Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Monday 20th May 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to improve awareness of, and services for people with, inflammatory bowel disease.

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

NHS England’s national bladder and bowel health project is delivering better care for people with inflammatory bowel disease, with a focus on developing clinical pathways. Additionally, NHS England aims to reduce variation in care for people with inflammatory bowel disease through its Getting It Right First Time gastroenterology programme. To raise awareness of IBD among GPs and other primary care staff, the Royal College of General Practitioners has produced an inflammatory bowel disease toolkit.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, the Minister mentioned variation in care. He will be aware that over half a million people in the UK suffer from IBD and that the actual quality of care is very varied throughout the country. For instance, the overall waiting time for new patient appointments at gastroenterology clinics varies between one week and 27 weeks, with a big impact on the outcome of the care the patient receives. My understanding is that there are IBD national standards but that they are not adhered to. Can the Minister tell me why that is, and when will the Government insist that the NHS gets the variation of care down to at least an acceptable limit where good-quality care is guaranteed to all patients?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

The noble Lord is correct. I spent time with the clinical lead in this area this morning; there is a Getting It Right First Time pathway and it is clear that the initial cohort of 25 hospitals have shown real progress in this area. That is being rolled out across the pathway—we have now had cohorts 2 and 3 doing it—so we should see those improvements happen across the board. However, it is my job as a Minister to make sure that that happens.

Midwives: Bullying

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Tuesday 16th April 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of bullying of students and newly qualified midwives in the NHS on (1) retention of staff, and (2) the treatment of pregnant women, as highlighted in the #Saynotobullyinginmidwifery report published on 12 November 2023.

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

This report makes difficult reading, highlighting unacceptable levels of bullying in midwifery. We know that culture and leadership have a significant impact on retention and staff experience. NHS organisations should have robust policies in place to tackle bullying and harassment. Through the NHS long-term workforce plan and the NHS equality, diversity and inclusion plan, we are seeking to expand the workforce and make the NHS a better place to work.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister. As he says, all NHS trusts have those robust policies. The problem is that they are not coming out into practice. This report describes the experience of midwives working in a toxic culture. One newly qualified midwife is quoted as saying that they were left

“burnt out by bullying and the terror of working on understaffed wards”.

Another said:

“I would return home crying most days and became suicidal from the fear and treatment at this trust”.


Does the Minister accept that much more fundamental change is required to deal with understaffed maternity units, NHS trusts preoccupied with reputation management over patient safety, and a reluctance to take whistleblowers seriously?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I thank the noble Lord for his work in this whole area. That is genuine appreciation, because I know that he looks not just at bullying in this area. He is a very important conduit and I am personally grateful for the work he does on this and how much he cares. It is a combination of all the things that he mentioned. I had a meeting with the chief midwife on this subject this morning because of it being brought to my attention. I was actually quite reassured. Each trust now has what is called a quad leadership team, where the chief midwife, a neonatologist, an obstetrician and the general manager spend time together in a six-month process where they work together as a team on how they will address all these vital cultural issues.

Stroke Treatment

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Wednesday 27th March 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

That is what these SQuIRe centres are about—trying to roll out best practice. As I mentioned, I have seen fantastic examples, including simple things such as at Leighton Hospital, which gets every patient, not just stroke patients, to exercise for a couple of hours each day. That makes a difference to their length of stay and their ability to go back into the community and into the workplace.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, to follow on from the encouraging intervention of the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, the Minister will know that, in 2010, London centralised hyperacute services into a small number of expert units. What progress are we making throughout the rest of the country, because in some parts it has been disappointingly slow?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

The stroke quality improvement for rehabilitation—SQuIRe—services are where we are trying to take best practice from London, France and around the world and roll it out. The good news is that we have the model; it is based on a national model for an integrated community stroke service. We have got that in 65% of locations, with the goal of making it 75%.

Sodium Valproate and Pelvic Mesh

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Monday 25th March 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

The 2025 date is the timetable that the Patient Safety Commissioner recommended in terms of financial redress. The point that the noble Baroness makes, quite rightly, is about the non-financial aspect: if you are suffering pain from it all, you want to be treated as quickly as possible. That is why we have set up these nine specialist centres to allow exactly that sort of redress to occur.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, can I remind the noble Lord that, of course, it was not a matter of months since this first recommendation came? The noble Baroness, Lady Cumberlege, recommended a redress scheme some years ago. Why was it rejected in the first place, and why are we waiting many more months, as the Minister said, when, as the Patient Safety Commissioner has said, the intention is

“an initial, fixed sum in recognition of the avoidable harm they have suffered as a result of system-wide healthcare and regulatory failures”?

Why are the Government being so slow to respond?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

That is precisely what I put to Minister Caulfield this morning. She commissioned the review because her feeling was that the period from when my noble friend’s initial report came in until when Maria Caulfield was in post was too long. So it was absolutely she who commissioned it last year, and it is absolutely she who very much said that she is determined that there should be a substantive reply from us in the next few months.

Prioritising Early Childhood: Academy of Medical Sciences Report

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Monday 11th March 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the report of the Academy of Medical Sciences Prioritising early childhood to promote the nation’s health, wellbeing and prosperity, published on 5 February, particularly regarding children under 5.

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

The Government welcome the report. We have taken significant action to improve children’s health in the early years. This includes reducing sugar in children’s food, supporting healthy diets for families from lower-income households through schemes such as Healthy Start, and investing record amounts into children’s and young people’s mental health services and around £300 million in the family hubs and Start for Life programmes. We are also improving children’s oral health through our dentistry recovery plan.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, I pay tribute to my noble friend Lord McAvoy, who was an incredible parliamentary servant in both Houses over many years.

I thank the Minister, but he will be aware that we have a frightening number of people of working age who are not able to work because of long-term illness. The implication of the academy report is that we are storing up huge problems for the future. As one example, 20% of under-fives are obese or overweight. If the Government are so keen to take action, why have they postponed the implementation of their obesity strategy, which would start to take action against unhealthy food and encourage young people towards more exercise and a healthier lifestyle?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

First, I add condolences from myself and this side of the House for Lord McAvoy.

Secondly, I am grateful for the direction of the report. I think that we all agree that early investment in childhood, and in young people, is vital. That is what our vision for the first 1,001 critical days is all about. A lot of the things in the report are helpful. I must admit that I did not recognise that particular stat, because rather than it being one in five children suffering from obesity at age five, the latest report—and it is an extensive study—shows that it is less than one in 10. It is the lowest number since 2006-07. So, in the area of obesity, we can show that our plans are working. I say again: we have the lowest level of obesity among reception age children since 2006-07.

NHS Dentistry

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Monday 19th February 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

The noble Lord is correct in talking about the supply challenges. That is what the long-term workforce plan is all about, and why we are committing to a 40% increase in training places by 2030. The other issue that he rightly raises is the balance between the cost-effectiveness of providing private versus national health dentistry. The problem is that it is often seen as more lucrative for a dentist to go down the private sector route. That is why we are trying to rebalance that and have introduced an increase in the minimum charge to £28 for a unit of dental activity, and £50 for a new patient, to try to bring services back more in favour of the NHS.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, I declare my interests as president of the British Fluoridation Society. The Academy of Medical Sciences reported very recently that nearly a quarter of five year-olds have tooth decay. Unless we deal with this there will be many more queues and great difficulties with access. The Minister will know that shortly there will be a consultation in the north-east to introduce fluoride. Surely the current situation demands that we extend this throughout the country.

[Lord Markham (Con)]

Yes, the noble Lord is correct that there is very good evidence of the effectiveness of water fluoridation, and the report as recently as 2022 showed there are no side-effects. The north-east will increase the number of recipients by about 1.6 million people, and there is a process that that needs to go through but I totally agree that we should expand it as far as we can.

Pharmacy First

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Tuesday 6th February 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

My noble friend is absolutely correct to bring that up, and that is why it is quite specific on “simple” UTIs. The devil is in the detail, but the reason behind saying simple UTIs is that so the capacity is there, and you can have a referral to a GP.

In this space I speak from personal experience with my partner. It is much harder these days to get antibiotics for UTIs. We know that this is generally a good thing in terms of antimicrobial resistance, but in many cases, as my wife often says, she knows when she has a UTI—and boy does she need those antibiotics.

Some of the things I have started to see in terms of technology, which is relevant to the question of complexity, include point-of-care devices in surgeries or pharmacies that can detect a UTI very quickly, so that you then know you can give a prescription for antibiotics. That is what we see in terms of the direction of travel.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, when I had responsibility for community pharmacy more than 20 years ago, one of the schemes we instituted was incentivisation for private consulting rooms and spaces. I wholly endorse what my noble friend Lady Merron said about the importance of this, and the noble Baroness’s intervention reinforces this. It sounds as if most community pharmacies have some kind of private area, but they are not always as good, secure or private as they ought to be. So I very much hope that the incentive that I hear the noble Lord has built into the scheme will actually lead to ensuring that patients have confidentiality, which is really important here.

