Covid-19

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Thursday 22nd October 2020 Commons Chamber

[Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD)]

There has been, quite rightly, much discussion of the mental health impact of covid during the pandemic. I have spoken about it on a number of occasions, largely with regard to children and young people and those working on our frontline in health and care, but today I will focus on two groups who have been largely forgotten and overlooked by the Government and are suffering the mental health impacts of the pandemic immensely: those excluded from financial support and unpaid carers.

We had a welcome statement from the Chancellor earlier, but those excluded from support since the start of the pandemic were yet again overlooked. We know well that those are largely self-employed freelancers and small business owners, especially in hard-hit industries such as the arts, the events industries and exhibitions, as well as many others. The financial struggle and anxiety is taking its toll on their mental health. They are struggling to put food on the table, support their families and keep a roof over their heads. ExcludedUK has already reported four suicides and large-scale insomnia and depression among those affected. My hon. Friend the Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone), the chair of the gaps in support all-party parliamentary group, wrote to the Health Secretary and the Chancellor on that on 16 July but has yet to receive a response. We requested financial support for that group, a boost in mental health services and support for debt counselling charities.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

The hon. Lady is right that mental health is one of the core issues, but there are many issues. Does she agree that one thing the Government could do is provide a phone service that people could contact to get guidance on what to do? People are left to their own devices and, if that continues, clearly we will have very serious times.

[Munira Wilson]

The hon. Gentleman, as ever, makes a valid point. That is why I have been calling for additional support, whether signposting or helplines. We actually need a cross-Government strategy on mental health going forward.

On those who have been excluded from financial support, as the Chancellor remains intransigent on that point, I urge the Minister first to speak to her Treasury colleagues and ask them yet again to think again. Will she also step up mental health support for those who have been excluded? The mental health impacts will cost us a lot down the line.

The other very important group is the more than 9 million unpaid carers who are the forgotten heroes in our society. I hope the Minister agrees when I say that our health and care systems would be overwhelmed if it were not for the work of unpaid carers in our society. The Exchequer saves billions thanks to their work. Four out of five unpaid carers have taken on more caring responsibilities during lockdown, and almost two thirds have seen their mental health worsen during the pandemic. Many have lost their access to respite care, which has affected their ability to earn money. She will be aware that carer’s allowance is pitifully low at £67 a week.

One thing that would help respite care and day care centres to reopen—Homelink in my constituency is taking all sorts of safety measures and is desperate to reopen—is access to regular testing. I raised that in the Chamber with the Secretary of State for Health on 7 July. He told me that a plan was in place and he would write to me about it. He never wrote to me, but I did not chase him about it because I heard that testing had been made available to day centres—briefly; I have now heard that it is no longer available. My council has spoken to colleagues in the Department of Health and Social Care, who say that they cannot offer tests to respite care day centres. Those officials say that they are following SAGE priorities, and that suggests to me that there never was a plan. I would be grateful if the Minister could clarify that point. This is an issue for the Department, and I urge her to address it urgently, because respite care is a lifeline to so many unpaid carers. I also ask the Minister to speak to her colleagues in the Department for Work and Pensions about addressing the woeful level of carer’s allowance. How can anyone be expected to survive on the equivalent of £1.91 an hour?

The Chancellor previously said to the public,

“you will not face this alone”.

Can we say, hand on heart, that unpaid carers and those whom the Chancellor has excluded from financial support have not been left alone? They feel abandoned and their mental health is suffering, so I urge the Minister to address these injustices.

Covid-19 Restrictions: South Yorkshire

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 21st October 2020 Commons Chamber

[Edward Argar]

I am not aware of any systemic issue that is seeing false data entered, but if my right hon. Friend is happy to give me more information, I am happy to look into it for him. There can, though, be other factors beyond universities or a young population. There can be a range of things in a particular area that drive a particular spike, but I am happy to look at the information he has got.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I completely understand the reasons for this statement. Government action for Yorkshire is similar to the action we have taken in Northern Ireland with the circuit breaker. Simon Hamilton, chair of the Belfast chamber of trade and commerce, has stated, in tandem with 23 other organisations that “fewer and fewer” will survive each lockdown and

“more jobs will be lost”.

