Respiratory Syncytial Virus

Lord Markham Excerpts

Thursday 19th January 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick]

To ask His Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to introduce PCR testing and an annual vaccination programme for young infants, children and older adults in relation to seasonal Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV).

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Lord Markham) (Con)]

PCRs test are already in use to diagnose RSV and monitor its prevalence. Current RSV immunisation is targeted at infants at high risk of severe complications. New immunisation products, including vaccines, have been developed and are being reviewed by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, JCVI, which will potentially provide advice later this year. His Majesty’s Government will decide on future vaccination programmes once they have received that advice.

[Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Lab)]

My Lords, as the Minister will know, RSV-related hospitalisations in the under-fives cost £48.2 million in the UK annually. At a time when the NHS is facing increasing pressures, both financially and through capacity, will the Minister clarify how the Government plan to reduce the infant burden associated with it to ensure that the NHS does not experience the same situation next season? If there are plans, will they publish them? If there are no plans, why not?

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I thank the noble Baroness for her question. I am pleased to say that there are promising new vaccinations. The current vaccination unfortunately requires monthly injections, which is why it is not very effective, and costs £2,000, so it is not an effective way ahead. A new injection, nirsevimab, has just been licensed which is showing in tests to be 75% to 80% effective and immunises people for six months, so we are hopeful that it is the way ahead. The JCVI is currently conducting a study on it, and we are hoping its recommendations will suggest a good way forward.

[Lord Patel (CB)]

My Lords, two days ago Moderna from the United States announced that it had used messenger RNA technology to develop a vaccine for RSV. The report was of a late-stage trial and the vaccine has an efficacy of 84% for adults. There are similar results from both GSK and Pfizer, with an efficacy of 66%, but we already have antibody prevention treatment developed by AstraZeneca and Sanofi for prevention of RSV in children and young infants. That has been approved by the European Medicines Agency, and the Moderna vaccine is seeking FDA approval. Why does none of these have market authorisation in the United Kingdom?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I can report best on nirsevimab, which has just been licensed, is shown to be 75% to 80% effective in the trials and has the approach of immunising people for six months. I am aware of Pfizer developing a maternal vaccination for whooping cough, which will give the baby immunisation through the mother. The House will also be aware of the recent announcement we made with Moderna on the investment in new R&D facilities here, so that we are at the forefront. I hope the noble Lord can see that we are looking at all these new innovations and will roll them out.

[Baroness Buscombe (Con)]

My Lords, have we not learned some lessons, from Covid and long Covid, of the need for children, babies and all of us to build our immune systems? Long Covid is proving that we have a real problem. I caught this virus from my granddaughter, a baby. I am told that the more she catches these wretched things now, the healthier she will be and the better she will be at putting off some serious diseases later in life. While accepting that high-risk babies obviously need particular regard, is it not right that we should be mindful of continually looking for a vaccine every time a new virus is discovered?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

My noble friend is correct in that, for the vast majority of people—infants in this case—it is mild, flu-like symptoms at most. At the same time, it is responsible for 35,000 hospitalisations and 20 to 30 deaths a year, so it is a serious thing that we need to get on top of. We are looking for the best of both worlds. That 90% of two year-olds will have had RSV and so will have that natural protection is a good thing. But in the most serious cases—the risk groups are those with congenital lung or heart disease or spinal muscular problems—these new treatments really will help and are very important.

[Baroness Walmsley (LD)]

My Lords, the innovative vaccines and treatments mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Patel, all require UK clinical trials. The number of clinical trials initiated in the UK declined by 4% between 2017 and 2021. What are the Government doing to reverse this decline so as to bring valuable industry money back into the NHS and cutting-edge treatments, such as RSV vaccines and treatments, to patients?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

The noble Baroness is correct. In fact, my maiden speech was in a debate about how we can bring life sciences to bear more. The point about NHS clinical trials and the fact that we are not using this massive potential asset was very much a feature of that. It is key to the work we are doing—I had a meeting on it just this week—so I agree with the noble Baroness and hope we will see improvements in this space.

[Baroness Wheeler (Lab)]

My Lords, we know that older adults are at greater risk of serious complications from RSV infections in children, because our immune systems weaken as we get older, which can lead to exacerbations of underlying lung and cardiac disease. What action is being taken to address the serious underestimation of older adult RSV infections and to improve testing, reporting and treatment for this key group?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I thank the noble Baroness. The key risk groups in the elderly as well are, as I mentioned earlier, those with congenital lung or heart disease or spinal muscular atrophy. The problem is that the current vaccination needs monthly immunisation to be effective, and I think most people will agree that it can be used in only the most severe cases because it is not a very practical way forward and is very expensive. That is why I am really excited by the new treatments, particularly nirsevimab, which is 75% to 80% effective, versus palivizumab, which is more around 50%. I think we have a good way forward.

[Baroness Wyld (Con)]

My Lords, has the Department of Health done any assessment of how many children may have missed their routine vaccinations during the pandemic lockdown? Is the department doing anything to follow up with these children? If so, can the Minister say what?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I know that this, like all those areas that were unfortunately missed out during the pandemic, is something the department is working on. There are catch-up activities. I have seen it personally with my four year-old, who of course was two and three during this time. I will happily provide the detail in writing.

[Lord Allan of Hallam (LD)]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that it is wise for the UK to maintain a good level of baseline PCR testing so that we can ramp it up when confronted with novel viruses such as Covid-19? In that respect, does he agree that it is important to consider this resiliency benefit when looking at the business case for PCR testing for other viruses, such as RSV?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

Yes. I should probably declare an interest, having set up a PCR business—in the private sector, I might add. I know at first hand from that how versatile these PCR machines are. They can be used to diagnose all these sorts of treatments, so we absolutely have to make sure we keep that strategic capacity alive.

[Lord Turnberg (Lab)]

My Lords, we were obviously ill prepared for the Covid outbreak. How prepared does the Minister think we are now for track and trace and delivery of PCR tests? What resources do we have in place to cover that?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

We have the PCR capacity in place. Clearly, as responsible Ministers spending-wise, we are ramping some of that down because we do not need the sort of capacity we had before. From personal knowledge, I can promise that there are a lot of these PCR machines knocking around, so that capacity really is there. There was a Question a few days ago about how prepared we are for the next epidemic. Clearly, we will get the findings of the Covid inquiry, but the whole purpose of setting up the UKHSA was to make sure we have the proper preparations around for next time.

Osteoporosis: Early Detection

Lord Markham Excerpts

Thursday 19th January 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Black of Brentwood (Con)]

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper, and declare my interest as co-chairman of the APPG on Osteoporosis and Bone Health.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Lord Markham) (Con)]

The Government are committed to improving outcomes for those living with osteoporosis. NHS England, through its Getting It Right First Time programme, is exploring how best to support integrated care systems in the detection and management of osteoporosis. This includes a focus on improving provision of and equity of access to high-quality secondary fracture prevention services, such as fracture liaison services that help to identify those most at risk and offer preventive support.

[Lord Black of Brentwood (Con)]

My Lords, osteoporosis affects half of women and a fifth of men over the age of 50, but all too frequently its late diagnosis means broken bones, pain, reduced independence and, sometimes, life-changing disability. Yet there is no excuse for that, because we have it in our power to identify those most at risk. Is my noble friend aware that almost two-thirds of people with one of three major risk factors have never received a bone health assessment, while a simple and cheap assessment tool proven to prevent hip fractures can be used in five minutes in a GP’s surgery? As the costs of helping people recover from fractures are far higher than the costs of identifying and treating those at risk, should the National Screening Committee not urgently reconsider the case for a targeted national screening programme, so that as a country we invest just millions of pounds in preventing harm rather than billions in managing failure?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I agree with my noble friend that prevention is always better than cure. The beauty of these processes is that I get to swot up, and I learned that the second largest bed-intake cause is actually a fractured femur from osteoporosis, so he is correct. We have a target that 95% of patients will get a check within six weeks by March 2025. It is good that musculoskeletal services are now part of the national improvement programme, but we clearly need to make sure we are on top of that.

[Lord Rennard (LD)]

My Lords, a year ago the Minister’s predecessor said to the House that he hoped NHS England would ensure that effective fracture services were universal. However, unlike in Scotland and Wales, that is not the case in England. Is not part of the problem with healthcare in this country that the Government struggle to resource treatment and pay for those who provide it while failing to invest in prevention and public health initiatives? What action are they taking to ensure that osteoporosis is given sufficient priority by recognising that it needs to be considered in parity with other long-term conditions?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

The noble Lord refers to the fracture liaison services. It is the responsibility of all ICBs to roll out those services or their equivalent. Regarding the numbers that he cited, I should say that 51% of ICBs have a fracture liaison service in that shape or form and the others have different versions of it, and they are all responsible for rolling those out. At the same time, they are also responsible for musculoskeletal services, to make sure that we have nationwide provision for it.