On the cap, I understand the need for probity and making sure that there are no perverse incentives to overcount, but it would be a bit of a disaster if, nine months into the financial year, a very good community pharmacy ran out of its allocated funding. What would happen? Will integrated care boards at the local level have some discretion to come in at that point to ensure that that service can continue?

On integrated care boards, some clinical commissioning groups were very poor at getting community pharmacy around the table. It always amazed me that, in their winter planning, they seemed to forget the need to have community pharmacies as equal partners. Can the Minister assure me that, when this programme is taken forward, integrated care boards will be clearly told that they are expected to treat community pharmacies as important partners in this and in planning for winter, which, as the noble Lord knows, continues for much of the year?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I thank the noble Lord and will answer his questions in reverse. On getting the ICBs around the table, I absolutely agree. This is seen as a key part of those initiatives and handling those pressures. Generally, going back to privacy, I would expect to see, as ever with these things, some pharmacies that become very good and set up really nice areas, with a lot of expertise. I am sure they will push ahead. I am making this up, to be honest—this is not policy—but I would not be surprised if it started off with a base level of ones that can do only the seven, with others that are more skilled and show that they can manage more things, such as hypertension. There will be some very successful ones. On the cap, it would be perverse if those really successful ones suddenly hit the buffers, so to speak. As I understand it, the cap looks at this much more in terms of a global presence. In the department as a whole and the Treasury, we are going into this with a budget in mind and with the appropriate safeguards. But, going back to the value for money question, overspending is actually probably good news because it shows that it is working.

National Health Service: Key Targets

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Tuesday 16th January 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

Funnily enough, I had this conversation in terms of productivity just today. The virtual wards—the 11,000 extra beds we have put in—are actually making a real impact on that, because of course it is much better that people can be treated in their own home, knowing they have the comfort of these virtual displays and treatment to look after them. We have 11,000 extra beds, with 72% utilisation, and, yes, it is really working.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, the Minister keeps talking about progress being made, but if he looks at, say, the four-hour A&E target, he knows that the latest figures show that the NHS reached only 69% in December. In 2010, his party inherited a performance of 98.3%. What does he think that says about his party’s stewardship of the NHS?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I can talk about what we are doing now, which is showing real progress. But I have to say that the saying “People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones” comes to mind, because, looking at those same targets, I notice that the Labour-run NHS in Wales never reached the four-hour A&E target; the last time it hit the 62-day cancer target was in August 2010, 14 years ago; and the last time it hit the hospital treatment target was in August 2010. I say politely that the noble Lord might want to get his own house in order first.

NHS Winter Update

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Thursday 11th January 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I thank the noble Baroness for those points. Absolutely, I will need to come back on some of the detail on the virtual wards and how they are being used. One thing I will say about them, though, from my knowledge, is that the ability of people to communicate on a regular basis is one of the key advantages. On the point she makes about palliative care and the ability to have 24/7 communication, the beauty of the virtual wards is that they have that inbuilt, for want of a better word—they have that advantage. As noble Lords know, I am always eager to learn from practices all around the world, so I will very happily meet people and learn from them.

On retention, absolutely, we all know that the supply of doctors and medics is the key thing that we need, so I personally feel that we need to look at every avenue to make sure that we can maximise that supply. Again, it is something that I will inquire into as a result of that, and maybe when we have our meeting we can discuss that further.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, I too thank the Minister for the Statement and his response, but it takes the biscuit in terms of the Government really seeking to exploit the plight of the NHS by putting so much emphasis on the industrial action being taken. As the noble Lord has said, even before Covid the Government were way off meeting any of the core targets. In 2010, they inherited a health service that was running very well and met all the targets. They threw away that inheritance. When Covid hit, the health services were already running so hot that there was just no headroom at all to cope with the pressure that then came, with—my noble friend is right—hugely dangerous occupancy rates. There was simply no headroom.

Looking at the funding, from 1948 to 2019-20 the NHS received funding of 3.6% real annual growth, on average, per annum. The coalition Government slashed it to 1.1%. The May and Cameron Governments gave it 1.7%. Only with the Covid expansion were resources over that 3.6% average. It is no wonder that the health service is tackling such a momentous challenge. We need to hear from the Government some real plans to get investment back in the health service, to give it the kind of headroom it needs to start meeting the targets that are so important—would the Minister agree?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I happily agree that we are investing record sums. The latest figures show that we are investing around about 11% of GDP in the National Health Service. I believe the figure in 2010 was somewhere in the 7% to 8% range—I am speaking from memory and so I will correct that if it is not quite right, but that is the sort of massive expansion we have seen. If I take one area as an example, the cancer workforce has trebled since 2010.

What we are seeing more than ever is a record level of investment in the health service but also a record level of demand. I was hoping to show in the Statement how we are looking to tackle that. I will freely admit the challenges, and that it is early days, but I believe we are showing signs of getting on top of it. As I have said many times, I really think that technology will be its future, and there will be lots more we can talk about when we show the profound changes it is going to make.

Adult Social Care: Staffing

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Tuesday 12th December 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

We have tried to adopt a balanced approach here. While we all understand the necessity in the healthcare sector, I think most of us would agree that 750,000 net migration is a very high number. The balance we have struck is to protect this sector. Our figures generally show that we will be able to keep the recruitment coming. We are now moving on to part 2 of the reform, through the other things we are doing, particularly around qualifications—we know that people who are qualified are far more likely to stay in a social care setting. That is what the whole investment is about. It will be rolled out next year and will fund hundreds of thousands of places. I think it will make a real difference to the motivation, recruitment and retention of staff.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, to respond to the right reverend Prelate’s question, if I may, the Migration Advisory Committee has said that the reason we recruit so many people from overseas is poor terms and conditions in social care. The Government set the market for social care, through their poor funding of local authorities. When will they grasp the nettle and realise that we actually have to give care workers decent pay and conditions?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

It is absolutely understood that, to have a highly motivated workforce, you need to look at everything—pay and conditions, and training and motivation. We see that while, on average, staff turnover is almost 30%—which is way too high—about 20% of care home providers have a turnover of less than 10%. Why is that? It is because they are investing in their staff and they have a training programme. That is why we are trying to do a similar thing. The national care certificate that we are putting in place will take time; for it to be valuable, we will need to put the right things in order, including the digital platform to pay the 17,000 providers. These are all parts of the reform, which will make a difference.

Sexually Transmitted Infections

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Tuesday 5th December 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

The figures are slightly misleading because, of course, that was in comparison to a Covid year, when there was much less testing. In fact, if you look at it versus pre-pandemic figures, the numbers are 16% down compared with 2019; that is the real comparison we should look at here. At the same time, I think we would all agree that £3.5 billion is a big investment in this space. It has gone up slightly over the past year but, as I mentioned earlier, education is also key in this space.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, can we come back to the issue raised by the noble Lord, Lord Black: whether community pharmacies could play a bigger role in relation to PrEP? Does the Minister accept that, although there is much that community pharmacies could do, they face a fundamental financial crisis at the moment, with many going out of business? Will the Government accept that they are going to have to give more support to community pharmacies for them to do the kind of things that the noble Lord is asking for?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

Yes. I believe that there is a real win-win possibility here, where we can get more services through Pharmacy First—obviously, that is good for primacy care access—and give further support to pharmacies. I was having this conversation just this morning. We made contraception available through pharmacies in April 2023; we will get the results of that back shortly. Things such as sexual health and PrEP are absolutely what we are looking at.

National Health Service: 75th Anniversary

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Thursday 30th November 2023 Lords Chamber

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

I would like to start by giving our side’s condolences to the family of Alistair Darling. I echo the points on him made by the noble Baroness, Lady Merron. The noble Lord, Lord Brooke, talked about the cross-party working. Alistair Darling was one of those people who, while clearly a Labour politician, approached things in a very objective, cross-party manner. I know he will be missed by all of us.

I thank the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, for tabling this debate, which has been fascinating. It started off with a very informed and fascinating history of the NHS from my noble friend Lord Lexden, which enshrined the point that the noble Lord, Lord Allan, made: it has given us all that wonderful freedom to go to bed at night and feel secure, and to make life choices about where we work and who we live with without that being a worry. I agree with the basic premise that that is the duty of any Government.

I am also kind of—I am not quite finding the right words to say, but I was really marked by the point that the noble Lords, Lord Hunt and Lord Brooke, and the noble Baroness, Lady Pitkeathley, were at the 50th anniversary and took part in these conversations. That is quite humbling, particularly since I found out, strangely enough, that I am currently the longest-serving Health Minister. I am not sure that I will make it to the 100th anniversary, but I will take the advice of the noble Lord, Lord Prentis, by trying not to walk in the middle of the road and get hit. If I do make the 100th, I will definitely follow the idea from the noble Lord, Lord Dubs, of having a party.