The Department for the Economy accurately estimates that those job losses could be 100,000. With the prospect of longer dole queues and poor prospects for re-employment, what discussions have taken place and what assistance can the Minister give to the devolved Administration in Northern Ireland?

[Mr Speaker]

The statement is about South Yorkshire. I would have thought that the hon. Gentleman would have had a little bit of something about Yorkshire. Minister, see what you can pick out of that about Yorkshire.

Covid-19 Update

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 20th October 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

Yes, absolutely; that is an incredibly important strand of work. It is being led by the Business Department, but I keep a close eye on it and, in fact, had an update on it this week, which I would be very happy to discuss with my right hon. Friend.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I thank the Secretary of State for all that he is doing. There are many underlying health conditions, including respiratory illnesses. I declare an interest as chair of the all-party parliamentary group on respiratory health. Given that respiratory illnesses are one of the leading causes of death in the UK—that includes covid-19, of course—what reassurances can he offer me and those people who suffer from them that referrals for severe asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other respiratory illnesses will not be forgotten but will be maintained, and that further unnecessary deaths will be avoided?

[Matt Hancock]

We work very hard on this point. To answer both this question and a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Altrincham and Sale West (Sir Graham Brady) that I did not did not answer, of course we take into account the overall health impacts: direct covid deaths; the impact of covid on our hospitals, which means it is sometimes harder to treat other illnesses, although that is now much better than it was in the first wave and the NHS is very much open; and the impact of measures on other conditions. The best way through this from a health point of view, taking all these things into account, is undoubtedly to keep the virus down, but also to try to ensure that the NHS, right across all four nations of the UK, is open for all other conditions and that if someone is asked to go to hospital then it is the safest place for them to go.

Covid-19 Update

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Programme motion
Monday 19th October 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

Nobody has stood up for the pubs and hospitality businesses in Bury more than my hon. Friend, and he makes an important argument about outbreaks. We also have to look at the backward contact tracing data, and at where measures to bring the virus under control have worked. I will happily have a further discussion with him to try to make sure that we can get the right set of measures and the right balance.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I thank the Secretary of State for his regular attendance in the Chamber and for his responses to questions. Will he outline the procedures and criteria for the vaccination schedule, bearing in mind that news reports state that a fully tested vaccine will be available in the near future? Does he agree that frontline workers in shops need to be part of the list of priority recipients, after the medically vulnerable, NHS staff and those in the caring profession?

[Matt Hancock]

Of course, no vaccine technology is certain, but the longer we go without bad news, the better things are, because we would hear if things had not gone well, so things are therefore progressing. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation produces a prioritisation based on clinical advice and its clinical judgment on who ought to get the vaccine in what order. This is a really important question to ensure that we roll out the vaccine fairly and on an agreed basis. I will ask the Committee to look at the hon. Gentleman’s specific request to make sure that is taken into account. The Committee’s advice is very important for the Government decision that I hope the whole country can then get behind.

Public Health: Coronavirus Regulations

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 13th October 2020 Commons Chamber

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I am very happy to speak in this debate. This pandemic is devastating to so many: those who have lost loved ones, those who live in fear of leaving the house, those serving in the NHS, frontline workers, those worried that their jobs are to be lost, those worried that they will not get medical treatment quickly enough or those who do not seek it for fear they may have to go to the hospital, parents of children who should be doing exams this year and are beyond stressed, teachers who know the need to educate children but are concerned for safety—I cannot think of any group of people in the whole United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland who are not affected by this in some way.