[Baroness Blackstone (Lab)]

My Lords, the Minister said that prevention is better than cure. That is obviously the case, yet we have severely failed to prevent the horrible development of this crippling disease, which mainly affects women, as has been said. He has talked about a 95% target. What is he going to do, as the Minister with some responsibility in this area, to ensure that the target is met, given the failures in the past? Will he find a way of reporting back to the House on progress in reaching that target?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

One of the many things for which I am responsible is NHS performance, as I think the House is aware, and these are exactly the sorts of issues that I am interested in, so I am happy to undertake to give an update on that. We all know that effective spend, which we need to make sure is always put to best use, involves identifying where these problems are, and 3 million people are affected every year. As I said earlier, a fractured femur is the second biggest reason for intake into hospitals, in terms of beds. That is something that I am happy to be measured by and report back on.

[Lord Lexden (Con)]

My Lords, following on from the question from the noble Lord, Lord Rennard, is it not the case that, while the Government accept that everyone over 50 should have equal access to fracture liaison services, insufficient progress is being made towards that crucial goal? Is there not a case for the appointment of a strong and determined national specialist adviser on osteoporosis to speed things up?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

As I mentioned earlier, this is the responsibility of all the ICBs. Part of my job is making sure that we as Ministers now regularly communicate with all the ICBs. There are a number of boards that I regularly speak to, check in with and visit on a frequent basis, and one of our checkpoints is making sure that they are on top of services such as these. I am delighted to say that every ICB has now set up a community base fall service, to make sure that if someone should fall in a case such as these, rather than an ambulance and two paramedics, we can have someone specially set up to right these people, put them on their feet and avoid an A&E visit.

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

My Lords, the UK primary care base trial on screening for osteoporosis in older people examined a systematic approach to identifying older women for fracture prevention, leading to a 28% reduction in hip fracture risk, significantly reducing costs and seeing increased adherence to treatment. What plans are there to extend and learn from this important study?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I thank the noble Baroness for bringing this to my attention. Clearly a 28% reduction is impressive and something that we should take seriously. If she can give me the reference, I will definitely take it up and write back.

[Lord Sandhurst (Con)]

My Lords, is not exercise when growing as an adolescent, particularly impact exercise, important for stimulating bone growth? Should more not be done to encourage impact exercise among children and teenagers, particularly among girls, who do not always want this—in other words, running, jumping on the spot and so on?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

As a player of rugby, which probably has far too many impacts, I agree with the sentiment that exercise is always a good thing, whatever stage of life one is at. Also, we all know that vitamin D is a vital part of helping against bone weaknesses. Things as simple as spending more time in the sun in summer or taking vitamin D supplements in the winter are vital prevention methods. I agree about exercise, but all these measures should be rewarded and promoted.

[Lord Turnberg (Lab)]

I am sorry to correct the Minister but vitamin D does not affect osteoporosis. It is helpful for osteomalacia, the softening of the bones due to vitamin D deficiency, but not very useful for osteoporosis. Exercise is valuable, and at any age it is the only thing that prevents osteoporosis. There are treatments available for osteoporosis but they are not very nice—they involve injections—and are quite expensive. Exercise is the thing.

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I thank the noble Lord. As I say, part of the beauty of this job is being educated. I will take that back to my officials and query them on my briefing.

[Baroness Watkins of Tavistock (CB)]

My Lords, could the Minister comment on whether the department of health is working with the department of energy to ensure that we can afford to heat our swimming pools? Swimming is a really good exercise and reduces the risk of falls, particularly in older people.

[Lord Markham (Con)]

As previously mentioned, prevention is always better. Exercise, as I have learned from my noble friend Lord Sandhurst, is a good way of preventing osteoporosis. Where we can find cost-effective ways of getting that exercise, such as swimming pools, we should be promoting them.

[Baroness Manzoor (Con)]

My Lords, having identified the causes of osteoporosis, could my noble friend say how the message is being communicated? He mentioned vitamin D, which could be an issue, but the reality is that some vulnerable women in communities do not get some of the messages regarding exercise or indeed have access to those facilities. I know walking and so forth can help, but what are the Government doing to put that preventive message across in a very firm and consistent way?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

My noble friend is correct that education and awareness are always the start point on any of these health issues. It was a key part of the women’s health strategy that came out in 2022. Osteoporosis is a key part of that, and promotion and awareness are a key part if it as well.

Times Health Commission

Lord Markham Excerpts

Thursday 19th January 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the establishment by the Times of the Times Health Commission on 15 January.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Lord Markham) (Con)]

My Lords—

[Noble Lords]

Hear, hear!

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I thank noble Lords. It is not quite the same as scoring a hat trick in football, but I will take the Order Paper home with pleasure.

We welcome the Times Health Commission’s contribution on how we can improve health and social care. We are always looking to build on good ideas, knowledge and experience, which this commission offers in bucketloads. I look forward to working with the commission and building on the best ideas.

[Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe (Lab)]

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for that quite positive reply but, first, given our long history of political failure to tackle the increasingly serious care and health problems facing the country, will the Government set out in more detail what support they will give to this initiative? Secondly—this is perhaps more difficult for the Minister—will he seek support from his colleagues to enter into discussions with the opposition parties about the way in which we may create a new and entirely separate joint political mechanism whereby the recommendations that come forward from this commission may be amended or revised but in fact, on a joint basis, would then be implemented regardless of the political power held by any of the parties?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I thank the noble Lord and firmly agree that we should look to implement anything that is a good idea. I know that there are many things we can learn and that I am still to set up the meeting I talked to him about. I apologise that it has taken a while but we have had a few things on. In a word, yes, I will always look to work on a cross-party basis. One thing that I want to bring to Parliament soon is the new hospital programme I am working on, which I believe needs to go on for ever in terms of the way we are going to build new hospitals. It is something I would like to take forward as a cross-party action. Most of the things in this space are not political; they are all about getting good and effective treatment to our population, so I am very happy to work in a collaborative fashion.

[Lord Fowler (CB)]

Should not the Minister go a little further than what he has said? Should not the Government follow the example of the Times and set up a full-scale royal commission, with adequate financial support and powers of investigation, so that it can take through an independent look at the state of the health service today? Surely the Minister will agree that no one can be happy with where we are at the moment.

[Lord Markham (Con)]

No, we are working very intensively. We have some very good minds involved in this. I know from my work with my colleagues that we work hard on developing our own plans, some of which were announced just last week. We are facing a challenge, as we all know, from the setbacks around Covid but we are tackling it. What I am saying is that there is an absolute openness to new ideas, which is why I welcome any ideas that come to the table—but, believe me, we are working on a lot of our own ideas.

[Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Con)]

My Lords, if the Government or the editor of the Times want to find out what we need to do about social care or look at what has been agreed on an all-party basis, all they have to do is to read the report from the noble Baroness, Lady Andrews, and the Select Committee that was set up by this House, which sets it out clearly—or even the report that was done by the Economic Affairs Committee three years ago, which predicted the mess that we are now in. We do not need journalists doing reports; we need the Government to respond to what Parliament has demanded.

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I think we have responded and are responding. That is very evident in the plans and funding that we have recently put in place and from the work that we are doing, which the House will see far more about as we announce it over the coming weeks and months.

[Lord Allan of Hallam (LD)]

My Lords, when confronted with evidence of problems in our health system, the tendency of government is to play it down or to blame anyone but themselves while, candidly, the instinct of opposition is to say that everything is a catastrophe entirely of the Government’s own making, even when the facts are more complex. Does the Minister agree that it is essential to have the data for us, the Times and others to come to firm conclusions? The critical piece of data that we are still missing is the workforce strategy for health, social care and public health. When are we going to see that data in order to be able to have a better informed debate?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I agree with the noble Lord that data has to be the basis of any decision-making. I know that early drafts of the workforce strategy have already been formed so he and the House will see that before too long.

[Baroness Butler-Sloss (CB)]

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Fowler, suggested a royal commission; the Minister did not respond to that. What is the Government’s view about a royal commission?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

My experience of royal commissions is that they take a couple of years to report. I do not want to wait a couple of years. I want to get on with it now. We have some very good minds in the department working on it, with access to all of this. I am always willing to take on new ideas from new minds but we do not need a two-year report; we need action now.