I welcome the debate. While I will try to answer the points raised, given the 75th anniversary, and as others have mentioned, it is important that we try to make this forward-looking and look at the innovation agenda, which the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, and the noble Baroness, Lady Taylor, mentioned.

I will also address squarely and up front the funding point, which was mentioned by the noble Baroness, Lady Crawley, and others. Rather than only putting a nickel into this, we are putting in 11% of GDP—by far the highest amount in history. Tony Blair has been mentioned a lot. I well remember the Wanless review in the early 2000s, which talked about increasing the spend to about 8%—my memory might not be quite right, but it was about 8% of GDP. I do not think that anyone would say today that 11% does not absolutely show our commitment.

It is comparable to all other European countries. In fact, there is only one country in the world which has a significantly higher spend: America. I want to put that record level of investment on the record. As many have mentioned, it is of course important that we allocate that and use those resources as well as possible. I was very struck by the points that the noble Baroness, Lady Tyler, made about the productivity conundrum, so to speak, and those that the noble Lord, Lord Drayson, made on the technology agenda and innovation. I hope to address some of those points a bit later.

I put all this into the context of our knowing today that a digitally mature trust will be 10% more efficient. We have done quite a bit of work on this; it will be 10% more efficient than other trusts in its output and efficiency. Since a few people mentioned the new hospitals plan, I should say that we know that a new hospital where you unite the best in technology with the best in physical real estate will be 20% more efficient in its output. That is not just in productivity; more importantly, probably, we are also seeing a 20% reduction in the length of stays. The one statistic that has impressed me the most, as I have gone around in the year or so that I have been in this job, is that for every week a patient spends in hospital they lose another 10% of their body mass if they are elderly, so their ability to go home—back to the normal environment—degrades day by day.

We have been talking about what we are trying to do with the technology agenda and the new hospitals programme, but we are all here because we care about patient care. That is vital. We all want people to get back into their home environment sooner. We all know that the problems often come when you are locked in for too long. Then you need a social care space and can get into the downward spiral that we all know about.

As someone actively involved in the new hospitals programme, I assure everyone that there are action steps happening on all 40 of those new hospitals. They are all very real. I will happily talk to anyone about any of them if they should wish it, and show them my photos from visits to many of them as well.

The noble Baroness, Lady Donaghy, made a very good point: often, it is the short cycles which are hard. One thing that has not been spoken about very much, but was very much part of our new hospitals plan and the announcement in May, was our moving to five-year capital cycles. That will be really important for that long-term planning; work is going on as we speak around having 25-year to 30-year capital cycles.

I am trying to address the points raised. The noble Baroness, Lady Merron, understandably mentioned the waiting lists, as others did. Obviously, that is an area of concern but we have made good progress in the area of two years and are making good progress in the area of 78 weeks. We are focusing on those areas where there is the most impact. Undoubtedly, industrial action has impacted this, which is why I think we are all pleased that we now have a likely deal with the consultants. I am hopeful that it will extend to the junior doctors as well, but we have been working hard on that. We are trying to get on top of it: in terms of supply, there are the 130 CDCs with their 5 million tests. There is also the use of technology, such as patient choice with the app and the FDP, and we will see big improvements in what that does.

Through all this, we have been talking about the 13 years in which Conservatives have been in charge of the NHS in England. Of course, there have been 25 years that one party has been in control in Wales. I noticed that no mention has been made of Wales. While none of us is happy with the waiting lists, I know for sure that they are a lot better in England than in Wales.

I turn to the 62-day backlog for cancer. We all know that time is of the essence in cancer. We are seeing a 27% reduction in that backlog since 2020 and a record level of referrals; we are treating 12,000 people per day. We are starting to hit the 75% target of diagnosing people within 28 days. To put this into context, we are treating 32% more people for cancer than we were prior to the pandemic. We know that fast diagnosis is key.

One of the key differences in inequalities in life expectancy, as raised by the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of London, is lung cancer. Of the nine-year disparity, one year is caused by lung cancer. That is why we have things such as mobile screening, which we take on the road to areas where lung cancer is most prevalent—for example, in some of the mining communities. Rather than the majority of people with lung cancer not being found until stage 4, when it is too late, in the areas where they have been doing this we are finding the majority of people in stage 1 or 2. That is so much better in terms of life chances. That is how we will achieve the target of detecting 75% of cancers by stage 1 or 2 by 2028. To give some context to that, we estimate that it will mean that 55,000 more people will be surviving as a result by then.

There has also been talk about waiting times for ambulances and A&E. While they are too high, I am glad to say that they are improving. We have been making sure that we have learned lessons. We are taking action for this winter by increasing supply, with 800 new ambulances, 5,000 more beds to increase capacity and the 10,000 virtual ward beds we will have in place. We are using technology, which I will come to later, to make sure that they are being most effectively used. We are making sure the hospitals are digitised. We have features such as those I saw in Maidstone, such as flight control, where you allow the clinicians to manage the flow of patients right the way through.

Key to all this and to the length of stay is discharge and the adult social care end. Quite rightly, as the noble Lord, Lord Prentis, said, the flow is important. It is vital not only on the social care side, but for the whole hospital and the UEC—urgent elective care—waiting lists. I have seen at first hand the impact of step-down areas. Patients can be put there early on, and everything is organised around that. I have seen the improvements that makes to the flow.

We are trying to learn the lessons of last year by getting the money and commitments out early. That is why we are making a commitment of £600 million extra spend. We told the local authorities and systems that in the summer, so they could plan now rather than hearing about it too late and not being able to impact it then. That is all part of an increase of up to £8.1 billion over the next two years—a 20% increase. Staff are at the centre of that, as mentioned by the noble Baroness, Lady Pitkeathley. It has been a difficult area, but we are now up in terms of staff versus last year. I accept that there is still a long way to go. My notes show that we have about a 15,000 increase in staff, but clearly, we need more within that.

Mental health is obviously a key part of this. As the noble Lord, Lord Davies, and others mentioned, now more than ever we are seeing a massive increase in the number of young people with mental health issues—we had a good debate on this the other day. As I have said, I am determined that we understand the reasons underneath that. Covid might be part of it, but there are also long-term reasons, such as social media, that we need to understand. As the noble Lord, Lord Davies, mentioned, we need to make sure we diagnose those early, because that is crucial, particularly for young children. As noble Lords know, I have personal experience of the importance of acting early on this.

On the mental health Bill, we are committed, as mentioned, to do as much as we can without the legislation—hopefully we can explain a lot of that when we have the round table. Although getting it in the manifesto might be above my pay grade, I personally agree to make sure that all my colleagues understand its importance today and in a year’s time or so, if we were to win a general election.

Many noble Lords—the noble Baroness, Lady Tyler, and the noble Lords, Lord Prentis and Lord Hunt, to mention a few—raised the importance of staffing and how everything is underpinned by it. The noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, and the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, in particular picked out—and I completely agree with them—that it is not just the clinicians but the managers, the admin and the non-clinical staff who are key to this as well.

I am a bit of a data anorak, and one of the things I did when I first came into my post was to try to understand all the differences in hospital performance, looking at certain areas’ demographics and whether they happened to have more funding through a quirk of the formula. I put in all sorts of variables, but we could only ever explain 50% of it—for the data anoraks, I say: the r² never came out higher than 0.5. The only conclusion that I and others could come to from that was—this is not earth shattering—the management and the leadership. I have had the privilege of visiting a lot of hospitals, and when you walk into one you know early on about the leadership—you can tell it on the tour and through the reaction, less from the leaders and more from the staff. You get a vibe about a place. I totally agree about the importance of that.

I come to the specialist areas. The noble Baroness, Lady Taylor, mentioned optometrists, and, funnily enough, I had this conversation with one the other day, and they mentioned that many of the early, indicating warnings are picked up when they take retina scans. That is why the long-term workforce plan is important, as are the extra training places. But, as the noble Lord, Lord Prentis, said and as I know from my experience with my mother, the other routes, such as apprenticeships, are just as important if we are going to get them there, because you should not need to be a graduate to be a nurse or clinician. As the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, mentioned, it is vital that it is a rewarding and accommodating profession. Training and development are obviously part of that. I hope to talk more to noble Lords soon about using the estates for a lot more housing, because we know that can be a key recruitment and retention tool. Then there are things such as flexible rotas—hopefully, we will be able to use technology for that.

In terms of talking and working with the staff, I have to say that is something that is early days, but we are seeing the style and the engagement of the Secretary of State already and it is very welcome. Underpinning the long-term workforce plan, which many noble Lords have mentioned, is the move away from hospital treatment and into primary care and prevention. We know that that is the first line, and we are now close to achieving the 50 million increase in appointments—but we know, given the demand, that that is still not enough. That is where the Pharmacy First scheme will make a material difference, in expanding the supply of places where you can get the advice and treatments that you need.

