Health: Eating Disorders

Debate between Lord Truscott and Lord Bethell

Tuesday 19th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

The noble Lord puts it extremely well. Instances of those in pregnancy who have eating disorders are particularly heartrending and disturbing. He is right: sometimes, the condition is so extreme that it needs virtual full admission. We have put six new beds in the south-east, five in the Midlands, five in the east of England and 10 in the north-east. We are putting a massive amount into mental health budgets and this provision covers exactly this kind of disorder because we recognise that more resources are needed. I look forward to further announcements of spending in this area.

[Lord Truscott (Ind Lab) [V]]

My Lords, as the Minister said, the statistics outlined by the health survey are of obvious concern, but the survey, published last December, does not cover the period of the Covid pandemic. Has the Minister any evidence that eating disorders have increased during the pandemic? If so, what is Her Majesty’s Government’s response?

Covid-19: Variant

Debate between Lord Truscott and Lord Bethell

Wednesday 13th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

I am terribly sorry but the noble Baroness is not right about that chronology. Through backward tracing and by looking at historic data, we were able to identify that the variant had been present in Kent as far back as September, but it was only through backward tracing that we were able to figure that out. Further analysis was commissioned on 18 December and NERVTAG concluded that the variant was much more transmissible than others in circulation. Before that, we relied on hunches. When the science changed, so did our decisions.

[Lord Truscott (Ind Lab) [V]]

Andrew Miller, president of the Australian Medical Association in Western Australia, said:

“Until we get more data that shows that AstraZeneca is as good as the others, the scientific and medical risk that you take is that you won’t get herd immunity. The political risk is that you will get a good vaccine for the rich and a not so good vaccine for the poor.”


Is it not just a fact that the AstraZeneca vaccine is better than nothing but it will not stop the pandemic—especially the new variant?

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

I categorically reject that analysis. All the vaccines are effective. The MHRA and the JCVI have been explicit about that, and I invite the noble Lord to look at the data.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Lord Truscott and Lord Bethell

Monday 21st September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, all those resident in local authority hostels or accommodation will be tested regularly to prevent the transmission of this disease.

[Lord Truscott (Ind Lab)]

My Lords, will the Minister commit Her Majesty’s Government not only to an independent inquiry into their handling of Covid-19 but to a public inquiry? The Government need to look at the massive human cost of the pandemic as well as the financial one. Have the many billions of pounds spent on the pandemic been spent wisely?

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, I am afraid that any decision about an inquiry is way beyond my pay scale, but the noble Lord is entirely right: there will clearly be massive lessons that we need to learn about the ways in which we do government, and health, and manage our public health. Those lessons should certainly include the economy since the impact of this disease on it has been profound. We will be living with those consequences for some time to come. We need to learn how to protect the economic future of our children when dealing with these kinds of national epidemics.

Anti-obesity Strategies

Debate between Lord Truscott and Lord Bethell

Monday 14th September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

The noble Baroness is entirely right: we do rely on the advice of charities, academics and experts in eating disorders. We do not do anything without full consultation with those who have expertise in eating disorders. We review the campaign regularly, and we will be taking into account the view and feedback of those experts, charities and patient groups as a part of that review.

[Lord Truscott (Ind Lab)]

My Lords, what action are Her Majesty’s Government taking to tackle eating disorders, especially among the young, whose mental health may have been severely impacted by the current Covid-19 pandemic?

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, the Government are committed to ensuring that everyone with an eating disorder has access to timely treatment. That is why we set up the first waiting times to improve access to eating disorder services for children and young people so that, by 2021, 95% of children with an eating disorder will receive treatment within a week. Figures show that in Q1 of 2020, 87.7% of children with an eating disorder received treatment within one week in urgent cases, and 86.8% within four weeks.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Lord Truscott and Lord Bethell

Thursday 10th September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

I shall be extremely careful about how I reply to that question because I would not want to come across as testy. The noble Lord is right: it is a challenge to strike the right balance between guiding towards testing those who truly need tests because they have symptoms and trying to get those with less of a priority away from testing. I reassure him that, even under current circumstances, 90% of those who apply for a test get one within 20 miles and the average distance to travel is six and a half miles. Therefore, even though some of the anecdotes about being recommended to travel long distances might seem extraordinary, the lived reality of most people who go for tests is that they are quick, near, accurate and effective.

[Lord Truscott (Ind Lab)]

My Lords, will the Minister confirm that Her Majesty’s Government will not let people die for ideological reasons? Are the Government prepared to buy a vaccine from any country, provided that it is safe and it works?

Covid-19

Debate between Lord Truscott and Lord Bethell

Wednesday 8th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell]

The Government’s approach to the epidemic is to emphasise the three main pillars of our strategy: hygiene, social distancing and isolation. They are based on clear science and evidence. The issue of masks is highly contested. There is possibly a benefit from wearing masks—that is why we have put in place the requirement to wear masks on public transport—but the science remains clear that they are not a replacement for hygiene, social distancing or isolation. On that, we are clear.

[Lord Truscott (Ind Lab) [V]]

My Lords, the fall in cases is welcome, but is it not becoming clearer that in aiming to create spare bed capacity in the NHS at the expense of the elderly, Her Majesty’s Government ended up putting saving the NHS ahead of saving lives? Another example of that is the strict criteria applied to hospital admissions. Should these criteria not be immediately relaxed to save lives?