[Baroness Pitkeathley (Lab)]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that, in any investigation of health and social care, the voices of patients and users must be loud and strong? How are the Government going to ensure that this happens?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

Clearly, the patient has to be at the centre of everything. That is what the plan for patients is about. It is also what patient choice is about; we are using other ways to make sure that people can get treatment quickly when they need to. It involves using the independent sector, as pioneered by colleagues in this House, and learning lessons from that so that we can get on top of waiting lists, which we all agree we need to do.

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, on the day when the Joint Committee on the draft Mental Health Bill has published its report, can my noble friend the Minister assure us that, while we hear a lot of talk about health, when the ideas are in the department, mental health and the situation in secure units are taken into account—we have the same problems of delay and discharge in those units—so that mental health is given the parity with physical health it deserves?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

Yes. Unfortunately, one of the results of Covid was our understanding a lot more about the cases of mental health caused by it. We have put more investment into that as a result; it will be key to this issue as well.

[Lord Patel (CB)]

My Lords, the Minister mentioned different reports and said that the Government will be willing to implement good advice. The House of Lords Select Committee on the Long-term Sustainability of the NHS also published a report, with clear recommendations. Will the Government implement some of those recommendations, even now?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

As I mentioned, we are working on and taking good ideas from there. I know that it is one of the inputs being considered in all this.

[Lord Scriven (LD)]

My Lords, the Government do not need a Times Health Commission to know that there are 165,000 social care staff vacancies and a 29% turnover of staff in that sector, while 542,000 people are waiting in the community for an assessment of their social care needs. Short-term funding as a sticking plaster is not going to work, so when are the Government going to bring forward a strategic plan, with funding, for social care?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

As I said, we have already announced big increases in funding, with more than 20% over the next two years. Two years is not the short term. Minister Whately is working very hard on this because we know that the flow in social care is a key element of the whole solution.

[Baroness Wheeler (Lab)]

My Lords, I welcome the Times setting up the commission. So far, it seems to have a clear and coherent view on the scale of the crisis facing the NHS and what needs to be done, which seems to be sadly lacking from the Government. In the light of all the Times research in articles this week on the resuscitation that the NHS needs, the waning faith people have that they will be cared for and the rising billions that levels of ill health are costing the country, does the Minister agree that the Government’s ABCD policy for addressing the crisis needs a complete rethink?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

No, not at all. In fact, the things I have read in the Times are about what we are implementing. The House has heard me talk about virtual wards; I saw an article on how important those are in helping with the step-down care that is needed in some social care. I have seen that in many places already and it is a way forward. It has also talked about the need for AI and robotic surgery; again, I have seen examples of that in different hospitals. The commission is taking a lot of the good ideas that are already in place throughout the health service and, as I want to do, looking at the ways in which we implement that across the board.

United Kingdom: Future Pandemics

Lord Markham Excerpts

Monday 16th January 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Merron]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the United Kingdom’s readiness for any future pandemics.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Lord Markham) (Con)]

My Lords, we cannot perfectly predict the characteristics of a new pandemic pathogen, and therefore pandemic preparedness is an area kept under review. The UK has flexible and well-tested pandemic response capabilities. We are continuously enhancing our preparedness using the latest scientific information, lessons learned from exercises and our response to emergencies, including Covid-19. The UK Health Security Agency maintains constant vigilance on emerging infectious disease threats. This includes co-operating globally to detect and counter future pandemics.

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

My Lords, Dame Kate Bingham, former chair of the UK Vaccine Taskforce, told the health and science committees in the other place that many of the initiatives set up by the taskforce have been dismantled, that key recommendations have not been acted on, and that the clinical research environment has deteriorated. Does the Minister acknowledge the pressing need to go further than the Government’s targeted spend on research and development, and can he say why the Government have been so reluctant to act on the taskforce’s conclusions from the last pandemic?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

Our approach to this has been led by the science. As the House is aware, we set up the UK Health Security Agency precisely to make sure that we have a team of experts in place ready to answer what is needed, in any eventuality. We also set up the 100 Days Mission to make sure that we have the ability to deploy effective diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines within 100 days, which is pretty good.

[Lord Hannay of Chiswick (CB)]

My Lords, could the Minister report to the House what progress is being made in giving the World Health Organization better access to new virus discoveries, and setting up schemes that will enable the better distribution of vaccines at an earlier stage in any further pandemic?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

We have deployed our sequencing capability to the benefit of the whole world. Some 50% of the variants were discovered on these shores using our capability, and we were the first to announce them to make sure that the whole world could benefit. We have also been leading on vaccine distribution, so we have a good story to tell.

[Lord Robathan (Con)]

Will the Minister reassure the British people that, when the report of the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Hallett, and her excellent commission is finally published, they will have looked carefully at the efficiency and effectiveness of lockdowns and other restrictions that came into place after March 2020? At the moment, they do not appear to be looking at this, but the British people deserve an answer on whether they worked.

[Lord Markham (Con)]

They will absolutely look at the use of lockdowns. The House will see that, even during Covid itself, we evolved our approach significantly, as we learned more about some of the wider consequences. We were far more hesitant in the case of omicron not to lock down, quite rightly, whereas other countries went ahead. That proved that our judgment was correct and we will learn those lessons going forward.

[Lord Allan of Hallam (LD)]

My Lords, for many people, the most effective tools for contact tracing during the pandemic were messaging services such as WhatsApp, as family and friends kept each other informed about test results and infections. But you were often left in the absurd position of someone calling from the official track and trace system about a contact who had let you know about their infection several days earlier—including, sometimes, people who lived in your own home. Can the Minister assure the House that the Government’s plans for future pandemics will look at how best to work with these local, informal, peer-to-peer networks, rather than think that the solution always lies in centralised, expensive systems?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I agree. There are many examples of where centrally run initiatives did not work so well, test and trace being one. That is what the inquiry is all about. There are many examples of things that worked very well, such as our vaccine preparation and our creating the first test for Covid, through the PCR process. There are many lessons to learn, including from many of these centrally run initiatives.

[The Lord Bishop of Carlisle]

My Lords, can the Minister tell us whether His Majesty’s Government have yet put in place a revised system to purchase PPE during a pandemic?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

PPE is an example of where we all agree that we could have done better, to say the least. At this stage, I should declare an interest in that I set up a Covid testing company—not PPE—which never supplied the Government. I want to be clear about that, so that the House is fully aware of it in terms of my replies, now we are talking about PPE and related areas. Yes, we can learn a lot about PPE. At the same time, we did buy 35 billion items, 97% of which worked very well. It is important that we keep all this in context; we got 97% of things right.

[Noble Lords]

My Lords—

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Browne of Ladyton (Lab)]

My Lords, I am sure that the Minister is aware that it took repeated FoI requests from an NHS doctor to get the Government in 2021 to reveal that they had carried out Exercise Alice in 2016, which was designed to recognise the challenges should a coronavirus hit our shores. The report, redacted when published, revealed shortages of PPE, no plans for pandemic-related travel restrictions, and a failure to have a working contact-tracing system—all of which we had to improvise when it actually happened. Is the department carrying out similar exercises? Is it producing solutions, not just identifying problems? Will the Government publish these reports, so that the public can see what needs to be done to prepare this country?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

As previously mentioned, there were many things that we did not get right. The whole reason that we set up the UK Health Security Agency was because we were not happy with the response in some areas. That agency was set up with a team of experts to make sure that, learning from those lessons, we are properly prepared for all eventualities next time around. There are lessons to learn but, as the Covid inquiry will show, there were also many things that we did right. It is important that we have that balance.

[Lord Patel (CB)]

My Lords, the Minister is absolutely right that we led the world in sequencing the genomes of Covid-19, particularly identifying the variants worldwide. But since we have now closed down many of our sequencing facilities, how can we surveil internationally, particularly for emerging variants? For example, XBB1.5 is now emerging as the variant causing most of the infection, probably including in England. What is our surveillance mechanism for sequencing?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

Given the detailed nature of the question on sequencing, it probably deserves a detailed response. I will happily write on that. The 100 Days Mission—to deploy effective diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines within 100 days—is all about having UKHSA ensure that we have a preserved capability to act when we need to.

[Lord Farmer (Con)]

My Lords, in any future global health emergency, legitimate concerns—such as effects on mental health, education, aspects of healthcare, and the psychological side-effects of terrifying people into self-isolation—about measures must not be silenced. They will be extensively aired anyway, in online echo chambers, and amplified, typically with much ignorance of the facts and inadequate nuance. Will the Government ensure that concerns are debated in public and by senior leaders in society and government?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I agree with my noble friend that some of the lessons learned from all this are around consequences of lockdown that we had not quite imagined. Clearly, the impacts on mental health are impacting us to this day. We need to make sure that we are learning all those lessons, so that we do not walk into situations in the future where we put in lockdowns without fully considering the impact on the whole of society, including the mental health consequences. That is what the inquiry is about.

