Hospitals and Care Homes: Hydration
Debate between Baroness Fookes and Earl Howe(13 years ago)
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Earl Howe
My Lords, the noble Lord is right to express concern about urinary tract infections. There is a programme of work designed to bear down on that, as there is for hospital-acquired infections generally. He is absolutely right to raise that concern, which has a direct bearing on the Question on the Order Paper and the need for proper hydration at all times.
Baroness Fookes
My Lords, could I suggest to my noble friend an experiment being done by a hospital that I know of—namely, that within 24 hours each patient should be assessed as to whether they are likely to have any difficulties drinking or eating? When that is found to be the case, they have specially marked jugs and trays in red, which immediately alerts staff on duty to the need for extra care.
Health: Breast Cancer
Debate between Baroness Fookes and Earl Howe(13 years, 1 month ago)
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Earl Howe
Yes, I can, my Lords. It is very important that doctors should feel absolutely free to refer patients. I remind the noble Lord that it is a right for patients, under the NHS constitution, to expect to be referred within the laid-down waiting time maximum periods, so we are very clear that there should be nothing to interfere with doctors’ clinical judgment in this area.
Baroness Fookes
My Lords, am I right in thinking that screening comes to an end after a certain age for women? If that is correct, does it make any sense when the incidence of breast cancer increases with age?
Earl Howe
My Lords, my noble friend is right that we have historically targeted women in a certain age group for breast cancer screening. We are looking to see whether that age group should be widened but it is generally true to say that screening is more cost-effective in older women. It has certainly been the case that the breast screening programme over the past number of years has increased the detection of cancer and saved an estimated 1,400 lives a year.