I have seen some great examples of prevention, also mentioned by the noble Baroness, Lady Pitkeathley. Funnily enough, just yesterday I was talking to one of the doctors—I am sure that many of you know him—Sam Everington from east London. He was talking about how he was taking type 2 diabetes treatment totally out of the hospital environment, and the difference that it is making there. I have mentioned before the Redhill frequent flyers, looking at the people who are having the most hospital treatments and how they can get upstream of it all. Screening is important to that, which is exactly the point that the noble Lord, Lord Cashman, was making about the HIV screening programme. That needs to be welcomed—making sure that many more people are seeing that and understanding it.

The noble Baroness, Lady Taylor, talked about an active and healthy lifestyle and its role in social prescribing, which I completely agree with. I know that all noble Lords are on the same page here. The anti-smoking legislation that we are talking about is the biggest single thing that we can do towards that active lifestyle going forward.

I have mentioned it a few times, but I really believe that what we do in terms of technology and the app will be key to this, in terms of people’s access to primary care. People can use the app as their front door, from which they will be guided to the right service—to the 111 service—and then directly make an appointment, be it with a doctor or nurse or with a pharmacy. We have seen already that because people are reminded on the app, the numbers of “do not attend” have gone down by 10%, when people make their appointments digitally in that way. Of course, that means a much more effective use of time. Talking of time, I notice that I am out of it, so I shall quickly finish up. I see massive ability in the app for people to take control of their health and give us that sort of data, so people have the information and trust behind it.

I could have written the speech made by the noble Lord, Lord Drayson, myself—and I quickly acknowledge everything that he said about the problem. He said that we have great examples of innovation and really difficult cases of how to scale that up. I am exaggerating slightly to make a point, but when they have a great example in one place, they say, “Fantastic, it works in X hospital, how can we get it elsewhere?” It is like, “Here’s the telephone directory with 140 trusts and the buyers—good luck”. A lot of what I am trying to do, as the noble Lord, Lord Drayson, mentioned, is to look at how we scale that up, and have a way to buy sensibly from the centre and get that spread out. In the area of digital therapeutics, that is obviously vital.

Given the time, it is probably time for me to sum up, as I say. As ever, I shall write to noble Lords in detail. I have not answered the points that the noble Lord, Lord Cashman, raised about international cosmetic operations, and others. Likewise, I have not addressed the fracture liaison services, and the points made by the noble Baroness, Lady Donaghy, and the noble Lord, Lord Lexden, so I shall make sure that that is properly followed up in writing.

I finish by echoing what the noble Lord, Lord Brooke, was saying, which is to try to take this out of the Punch and Judy and make it as cross-party as possible—

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, does the Minister understand that I will have no time at all to respond?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I apologise: I will sit down this moment.

Adult Social Care

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Wednesday 22nd November 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

That is a good point. We have given the CQC responsibility for measuring local authority provision of care. Overall, we are seeing a high satisfaction rate—89%—and the number of complaints went down by 16% in the last year, so these things are making a difference.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, does the noble Lord agree that if we are truly going to fix the problem, as the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, said and as Prime Minister Johnson promised, we have to deal with the issue of self-funders, who are having to pay thousands of pounds over years without any support from the state above a very limited means-test level? When will the Government come forward with proper proposals to deal with this?

Children’s Hospices: Funding

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Tuesday 14th November 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath]

To ask His Majesty’s Government whether they are on target to provide £25 million for children’s hospices for 2023-24; and whether they intend to repeat this on an annual basis uprated in line with inflation and allocated directly to each children’s hospice.

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

The Government and NHS England recognise the vital role that hospices play in delivering high-quality, personalised palliative and end-of-life care for all ages. The children and young people’s hospice grant plays an important role in enabling that to happen. As such, grant allocations of £25 million have been paid in full to hospices in 2023-24. A further £25 million has been announced for 2024-25, with the funding allocation mechanism currently being worked through by NHS England.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister. He will be aware that 80% of the income that goes to children’s hospices comes from fundraising. With the cost of living problems we have at the moment, that is increasingly difficult, so the £25 million grant is a lifeline. Do the Government accept that making this grant permanent, so that hospices know about it going forward, and uprating it by the rate of inflation will give enormous help in stabilising the finances of children’s hospices?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

First, I absolutely recognise the noble Lord’s point that 80% of hospices’ funding comes through charities, so they represent an excellent resource for us. That is why we are pleased to confirm the £25 million for next year. The debate, which I am sure we will get into more later, is about making it a direct grant. We generally think that ICBs are best placed to take control of health services in their area, and it is about trying to get the right balance between making direct grants for the provision of places and saying that ICBs know what is best for their area and should cater for them in that way. I would be happy to talk further about that balance with the noble Lord.

Domestic Violence and Brain Injury

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Monday 23rd October 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what analysis they have undertaken into the links between domestic violence and brain injury.

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

In June this year, the Government, through the Medical Research Council, announced the £9.5 million traumatic brain injury platform, which will facilitate research and analysis of victims of brain injury following domestic violence. The platform is being led by the University of Cambridge, with the aim of revolutionising data collection and curation for TBI research. This will include data linkages between the underlying causes of head trauma, such as domestic violence, and health outcomes.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, I am very grateful to the Minister for his Answer. The death of Sir Bobby Charlton, that great footballer, has brought attention to the impact on sportspeople of head impacts in relation to an increased incidence of dementia. Professor William Stewart from Glasgow University, who has undertaken much of the work in the sports arena, is doing parallel work in relation to domestic violence. The scale of intimate partner violence, with between 20% to 30% of women affected, is huge, and 90% of those women may suffer brain injury impact. In addition to the welcome news about research, could I ask that the Minister’s department looks very closely at stepping up the research but also at increasing knowledge and awareness throughout the health system, in terms of prevention and treatment as well as research?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I add my condolences following the passing of Sir Bobby Charlton—a true great. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, for the work he has done in this space; it is another example of where being asked a Question forces us to look at the situation. The noble Lord made the point very well. Sport is in the news, and we have all seen the head injury assessment protocols, especially in rugby, but you are 11 times more likely to suffer a traumatic brain injury from domestic violence than you are from sport. When we get the findings from the research, early in the new year, I invite the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, to join me in ensuring that we have an action-oriented approach to make sure that the awareness and research supports a good action plan.

Paediatric Care: Wating Times

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Monday 16th October 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

That is a point very well made. as the noble Lord knows, that is one of my priorities and what we are trying to do with the app. There will be a number of launches, but already we are seeing hundreds of thousands of messages going out via the app to make sure that people are getting them on time. That has become the backbone of our communication system and will expand across the piece to try to cover exactly the points the noble Lord raises.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, in addition to the list raised by my noble friend, I would also mention hearing assessments for children who do not initially get the newborn hearing assessment. Does the Minister consider that one of the problems is that, around the table at the ICBs and integrated care systems, no one really has the responsibility of representing the interests of young people and children, and that this is reflected in the discussions they have on prioritisation? If he would agree to look at this, does he not think we need a way of ensuring that, around that table, experts in issues relating to children, infants and young people are brought to the fore?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

It is now the legal responsibility of the ICBs to appoint an executive lead in this area, but I think the point generally is a good one. As I said, as a result of this Question I have managed to spend some time looking into this and we clearly need to make sure it is a priority. One of the other things I have been talking about with the executive team of the NHS is how we can introduce this to the tiering measures so that hospitals are given special help in making sure that children’s wait time is one of the key priority areas, and we can put more resources and support towards that and more support where hospitals are not performing well in that area. I agree with the noble Lord.

Nursing Courses: Reduction in Applications

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Tuesday 19th September 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the causes of a reduction of 16 per cent in applications to nursing courses in England compared to last year, according to UCAS data for the 2023 application cycle.

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

The drop in nursing applicants reflects an expected rebalancing following unprecedented demand for healthcare courses during the Covid-19 pandemic. Nursing is still a popular career choice. Applicant numbers remain 15% higher than pre-pandemic levels. We also continue to see growth in the number of people pursuing nursing apprenticeships. This is not final data; figures are accurate as at the end of June application deadline, but the application cycle remains open through clearing until mid-October.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, I am very grateful to the Minister, but I think he would accept that any drop-off in applications is something to worry about, alongside the current drop-out rate for student nurses in the UK of around 24%. On that basis, surely the NHS workforce plan in relation to nursing is simply not sustainable. If the Minister does accept that, is there not a case for looking at writing off debt run up by student nurses through tuition fees if they commit to working in the NHS for a length of time?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

We are delivering on a number of routes to recruit nurses. Obviously, the graduate route is one route, which, as mentioned, is above pre-pandemic levels; apprenticeships is another route, which is proving very successful; and associates is another route again. So there are many routes in, and the result is that our applications are 20% up on pre-pandemic levels. We set ourselves a target of recruiting 50,000 more nurses by the end of this Parliament and we are currently on 45,000, so we are going to hit it.

