Covid-19: Helplines

Baroness Thornton Excerpts

Thursday 19th March 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell]

The noble Lord, Lord Alderdice, is entirely right: one of the features of this virus is its extremely unpredictable nature. The way in which it reacts in different people at different times is extraordinarily diverse. Some people appear to be completely knocked out by it; some have the lightest possible symptoms. There seems to be an alignment with age. We are all enormously thankful that the young and very young seem to be blessed by having the light symptoms. We are all extremely concerned about the old, but it is not even as simple or as linear as that. A huge investment is being put into understanding the virus better. I am pleased to report to the Chamber that international co-operation on that is extensive and positive, and that British researchers are at the leading edge of pulling together that data.

[Baroness Thornton (Lab)]

My Lords, this is a question on co-ordination. Yesterday, I saw the script that 111 is using right now; it was perfectly intelligible and sensible. However, it was out of step with what was on Public Health England’s website. I am sure that is a timing issue but it is rather important, because it will increase anxiety. Moreover, the digital exclusion of the elderly and vulnerable is a really serious problem because suggesting to people that they should go online in the first instance is entirely inappropriate for people who can manage a phone, but that is about it. Many of us are probably related to people in that position, so having plans to deal with that—as suggested by the noble Baroness, Lady Watkins—is very important.

[Lord Bethell]

The noble Baroness, Lady Thornton, is right that the Government have moved incredibly quickly, particularly in the last two weeks. The pace of the virus has been faster than initially expected. The response by some of our international partners has in part conditioned our response, and we are working extremely hard to ensure that all parts of the machine keep up with each other. There will inevitably be occasional glitches, but I pay tribute to the NHS, Public Health England and, in fact, the entire Whitehall machine for moving incredibly quickly and, under the circumstances, demonstrating a relatively high level of consistency in the advice as policy has changed.