[Baroness Brinton (LD)]

My Lords, the Minister said in his earlier response that the Government were flexible and well tested, had learned the lessons of the pandemic and were using the experience of response to emergencies. Can he explain why there are over 9,000 patients currently in hospital with Covid, over half of whom have acquired it in hospital? Could he ask the Secretary of State to reinstate the mask mandate in hospital for these very vulnerable patients?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I know that the use of masks in hospital is being debated as we speak, to make sure that we are prepared for any new eventuality. As we are aware, 9,000 beds being taken up by Covid is a response to our seeing more waves: this is something that we see each time. Thankfully, due to the vaccines and our treatments, the death rate from those waves is very much reduced, but there is still a big impact. The House is aware of the impact that it is having on us all right now: 9,000 is a big number.

Social Care: Integrated Care Systems

Lord Markham Excerpts

Wednesday 11th January 2023 Lords Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Lord Markham) (Con)]

ICSs need to include social care fully in planning and strategic decision-making. Local authorities are responsible for social care and have a clearly defined role within ICSs. The Health and Care Act 2022 includes local authorities in its minimum membership requirements for ICBs, giving local government a greater voice in NHS decision-making than ever before. In July 2022, we also published guidance on how ICPs and adult social care providers should work together.

[Baroness Wheeler (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for his response but ICBs and ICSs have been fully operational only since last July—less than six months. The Minister is quite right that, when they were being set up, we argued strongly for the need for effective social care representation in both bodies to ensure that health and social care are integrated and fully embedded in both. However, this just is not happening. The ADASS spring survey found 73% of directors reporting that ICS management has had little impact on local investment in adult social care to date; some even said that ICSs were reducing investment. How does this help ICSs play a key role in their respective areas in, for example, tackling the staffing crisis in both services, prioritising adult social care and producing the urgently needed ICP integrated care strategies, which are due in June?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

First, I think we can all agree on the necessity of making sure that these are integrated and the vital role that social care plays in all this. I must say, my experience from the places I have visited is that they are well integrated, but I will take that point back and would be pleased to look at any particular examples of where we feel that is not the case because, as I think the whole House will agree, it is vital that they are completely integrated.

[Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, I believe that six integrated care boards have been selected as national front-runners on innovations that will help move patients from hospital to their home. Can my noble friend the Minister confirm that these are going ahead, give examples and reassure us that they will be properly monitored, with data being collected? I have just realised that I called the Minister “my noble friend” but, due to my new role, all noble Lords are now my noble friends.

[Lord Markham (Con)]

Replying on behalf of all noble friends, let me say that I am particularly pleased to see this scheme go ahead. Just yesterday, Members of the House were talking about whether we should have full-time contracted dom care people because they know their patients best. That is exactly what these front-runner pilots are designed to do: to try out these new ways of working and heavily invest in areas, which you probably cannot justify on a national level until you know that it really works. Leeds, for instance, is developing a transfer of care hub, while the Northern Care Alliance is focusing on dementia. This is all about seeing what works and then, when we know what works, scaling it up very quickly.

[Lord Laming (CB)]

My Lords, I hope the Minister can assure the House that he has had an opportunity to read the Adult Social Care Committee’s report, which was published in December. The report makes it abundantly clear that the NHS will not achieve its objectives—some might even say its survival—unless social care is integrated at every level and includes the voice of unpaid carers. Can the Minister assure the House that these matters will be taken seriously?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

Absolutely. It strikes me—again, I mentioned this yesterday—that less than 10% of the 13,000 so-called blocked beds contain people who will need to be in social care full-time in future. Most of them need short-term support and, once they have it, will be able to go back to living in their home, which is the best place for them to be.

[Lord Allan of Hallam (LD)]

My Lords, as the Minister has recognised, social care provision is largely in the domain of local authorities. The level of local authority representation on integrated care boards is therefore likely to have an impact on how powerful the social care voice is in integrated care system decision-making. Does the Minister have any information to share with the House about local authority representation across the 42 integrated care boards, including whether it goes beyond the statutory minimum, so that we can understand whether it is sufficient and likely to lead to the step change that I think we all want to see?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

It is, as the noble Lord says, a statutory requirement that the local authorities are represented on the ICBs. In the last few months, I and other Ministers have met and had discussions with all the ICBs. Every ICB is asked to put up a few people. I have had the local authority representative there as one of only three or four people in the meeting—that is key to all of this. They have been critical participants. They are very involved, and it is vital that they remain so.

[Lord Touhig (Lab)]

My Lords, the Government are to be congratulated on amending the Health and Care Act to ensure that responsibility for integrated care systems addresses the needs of children and young people under the age of 25. However, children with special educational needs or disabilities have lifelong problems. How will providers ensure that there will be integrated health and social care for disabled children and their families?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

This is the whole point and the way that we are moving; the real decision-makers running their local areas should be the ICBs. They know their areas and the needs of the people—including people with special needs and learning disabilities—more than anyone. It is absolutely their responsibility to understand the needs in their areas and to ensure that they are provided for under the commissions.

[Lord Polak (Con)]

My Lords, unpaid carers throughout the country are, more than often, working 24/7. The Care Act 2014 requires local authorities to deliver this high-quality care, including support for unpaid carers. How confident are my noble friend the Minister and his department that local authorities will undertake carers’ assessments for unpaid carers?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

From my experience I understand that this is a very important part of their remit and role. As we are all aware, the unpaid carer role is vital and historically has probably not been recognised as much as it should have been.

[Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (Lab)]

My Lords, following on from the question asked by the noble Lord, Lord Laming, what plans has the Minister to encourage ICSs to embed co-production in the design and delivery of adult social care at the local level?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

Each ICB has a slightly different approach to ensuring that it is there and ensuring the kind of co-production with these front-runners that I talked about earlier. It is about trying to see whether there are new and better ways of doing it. Maybe at another time I can talk to the House in more detail about what those six different pilots are doing. It is about taking the comments that I have heard here over the last few weeks about what works and trying to scale them up.

[Lord Kakkar (CB)]

My Lords, I draw attention to my registered interests. Is the Minister content that the current approach to institutional and professional regulation will foster effective integrated care across institutional boundaries, secondary care, primary care and the broader community?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

Clearly, it is early days. These were set up last summer and we must ensure that they bed in properly and learn. I am confident that that is the right approach, but, as the noble Lord mentioned, we must make sure that regulators in this space ensure that that is the case. It is probably a question for a few months’ time, when we can be sure.

[Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (CB)]

My Lords, according to Hospice UK, of which I am a vice-president, up to half a million people last year had a palliative care phase before they died. In many of those cases, a failure of social care resulted in a breakdown of care in the community and hospital admission. Following on from the question asked by the noble Lord, Lord Touhig, when these patients are seriously ill or disabled children, they need access to respite care during their illness, as well as at the end, with rapidly responsive care. How are the Government monitoring whether the needs of these people are being met and that the timeframe to put in place the social care that they need does not just slip to the point of becoming a meaningless exercise?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

Those monitoring processes are in place, but to give sufficient detail, it is best that I write.

Care Homes: Staffing

Lord Markham Excerpts

Wednesday 11th January 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Pitkeathley]

To ask His Majesty’s Government how they will ensure that care homes where they block-buy places to assist with hospital discharges are adequately staffed.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Lord Markham) (Con)]

On Monday, this Government announced an additional £200 million of funding for short-term NHS step-down care packages to help ease the pressure on local hospital beds. ICBs will work closely with local authorities to purchase places in care homes and other settings. Using their knowledge, they will commission appropriate beds where there is sufficient capacity, including workforce capacity, to meet patient needs.

[Baroness Pitkeathley (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for that response, although it seems a bit more knee-jerk than it does a coherent strategy and it poses as many questions as it answers. For example, are the Government planning to pay care homes directly to pay recruited staff or to work through ICBs and local authorities only? What rates are to be paid? Will it be more than care workers currently earn, so as to compete with the retail sector? Given that there are 160,000 vacancies in the care workforce currently, where are those workers to come from, without pulling staff away from an already understaffed NHS?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

Before we went ahead with this, we spoke to many care providers to make sure that there was capacity within the system to do it. It was understood that the capacity is there. In fact, there is potential underused capacity of as much as 40,000. We are confident that the staffing is in place and that the care packages are there to really make a difference.