National Health Service: Major Conditions Strategy

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Monday 18th September 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I thank my noble friend. I think that is covered by musculoskeletal conditions, which is one of the six major conditions we are looking at. Key to pathways is moving treatment away from individual silos to patient-based treatment that looks across the board. We know that 55 year-olds have, on average, at least one condition, and that 80% of those over 85 will have one, two or three of these conditions. We need to ensure that we look at this across the board, rather than in silos.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, I understand the rationale for identifying these areas, but how will the Government ensure that integrated care boards do not deprioritise services for other clinical conditions, such as eye health or kidney disease, for which there is huge demand in the NHS, involving many patients?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

The strategy tries to provide a road map for how we want to do this. It starts with prevention, which I think we are all agreed on, then early diagnosis, quality treatment and then living or dying well with that condition. It is a philosophy: the idea is that we get it right in these six major areas with 60% morbidity, and then we roll it out across the board in all other areas. It is a way of treatment, really—a way of looking at the whole problem, centred around whole patient needs, that we will roll out to other conditions as well.

Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete: Hospitals

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Wednesday 13th September 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

We have given guidance and are making sure that everyone understands exactly what they should be doing across the estate, whether we are the landlord or not. Clearly, there is a difference where we are the landlord because then it is our responsibility to do it. The prime example of this is that in the NHS Property Services GP estate—which is quite extensive—we are dealing with three RAAC GP surgeries. Where they are owned by other landlords, we need to make sure that they are on top of it and do the work without taking responsibility for it ourselves.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, the noble Lord mentioned 40 new hospitals by 2030, but he will be aware of the NAO report in July which made it clear that the original 40 target will not be met because of the substitution of the eight RAAC hospitals. Can the Minister tell us what is going to happen to the eight hospitals that were in the original programme and have now been delayed?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I hope and trust that most of us would think that it was sensible to prioritise the RAAC hospitals. That meant that we had to move some others to the right-hand side of the budget envelope, so to speak. It is not publicised very much, but we now have an agreement with the Treasury to move to five-year capital cycles, like the Department for Transport, which I think is a real positive because we need long-term planning cycles. We are busy developing a 2030-35 programme now, which those hospitals that the noble Lord mentioned will be placed in.

Children’s Health: Sugar

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Tuesday 12th September 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

Yes, the noble Baroness is absolutely correct, and that is why in the major conditions survey we have an ambition to reduce sugar intake by 20%, working right across the board and especially with baby food manufacturers. As I set out earlier, there are a range of things that we have already done: the sugar tax reduced intake by 46%, and the movement of the so-called “pester power” has made a big impact. We are seeing companies reformulate food. But it is something we will keep under review, and we will do more if we need to.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, I declare my interest as the president of the British Fluoridation Society. Coming to oral health, is he alarmed at the number of intensive dental treatments that children need because of the rise in decay? Could he update the House on any speed up in fluoridation schemes?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

The noble Lord is absolutely correct. As many are aware, the most common reason for six to 10 year-olds to go into an A&E visit is tooth decay. The noble Lord will recall that we passed an SI quite recently expanding opportunities for water fluoridisation. I know that is now increasing and I will happily follow up with the detail in writing.

Respiratory Syncytial Virus

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Tuesday 25th July 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

This is where nirsevimab is very promising, in that it gives six months’ protection. The problem with the previous jab is that it needed monthly injections and was only 50% effective. We are talking about 70%-plus effective now, which makes it more practical to have that sort of rollout. To date, we have been looking at the very targeted group of 75 year-olds only, particularly as each course costs £2,000 and has to be given monthly over the winter months. Now that we are opening up to this injection, which is much cheaper and lasts for six months, we can look at a broader range, and then there is a much more general education programme to go with it.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, will the Minister comment more generally on vaccine manufacturing in the UK, which comes into play here? During Covid, we learned that having our own vaccine manufacturing capacity was important. Is that the Government’s position going forward?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

The noble Lord is correct. I have two good examples of that, BioNTech and Moderna, where as part of commercial arrangements for us to buy large amounts of Covid vaccines from them they are making investments in UK plants. It will not always be practical, but those examples are billion pound-plus investments which I think we all agree are welcome news.

NHS Long-term Workforce Plan

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Tuesday 4th July 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

That is absolutely my understanding. For it to be a living document, people clearly need to have input and to be able to debate it in exactly the way we are doing here today.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, I remind the House of my membership of the GMC Council. The GMC has warmly welcomed the plan and its role in the expansion of medical education, the development of physician and anaesthesia associates, and the apprenticeship programme. I want to follow on from the point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton. The key point the GMC has made is that it is absolutely essential that there are sufficient clinical and educational supervisors, particularly for the F1 grade—newly qualified doctors going into postgraduate training. NHS trusts will have to release more of their doctors to provide this. Is the department in touch with and talking to the chief executives of NHS trusts to ensure that, as the pipeline develops, there will be sufficient clinical supervision? This is essential in order to get the quality of doctors that we need.

[Lord Markham (Con)]

The noble Lord is correct that it is essential. I emphasise that this is an NHS document, and the whole point is that it does not look to go “zoom” on recruitment. There is absolutely the understanding that this is a pipeline that has to be built brick by brick. There is no point front-loading the number of university places if, as the noble Lord mentions, there is no follow-up behind it in clinicians. The plan has been developed from the bottom up, including with clinicians and the trusts. There is an understanding that they need to build their own part of the pipeline towards this as well.

Mental Health In-patient Services: Improving Safety

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Monday 3rd July 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

We see that as being very much in the remit of the Health Services Safety Investigations Body. In fact, the first thing we are asking it to do is to consider how we can learn from those unfortunate deaths, where they have taken place, in terms of their care. The intention is that it will report back. It will start in October and will report back on that within a year, so that we can get some rapid findings.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, can the Minister return to the contribution from the noble Baroness, Lady Watkins? I note that the HSSIB has been asked to look at and develop a safe staffing model for in-patient services, but I re-emphasise the point made by the noble Baroness: you cannot look at in-patient services only; you have to look at the whole spectrum. Surely, he accepts that. For instance, with young people, the huge waiting times for CAMHS services, which eventually lead to some of them being out-of-area placements, is shocking. Surely, HSSIB should be looking at the whole picture. Can he also say how this will relate to the workforce plan? In other words, will the conclusions of HSSIB’s report go forward into the workforce plan, so that for the future we are developing enough people in the mental health field?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

As I am sure the noble Lord is aware, the second thing that the HSSIB is being asked to look at is exactly the point about how people are cared for as in-patients and how we can improve that approach. On staffing—again, we will debate this more tomorrow night following the Statement repeat—it is vital that there is a feedback loop in terms of the long-term workforce plan. That feedback loop, as I am sure noble Lords are aware, is built into it, so that when new data comes along, as will potentially be the case with the HSSIB, there is a way for that to feed back in again.

Mental Health Services: Huntington’s Disease

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Monday 12th June 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

In begging leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper, I apologise to the House as I should have declared my GMC board interest in the previous oral intervention.

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

NHS England has not made an assessment, as this is not data that is routinely collected or would be captured. Minister Whately has asked NHS England to look into reports that people with Huntington’s disease are being denied access to mental health services. NHS England is also in the process of developing a neuropsychiatry service specification, which will outline the approach to caring for patients with neurological conditions who require mental health support.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

I am grateful to the Minister for that positive Answer. He may be aware that the Huntington’s Disease Association has research which shows, first, that many people with that disease suffer from severe mental health issues and, secondly, that in many parts of the country NHS mental health services refuse to give mental health treatment to those people. In addition to the work that his fellow Minister is requiring from NHS England, will the department look at the training of mental health staff so that they have the capability to support people with Huntingdon’s disease who have mental health issues?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

Yes. The noble Lord has heard me say many times that I have really come to appreciate the Questions format for looking into areas that might otherwise not be seen. I thank the noble Lord and the Huntington’s Disease Association for bringing this to our attention. We have the steps in place but that is a good point about the training.

General Practitioners: Recruitment and Retention

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Monday 12th June 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I agree with my noble friend that recruitment and retention are key. To clear up the figures, the numbers I gave referred to all doctors working in GP surgeries, including people who have been qualified for five years and are just finishing off the GP element. Within that we absolutely need to increase training numbers. We already have 4,000 doctors in training, which is a record number, but we are looking to grow that. We are introducing specific actions on retention, such as the new changes to pensions.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, plugging the gap in relation to GPs will take many years. The noble Lord will know that in hospitals, specialist and associate specialist doctors have increased in number. Many would like to work in primary care but are prevented by bureaucratic barriers. Do the Government not think that one way to get an immediate injection of doctors into primary care is to get SAS doctors there and to lift the current barriers?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I completely agree that we need to look creatively and flexibly. We are on target to deliver 50 million more appointments, which is 10% more each day. That is through recruiting more staff. We have about 29,000 more staff in the GP work space, and that is using them flexibly and creatively.

