Countess of Chester Hospital Inquiry

Debate between Lord Markham and Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston

Tuesday 5th September 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston (CB)]

My Lords, I reinforce the points made by the noble Lord, Lord Allan, and the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, about the importance of boards and patient safety being a key factor that they ought to take responsibility for. I will make a wider point. As health is a devolved matter and we are talking about the NHS in England, I urge the Minister to have comparisons of best practice: talk to the devolved Administrations, see what happens in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, both for the way in which we can learn from each other’s experiences but also so we can arrive at common standards that can be accepted across the United Kingdom. Similarly, if any registers are being set up, these should not be confined to just England but should be UK-wide.

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I thank the noble Baroness; that is a good point. We clearly need to be looking at best practice across the board. That is not limited to any one devolved authority, but means learning from each of them and, I think, somehow making sure that hopefully they can learn from the terrible events that have taken place here—so they are putting that in place as well. For me, one of the main failings that we are now putting right is the medical examiners, which I want to make sure are spread out across all the devolved authorities. Clearly it is up to them whether they take it or not, but we should absolutely be making sure that we are cross-fertilising some of those key learnings, so they go both ways.

Sodium Valproate

Debate between Lord Markham and Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston

Monday 5th June 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

First, I thank my noble friend for all the vital work that she has done in this space. She is absolutely correct. The key thing is that there are circumstances where sodium valproate is the only effective treatment for bipolar and epilepsy-type disease problems. However, we have to ensure that if people are taking it, they are going into it with their eyes completely open, so that they fully understand the risks. That is absolutely to do with the packaging. It is also about making sure that if that packaging is split up there are leaflets in every part, and that everyone signs a consent form at least once a year, fully acknowledging the risks. Thereby, if people take the treatment, they are doing so with their eyes fully open.

[Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston (CB)]

My Lords, last year the Scottish Government set up an advisory group on the use of valproates. To what extent does the Minister work with the devolved Administrations to make sure that there are clear guidelines on this subject across the four nations?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

The regulatory authorities absolutely work closely here. It is my understanding that it is the intent of all the devolved Administrations to make sure that while there are circumstances in which this drug might be the correct treatment, as I mentioned, it is used only when everything else has been tried—and, in our case, in England—that two independent specialists will be required to prescribe it.