[Lord Bethell]

The noble Lord make his point well; however, I did not hear all of it. We are working extremely hard to increase the number of admissions in hospitals and all parts of healthcare. We are trying to restore confidence in the healthcare service to address public concerns, and I appeal to all those who have appointments or who are feeling poorly to take the opportunity to phone 111 and book themselves into hospitals or into the appointments they need, because we desperately need people to return to the NHS.

Covid-19: Test and Trace App

Debate between Lord Truscott and Lord Bethell

Monday 22nd June 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell]

The noble Lord, Lord Mann, is entirely right. One of our learnings—and a point made by many noble Lords—is that, ultimately, the most effective response is the local one. We are at a moment in the epidemic when local outbreaks are what we fear most. The way to handle those is through local contact and tracing. That is currently done by a large tracing team, putting in telephone calls which prove extremely effective. The uptake of the isolation protocol has been extremely high.

[Lord Truscott (Ind Lab) [V]]

Can the Minister tell the House how much this technical fiasco has cost taxpayers? If the Minister does not have the answer to hand, could he please put it in writing to noble Lords and place a copy in the Library?

Covid-19: Response

Debate between Lord Truscott and Lord Bethell

Tuesday 19th May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell]

It is the responsibility of the Department for Education to provide schools with PPE.

[Lord Truscott (Ind Lab)]

My Lords, I find the Government’s Statement very complacent. Sadly, for many in care homes, these initiatives have come too late. I have three questions for the Minister. Given the increasing disquiet over Her Majesty’s Government’s response to Covid-19, will the Minister commit to a public inquiry on the part of the Government?

I return to two other questions asked earlier, which the Minister did not answer. When will the proposed testing, tracking and tracing system go live? Lastly, are the 21,000 contact tracers sufficiently trained in his view?

Covid-19: Vulnerable Populations

Debate between Lord Truscott and Lord Bethell

Tuesday 12th May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell]

My Lords, the advice from the Government is that the clinically extremely vulnerable should continue to be shielded until the end of June. That is under review at the moment. We are seeking to have more refined and more targeted guidance after the end of June, and we will publish that before the end of that month.

[Lord Truscott (Ind Lab)]

My Lords, can the Minister reassure those healthy over-70s that they will not be obliged to self-isolate against their will? Will he also comment on evidence that many care homes were forced to admit Covid-19-positive patients, so causing this pandemic to spiral out of control in those homes?

[Lord Bethell]

I reassure the noble Lord that the Government are not obliging healthy over-70s to self-isolate. However, the guidance is clear: they are a vulnerable group and the disease targets those who are older. They are therefore advised to avoid all social contact, if necessary. That advice is based on the science of the disease, and we will seek ways of trying to ameliorate that once the disease has fallen back.

Covid-19: Contact-tracing App

Debate between Lord Truscott and Lord Bethell

Wednesday 6th May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell]

My Lords, the anonymised data-sharing is protected by the security protocols that have been agreed as part of the app’s governance. That governance is overseen by the ethics board, chaired by Professor Sir Jonathan Montgomery from University College London, who previously headed the Nuffield Council on Bioethics.

[Lord Truscott (Ind Lab)]

My Lords, can the Minister tell the House what lessons Her Majesty’s Government have learned from South Korea and Taiwan, for example, which have been far more successful than the UK in testing, tracking and tracing, and hence reducing death rates? South Korea, with a population of 52 million, has had 252 deaths and Taiwan, with a population of 24 million, has had six deaths. Can the Minister explain to the House why the UK’s record looks comparatively so poor?

[Lord Bethell]

My Lords, I am in touch with both the South Korean and Taiwanese Governments, and we are greatly inspired by the throughly professional way in which they have gone about epidemic management. I commend both those countries and their efforts. However, the epidemic arrived in Britain in an incredibly fulsome way. The Chief Medical Officer has been very clear that if that had happened in either of those countries, their responses would have been similar to that of Britain. I defend the Government’s response to the epidemic.

Covid-19: Medically Vulnerable People

Debate between Lord Truscott and Lord Bethell

Wednesday 22nd April 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell]

The noble Baroness is entirely right. The prospect of long-term shielding for those most vulnerable is of deep concern. That is why we are pressing so hard on the disease, through the lockdown, to try to get R as low as possible. We will be putting in track-and-tracing measures to ensure that R can be held down and those in lockdown can be freed from their confinement. In terms of volunteers, the response has been incredible. It takes time to turn around all the offers of help that we have, but we are moving extremely quickly to do that.

[Lord Truscott (Ind Lab)]

My Lords, is there not a danger that extending the lockdown for only certain groups might unintentionally discriminate against elderly and vulnerable people? Might a better way forward be mass testing, tracking and tracing, as the Minister mentioned, plus the rapid development of a vaccine? If the Government are going to continue to isolate vulnerable people, will the Minister agree that this should be subject to a view by an individual’s GP?

[Lord Bethell]

The noble Lord makes a reasonable point, but I confirm that it is the virus that makes this discrimination, not the Government. Certain demographics are even more vulnerable than others. It is an unfortunate fact that those who are medically vulnerable are singled out by the virus. We have to put in place measures to protect and safeguard their lives.