Medical Devices (Amendment) (Great Britain) Regulations 2023

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Monday 5th June 2023 Grand Committee

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

My Lords, I am grateful to be here to debate these important regulations. Plasters for a scraped knee, blood tests that detect cancer, pacemakers, pregnancy tests and software that calculates insulin doses for people with diabetes—medical devices are used by millions every day.

The MHRA regulates medical devices in the UK, helping to ensure that these products are safe and perform as intended. Today, almost 2 million different medical products are registered with the MHRA for use in the UK, of which an estimated 500,000 different product types are regularly used in the NHS. The past few years have been a time of great change for medical devices. The Covid-19 pandemic saw big advances in the life sciences and diagnostics sectors.

This instrument is intended to give the medtech sector additional time to transition to our post-EU exit regime for medical devices. It extends the time during which manufacturers and importers can place CE-marked medical devices on the Great British market.

Since January 2021, manufacturers wishing to place a medical device on the GB market have been able to follow either the post-Brexit UK route and use a UKCA mark or the EU legislation and use a CE mark. Without this SI, this flexibility would cease on 30 June this year, with only the UKCA route available. This will impact an estimated 11,000 businesses that have registered medical devices with the MHRA with a CE mark only. These regulations will allow industry the flexibility to use either mark on medical devices for longer.

Continuity of supply is key and we recognise that the industry needs more time to prepare to transition. Without it, manufacturers of medical devices without a UKCA mark would have to stop supplying their products in GB from this July. This could mean some patients losing access to the devices that they need. I make it clear that this instrument has no impact on medical devices already on the market with a UKCA mark.

I will now take a moment to summarise the key changes. First, the instrument provides that medical devices compliant with the EU medical devices directive or EU active implantable medical devices directive with a valid declaration of conformity and CE mark can be placed on the GB market up until the expiry of the device certificate or 30 June 2028, whichever is sooner. Secondly, in vitro diagnostic medical devices, or IVDs, that are compliant with the EU IVD directive can be placed on the GB market up until the expiry of the device certificate or 30 June 2030, whichever is sooner. Thirdly, medical devices and IVDs, including custom-made devices, that are compliant with the EU medical devices regulation or the EU IVD regulation can be placed on the GB market up until 30 June 2030. This is in keeping with the Government’s response to the consultation on the future regulation of medical devices, which ran from September to November 2021.

I thank the SLSC for its thorough review of this instrument. The committee raised with the MHRA the important practical concern of whether firms will be incentivised to seek UKCA certification at an additional cost if CE certification is still accepted. Since January 2021, it has been possible to use a UKCA mark on medical devices. In the year ending March 2023, an estimated 9% of new medical products—around 71,000—were registered with the MHRA with UKCA marking, despite CE marking being an option.

Manufacturers will be prompted to consider shifting to using the UKCA mark through the transition period, including as their CE certificates expire. To transition to the UKCA mark, many manufacturers will need to use a conformity assessment body approved by the MHRA. The capacity of these approved bodies is currently limited. The MHRA is working proactively to build approved body capacity to allow a smooth transition to the UKCA mark. The agency engages regularly with the medtech sector and will continue to do so as it develops a future regime.

By supporting these regulations, we can help ensure that patients and the wider public benefit from continued access to quality, safe medical devices; that the UK remains an attractive market for manufacturers of medical devices; and that the wider medtech industry has adequate time to prepare for the transition to the future regulatory framework for medical devices. I commend these regulations to the Committee.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for his explanation of the statutory instrument. I do not oppose it at all, although the fact that the Government are doing it seems to reflect the serious lack of preparation and planning for the post-Brexit world in which we now exist.

I have two points to put to the Minister. The first is in relation to the 30 June 2030 cut-off date for the sole use of UK conformity assessments for medical devices placed on the market in Great Britain. My understanding is that the transition timelines to 2030 are causing significant confusion for companies, especially SMEs in the health tech and medical devices sector. I refer noble Lords to paragraphs 7.6 and 7.7 of the Explanatory Memorandum in particular, which begin to explore some of the complexities. I say this to the Minister: a clear timeline would be very helpful in giving clarity and certainty to companies.

My second point picks up the point that the Minister made right at the end of his opening speech about the MHRA’s capacity and its plans to reform the current regulatory system. I pay tribute to the MHRA’s work and am sure that it will rise to the challenge but the plan includes proposals

“to reclassify products, to increase information gathered at the point of devices’ registration, to strengthen post-market surveillance requirements to ensure better incident monitoring reporting and vigilance, and to introduce alternative routes to market”.

I can see the reasons for this, of course, but additional regulatory burdens for industry to supply the UK may mean that manufacturers will not bother and will focus on the EU and other larger, certainly more valuable, markets. The number of products made just for the NHS is very small indeed.

The Minister will be aware that the Chancellor talked in the Budget about the rapid, almost automatic approval of devices approved in markets such as the US. Is the MHRA signed up to this? It seems essential to build on current product recognition routes from the EU and rapidly explore building a UK product regulation equivalence route for the approval of medical devices to include other trusted jurisdictions, such as the US, for a greater proportion of products. I would be grateful if the Minister could comment on this.

I now come to the very serious capacity and capability constraints. Clearly, the MHRA has suffered from the reduction in its funding, especially on the devices front. I hope that the Minister will be able to say what is being done to improve it. Also, what philosophy will the MHRA adopt in future? Will it continue to oversee the regulatory process in relation to devices or will it take a more expansive, more centralised and certainly more expensive FDA-style approach, with the attendant recruitment challenges that that brings? It has been announced that one of the MHRA’s senior executives, Dr Laura Squire, will focus on devices and that there is a recognition of skill shortages but I cannot begin to overestimate the problem for UK companies if, in meeting the target that the SI now sets, they find that one of the major problems is a lack of capacity in the MHRA to provide the necessary speedy regulatory assurance that is required.

This comment can generally be made about the post-Brexit arrangements as a whole. If, by “taking back control”, the Government mean that they are serious about developing a new regulatory regime that serves the public interest and is effective in attracting industry to this country, they really must ensure that the regulatory system is both fast and effective. This is the major issue that must lie behind this SI.

National Health Service (Dental Charges) (Amendment) Regulations 2023

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Monday 5th June 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I will try to unpack that point a bit more. A dentist can say, “Okay, I can provide so many UDAs over the course of the year”, and they will be contracted to do that. But there is then the situation whereby some of them—I am not saying all of them—having that banked in and knowing that they have the money to afford it, might go out to try to sell private healthcare, underpinned by that money. At the end of the year, if they have not delivered all the UDAs, then, in effect, the only reason that they have not delivered it is because they substituted that for private care work, resulting in that underspend, which we do not want.

That is what the changes we talked about in May were about: removing the UDAs from those persistent underdeliverers, for want of a better word, and having the capacity to give them to those who are persistent deliverers, so that we can increase their amounts by 110%. This is very much about taking away from those who are not delivering and giving to those who can, and also having money in the bank for some of the more creative ideas that Minister O’Brien is very focused on, and that we look forward to delivering. I can say, hand on heart, that is not about banking underspend; this is about making sure that we can redistribute it. These price increases—which, again, are half the rate of inflation—are for funding a dentistry plan through which we want to improve access; that is fundamental to all of this.

I hope that noble Lords understand a bit more where we are coming from and understand that it is an 8.5% increase versus 17% inflation. We are looking to recycle that increase and put it into more access for those who are not receiving it at the moment. I hope that noble Lords will see this in a better light and that it is all about increasing access.

In conclusion, as the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, mentions, it is important that patients can access NHS dental care and that it is affordable. No price increase is easy but we hope it is seen that this is a proportionate increase at less than half the rate of inflation and only for those 50% of people who are in a better position to pay. Most of all, this is part of a package of measures, of which more will be announced shortly, about expanding access to NHS dentistry—because I completely agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Merron, that it is vital to the health of our children, particularly, but to all the people in England.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, I am very grateful to the Minister and for him attempting to explain the mystery of the dental contract, which has defeated many Ministers over many years. Explaining it in the way he did lends support to those who think we need a fundamental rethink about the way we remunerate dentists. I took part in some of the discussions with the profession which led up to the last contract and before that there was the contract in the 1990s. Essentially, it seems to me, each time there is a revenue envelope agreed with the Treasury on how much can be afforded for a new contract. The profession will always exceed performance in general because it is always based on a payment for a procedure, although efforts have been made to bring in incentives to treat the oral health of a person as a whole, more like the way in which GPs are remunerated. But at the end of the day, we still await a change in contractual arrangements which will provide the right incentives.

I am grateful to my noble friend for her support. She is right to say that at the heart of this is needing to know the Government’s aspiration for NHS dentistry. The Minister said that dentistry is an important part of the NHS, that he recognises the access challenges faced by the public and that we can await further announcements. I welcome that and hope that we can reset NHS dentistry on a much more positive route for the future.

