Flu Vaccination and Blood Test Cancellations

Debate between Lord Young of Norwood Green and Lord Bethell

Tuesday 14th September 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Young of Norwood Green (Lab)]

After my unfortunate trans moment, I shall now ask my question in all seriousness. Does the Minister recognise that this winter it is particularly important that we get the maximum number of flu vaccinations in this round? It is important every winter, but this winter somebody contracting flu and then Covid is in serious danger.

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, I reassure the noble Lord that we have strained every sinew to deliver the most impactful flu vaccination programme in the history of the country. We have expanded the range of the flu vaccination and the number of vaccinations available. The NHS depends on us keeping people out of beds. That is why we are highly focused on this.

NHS Digital: Primary Care Medical Records

Debate between Lord Young of Norwood Green and Lord Bethell

Tuesday 8th June 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, engagement with the Royal Colleges, the BMA and GPs on a one-to-one basis has brought about a system that has a national data opt-out and a tier 1 opt-out with GPs. This is fully explained in all our materials and there has been a campaign to raise awareness among patients. We are taking a brief pause to ensure that patients have almost as much time as they could possibly have to make the decisions they would like to make. That is a wise decision in the circumstances.

[Lord Young of Norwood Green (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, by coincidence, I received a text from my GP surgery yesterday inviting me to click on a link if I wished to opt out of having my data shared. I do not. Does the Minister agree that data sharing plays a vital role in advancing diagnosis and cures for a range of diseases and illnesses? Of course we need to ensure that there is public trust on anonymity. Can he give us more information on that and on cybersecurity?

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

I am grateful for the noble Lord’s anecdote. It is no coincidence that he got the text yesterday. We have energetically promoted this opportunity to patients and we are grateful to those who have engaged. He is entirely right. Patient data played a critical role in the development of the shielding list during Covid, in the recovery clinical trials programme and in the vaccine priority list. Clinical data is essential for patient safety. That is why we are modernising the system by which we access it.

Covid-19: Government’s Publication of Contracts

Debate between Lord Young of Norwood Green and Lord Bethell

Thursday 11th March 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

I am grateful for my noble friend’s remarks. Absolutely—the public expected us to act, not to push paper. I pay tribute to officials from the Department of Health and in particular from the Crown Commercial Service and the MoD who stepped forward in unbelievably difficult circumstances, particularly around PPE, to transact on a very large amount of extremely complicated and very difficult procurements that ensured that our front-line healthcare workers were safe.

[Lord Young of Norwood Green (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, I declare an interest as I am on the advisory board of a local clothing manufacturing company in Haringey in an unremunerated capacity. Can the Minister explain why a high-quality SME capable of supplying reusable, RFID-tagged PPE gowns which can be laundered 70 times at a cost of 80p per wash—compared to disposable gowns which cost £10—and which are better for the environment and support local employment has not been given a contract?

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, I personally share the noble Lord’s frustration over the subject of reusable gowns. It strikes me as sensible and good for the environment for us to be able to use reusable gowns wherever we can. However, those who do the procurement understand fully what is required of a fully sterile gown and, unfortunately, with the amount of moisture and liquids that are involved in operations and in the front-line healthcare service, quite often it is not possible to have reusable protocols in place. That is why we use so much disposable PPE kit. It is a huge regret to me, and I share the noble Lord’s frustration. If he would like to write to me with details, I would be glad to pass them to the right people.

Puberty-blocker Drugs

Debate between Lord Young of Norwood Green and Lord Bethell

Thursday 10th December 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Young of Norwood Green]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the administration of puberty-blocker drugs to children under the age of 16.

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

My Lords, the Government are committed to providing the best possible care for children and young people accessing gender identity services. Earlier this year, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence was asked by NHS England to undertake a thorough review of the latest clinical evidence on the use of puberty suppressants and cross-sex hormones. An independent group, under the chairmanship of Dr Hilary Cass, will make recommendations about the existing clinical policies based on this evidence.

[Lord Young of Norwood Green (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, I wish to make my position clear: I am opposed to all forms of transphobia and transgender discrimination, but this should not override the rights of women as defined in law. I welcome the Minister’s statement on the guidance and the research, and I am sure he agrees with me on the importance of the NHS guidance. Does he also recognise that this needs to be ported? What actions will the Government take to ensure that local services, such as CAMHS, are sufficiently resourced to provide psychological support to all children and young people with gender-related distress?

[Lord Bethell (Con) [V]]

My Lords, the noble Lord puts his point extremely well. I share his concern for those with trans or gender concerns of any kind. I reassure him that provision of gender identity services at all levels is an absolute priority for the NHS. In the recent court case, we have seen a clarification of the guidelines attributed to some of those services, but it in no way mitigates against or suggests a lack of commitment on the part of the NHS to such services.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Lord Young of Norwood Green and Lord Bethell

Monday 21st September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

It is a war, that is why we are focused on how we manage extra resources such as the Nightingales. We have put in new systems and artificial intelligence for algorithms to help us with our triage. We have invested £450 million in A&Es, which will include building new holding bays. As my noble friend rightly points out, these need development. We have invested in 5,000 DnaNudges and other point-of-care devices to give front-line care workers the diagnostic help they need.

[Lord Young of Norwood Green (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, I welcome the statement from the Minister, but to be candid, when I hear talk about Moonshot, I will believe it when I see it. What members of the public want is the ability to access Covid tests in places such as Bagshot, or Aldershot, or any other testing centre. The reports we get are that they cannot get appointments. Schools are closing because they cannot get test results, classes are being sent back; therefore, it is not just the number of tests, it is how long they are taking to turn around. To say we are surprised by the surge, when we were opening schools, does surprise me.

I have two other points on which I would welcome a response from the Minister. One, raised by noble Baroness, Lady Barker, is about domiciliary care. It is essential that PPE is available. It must be the right quality; we have had examples where large batches have been ordered from Turkey and China and they have been no good. We want quality PPE that is available.

[Lord Young of Norwood Green (Lab) [V]]

I am addressing all these questions to the Minister. My last point is this: will there be testing capacity in general practice surgery?

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, we are introducing a new scheme for bringing testing capacity straight to the desks of general practice, and the results from that initiative are promising.