I think of a lady I know, who attends and looks after children and babies at the Ards Elim Church, and who has had devastating news. As we know, the hospitals and so on closed down to testing in Ards, particularly for those with cancer; the papers today referred to 3 million people waiting for appointments and assessments. This lady, unfortunately, has had devastating news of advanced cancer, so I am conscious that it is for that generation of hard-working, straight-talking, Queen-and-country-loving, God-honouring prayer women that I support the Prime Minister, the Minister and the Government in what they are trying to do and in their attempts to keep as many things running as possible.

I am conscious of those waiting for a CAT scan or MRI scan and of those with normal—if normal is the right word—health issues who are waiting for treatment. I also think of those with Alzheimer’s; the Alzheimer’s Society has sent me some figures showing that one in four of all coronavirus deaths between March and June were people with dementia. It also referred to the 92 million extra hours spent by family and friends, and the diagnosis rates in August 2020 that fell below the 66.7% target—it was nowhere near reached.

Perhaps when the Minister sums up the debate he can give me some succour in relation to cancer rates and Alzheimer’s. The Alzheimer’s Society has also said it would like to see nominated visitors to care homes classified as key workers, so that they can get help with PPE and infection control. Those may seem like difficult tasks, but the fact is that it is not enough just to keep people alive. The quality of that life must also be essential.

Turning very quickly to Northern Ireland, we have one of the highest rates in Europe in Strabane, but we also have some incredibly low rates of community transition in my own area of Strangford. That shows the difference there can be in a small region such as Northern Ireland, and it shows how we must be localised in how we respond to these things. I conclude by saying this: we must press on in education, press on with hospital appointments and press on with business. We must press on in a new way—the safest way possible for everyone in this great United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with space and respect for all—but we must still press on.

Coronavirus Act 2020 (Review of Temporary Provisions)

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 30th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. We have been working together to try to find a way through this that works both for the House and for the circumstances. There has been a change in the way that schedule 21 is used, and I believe that has reduced some of the concerns in this area, but we will continue to keep it under review.

I will say something about mental health later in my speech. There are measures on mental health in the Act that have not been used and that we are not seeking to renew. I hope that reassures colleagues that we take a proportionate approach to these measures and that although we want to make sure we have the measures we need, when we do not need them we will set them aside.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I thank the Secretary of State for all he has done. I have spoken to him many times about these issues. I am sure that he, like me, has received lots of emails outlining concerns about the stripping back of health and social care. The Government must ensure that such powers can be used only when absolutely necessary and not to save funding while leaving people without appropriate care. Will the Secretary of State please reassure the House as to how the power will be regulated and reassure us that people’s health and social care rights will be protected?

[Matt Hancock]

Yes. The powers in the Act have allowed us not only to ensure that people get the care that they need and that that care is targeted where necessary, but to allow people to get better and faster access to care when they are in hospital and have to leave, by ensuring that a care package is there. In their totality, the measures on care in the Act have without doubt helped us both to protect the NHS and to support social care, and crucially to support the patients who need that care. We will therefore of course take them forward, because of that positive overall effect.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sammy Wilson (East Antrim) (DUP)]

In the face of pictures from hospitals in Italy and reports from China of the number of people who were dying from this disease, this House gave the Government untrammelled power in this Act to take action to protect the public; but I have to say, Minister, that that power has been used in a way that has frustrated many people across the country. Their ability to work, to socialise, to go to school and to travel has been affected. Often the measures taken have been seen as illogical, inconsistent, contradictory and unnecessarily damaging.

[Jim Shannon]

Very quickly, one of the issues that has come to my attention—the number of emails has been enormous—is to do with the enforcement of vaccines on those people who do not wish to have them. I personally would take such a vaccine, but others will not. Does my hon. Friend agree that when it comes to vaccines, it should be by choice only?

[Sammy Wilson]

Well, of course, that is an issue that the Government will have to address in the future, if ever a vaccine is found.