[Lord Bellingham (Con)]

My Lords, is the Minister aware that a lot of homes across Norfolk are complaining that they cannot sponsor more overseas members of staff? At a time when there are not enough locally trained and motivated staff, surely there should be more flexibility for those quality homes that want to sponsor more overseas members of staff.

[Lord Markham (Con)]

Yes, this is absolutely something that we talk to our Home Office colleagues about all the time. I believe that 15,000 people have already come through on this route in the last nine months or so; we are seeing a rate of about 1,500 a month. It is very important and something on which we are focused.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, rather than bringing in people from abroad, would it not be more effective to pay our own people proper wages with proper conditions, so that they want to work in this sector?

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Markham (Con)]

We absolutely need both. For years, ever since the NHS was founded, we have had international workers. It is a very important part of it now. Of the funding going in—up to £2.8 billion next year and up to £4.7 billion the year after—70% will translate into wages, because this is a staff-based business. That is a huge injection of money into the sector, and it will go into staff, salaries and welfare.

[Lord Allan of Hallam (LD)]

My Lords, we know from surveys by the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services that there is already a shortfall in domiciliary care capacity, such that people are not getting the services they need at home. While additional, funded care home places are welcome, we need to ensure that this does not worsen the domiciliary care situation by drawing staff away from other vital roles. I raised this question on yesterday’s Statement, but I think it important enough to come back to. Will the Government monitor workforce changes to ensure that both residential and domiciliary care capacity benefit from any new funding?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

Since the question yesterday, I have had a chance to talk to colleagues further about domiciliary care and understand its vital role. I talked to one ICB today, which has its own arm’s-length body, set up by the local authority, which does exactly what was suggested by employing domiciliary care staff full-time. They know the patient best and are ready to take them back out of hospital and put them in place. This is central to what we are doing.

[Baroness Browning (Con)]

When people are transferred, either to home or residential care places, part of the delay is caused by the need, quite rightly, for a proper and appropriate assessment of their needs before a transfer is made. What work have the Government done to assess who is going to carry out those proper assessments, either at the hospital or the care home end, and what the likely delay at that stage will be? It is delaying a lot of people now and no doubt will continue to do so.

[Lord Markham (Con)]

That is absolutely right. In our weekly meetings as Ministers, we look at the reason for the delays in terms of the 13,000 beds. That assessment of delay is one of the key criteria that we monitor each week. The best ICBs that I have seen have teams on this—they are absolutely SWAT teams—who make sure that they do it, and measure the time in which they can do it; for example, they have got to have that assessment within 24 hours. When the patient goes in, they have an estimate of the day that they are leaving, which they will target and work towards. The best do that, and the task force is set up to make sure that it is rolled out to all the other places.

[Baroness Andrews (Lab)]

My Lords, the question has been put to the Minister already, but I want to put it again. Has he read the report of the Adult Social Care Select Committee, published in December, which has a raft of challenges and very good ideas on social care? I look forward to discussing it with the Minister. Specifically, does he agree that as long as we characterise adult social care workers as unskilled and pay them, quite often, below the minimum wage, we are never going to build the capacity that we need? That is a huge challenge. If he were to read the report, he would find that what we recommend is so evidently simple: we need a national workforce plan for adult social care, to raise standards, incentives, status and pay.

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I thank the noble Baroness. I think that the House will recall that I have mentioned on a number of occasions that this is a critical part of the workforce plan. What has become clear, even in the short time that I have been at this box, is that social care is a vital cog in the whole chain, so to speak, which goes right back to ambulance wait times and A&E, because if we do not get the flow going out of the system, we have got problems there. So I can assure the noble Baroness that it is key to my thinking, and to all our thinking.

[Baroness Watkins of Tavistock (CB)]

My Lords, I declare my interest as a future member of the NHSE board. I want to ask how we are going to monitor the advancement from care homes back into domiciliary care, in order to ensure that we do not just move the problem from the hospital to care homes so that, very quickly, there are no beds left in care homes to continue this transfer system. In particular, who is going to pay for the residents in those care homes, and for how long?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

The question is absolutely correct: as I said earlier, less than 10% of these 13,000 people need to be in care homes full-time. The danger is often that once you put them there, they remain. That is why the package is focused on stays of up to four weeks, and absolutely making sure that they are monitored through, because it is vital. It is a step-down situation to help people ease from the acute—where they need a bit of extra support—so that, most importantly, they can get back home as soon as possible.

[Lord Young of Norwood Green (Lab)]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that some of the best examples of care are provided by charities and faith-based organisations which pay more than the minimum wage? Is that not an example to be encouraged if we really want to improve the recognition of carers in the care sector?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

Yes, absolutely. I find—and I talk as a businessman of 30-odd years—that by paying people well, you attract and retain the most motivated staff. It is the best way to run an organisation.

[Baroness Tyler of Enfield (LD)]

My Lords, is it not the case that there will be sufficient staff in the social care sector—both care homes and domiciliary care—only when we have a truly integrated approach to workforce planning across both health and social care? Yes, pay will be absolutely critical, but so will progression and career development opportunities, and opportunities for things like joint posts and rotational arrangements between the two sectors. What plans do the Government have to look seriously at this critical workforce issue?

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Markham (Con)]

Absolutely; it is an integration issue. Noble Lords will have heard me say just yesterday that our plan is for a modular system of development, so that someone in social care has the modules to go on to become a nurse. It is integrated in that way so that it is seen as a career path for all those people. It is fundamental to all our thinking.

Dentists, Dental Care Professionals, Nurses, Nursing Associates and Midwives (International Registrations) Order 2022

Lord Markham Excerpts

Wednesday 11th January 2023 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Lord Markham]

That the draft Order and Regulations laid before the House on 11 October and 16 November 2022 be approved.

Relevant document: 15th Report from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee. Considered in Grand Committee on 9 January.

Motions agreed.

National Health Service Pension Schemes (Member Contributions etc.) (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2022

Lord Markham Excerpts

Wednesday 11th January 2023 Lords Chamber

is foreseen. In light of the criticisms by the SLSC, does the Minister feel that it was the right course of action to not produce an impact assessment? If so, I would be interested to know what assessment the Minister has made of the contribution of these regulations to dealing with the NHS workforce crisis. As we have heard this evening and on many other occasions, one of the many contributors will be getting in place the right terms and conditions—including pensions—if the NHS is to have the workforce that it and we need. I look forward to the Minister’s response.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Lord Markham) (Con)]

My Lords, I thank noble Lords, particularly the noble Lord, Lord Davies, for bringing this debate today and for reminding me, quite rightly, about learning lessons. I must admit that I have found learning the health brief—which I still continue to try to learn—pretty challenging. Learning the intricacies of tax and pension matters is another dimension that I was not quite expecting in all this—but I will try to repeat what I have learned so far.

The main thing, and a serious point behind the comments from both the noble Lord, Lord Davies, and my noble friend Lady Altmann, is that, to me, it is a sign of the Lords working well that we have this sort of expertise at our disposal. I said in my maiden speech that I wanted to be a different kind of Minister. We have clear expertise tonight, with people all wanting the same thing: to retain doctors, as the noble Baronesses, Lady Masham and Lady Merron, said; and to address the staff shortages that we have, as the noble Lord, Lord Allan, said. These are things that we have to address, and pensions should definitely be part of that workforce analysis.

I would therefore absolutely like to offer that round table that we have talked about. Again, something that I said in my maiden speech was that I have always found it quite strange that we talk across a Chamber; surely, a more productive way is to talk around a table with a cup of tea or coffee and have an exchange of views. So I would definitely like to offer that opportunity to the noble Lords who are interested, so that we can learn from them. I again thank the noble Lord, Lord Davies, for bringing this up, so that we have that opportunity to learn and to try to get it right.

I will tell noble Lords what I think is the premise of what we are trying to do and I will then read my speech, which will probably answer some of the detailed points. I will also endeavour to write with a proper detailed response. As we all have said, we know that what we need to fix is the fact that doctors are voting with their feet. That clearly is the problem and, if we do not try to sort it out, it will just carry on. I am not going to pretend that we have fixed that to date, but we do all understand the problem and I know enough about this subject to understand that a marginal rate of tax of 70% is a clear disincentive to work in that situation.

I have tried to understand ways to address this. The problem is that we know that if we try to address this by changing the whole tax system, it becomes very expensive to change the pension rules for everyone. Understandably, the Treasury has a difficulty about changing the rules for one sector of society and the challenge that might result: the cost of trying to solve the doctors’ situation by changing all the tax rules would be incredibly expensive. The judges’ situation is often used. I believe that the way they get round it is by employers effectively paying them the gross amount, to make sure that they get the same net amount as a result. I appreciate that we would then be paying people who are some of the best-paid workers in the NHS an even larger sum, which, I have to say, sits uncomfortably with me personally, particularly when we are having the understandable pay conversations, disputes and strike actions at the moment.

