Excess Deaths in Private Homes Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department of Health and Social Care
Baroness Pitkeathley
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Excess Deaths in Private Homes
Baroness Pitkeathley Excerpts(1 year, 4 months ago)
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Lord Markham (Con)
My noble friend makes a challenging point. This will be a subject of the inquiry, on which I look forward to hearing more.
Baroness Pitkeathley (Lab)
My Lords, does the Minister agree that one of the elements here may be the lack of support to family carers, who are often the element most involved in providing care at the last stages of life, and in particular the lack of willingness to engage with family carers, who are the people who know most about the condition? I have lost count of the number of family carers who have said to me, “They just didn’t want to know my side of this element.”
Lord Markham (Con)
I thank the noble Baroness. We have spoken before about this in the House. I agree with the general point that family carers, probably more than anyone, have great knowledge to bear, and so absolutely that should be an important component.