National Health Service Regulations Debate

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Department: Department of Health and Social Care

National Health Service Regulations

Lord Kamall Excerpts
Tuesday 16th September 2025

(3 weeks, 5 days ago)

Lords Chamber
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Lord Kamall Portrait Lord Kamall (Con)
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My Lords, as the Minister will know, the 2025 amendments to the regulations made several key changes, one of which was to keep online consultation talks open during surgery hours. While these Benches welcome the shift from analogue to digital, we understand that the National Pensioners Convention estimates that between 500,000 and 700,000 older people would not be able to access either the online consultation tool or patient records, either because they are not online or because they struggle to navigate apps and websites. Can the Minister update the House about what her department is doing to work with GPs and, in fact, the whole system of health and care, to make sure that that small minority of people who are not digitally literate, including older people, are not locked out of receiving health and social care?

Baroness Merron Portrait Baroness Merron (Lab)
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The noble Lord makes an important point. There is absolutely no intention that people will be disadvantaged in any way. This is about equalising access, which means keeping all forms of access open. That may be online, but it will also be possible to deal with things in person and on the phone. Obviously, if we can take pressure off phone access, or personal access, through the use of online, that will assist the group to which the noble Lord referred.