What we are trying to do in all of this—we are not there yet—is at least get to a situation whereby if it is penal for someone to be receiving this as part of their pension, they can receive it as part of their pay instead, at which point they will be paying the marginal rate of tax, be it 40% or 45%. There will be flexibility and choice: I can either have it in my pension pot, or my personal circumstances mean that if I trip over one of the many different allowances rules and it starts to penalise me and I am disincentivised to work, I can at least get it back in my salary, my pay packet, and get it back that way round instead. That is the principle of what we are trying to do in all of this, so when we come to our round table, that is the approach I plan to bring.

On the statutory instrument itself and the regret Motion, I take on board the point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Merron, and I will take that away. I believe that in this circumstance, the regret Motion is less about this per se—because if we were to vote this down, it would make the problem even worse, because all it is doing is extending the situation to March 2023—and really saying that we do not think it goes far enough. That is slightly different; correct me if I am wrong, but I do not believe noble Lords are actually saying here that they disagree with the SI per se and want it to fall. So, it is not a regret Motion, but we are using this as an opportunity, absolutely in the right way because it means that we brought it to the Floor and had a debate, we got a proper conversation and dialogue and a round table to try to fix the problem. This SI in itself helps but definitely does not fix the whole problem.

So that is the direction we are trying to come from. The proposals I have had the officials explain to me are trying to increase flexibility so that people can dip in and dip out, they can step out completely for a while and then start working again if that suits their lifestyle, and restart the clock in terms of their pension and everything else like that. They can take some of their pension and come back to it afterwards. They are trying to solve those sorts of problems, obviously removing the hour cap and trying to solve things about the abatement hours, all on the principle that we know it is a very valuable pension scheme that many of us wish we had the opportunity to be part of, but it is not quite working properly in the way we need it to. The CPI disconnect, as I understand it, is one of the clear issues there. I understand the issues around what the scheme pays: I must admit it was an education for me to hear that, if we are talking about interest rates of 12.5%, clearly that needs to be understood further as well.

I hope noble Lords can see from my response tonight that I very much appreciate the noble Lord, Lord Davies, tabling his Motion because it allows us to discuss this properly. At the department, we know that this is an issue we need to face, because otherwise doctors will continue to vote with their feet and it can be only to our detriment and the health service’s detriment if we do not fix it. With that in mind, I hope I have picked up most of the questions and, as I say, I will write in detail and offer that round table. I hope noble Lords understand why I do not support the regret Motion and I hope, on the basis of the conversation we have had tonight, that while I very much appreciate that this has been brought for us to talk about and set up the round table, the noble Lord will feel able to withdraw.

Excess Deaths in Private Homes

Lord Markham Excerpts

Tuesday 10th January 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Merron]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the reasons behind ONS figures showing excess deaths in private homes in England and Wales in the week ending 23 December 2022 were 37.5 per cent higher than the five-year average for the same period.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Lord Markham) (Con)]

My Lords, while the detailed assessment is not yet available, it is likely that a combination of factors has contributed to an increase in the number of deaths at home, including high flu prevalence, the ongoing challenge of Covid-19, and health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. On 12 January, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities will update its excess deaths report, providing further insight into causes that have contributed to excess deaths.

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

My Lords, while a patient may choose to die at home, the spike in home deaths rings considerable alarm bells. Analysis suggests that record ambulance and emergency delays could be the explanation for a significant number of many more sudden deaths that are occurring at home. Can the Minister point to any government analysis, whether published or ongoing, to explain this unexpected increase in home deaths and a potential link with these delays? If there is no such analysis, how will the Government know how to overcome this shocking state of affairs?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I thank the noble Baroness. This is an important question, and I had the opportunity to speak to Sir Chris Whitty on this very subject this morning. The statistics show that, over the course of the year, home deaths have increased by about 22%—a lot of that through personal choice, because it was happening over the summer and earlier in the year. Sir Chris told me that a lot of factors are in play at the moment. Flu is a clear example. There were about 1,000 more deaths in the week mentioned than would normally be expected. The cold snap came early, creating more cardiovascular deaths. However, clearly, the challenges are also a component part, which is why we made yesterday’s announcements about the further measures.

[Lord Allan of Hallam (LD)]

My Lords, we are fortunate to have in the Office for National Statistics a source of trusted data to inform our policy deliberations. It provided essential data about excess deaths during the pandemic, and we should equally reflect on what this data says about the health of our nation post-pandemic. There is clearly a range of potential factors that could have led to the excess deaths, as the Minister has outlined, but it is really in the public interest to test all those hypotheses and establish any causality. Can the Minister commit the department to carrying out research, such as the noble Baroness, Lady Merron, asked for, into any potential link between the pressures that we know about on the ambulance service and the excess deaths at home?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

Again, I spoke further to Sir Chris Whitty exactly on this. He writes an annual report on this. We will be doing so in the same way and looking at all the factors.

[Lord Stirrup (CB)]

Can the Minister tell the House what happened to cancer diagnosis and referral times during the course of 2022, and what the prognosis is for these crucial measures over the coming year? If he does not have the statistics to hand, can he write to me and place a record in the Library?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I will happily provide the detail on that. We all know about the 62-day challenge. That has been the focus of Ministers ensuring that we are bearing down on that number, so that an increasing proportion are treated within that period.

[Lord Hannan of Kingsclere (Con)]

My Lords, some of these numbers plainly reflect the diagnoses and the treatments that did not happen during the pandemic, as my noble friend the Minister has suggested. Given that we now know that the OECD country with the lowest excess death figure during those two years was Sweden, does my noble friend the Minister believe that, knowing what we now know, we would have locked down?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

My noble friend makes a challenging point. This will be a subject of the inquiry, on which I look forward to hearing more.

[Baroness Pitkeathley (Lab)]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that one of the elements here may be the lack of support to family carers, who are often the element most involved in providing care at the last stages of life, and in particular the lack of willingness to engage with family carers, who are the people who know most about the condition? I have lost count of the number of family carers who have said to me, “They just didn’t want to know my side of this element.”

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I thank the noble Baroness. We have spoken before about this in the House. I agree with the general point that family carers, probably more than anyone, have great knowledge to bear, and so absolutely that should be an important component.

[Lord Dobbs (Con)]

My Lords, it is blindingly obvious that lockdown has had a huge impact on the number of excess deaths. Indeed, many people warned of that consequence at the time. I will put it politely: at that time, the Government showed a deep lack of interest in the points being made. We are now talking about excess deaths in the hundreds of thousands, quite apart from the extraordinary impact that it has had on mental health, particularly for young people. Could he please promise that the Government will take every step, and then go a step further, to ensure that the inquiry into this by the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Hallett, deals with what we got wrong as well as the many things that we got right, to make sure that we are properly prepared for a future challenge if it should ever arise?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I totally agree with my noble friend. We all know that it was an unprecedented time, and we learned lessons all the way through: we were much more resistant to locking down as time went on, for all the good reasons mentioned by my noble friend. Yes, that absolutely needs to be a key feature of the report.

[Lord Laming (CB)]

My Lords, the Minister will agree that a very important point in all of this has been the restrictions now in force on primary healthcare services and domiciliary services. We have left housebound people to their fate for a great deal of this time. Is the Minister willing to look at these matters?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

It is a whole-system issue, as I have often mentioned in this House, that takes into account some of the elements of home care, and very much the social care and dom care elements. We know that that is very much a factor in the 13,000 beds that we need to free up through things such as dom care, so yes.

[Lord Scriven (LD)]

My Lords, excess deaths started to rise in June of last year—at the same time, interestingly, as long waits on trolleys in A&Es started. These have got worse as A&E trolley waits have increased. What did Professor Whitty say about that statistic? If nothing, will there be a review into the waits on trolleys in A&E as a possible cause of excess deaths?

[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.

[Lord McColl of Dulwich (Con)]

My Lords, have we not forgotten something? When we blame all sorts of factors for these excess deaths, have we forgotten that there are 44 million people in this country suffering from the disease called obesity and all the complications that arise from that? This means that these people are moving inevitably to a premature death from a variety of very unpleasant diseases.

[Lord Markham (Con)]

My noble friend makes a good point that prevention is a key part of this agenda, as is the role that we all take in our individual health and well-being. Obesity is included as a key part of this as well. We need a four-pronged approach that tackles the things that we as individuals need to address as well, to make our own lifestyles healthier.