The important thing is the frustration that many in the public are experiencing at present. It might not have been totally wiped out, but I believe there certainly would have been far more scrutiny if this House had not just had the ability to listen to statements or ask questions, but had actually had the real sanction that if the Minister did not make a consistent and competent case for the measures that he was introducing, they could be voted down. That is why the demand that there be effective scrutiny by this House is important.

We have listened to what the Minister has said, but I am not convinced that we will see that effective scrutiny; because if I heard him right, first, it would only be for matters that are significant. Now, who will make the judgment on whether the issue is significant? I can tell the Minister that, if I own a business and it is decided that it could be closed down, that is significant; yet we do not know who will make that final decision.

The scrutiny will only be for issues that are national. Sixteen million people are currently affected by a range of local decisions and local restrictions. That, to me, is as bad—half the nation, half the country, is affected—yet according to the Minister’s definition today that would not be covered because it would not be a national decision. And, of course, scrutiny will happen where possible. I suppose if the Government wished to escape scrutiny they could always say, “But this has suddenly emerged,” even though the data could have been collected days and days before. So who will decide whether it is possible to have the time to do this?

Covid-19

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Monday 28th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

As my party’s health spokesperson, I have been asked to highlight many issues in the short time I have to speak. However, I also need to stress the effect that the pandemic continues to have on struggling businesses in my constituency. Only this morning, in my office, before I left for the airport, I had a very upset lady with a viable dog kennel business, who had her best year ever last year. With all that has happened, and people unable to holiday, she has no bookings, yet she is precluded from the rate relief scheme in Northern Ireland. She is not considered part of the hospitality sector. I know that is not something the Minister can answer—it is not her responsibility—but I wanted to put it on record.

I have spoken up for local papers and I was interested to read in The Times today the correlation between higher turnout in elections and areas that have a thriving local paper. That underlines the importance of local papers and the need for the Government to support them and keep them running.

We are asking people to go into what has been called “lockdown light”. We are asking them to give up freedom and their normal lives. Yet as they look around, people are dying—loved ones are dying—not of covid-19, but of other illnesses. Let me read out an email that touched me—I hope it will help in the debate. This person wrote:

“I have already lost one member of my immediate family in May due to the NHS’s reduction of normal service. My elderly next-door neighbour has now been diagnosed with spinal cancer which was not detected for months leaving him unable to care for his wife with advanced dementia. A work colleague is in the last weeks of his life yet can only see one member of his young family until his final hours. Just today I learned a close friend’s father has been given a year to live with cancer that was not diagnosed due to the fear clearly portrayed by the media.”

It is lovely to see the hon. Member for Worsley and Eccles South (Barbara Keeley) back in her place. I wish her continued health and strength.

Some people resent lockdown. They have seen too many loved ones slip through the net, with the response being, “Coronavirus problems”. We all accept that it is hard to deal with and unprecedented, but with a vaccine not on the horizon, we cannot have another six months of screenings not taking place, of surgery being cancelled and people dying when this time last year, they would have lived. As always, it is nice to see the Minister in her place. I ask her what can be done to ensure that we can safely screen, test and operate as needed in the next six months, which will be a critical time for us all.

The Alzheimer’s Society has asked me to raise the valid concern that people with dementia have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. I can vouch for that in my constituency. Over a quarter of all coronavirus deaths between March and June were of people with dementia. We cannot ignore that. There is real concern that social distancing guidelines have left people with dementia without social interaction, causing distress and a loss of cognitive skills. The prevention of visits to care homes is having a very detrimental impact on the lives of people with dementia. With dementia, early diagnosis and intervention is key and family contact is vital.

Another massive concern of mine is mental health. In Northern Ireland, we have the mental health legacy of the troubles, which has been exacerbated by the social distancing regulations, not simply for the young, but for people of all ages and every class. A new study in The Lancet found that a significant number of covid-19 patients suffered neurological and psychiatric complications. Those conditions range from mood disorders such as mania, depression and psychosis to more complex conditions such as cognitive problems and catatonia. During the peak of the crisis in April, 30% of adults reported high levels of mental distress compared with 20% in 2017-19. Also, 34% of adults reported a high level of anxiety. Those things cannot be ignored.