In relation to charges, the contrast between the difficulty so many patients are having in getting access on the one hand and the 8.5% increase on the other is very difficult to understand and to support. Many of the people who rely on the NHS but do not get benefit support from the state are really caught by high inflation in general and dentistry charges is one more burden they have to face. That ultimately is what makes the proposal before us really rather worrying.

I hope this is an opportunity to reset our whole concept of NHS dentistry. I am very grateful to noble Lords who have supported the debate tonight and beg leave to withdraw my Motion.

NHS GP Surgeries: Purchase by US Companies

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Monday 5th June 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

The noble Lord is absolutely correct that it is all about supply and the quality of that supply. That is why, again, I am pleased to say that we have a record number of GPs in training. We can learn from innovative measures. I have been looking at an advanced draft of the workforce plan. The number of doctors in the most advanced medical systems in the world—those of Japan and the US—is lower per head of population than here, but the number of nurses is higher. They have altered their staff mix to get the optimum performance, and we should be open to these innovative approaches to get the best output.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, the noble Lord referred to the workforce plan. Can he assure me that, when published, it will be fully funded?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

This is absolutely the work that the Treasury is doing at the moment. Noble Lords have asked, many a time, when it is coming out. I think people will understand that part of the delay is making sure that, when the plan does come out, it really does work.

Branded Health Service Medicines (Costs) (Amendment) Regulations 2023

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Thursday 25th May 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, I am very grateful to the Minister. I think he has responded in a positive way, which is gratifying and, I hope, sets the foundation for a proper negotiation with the industry to get a jointly owned voluntary scheme which will incentivise global pharma to invest in the UK.

For me, two or three themes come from this. First, the noble Lord, Lord Lansley, talked about the curiosity of a fixed drugs budget, and I found it curious when the Minister said we need value for money on medicines in order to have resources for front-line services. But medicines are a front-line service. Why is it a good thing to increase the number of doctors and nurses and buy more medical equipment, but it is suddenly shock-horror to spend more on medicines? What would we do without medicines? It is curious. I have never understood why the Department of Health has such a downer on the medicines budget, when it has just said—and I declare an interest as a member of the GMC—that it wants to see a massive expansion in medical school places. Why is the medicines budget regarded as such a negative factor? It defies all understanding; of all the great advances we have made in healthcare, how many have been made through new medicines? And I have to say that new medicines are rather easier to get than extra staff.

[Lord Markham (Con)]

May I just clarify? I completely agree that medicines are of course valuable. My comments were not about not spending money on medicines but about getting value for what we spend on medicines—not the quantity, not the quality, but the price that we are paying. I think that all noble Lords would agree that we want to make sure that we are getting the best value on pricing.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

I fully accept that, but the sentiment that comes through is something that is shared throughout the National Health Service: that drugs expenditure, per se, is something to be held down. That is why, even though we have NICE, and bilateral negotiations—as the noble Lord, Lord Lansley, said—between NHS England and pharma companies in relation to specific drugs, at local level you have formularies and all sorts of mechanisms designed to ration medicines to patients. It is a curiosity about our whole approach. I agree with the Minister that one needs to start with a health budget. If we have—and I hope we do—new medicines coming on in relation to, say, Alzheimer’s, we will need to spend extra money in order to invest in them.

My second point—also made by the noble Lords, Lord Warner and Lord Allan, and my noble friend Lady Wheeler—is that it is very important that this is seen as a cross-government approach. If this is seen simply an issue for the Department of Health and NHS England in terms of the NHS budget, we will never get the kind of agreement that we need. If the Prime Minister is true to his word in terms of trying to reset the relationship—as the Minister implied—that is very welcome indeed.

This has been a very useful debate and I am very grateful to the Minister and other noble Lords. I beg leave to withdraw my Motion.

Pharmacies: Medicines at Home

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Wednesday 17th May 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

Yes.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, the Minister referred to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society guidelines, but those were issued in 2013—some 10 years ago. If it was so important, why has it taken Boots and Lloyds Pharmacy so long to phase them out? Surely, the Minister recognises, as his noble friend said, that there must be automated ways of delivering blister packs safely, thereby helping very vulnerable people to take the right medicine?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

As noble Lords are aware, I hold the technology brief, so, if there are automated ways, I am absolutely all for them. As I learned while researching this Question, this is a complicated area, given the number of permutations of pills that can be there in each circumstance. I have not seen those solutions, but I will look into them.

Childbirth: Black Women

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Wednesday 3rd May 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

First, through its local maternity and neonatal systems, every ICB is responsible for publishing an equity and equality plan. It will then be the job of both the CQC and the maternity surveillance system to measure them against that plan and make sure it is being kept up. Every area is different, but each needs a plan to address this issue.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, the Minister mentioned the Maternity Disparities Taskforce meeting on 18 April. Can he explain why the Select Committee was able to report that the task force had not met for nine months preceding the writing of its report? It does not look like the task force is putting much energy into this. Can he also say whether the work that is now being undertaken will take into account the fact that black women are regularly underrepresented in research and data, which leads to them being neglected in policy-making?

Long Covid

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Tuesday 25th April 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I thank the noble Earl for his question and for raising this subject generally; it is of key importance to all of us. In the area of long Covid, we are still learning. The reality is that there are a lot of situations where, thankfully, long Covid might end after 12, 14 or 16 weeks. For those reasons, it is not appropriate to define it as a long-term disability in legislative terms at this stage. At the same time, clearly, if people are suffering from conditions that mean they are unable to work for a length of time, they are absolutely able to get personal independence payments and the other payments that are due to them.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, the Minister will be aware that there is real concern about the rising number of inactive people of working age, due mainly to long-term sickness. I accept what he said about the time limits, but to what extent is he concerned that our failure to tackle long Covid appropriately will add to that labour market inactivity?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I take issue with the statement of failure to deal with it. We pioneered this space. We set up 90 specialist adult centres and 14 specialist centres for kids. We have invested £314 million and 80% of people are seen within eight weeks of being referred. That shows that we are taking this seriously. The noble Lord is absolutely right that we want to ensure that we get as many people into work as possible. In the case of long Covid, we are definitely doing that.

Diphtheria

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Tuesday 18th April 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

To be honest, I think the most effective method is to have the screening when people enter. Refugees come in from across the world so, to concentrate resources, it is best done on entry. The record speaks for itself; an 88% take-up rate is very high, comparable to that of the general UK population. I think we have got it right.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, coming back to the original Question, does the Minister accept that during the Covid pandemic the role that directors of public health played locally was critical to ensuring a co-ordinated and effective response? Does he agree that it is a great pity that the Home Office seems to have refused to engage with the Association of Directors of Public Health on this? Will he assure the House that the Home Office will start to engage with this organisation?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I am probably best placed to speak about how we engage with the Home Office, which we have been doing pretty successfully. I agree with the noble Lord about the role that those public health directors played during Covid and will play going forward. UKHSA is very much committed to doing that as well. As I said, our record on interactions with the Home Office speaks for itself—it is pretty good.

Stroke Rehabilitation and Community Services

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Wednesday 22nd March 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I thank my noble friend and agree. When I was looking at the waiting lists of those in need of physiotherapy, I was delighted to see that 80% of people were waiting less than 18 weeks. A plan is being put in place for musculoskeletal priority patients, so that they do not have to wait any more than two weeks. The urgency of putting these things in place quickly is recognised.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, the Minister talked about the national integrated service. He will be aware that rehabilitation services are very patchy and that, over the last four or five years, the amount of time that professionals have spent with individuals has got less. Will this new integrated care service bring us up to higher standards and see consistent standards throughout the country?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

During the pandemic this was one of the areas that probably did not get enough time, for all the good reasons that we understand. Therefore, I am pleased to see that these pathways are being set out so that we can get back to the standards that we need. I believe this is something that we will see happening now.

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

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Monday 9th January 2023 Grand Committee

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

I thank noble Lords, and declare what is a kind of interest, in that my wife, as many noble Lords have heard me mention before, is an international dentist. For my sins, I had the joy of helping her to fill out one of these international GDC registrations—so I have a little bit of knowledge in this space. It was not the most riveting exercise of my life, but I do have some knowledge.

I beg to move that the order be approved. International dental care and nursing professionals form a vital part of the NHS workforce and make an important contribution to the delivery of healthcare in the UK. The GDC and the Nursing and Midwifery Council are the independent statutory regulators for the dental and nursing and midwifery professions in the UK, and nursing associate professionals in England, respectively. They set registration standards for healthcare professionals who wish to practise in the UK.

International professionals who wish to practise here must meet the same rigorous standards that we expect of UK-trained professionals. We believe that it is in everyone’s interests that such professionals can use registration processes that are a fair test of their professional competence and that provide them with a clear route to registration. We are reforming the legislative framework for the regulation of healthcare professionals to better protect patients, to support our health services and to help the workforce to meet future challenges. Ahead of this, action is required to provide the GDC and NMC with greater flexibility to amend their international registration processes. This will help the regulators ensure that future international registration pathways are proportionate and streamlined, while continuing to robustly protect patient safety.