NHS Winter Pressures

Lord Markham Excerpts

Tuesday 10th January 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Allan of Hallam (LD)]

My Lords, we welcome the fact that the Government are making a Statement, as it is abundantly clear to everyone that we have a crisis on our hands, and we on these Benches have been calling for this to be recognised as a national major incident. In that context, will the Minister clarify the status of the NHS recovery forum that was announced with great fanfare last week? Was it a one-off, or will it be meeting regularly and taking ownership of this crisis? If it is not the NHS recovery forum, what group within government will be taking us through the rest of the winter? This requires daily, serious leadership at the highest levels in government.

I have three questions on the specific measures outlined in the Statement. First, the Government have told us about the block-booking of care home beds, which should provide some immediate relief for hospitals, but they are much less clear on how they plan to increase domiciliary care so that people who can and should be in their own homes do not get stuck in care homes unnecessarily. The last thing we want to do is to move people out of one inappropriate care setting into another one, and domiciliary care remains the key to providing the best care for the vast majority of people who need neither hospital nor permanent care home residency. Can the Minister offer us any assurances on what the Government intend to do about domiciliary care provision?

Secondly, the Statement referred to the new NHS system control centres that will be in each integrated care board area, and which are a welcome development. There is published information about the data that will go into these new centres, but no information about what the centres themselves will make available to the public. Does the Minister agree that it would be helpful for people to know much more about the pressures on the NHS in their local area through these NHS system control centres publishing regular updates with as much information as they can provide to help patients make informed choices, with full knowledge of where the blockages are in the system?

Finally, the Statement referred to the use of artificial intelligence systems to help release patients sooner and track their progress through hospitals. There have been recent press reports about Welsh hospitals using tools developed by a British company called Faculty AI to improve patient discharges. Can the Minister add any insights into how these and similar technologies are going to be tested and deployed in England? I know that nothing is a silver bullet, but the reports suggest that they could make a significant difference to discharging people more efficiently and quickly. If that is so, we do not need to wait to deploy these technologies, and should be getting on with it.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Lord Markham) (Con)]

My Lords, I thank noble Lords for their comments. As I mentioned in answering the previous Question, this is a reflection, from our part, of trying to understand the situation. We did some plans in October and looked at demand and supply, and that led us to make the announcements about the 7,000 extra beds and the £500 million adult social care discharge fund. It was clear to us that the bed occupancy issue was going to be at those danger points, and that was the plan.

Then, of course, as with any plan, you amend and review it all the time. Over the last few weeks of December, with the onset of flu beforehand, it became clear that we had higher levels of bed occupancy than we had planned for at that time because we had 7,000 or so extra beds taken up by flu while, at the same time, still requiring higher levels of Covid care than planned. It became clear from all this that the bed occupancy levels were still too high to be comfortable. This was causing the knock-on impact on the flow across the whole system, backing right up into the A&E wait times. That is why, very responsibly, we looked at the latest data, planned, and realised that we needed to do more. That was very much the components of the plan.

In answer to the point from the noble Baroness, Lady Merron, some of those short-term measures were about bringing in extra adult social care funding packages and, candidly, looking within every area of our budgets at what we really needed to spend over the rest of the year and at what we could prioritise. We managed to make some in-year savings through reducing headcount, particularly in admin and central areas, and then looked to redeploy that to make sure it was going to the front line.

As well as that, we looked at things such as the expandable modular space. This goes back to the flight control systems, which I would recommend to anyone. It is well worth a visit to Maidstone, where you will see what we plan for the longer term and what we are looking to do across the system in time for next winter. It became very clear there that, because it has the data, it can manage demand and supply. It sees the incoming from the ambulances; it sees the bed situation; it sees those people who are getting close to be ready for discharge. It is working with clinicians to say, “Actually, we’ve got some incoming and we need to free up that space. Let’s get the social care places ready. Let’s have transport ready and clean the bed quickly.” It is absolutely those micro-improvements and the Team Sky cycling-type approach that address it. AI comes in very much as part of that; you can speed up the flow all the time. It is not silver bullet stuff, but it is about looking at those micro-improvements as you go through it. That is very much the background to all this.

Dom care is an important aspect of that as well. I went through the stats with the team today, which said that of the 13,000 people ready for discharge, probably only 3% should require social care in the long term, and the other 97% should be in a home environment. Some of them might need a few weeks, which is where those care packages come in, and a lot of them need dom care, but 97% of them should not be in care going forward. That is why we need to focus these things towards that. That is the thinking behind this.

The modular space is an important component of this. Look at Maidstone again; it has looked very carefully at the patient flows and at where you can have same-day emergency care and get people out again so that they never have to go into a hospital. But you need extra space to do that. We have made this available so that the hospitals can decide where they most need that expandable space—whether it is pre-A&E, when they are finished in A&E and waiting in a decent space for a bed to come free, or step-down or discharge areas. It is about providing that flexibility and putting it in place quickly for them all.

What we were trying to do here was show flexibility and be fleet of foot to be able to course correct as time goes on; to put our hands up and notice when things were difficult and more challenging because bed occupancy was higher than expected—as I say, due to flu, Covid and other factors—and put in the measures to address them. That is exactly what we are doing in the short term.

In the longer term, next year—not that many people would say that nine or 10 months away is the longer term—we need to make sure that adult social care has further funding, as the House has heard me say many times. There will be a substantial increase next year, up to £1.7 billion, and a substantial increase the year after, of up to 20%. With flight control systems, expandable modular care and the rollout of virtual wards, we have a number of things that, on their own, are not a silver bullet, but, by putting them all together, you will start to get the changes and improvements that we expect to see. I say unashamedly that, if there are other facilities in the independent sector that we can make use of, be it making more use of pharmacies or expanding virtual wards, then we should do so.

I am sure there will be more questions as we go on in this debate, but I hope your Lordships can see that we have tried to respond to the challenges through a range of measures that we believe will make a difference. At the same time, we must be open to the need to do more; we will need to add more things and course correct as time goes on.

[Lord Patel (CB)]

The Minister may not agree, but the NHS is in crisis. He may say that the situation is “challenging”, but it could not be more challenging. Although infection rates related to Covid, flu and other infections may have exacerbated the situation, the genesis of the crisis is not of today’s making. It has been in the making for years. It is related to lack of capacity. Does he agree that the emergency measures now being put in place are not likely to work? If they are not likely to work, what is plan B? Importantly, what is the long-term plan to ensure that this does not continue into the spring, summer or next winter?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I absolutely think these measures will improve the situation; I would not be putting them forward if I did not believe that. At the same time, just as we put out plans in October and are amending them now, I will continue to amend our plans. I think that is a flexible, responsible approach: you have a plan, you adapt that plan, you invest and you continue to improve. That is what we will continue to see and do; we will see those improvements go through this year and into the next.

[Lord Grade of Yarmouth (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, my noble friend the Minister mentioned pharmacies in his response, which clearly demonstrated a complete lack of understanding of the crisis that is going on in the independent pharmacy sector. They are closing at an alarming rate, yet they are the front line of the NHS, with record numbers of people coming to see them for free medical advice because they cannot get in to see their GP. There is a very serious crisis in the independent pharmacy sector, which is vital for healthcare. I have had many meetings, I have had letters, and I have got a campaign going in the media. It is clear from the responses that the department does not have a clue about the extent of the crisis and the closure of these independent pharmacies. Something needs to be done before they all close.

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I wholeheartedly agree with my noble friend that the pharmacies are the front line. We realise that they have been underutilised in the past. Actually, the plan of using them more for patients will put more funding their way, which I hope will support them, just as allocating Covid vaccinations to many pharmacies provided support. I hope my noble friend will see that this plan should add to the viability of a number of pharmacies by putting more business their way. They are a crucial part of the front line.

[Lord Turnberg (Lab)]

My Lords, this focus on the number of hospital beds may be at the wrong end. It is much more fruitful to think about why staff are so dissatisfied and unhappy that they wish to leave and do so in droves. We have to do more to improve the morale of the nursing and medical professions and, in particular, those who work in the community—the care workers. We are losing them in great numbers; they are not coping. The reason is partly their pay, and we must pay them a reasonable rate, but it is also that they are completely disillusioned as people do not take them seriously. They do not have a professional qualification or a proper training programme. They do not have the possibility of career progression. We must do more to encourage them and ensure that they have a satisfactory career. If we do, we could possibly get more patients out of those beds that were building up, and perhaps help reduce the queues of ambulances.