The Centre for Mental Health predicted that if the economic impact of the covid-19 crisis was similar to that of the post-2008 recession, we could expect half a million additional people to experience mental health problems, with depression being the most common.Those figures are frightening and worrying.

Analysis of Public Health England’s latest data on the indirect effects of covid-19 found that 8.4 million people are now drinking high-risk amounts, up from 4.8 million in February, so alcohol is an issue as well. We need funding for mental health. That is critical and needed urgently. We need to consider the long-term effect of every restriction that we place on those who struggle daily.

I put on record my thanks to the NHS staff of all sections. What they have done is not only an inspiration to us all, but has shown the best of British. There is a responsibility on the Government to gain from what they have learnt. Hairdressers have changed their arrangements and have no waiting rooms, with appointments made and people waiting in their cars. If hairdressers can do it, health can do it as well. We must do better, and we need to do so before one more person dies needlessly when their life could have been saved.

NHS Hysteroscopy Treatment

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Thursday 24th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Ms Lyn Brown (West Ham) (Lab)]

I am really grateful to you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and it is really good to see you.

This is the eighth time I have raised in this House the way women are treated by the NHS when they need a hysteroscopy. I have always had a sympathetic hearing. Throughout the years, I have given voice to an ever-growing group of courageous women, the Campaign Against Painful Hysteroscopy. I am sad to tell the House that the issue has not been resolved. Far from it. Women are still being denied the right to provide informed consent and having their pain ignored while a procedure is performed, and some suffer lasting trauma as a result of a hysteroscopy.

For those who do not know, a hysteroscopy involves a camera probe being inserted into the womb, past the cervix. Sometimes, a sample will be cut away from the woman’s womb for examination—it will be cut away from her womb. A hysteroscopy can be an important tool for diagnosing the causes of common problems, such as unusually heavy periods, unexplained pain or bleeding. It can enable life-saving treatment to begin, or provide invaluable reassurance that a problem being experienced is not caused by cancer.

It is true that for some women, sometimes, a hysteroscopy causes only minor discomfort, but for others it causes agony and a sense of violation, because hysteroscopies are often carried out in NHS hospitals with little or no anaesthetic. Frequently, women are simply advised to take paracetamol or ibuprofen for the pain.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

First, may I say how nice it is to see the hon. Lady back in the Chamber? I am very pleased to see her.

Someone very close to me is going through this particular thing at the moment, so I understand exactly what the hon. Lady refers to. Does she agree that some women’s experience of this treatment is truly extreme, and that pain medication must be made available for those who need it, as opposed to stopping and sometimes redoing the procedure?

[Ms Brown]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. It is a delight to see him in his place, too. I will come to the lack of pain relief for women and just how damaging that can be for them, not only in that moment but often for their ongoing healthcare, because it creates fear and a barrier.

Massively improved information leaflets have been produced by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, in collaboration with patients. I am also pleased to note that the NHS website, which I quoted from in the last debate, has now been changed to recognise that some women experience severe pain and a general anaesthetic should be an option. However, many women having a hysteroscopy are still not being given this essential information. They still are not having the risk of severe pain discussed with them properly, and they still are not having the option of a more effective anaesthetic offered freely. In truth, these women cannot give genuinely informed consent, and therefore their rights as patients are being violated.

Telling the story of your trauma is very difficult. The excellent women at the Campaign Against Painful Hysteroscopy are still a relatively small group. Despite that, the campaign has collected 1,500 personal accounts of painful hysteroscopy. Previously in this House, I have told the stories of women who have been held down as they tried to stop the procedure, who have collapsed from shock, bleeding in hospital car parks afterwards, and who have been criticised by doctors for their supposedly low pain thresholds because apparently “most women are fine with it”. Today I will raise the voices of three very recent hysteroscopy patients, because I want the Minister to know that this barbarism is still taking place.