We plan to take forward all the proposals we consulted on and have made one small amendment to the order in the interests of patient safety. This relates to the requirement that a qualification relied on by international applicants to the dental care professionals register can no longer be a diploma in dentistry. This change introduces fairness and consistency between the UK and international routes, as UK-qualified dentists cannot apply to join the DCP register using their dentistry qualification. The GDC also expects that increasing the capacity of the ORE exam will support international dentists applying to join the GDC’s register. The amendment will allow the GDC to process applications from dentists to join the register as DCPs that are received up to the day before the order comes into force. This guarantees that any live DCP title applications submitted before the legislation is passed will be processed.

I draw the Committee’s attention to an issue raised by the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, which noted that the Committee may wish to seek reassurance on how appropriate safety standards will be maintained. The primary purpose of professional regulation is to protect patients and the public from harm. Any new or amended registration pathways will be based on applicants meeting the same standards of training and knowledge as UK-trained professionals. These standards are set by the independent regulators in consultation with the professions, the public and education providers.

The order provides the GDC with greater flexibility to apply a range of assessment options for international dentists and dental care professionals. The GDC will have much greater freedom to update its overseas assessment fee, content and structure, now and in the future, as these will no longer be set in legislation that requires Privy Council approval to be changed. The requirement that dental authorities provide the ORE is removed, allowing the GDC to explore alternative providers. Candidates who were affected by the suspension of the exam during the Covid pandemic will be provided with extra time to sit it.

I understand that the GDC will first consult on the new rules in its international registration processes, which will come into force 12 months after this order is in force. It plans to increase the capacity of the ORE exam and support greater numbers of international dentists to join the register more quickly.

The order also includes a charging power, so that fees can be charged to international institutions for the cost of recognising their qualifications. This will support the GDC in registering individuals either based on an assessment of their qualifications, skills and training or by recognising the qualifications they hold.

On changes to the Nursing and Midwifery Order 2001, the NMC will have the flexibility to use two pathways in addition to its test of competence, which will remain its primary registration assessment. The first is recognition of an international programme of education. The second is qualification comparison, whereby the NMC may ascertain whether an international qualification is of a comparable standard to a UK one. The draft order also clarifies the NMC good health and good character declaration requirements. I commend this order to the Committee.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, I first declare an interest as a member of the General Medical Council. I welcome this order and pay tribute to the NMC and the General Dental Council for their work—and particularly to my noble friend Lord Harris, who so eminently chairs the GDC.

As the Explanatory Memorandum makes clear, this is in a sense an overture for a suite of orders that the Minister will bring in relation to all the registering bodies, essentially to streamline the fitness-to-practise processes—in the case of the GMC, to enable the statutory registration of physician associates and anaesthetist associates—and to update the governance of these bodies.

I noted in paragraph 10.4 of the Explanatory Memorandum the statement:

“The Department’s view is that it is for the regulators as independent bodies”.


I ask the Minister to assure me that in those new arrangements and governance processes the Government are as committed to these bodies continuing as independent entities as they have said during the consultation process.

I also raise with the Minister the one area in which I think the consultation produced disagreement in relation to the proposals, which is in regard to the DCP register and the fact that, as I understand it, dentists qualifying overseas are not to be allowed to come on to the DCP register. This was raised in Committee in the Commons. The Minister said:

“The change introduces fairness and consistency between UK and international routes because UK dentists cannot qualify or apply to join the DCP register using their dentistry qualification in other countries.”—[Official Report, Commons, Delegated Legislation Committee, 6/12/22; cols. 7-8.]


The point I want to put, which has been put to me by a dental practitioner, is that we are biting off our nose. We are disallowing future working by dentists from overseas in the professions covered by the DPC. The dentist said to me:

“I am working alongside four experienced dentists, three in the UK under the Homes for Ukraine scheme and one under the Afghan resettlement scheme.”


If this change occurs in the future, I think that they may be covered by the current grandparenting provisions. However, if this were to happen in the future,

“their livelihoods and contributions that they could make to our society would be severely constrained. Even with excellent English, overseas dentists are waiting some time … to sit the overseas registration exam”,

which allows them to practise as dentists, although I know that the GDC is considerably improving their performance to allow them to. The dentist went on to say:

“In the meantime, if the GDC implements this restrictive measure, overseas dentists could then take employment only as trainee dental nurses”,


which is really wasteful of their abilities.

I would like further clarification from the Minister about why this is taking place. Given the workforce challenges in the dental profession at the moment, I question whether this is the time to implement a new provision simply because dentists in the UK cannot be recognised in other countries. Perhaps the Minister would be prepared to look at this again.

Invasive Group A Streptococcus and Scarlet Fever

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Monday 5th December 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I know that the health agencies in each country work very closely together. I do not yet have the specific details, so I will happily follow up on this. I know that they are working very closely because it is clearly an area of concern. Right now, we have not seen any evidence of a new strain, so we think that we are looking at existing strains. We are seeing this number of cases because of a general situation where there is less immunity in the population because of the isolation related to Covid.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, the Minister will be aware that, on social media, there have been a number of recommendations by health professionals that concerned parents should go to their GP to seek advice. Yet he will know that GPs are under considerable pressure. The GP patients survey showed that over a third of people did not see or speak to anyone when they could not get an appointment at their GP practice. What special arrangements are being made to ensure that parents can get through the system to get advice?

Children in Care: CAMHS Waiting Times

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Monday 5th December 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

Generally, we need to try to assess as many people as we can. I remember in my school there was a child in our class who we just thought was naughty and got into all sorts of trouble, but now, having had my own personal experience later on, I know that he had an autistic spectrum disorder. Clearly, he needed help and he was not assessed, so, as a statement, I agree that we need to increase assessment as much as we can for all these cases.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, the Minister has mentioned the provision of services in schools, which is very welcome, but does he accept that thousands of young people are now being home educated? Will he ensure that there is parallel support for those children in terms of mental health provision?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I agree. Arguably, if you are being home schooled, you probably need a lot of help. As the noble Lord will be aware, a lot of the services are related to social prescribing, where often people with mental disorders can be helped by involving them more in community activities. Clearly, those who are home schooled are much more likely to be isolated.

British Heart Foundation: Tipping Point Report

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Tuesday 8th November 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I am afraid I do not have information on the number of deaths. I will investigate this. I can say that I am sure that we have all seen a great increase in the number of defibrillators and we very much encourage this.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, that is very kind of the Minister. May I take him back to his response to his noble friend about vaccination? Would he, none the less, tell the House that the Government are absolutely convinced that the Covid and flu vaccinations have brought huge benefits?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I thank the noble Lord for giving me the opportunity to state this. I should have done so the first time around, so that is appreciated. As he says, vaccinations have brought huge benefits. We can all be proud to be the leading country on rolling them out, seeing the benefits that have come from it all.

Childhood Obesity

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Monday 17th October 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

My Lords, as the House will be aware, the tax on sugar in drinks has reduced consumption of sugar by 44%, so I totally agree with the sentiment. We have been successful in this. We are looking to improve in the area of sugary food, where we have managed to reduce some of that content by as much as 13%.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, has the Minister seen the startling statistics showing the number of economically inactive people aged 50 and over, much of which is caused by ill health, with obesity thought to play a major role. Given that, why on earth do the Government need to fudge around and review? Why do they not get on with an assertive campaign to tackle obesity?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I do not believe that we are fudging around. Noble Lords will see some very firm action. If the noble Lord goes into the supermarkets today, he will see a very big difference in how you see the food. There are big changes. I totally agree on the importance of this. I was the lead NED of the DWP, so I know how many inactive people there are in the workforce and how much better it will be for them and the economy if we can get them active and into work. I completely agree with the sentiment and the action that we are taking to drive it forward.

NHS: Winter Challenges

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Monday 10th October 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

The noble Lord is correct that care is at the centre of all of this. The flow of patients through hospitals is vital, and we are all aware that 13% of all hospital beds are held up by people who should be discharged into care. The £500 million investment is all about freeing up those beds. That will ease the flow right the way through the system—right the way into A&E, so that people can be discharged straight into hospitals, and right back to ambulances being able to discharge into A&E. I completely agree with the noble Lord; that is the focus of what we are doing.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, the noble Lord has talked about £500 million going in, but he knows that the efficiency savings target annualised is £12 billion. He also knows that unfunded inflationary pressures are estimated by NHS England to be £6 billion to £7 billion on top of this—and the Treasury is demanding further cuts in order to shore up its disastrous mini-Budget. Given that, how are the Government going to meet winter pressures, cut the Covid backlog and balance the books?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

We are facing unprecedented challenges, as the noble Lord states. We also have unprecedented investment, a plan for patients which is focused on the key elements that will make a difference—ambulances, the backlog, care, and doctors and dentists—and a group of Ministers who are focused on making a difference where it really counts. We have record investment, and a record number of doctors, nurses and people ready to face those challenges.