Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Self-Isolation and Linked Households) (England) Regulations 2020

Baroness Brinton Excerpts

Thursday 7th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Brinton (LD) [V]]

My Lords, the Minister has outlined the severity of this third wave of coronavirus and, with over 1,000 deaths yesterday, it is now all too evident in large parts of the United Kingdom. But I disagree with him, along with my noble friend Lord Greaves, about whether this is less serious than in March. The signs were all there well before Christmas and once again SAGE, with other medical and scientific experts, as well as politicians of all parties, said “Please lock down” before Christmas. Regretfully, once again, our Prime Minister delayed and, despite our wonderful clinicians and support staff, we now see the overwhelming of our NHS in London and the south of the country, with other regions following a few short weeks behind. Today, the Health Service Journal reports that hospitals in the Midlands are likely to be overwhelmed within two weeks. We can see the numbers going up in hospitals all over the country.

All eyes are now on the Government, as vaccines begin to be rolled out. With a more transmissible variant spreading across the country, the infection rate spiralling and hospitals under severe pressure, the Government must use this new lockdown to provide time to roll out vaccine support for those who need it, and to build trust with the public to control the virus, so that we can have a realistic route map back to safety and certainty for the future.

As a nation, we have never sought to vaccinate so many people in such a short time. To ask hospitals, GPs and other health trusts to manage this while they simultaneously try to prevent the NHS being overwhelmed is, frankly, extraordinary and worrying in equal measure, especially in light of the difficulties with barriers to using people such as retired doctors and nurses as vaccinators. Can the Minister say how other volunteers and the military will be used to get to every small town and village in the country to deliver the vaccine 24/7—and I do mean 24/7? If we need to get to 2 million a week before the end of January, and to 30 million to 40 million by Easter, it has to be at that level. It must be available at the most local level and preferably on every high street, whether in a surgery, pharmacy, village or town hall or sports stadium.

So far, all the evidence points to an urban and suburban process, managed by the NHS for the territory it knows, that assumes people have access to private transport. There are reports of people in Cornwall being asked to travel to Bristol for a vaccine, of hundreds of over-80s queueing for hours in the wet and cold to get into surgeries that are too small, and of short-notice delivery cancellations creating chaos and work for hard-pressed NHS staff.

I heard today of a vaccine hub where cars filled with over-80s queued for about 40 minutes beyond the appointment time because there was no space in the car park. Many of the elderly were too frail to even walk from the car park into the centre. Lots of elderly people who seemed cold were shuffling across the car park and then across a road to get into the hub. The wi-fi was down, so registration had to be done on paper, and it was very difficult to socially distance. That all-important 15-minute period of recovery time to check for adverse reaction was in a marquee where the heaters had broken down. The NHS workers and volunteers were all extremely helpful in doing all they could to improve the situation, but the issue was the logistics, including not understanding that elderly people need extra support before and after—as well as when—they receive their injection.

Why is the logistical expertise of the military not being used to its full extent? They demonstrated with the building of the Nightingale hospitals, and then with mass testing in Liverpool, that their expertise is second to none. We need this organisational burden removed from the NHS. Why has Public Health England announced that there will be no deliveries of vaccines on a Sunday? That immediately reduces the capability, when we have plenty of volunteers available to deliver the vaccine into arms. Why are only large pharmacies being used, rather than providing volunteer support to enable them to manage vaccination in small rural areas and villages?

The Minister rightly welcomes the approval of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine as a game-changer but, as my noble friend Lord Scriven has pointed out, the virus will be with us for a long time. Even yesterday, the Prime Minister was still talking about being out of this by the spring. The Government’s communications with the public have been woeful—always trying to give us a bit of good news, which people inevitably cling to when they are worried. Alternatively, the Government have made decisions too late, making people cross and confused, as with the announcement of this lockdown, which once again meant frustration and further exposure to the new variant virus for children, school staff and their families.

We know from epidemiologists that it is likely that we will have future variants and outbreaks, whether small or large, whether here or abroad, for a long time. We must continue to have a full test, trace and isolate system available to respond to this—preferably locally based, as we know that local trace experts and isolation support are much more effective than call centres. Our own data over the last nine months has shown that.

Countries that have implemented successful test, trace and isolate systems have seen fewer cases and far fewer deaths, and built the trust needed to encourage a culture of voluntary compliance with the rules. An isolation policy will work only with effective long-term local test and trace systems, which have to continue to be in place. Yet the Government are silent on how they are to be used, not just during lockdown but after it. Even after many millions of people have received their vaccine, it will still be necessary to keep infection numbers low if we are to lift restrictions successfully and return to normal life. Can the Minister confirm what plans there are to maintain test, trace and isolate for the longer term, so that we do not repeat the problems of the last 10 months? Will the Government look at paying full wages to those on lower incomes who are self-isolating, to help them manage and not leave home?

This morning, I asked the Lord Privy Seal if she could help with the problems faced by care homes, now that insurance for designated Covid settings is almost impossible to get. Without indemnity cover, they cannot take Covid patients; she referred me back to the noble Lord the Minister. NHS Providers is begging the Treasury to help, as hospital beds need to be freed up, but the Treasury is refusing. Please can the Minister take this up with the Chancellor as a matter of extreme urgency to help with this problem, which is not of the care homes’ own making, and which is now blocking beds in hospitals at exactly the time when they need them released at a time of national crisis? Please will he keep me up to date with progress?

On these Benches, we believe that people want to do all they can to bring Covid-19 under control to keep those who they know and love and our communities safe. I ask the Minister: will decisions, messaging and communicating with the public be more honest, timely and realistic? The vast majority of people want to do the right thing. We all need to work together in this national crisis, and together come out of this third national lockdown back into a safe and secure future, where the safety net is in place in case there are future outbreaks.