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I agree that we need a whole-system approach. Workforce is a key part of that, including the adult social care workforce. Again, as all noble Lords did, I welcome the advent of the agreement to do a workforce plan, which needs to take all these factors into account. We need to make sure that it is an attractive place to work, and that people see it as a career progression—and that it is modular so that you can start in social care and, if you want to, progress into other parts of the health service.

[Baroness Brinton (LD)]

My Lords, I declare my interest as a vice-president of the LGA and vice-chair of the All-Party Group on Adult Social Care. Nearly three years ago, the Government created Nightingale hospitals, which were much vaunted and had millions spent on them. Virtually all of them were useless because there was no staffing available for them at short notice. I listened to the question from the noble Baroness, Lady Merron, about the short, medium and long-term workforce plan. We are now in emergency time: there are 160,000 social care vacancies and 40,000 nursing vacancies, which includes those in social care. How is this unblocking of beds going to be staffed and by when?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

Obviously, prior to this, we were in touch with the adult social care sector to make sure that there was that capacity within the system for it. We have been assured that the capacity exists, but we wholeheartedly agree that we need to recruit the staff to fill those vacancies, which is why we have taken measures to recruit internationally as well as in the domestic recruitment programme. Those are all key components of the longer-term plan to solve this issue.

[Lord Kakkar (CB)]

My Lords, I remind noble Lords of my declared interest as chairman of the King’s Fund. The Statement made yesterday in the other place refers to a primary care recovery plan. It is well recognised that the hospital system is not sustainable if primary care cannot discharge its important gatekeeper function. Is the Minister able to confirm that, as part of that plan, there will be a radical review of options that might be adopted to ensure that primary care can deliver its important function?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

Yes, this is very much the focus of my colleague Minister O’Brien. I think it is understood that as many as half of the people who turn to up to A&E could have been looked after by the primary care system, so a lot of the pressures caused are as a result of that. It is absolutely a whole-system problem; many of the issues at the front end are about the GPs and at the back end they are about adult social care, which is why we need to address the whole system.

[Lord Balfe (Con)]

My Lords, last month, I had the dubious privilege of staying at one of the Minister’s hospitals. I was struck by the sclerotic way in which decisions were taken. It seems that the whole premium is on safety rather than looking after the patient. I would ask that the department looks into the way in which decisions are made, because I found far too often that a decision was made on the basis of what was safest. The multidisciplinary team, as it was called, was basically there to deflect anyone who wanted to do anything very adventurous. Will the Minister start looking, maybe in selected hospitals, at ways in which the decision-making and care process can be speeded up and made less sclerotic?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I have seen very good examples of where that works. You have clinicians in the room with the data—the management and bed information. They make decisions according to the flow and number of people who they see are going to need a bed from the ambulances and the A&E situation, and the number who are ready to release. You have clinicians united with the information to make good decisions. Those are the best. The idea with the longer-term plan is to make sure those “best” have the tools in terms of the flight control system and have management processes in place so that they can adopt and follow best practice. It is key to what we are looking to make sure we have in place in time for next year, as the noble Baroness, Lady Merron, mentioned.

[Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP)]

My Lords, the Minister replied to my Written Question on 5 January about commercial companies promoting strep A tests. The Answer said that these are “not currently recommended” by NICE

“for individuals aged five years old and over … with a sore throat”

and that UKHSA is conducting a

“bedside review of existing antigen-based lateral flow devices”

to

“identify the tests that are most likely to perform well”.

Given that, can the Minister explain why I have a number of emails from DAM Health headed “Concerned about strep A? Order your home test kit today. Only £12.99 per test kit. Quick and reliable results within minutes”? Can the Minister truly put his hand on his heart and say there is sufficient regulation and oversight of private testing companies, and indeed the broader private health sector? Is it not profiteering from the crisis in the NHS, potentially damaging the NHS and putting more pressure on NHS services?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

First, I declare an interest in this space. As many noble Lords will know, I set up a Covid testing company which never did any business towards the Government; I am very pleased to say that it served only the private sector. I am disposing of it as part of my obligations as a Minister. As the question relates to testing, I am quite keen to put that on the record.

Secondly, I would say “absolutely”. Dare I say it, but the reason my company was so successful is that we set the very highest standards according to the regulators. That is why we were able to win the crème de la crème—the Formula 1s and Wimbledons of the world. I cannot speak for other companies which may not be taking that high level of support, but there is absolutely a role for the regulator to make sure that only effective tests are marketed and those which are not effective should not.

[Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top (Lab)]

My Lords, I wonder whether the Minister—I hate to say this—will recognise that, too often, it feels that the Government have no institutional memory, have no ability to learn from what has happened in the past and keep trying to reinvent the wheel while the wheels are spinning away long before they get anywhere near. The King’s Fund recently published a report on how the last Labour Government brought down waiting lists. That report shows that you do not just have to shout about it; you have to put in place all the different steps, including the right financial flow.

From all that has been said today, it is clear that the right flow is to encourage more people into social care work and encourage and enable them to do more serious, high-level work like urine testing. The Government have not even begun to think about this. Until financial support for the whole flow and the financial incentives to change the things the Government need to change are there, and that is understood by Ministers, we will not get it. It is not enough to say, “We’re putting another £15 million or £50 million into this, that or the other”, without making sure that you know how it is going to be spent and that people are going to be there to deliver it.

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I have said before in this Chamber —and I will say it again—that we should be learning all lessons. I like to think that, three months into my role, I am learning some of those lessons. The noble Baroness will see that we have taken some backwards steps on the use of the independent sector, which, again, was pioneered 15 or 20 years ago, but hopefully we will move forward again. I unashamedly say that we can learn from those things. I have spoken to some colleagues from the noble Baroness’s side of the House, and will continue to, because I will adopt anything that works, and I agree that payment by results is one of those things. We can speak after these questions; my door is definitely open on those matters.

[Baroness Jolly (LD)]

My Lords, I have the privilege to chair the NHS national community nursing plan clinical reference group. We meet on a regular basis and look at how community nurses can keep people out of hospital and get people home from hospital. We have heard very little about that today. Can I have five or 10 minutes with the Minister at some stage to bring him up to speed on the work that is going on?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

As with my answer to the previous question, I look forward to that meeting and learning everything we can. I will repeat the statistics on that subject that struck me most: of those 13,000 people who are fit to be discharged, we think that only 3% need to be in social care in the long term; 97% could be at home, which is the best and most cost-effective place for them. We need to ensure that the support is in place to ensure that that option exists.

[Baroness Watkins of Tavistock (CB)]

My Lords, I declare my interests as a nurse and as a new appointment to the NHS England board as a non-executive director. There are two things missing from this discussion. First, there has been no reference to people waiting for mental health support. How can we ensure that people in mental health crisis are moved rapidly out of busy A&Es to be supported in quieter environments? There is a very good example across the road, at St Thomas’ Hospital, which is helping the A&E. Secondly, it is high time that we seriously consider giving full-time contracts to care workers in domiciliary services, because, as soon as somebody goes into hospital, the care worker’s hours are cut and, although they know that individual, they very rarely get reallocated to them when they are transferred back out of hospital. The lack of continuity of care often results in readmission, so what will the Minister do to ensure that, in the way that the noble Lord, Lord Turnberg, just outlined, we improve the lot of those particular care workers?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

First, I welcome the noble Baroness to the NHS England board, with high expectation of the value that she will add to it. I am very interested to understand her point further; I will speak to Minister Whately about that and respond to the noble Baroness in writing. Where people have knowledge of a patient at home, they can add that to their care when they come back out again.

[Lord Lansley (Con)]

My Lords, one of the lessons we learned, sometimes very painfully, during the earlier stages of the pandemic was the importance of working with, and often through, local government to tackle some of these issues. The same is true now. Would my noble friend explain how the NHS will use discharge funding and purchase social care provision? Will integrated care boards do that locally with local government, which has been managing social care purchasing for decades?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I thank my noble friend. The best ICBs that I have seen have the local authority as part of their board and their decision-making on a day in, day out basis. One of the best control systems that I saw in an ICB actually had the local authority social care people in the room making the decisions with them, so they are a key element in all of this. On purchasing and funding, they are very much a strong player.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

The Government have spent 13 years cutting the number of beds and they are now reversing that and starting to increase it, which is welcome. The other thing that they have done is to constrain pay in the NHS and social care. They have an opportunity to do something about that. Why are they not taking the opportunity to boost pay in both those sectors to address some of the problems that we face?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I welcome what I hope, over the past few days, has been better mood music—let me put it that way—in this space. I hope from the different things that we see that we will get closer towards a landing zone where we can reach agreement going forward. We know from both sides that neither side wants to be in this dispute. My hope very much is that constructively—with good will on both sides, which we are seeing—we will find a way forward.