Mental Health Services for Rough Sleepers

Lord Watts Excerpts

Monday 21st March 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

I thank the noble Baroness for those questions on what are very important issues. Our plans to transform NHS mental health services as part of the long-term plan include investing an additional £2.3 billion a year by 2023-24, which we think will enable an extra 2 million people in England to access NHS-funded mental health support by 2023-24. On targeting much further down, we are hoping that some of the work we do through community mental health frameworks will give 370,000 adults with serious mental illness greater control over their care and support. We have to look at this in a multifaceted way, and we are looking at psychological therapies, improved physical healthcare, access to employment support, trauma-informed care and support for those with self-harm and substance misuse problems. We announced £30 million to establish these specialist mental health provisions, and we want to learn from those to see what the best way is of rolling out more in the future.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, have the Government carried out an analysis of why there has been a massive increase in the number of people rough sleeping on our streets? What does the analysis say, and what are the Government going to do about it?

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

Indeed, in some measures, the number of rough sleepers in every region of England have actually decreased. There were 2,440 people expected to have been sleeping rough on a single night in autumn 2021, which was an eight-year low. We have also seen some of the problems associated with experiencing homelessness, such as suicide, fall, but that is not a sign to get complacent. That is why we want to roll out this programme. We have exceeded the target of 20, and we will continue rolling it out.

Eating Disorders

Lord Watts Excerpts

Tuesday 1st March 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

This is an opportunity to pay tribute to the work of Beat and to remind noble Lords that it is Eating Disorders Awareness Week, and we should be aware of these issues. One of those issues is understanding the different types of eating disorders. Eating disorders is a catch-all phrase and we have to understand that there is: anorexia nervosa, which is more common among people aged eight and over; bulimia nervosa, which tends to affect people at 12 or 13; binge eating disorders, which affect people in adolescence and also their later years—their 30s and 40s; and other atypical eating disorders. It is really important that we understand this and, when we look at training for the general workforce and specialist mental health workforce, that they are more aware of the issues of eating disorders.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, if a GP identifies that, for example, a child has an eating disorder, many times they want to refer them to see a psychiatrist. There is an acute shortage of child psychiatrists. What are the Government going to do to speed the process up? It is no use just identifying the problem if you cannot resolve it.

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

The noble Lord is absolutely right; it is not just about understanding the issue but resolving it. Before the pandemic, we were meeting the targets of ensuring that people with disorders were seeing a specialist. Sadly, as a result of the pandemic, we have fallen behind. One of the reasons we are investing extra money in community health for adults and children now is to ensure that we catch up and make sure that people who are suffering with eating disorders are seen by clinicians who understand the issues and the differences between types of eating disorders, so that they are not misdiagnosed or given inappropriate information.

Covid-19: Lateral Flow Tests

Lord Watts Excerpts

Thursday 10th February 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

I am sure the noble Baroness will appreciate that you always have to get the right balance. There will be those who do not want to stay at home and who want to return as quickly as possible, and you also have to consider the wider economy. We cannot shut down the whole economy for a small section of people. What we have to do is make sure that they are looked after. I have recently seen a submission about what we are going to do in future with people who are now termed clinically vulnerable and extremely vulnerable, and we will be publishing that in detail. In fact, just recently I approved a letter to the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, will the Government learn the lesson of Covid and look at supply chains and the need to stockpile equipment in the future?

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

I could bore for Britain on supply chains. It was one of the academic subjects that I looked at, globally. As we become more economically efficient and supply chains become more efficient, they become more brittle. We saw how the shops were affected by lockdown and by China, and much of the manufacturing, as part of that supply chain, started in China. Companies across the world have looked at different options. Some have looked at sourcing elsewhere; some have looked at stockpiling; some have looked at reshoring; but all those options add considerable costs to the supply chain. Some have even looked at intermediary solutions, including warehousing in cheaper countries and then bringing the goods in closer. I am very happy to go on at length to the noble Lord at any time, but not now.

Care Workers: Professional Register

Lord Watts Excerpts

Monday 10th January 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

I am sure all noble Lords will agree with those sentiments, and that is why we have published the White Paper on social care. We are investing an additional £5.4 billion over three years and we want to make sure it is a career that people feel valued in. We also have £3.6 billion to reform the social care charging system, to make sure that all local authorities can move towards paying care providers a fair rate for their care, and a further £1.7 billion to begin major improvements across the whole social care system in England.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, I suggest that the Minister introduces a national pay system that reflects the work that these people do and rewards them for their efforts. Unless he addresses the issue of pay, the rest will not make any difference.

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

As the noble Lord says, pay is one of the important issues when people consider what career to take, but also how much that career is valued. One of the reasons we are looking at this voluntary register, but also the skills passport, is to understand the current layout of the sector. There are a number of different qualifications at the moment and before we consider what should be mandatory and make sure that everybody is aligned in terms of qualifications, we want to understand the care force out there. Some 56% of those in the care sector, for example, do not have any qualifications and we want to make sure that we address that.

