England and the MHRA to ensure that there will be no regulatory hurdle that prevents the swift introduction of proven, safe products into the UK market. This is a massive priority that has had great scrutiny from both the department and Downing Street. It is one that we are focused on and will continue to focus on.
Coronavirus
Lord Kakkar Excerpts(4 years, 8 months ago)
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Lord Bethell
The noble Baroness is absolutely right about the importance of guidance and I reassure her that an enormous amount of work is being done to draft clear guidance for employers, volunteer groups and all parts of society, which will include case studies, FAQs and detailed recommendations. That work is being guided by the CMO and senior officials at PHE.
As for 111, we look very closely at the metrics for the return of calls. Overall, the headline figures suggest that the 111 service is bearing up incredibly well under intense pressure, but I do not deny that there must be people who have had bad experiences. These pressures sometimes lead to poor results and we will keep a very careful eye on that.
Lord Kakkar (CB)
My Lords, I declare my registered interests. Clearly, the decision to move from the phase of containment to that of delay is essential to sustaining the ability of the health delivery system to deal with this problem.
What objective criteria will be used to determine how that decision is taken? How are the behaviour and natural history of this disease elsewhere in the world being used to inform when we should move from containment to delay?
Lord Bethell
The noble Lord asks an important question. The truth is that it is more of an art than a science. Efforts were made to look at clear metrics for triggering this result, but it is a complex situation and our understanding continues to develop. It is ultimately up to the judgment of the CMO and the confidence of the Secretary of State to make that call.
Queen’s Speech
Lord Kakkar Excerpts(4 years, 10 months ago)
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Lord Kakkar (CB)
My Lords, I thank the Minister for the very thoughtful way in which she introduced this broadly based debate. She was able to reaffirm Her Majesty’s Government’s commitment to public services—none more than our National Health Service. She also demonstrated the very important government commitment to the area of science and innovation. In so doing, I remind noble Lords of my own registered interests, and in particular a new registration as chairman of the King’s Fund.
The issue of the provision of healthcare is critical to every citizen in our country. Not only is the provision of healthcare vital in terms of protecting our fellow citizens; it is critically important in ensuring that we have a healthy population who are able to contribute to the economy, and of course in ensuring that the vital investment that is made in the National Health Service and in the broader ecosystem that surrounds our National Health Service can be used to drive an important element of our economy: life sciences.
In the gracious Speech, Her Majesty’s Government outlined a number of important commitments to strengthen the provision of healthcare in our country in this coming Parliament, including: the area of the workforce, in terms of enhanced training, and the capacity to attract trained professionals from overseas to work and support our NHS through the provision of a new visa scheme; ensuring and enhancing patient safety through the introduction of a new investigatory mechanism, which needs to be thoughtfully introduced so as not to cut across the important regulators and the multiple mechanisms for investigation that already exist when there has been a mishap in the delivery of healthcare and where lessons need to be learned; and the commitment to enshrine in law the additional funding that is critically required to deliver the sustainability of our NHS.
I turn to two other important issues highlighted in the gracious Speech. The first is the capacity for integrated care, which will be critical if the additional funding provided is to be used in an appropriate way that will have a meaningful impact. Integrated care is of course the integration of primary with specialist care, the integration of care for physical and mental health, and the integration across the health and social care boundaries.
Her Majesty’s Government have received from NHS bodies some suggestions on legislative change that may be required to ensure that they can mobilise themselves effectively to deliver this important integrated care agenda. When do the Government propose to respond to suggestions that NHS England and NHS Improvement be merged, and that providers and commissioners of healthcare at a local level may form joint decision committees able to ensure a better integration of care, rather than having to have major legislative change to create new statutory bodies? It is critically important that, ahead of determining how this additional investment in the health service is to be spent, the structures in which the money will be applied are properly defined and the Government are absolutely content that they are fit for purpose to deliver the important objectives necessary for the long-term sustainability of the NHS.
It is also critically important to be clear that the voluntary joint decision-making committees, between commissioners and providers at local level, will be of sufficient authority to drive the changes in the delivery of care and working practices, and the construction of care environments, that will be necessary to ensure the successful application of this additional funding.
I turn finally to the question of innovation. Once again, Her Majesty’s Government, through the high-risk science fund—of which life sciences might represent an important component—seeks to demonstrate a broader commitment to the life sciences sector in our economy. The publication of the industrial strategy recognises the important contribution life sciences make to our economy—£74 billion per annum—and the 250,000 of our fellow citizens who are employed in the life sciences industry, to such great effect.
An important question remains about how that industry will interact in undertaking clinical research. The Government are committed to ensuring that our life sciences and healthcare economy become the most advanced and innovative in clinical research and the evaluation of innovation. How do the Government propose to do that in the context of still being able to participate effectively in the new clinical trials regulations that will exist for the rest of the health economy in Europe?