Rebecca had a hysteroscopy last year. She was given no information before her appointment, received no warnings about severe pain and was not offered sedation. Fortunately, Rebecca had had a similar painful procedure before, so she asked for pain relief and was offered a local anaesthetic injected into her cervix. That, in itself, was painful, but she hoped beyond hope that it would be worth it, and the doctor reassured her that the procedure had been massively improved. Instead, Rebecca said:

“As the probe was inserted I struggled to believe how severe that pain was. As the biopsies were taken… I could feel my insides being cut away and I had absolutely NOTHING to address the agony of it all! I was trying not to scream, very close to vomiting and fainting. In trying to contain my screams I couldn’t speak—if I had, the screams would have ‘escaped’ and I knew that they would be deafening. The procedure seemed to go on and on. It was barbaric and, as I hadn’t been given any warning, I felt panicked and unsafe.”

After they were “finished” with her, in her words, she says that no one cared that she felt faint, was close to tears and was struggling to walk. Rebecca tells me she felt conned, and not treated as a human being but

“an object to cut bits out of”.

Axial Spondyloarthritis

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Thursday 17th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Tom Randall]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right. What I and her husband have experienced is sadly not a rare phenomenon.

The name axial spondyloarthritis will be unknown to many, if not most, people, but it is not uncommon. It affects about one in 200 of the adult population in the UK, or just under a quarter of a million people.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on bringing forward this debate. I spoke to him this morning to seek his permission to intervene. He is aware of the massive eight-and-a-half-year delay in diagnosing this awful illness. I read an article in my newspaper back home in May about a young mum in Northern Ireland and her battle. We must all be determined to secure extra funding so that early diagnosis can happen, for adequate research into this life-changing debilitating disease, and for more support groups. In Northern Ireland, we have only two—one in Belfast and one in Londonderry—for a population of 1.8 million spread across the whole Province.

[Tom Randall]

In last night’s Adjournment debate, the hon. Member for Pontypridd (Alex Davies-Jones) said that she felt like a proper MP after the hon. Gentleman intervened on her in an Adjournment debate, and I echo those sentiments. He is completely right about the delay, which I will come on to in a moment, and about the role that support groups can play in showing that people are not alone in having the condition and in providing moral and practical support. I hope that now awareness has been raised, there will be more than two groups in Northern Ireland in due course.

As I was saying, there are a quarter of a million people with AS, which makes it more prevalent than multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s combined. Hon. Members may say, “Well, so what?” AS is incurable and it can be managed through medication, physiotherapy or exercise, but what makes it worthy of particular concern and debate is, as outlined earlier, the delay to diagnosis.

The symptoms of AS can be difficult to diagnose. I was passed between neurologists, geneticists and other specialists as various conditions were ruled out, before a rheumatologist finally diagnosed AS when I was about 20. I was very lucky that I had to wait only a couple of years before getting my diagnosis, but on average, there is a delay of eight and a half years between the onset of AS symptoms and diagnosis in the UK.

Covid-19 Update

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Thursday 17th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

Yes, I agree with both points made by my hon. Friend.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

The Secretary of State has announced some £2.7 billion extra for the NHS. Can I seek confirmation: under the Barnett consequentials, how much of that will come to Northern Ireland? The news of the progress on a vaccine is a very positive step. Will he again confirm that no vaccine will be available on the NHS that has not been rigorously and completely tested? With that assurance, will he outline whether he considers children and education as a priority for the vaccine?

[Matt Hancock]

On the NHS funding, the Barnett consequentials will operate in the normal way for the hon. Gentleman’s constituents in Northern Ireland and right across the country. When it comes to the question of the vaccine, of course, we will allow a vaccine to be put in place across the board only when it is safe. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is one of the most respected and high-quality regulators in the entire world. It is that body that will make the decision on whether it is safe to license. Of course, the question of who should be vaccinated and in what order is again a clinical decision, on which we will take advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.