Covid-19: PCR and Lateral Flow Test Providers

Lord Watts Excerpts

Monday 13th December 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

I am sorry to disappoint the noble Lord; I do not personally monitor this, but I will get the figures and write to him.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, can the Minister explain the wide difference in price from these companies? It seems to the general public that some are ripping clients off, but the Government do not seem to want to do anything about it.

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

One of the issues the Government have is that the GOV.UK website is pretty rudimentary. As this market develops over time, more and more people will look to private comparison websites—noble Lords have mentioned a few of them. It is also important to distinguish between the different types of PCR test. Some companies charge far more but offer a much quicker turnaround than those whose service might take a few days.

Medical Schools: Training Places

Lord Watts Excerpts

Monday 13th December 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

I thank my noble friend for the question, but there are record numbers of medical students in training. There are currently more than 35,000 doctors in undergraduate training and 60,000 doctors in foundation and speciality postgraduate medical training. On the international market, we follow strict ethical guidelines, in line with the World Health Organization guidelines.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, is it not the case that the extra doctors that we were promised by 2016 will not be enough to compensate for the number of doctors who will retire? Can the Minister say something about what he is doing about the number of doctors who are going to retire shortly, which will cause even more of a shortage?

NHS: Elective and Cancer Care Backlog

Lord Watts Excerpts

Tuesday 7th December 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

The noble and gallant Lord makes the very important point that we have to look at the whole way we configure our system of healthcare in this country. Many things that were previously done in secondary care can be done in primary. In fact, some of the things that were done in GP surgeries can now be done in the community in diagnostics centres or even in pharmacies, as many people who have had their booster recently will acknowledge.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, coming back to the point made by my noble friend Lord Rooker, when will the Government get back to Labour’s figure so that people who are waiting in pain will know when they will get treatment? When will he get back to those historic levels?

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

The Government have announced the NHS long-term plan. We have had a budget increase. We are focusing on a number of different issues. One of the challenges over recent years has been the ageing population. That should be a positive thing and we want to make sure that we look at the new health challenges that we face for the future.

Covid-19 Update

Lord Watts Excerpts

Wednesday 10th November 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

In many cases, that decision will be left to the individual trust or care home. We know that a number of care homes and different trusts are already concerned about unvaccinated visitors. Many will know already that during the previous lockdowns it was very difficult to visit your loved ones in hospital. I was not able to see my father between January last year and when he died last September. It was incredibly challenging, but we understood the reasons given by the care homes.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

The wearing of masks is a public health issue. It should not be left to individuals to make a decision on whether or not to wear a mask when they are coming into contact with vulnerable people. Can the Minister explain why the Prime Minister takes the view that he does not need to wear a mask?

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

I thank the noble Lord for pressing on that point, as a number of others have. I am assured that the Prime Minister and his team followed all the rules that they were required to follow in that hospital, whether about face masks or otherwise. This is what I have been informed and it is all I can report.

Young Carers: Health and Well-being

Lord Watts Excerpts

Monday 13th January 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford]

This is a hugely important point, because obviously sometimes young carers are not necessarily identified by health professionals. In 2019 the Department for Education carried out a review of the educational outcomes of children who need or have had need of a social worker, and obviously young carers are identified in that cohort, where they represent around 3% or 16,500 of them. The department has identified the barriers that they face and the best practice needed to help leaders and front-line practitioners overcome them. Work is ongoing in how we respond to that. In addition, the DfE has worked to improve information sharing to safeguard vulnerable children, which would include carers, to make sure that they are picked up and given the support they need and thus ensure that they have the best life chances.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, how do the school attendance records of children who are carers compare with the average?

[Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford]

The noble Lord has asked a specific statistical question which I want to provide an accurate answer to, so I will write to him.

Drugs: Methadone

Lord Watts Excerpts

Monday 28th October 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford]

Heroin-assisted treatment can be an effective way of treating individuals for whom other opioid substitutes have not been effective. It is open to local areas under the existing legal framework, but given that funding decisions on drug and alcohol treatment have been devolved, it is for them to decide whether to commission HAT services based on their assessment of local need.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, are the Government seriously suggesting that they could be spending £1 billion but do not actually know whether they are?

[Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford]

No, the Government are suggesting that a PHE review in 2017 found that drug and alcohol treatment services are currently as good as or better than international comparators. They are cost-effective and the outcomes are good. However, we recognise that the number of deaths at the moment is too high, which is why the Home Office has commissioned a review of drugs policy by Dame Carol Black, and there will be a summit in Glasgow before the end of the year to find out what more can be done to improve these services.