Hepatitis C

Debate between Lord Rennard and Lord O'Shaughnessy

Monday 9th July 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

I would need to write to the noble Baroness specifically about minority women. I do know that there are specific programmes taking place in towns and cities across the country to support minority groups where there is a high prevalence, and I mentioned the south Asian group, which has increased screening and diagnosis. It has reduced mortality, which has been affected. Clearly, that is something we need to do more of.

[Lord Rennard (LD)]

My Lords, does the Minister accept that NHS England may in the past have been too restrictive in its use of the relevant drugs? How might improved procurement policies result in greater use of those drugs, including more innovative products, as well as providing better value for the NHS in reducing the prevalence of hepatitis C?

Prescription Drugs: Dependence

Debate between Lord Rennard and Lord O'Shaughnessy

Monday 19th March 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

The noble Earl highlights a very important issue, and I reassure him that the review will look not only at the nature and causes of dependence on the drugs in scope, which include antidepressants, but at the correct and most evidence-based treatments for withdrawal.

[Lord Rennard (LD)]

Will the review by Public Health England be able to look specifically at alternatives to prescribing drugs, such as acupuncture, which is shown to be very effective in the relief of pain and reducing symptoms of anxiety, and perhaps also mindfulness, which has been shown to improve the mental health of very many people?

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

I can attest to the benefits of both those courses of treatment. The review will look at prevention of dependency in the first place and in doing so will look at alternative courses of treatment. Of course, in the end there is a balance to be struck between the clinical needs of the patient and the right course of treatment. It is about making sure that clinicians are as informed as possible.

Emergency Hospital Admissions

Debate between Lord Rennard and Lord O'Shaughnessy

Wednesday 7th March 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord O’Shaughnessy]

I agree with the noble Lord about funding. The Government have now made £9.4 billion of extra funding available to local authorities over three years, including in the most recent local government funding settlement. The noble Lord makes a good point about bed capacity: it had shown a downward trend for a long time before stabilising in recent years. I point to two successes this winter. The first is the improvement in delayed transfers of care—we have really started to get some traction on that. The second is about £60 million, I believe, of funding that went into providing extra bed capacity over winter. Occupancy levels are too high. The NHS is getting better at managing it more efficiently, but we certainly need to do better.

[Lord Rennard (LD)]

My Lords, does the Minister accept that part of the problem with emergency hospital admissions is the difficulty people have in accessing their GPs? Some of this is perhaps because of the high levels of stress among GPs, but there is also recent evidence suggesting that it is because of the £1 million pension cap imposed on GPs, which means many more of them are retiring before the age of 60. Surely, in the interests of the NHS, this particular cap should be looked at again.

[Lord O’Shaughnessy]

Although the number of early GP retirements has been rising, the number of total GP retirements has been falling, which is encouraging. It is also important to point out that, while the pension cap obviously applies to everybody, it has not had the impact that the noble Lord described on dentists or consultants, so there is something more to it. It is to do with how GP services are structured and providing support for that partnership model. That is what we are trying to do at the moment.

Alcohol: Minimum Unit Pricing

Debate between Lord Rennard and Lord O'Shaughnessy

Wednesday 28th February 2018 Lords Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Lord O’Shaughnessy) (Con)]

My Lords, data from the Sheffield University alcohol policy model in 2015 estimated that, in 10 years, minimum unit pricing could on an annual basis reduce alcohol-related deaths by 356, alcohol-related hospital admissions by 28,515, and crime by 34,931 crimes. Minimum unit pricing remains under review and the Government will consider the evidence of its impact once it is available.

[Lord Rennard (LD)]

My Lords, figures issued today by the Institute of Alcohol Studies suggest that, for each hour worked, it is possible to buy three times as much supermarket beer as was the case 30 years ago. Given the statistics which the Minister cited from the University of Sheffield, is it not urgent that we act to prevent the sale of perhaps four cans of beer in a supermarket for as little as £1?

[Lord O’Shaughnessy]

As I said, the Government are looking at this issue and, following the Supreme Court judgment, the Scottish Government can move ahead with their plans. The issue is not about the lack of evidence on whether reducing drinking has health benefits, but about making sure that any new system is implemented in a way that is fair on those who drink sensibly, particularly those on low incomes. The approach we have taken up to now is to use the tax system judiciously, including high duty levels for drinks such as white cider. As we move ahead and look at the evidence, we have to consider not just the health benefits but the economic costs that could be imposed on perfectly sensible drinkers.

Smoking: Vaping

Debate between Lord Rennard and Lord O'Shaughnessy

Tuesday 19th December 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

The noble Lord is right; we are looking at the guidelines at the moment, with Ofcom and the Advertising Standards Authority. There are limits on what we can do on vaping under the current regulations, but we will have the opportunity to look again at this issue as we leave the European Union, and reconsider our domestic legislation.

[Lord Rennard (LD)]

My Lords, vaping has proved an effective way for many people to give up smoking tobacco—but there are, of course, no inherent health benefits in taking up vaping if one is not already addicted to nicotine. Does the Minister agree that we should seek regulations that allow the promotion of vaping solely as an alternative to smoking tobacco, and not something that people not already addicted to nicotine should be encouraged to take up? Can he tell us when Public Health England will publish its report on e-cigarettes, which was due in 2017?

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

I think that the noble Lord is making the point that we need a balanced approach. We want to emphasise the relative health benefits, but we must also recognise that harmful effects can come from nicotine in itself. Obviously, we want to get to a position in which people are not smoking and not taking nicotine at all, and the relative benefits of the different ways people can go about that are taken into account. I think that the UK has a sensible approach. I am afraid that I do not have the date when the Public Health England report will be published, but I will write to the noble Lord with that information.

Nurses and Midwives: Numbers

Debate between Lord Rennard and Lord O'Shaughnessy

Monday 4th December 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

I agree with my noble friend’s point on communication. I shall certainly look at whether we can do that better as an NHS. It is why I do not miss an opportunity from the Dispatch Box to say how much those nurses are valued and how much we want them to stay. That is what the Government are committed to doing. I mentioned the increase in the number of training places which my noble friend has pointed out. New UCAS data out today show that the picture is slightly better even than when we talked about it last week. Although the total is slightly down on last year, it is the second-highest number of nurses recruited in the history of nursing being a degree profession.

[Lord Rennard (LD)]

My Lords, is this not a problem particularly given that 35,000 nurses and midwives left the profession last year? Does the Minister agree with the Royal College of Nursing that the problem is made worse by the loss of student bursaries, deterring more mature students from applying to train as nurses and denying the profession the benefit of their valuable life experience?

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

Retention is critical. A number of nurses have gone through return-to-practice programmes to make sure they can come back into the profession. I recognise that today’s UCAS data show that while the number of applications has risen among the under-21s, it has fallen among the over-21s. It is important to point out that financial support is available for those people, in terms of both help with childcare and extra financial support. Now, for the first time, we are providing funding for second degrees if they are in nursing.

NHS: Winter Staffing Levels

Debate between Lord Rennard and Lord O'Shaughnessy

Thursday 26th October 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord O’Shaughnessy]

I am grateful to the noble Baroness for raising this. We have discussed a number of times the impact of the test on recruitment from countries other than the UK. It is entirely sensible for the NMC to look at this. On nurse training, I hope she will have been reassured by the announcement from my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Health at the Conservative Party conference that we will deliver a 25% increase in nurse training places from 2018-19 onwards.

[Lord Rennard (LD)]

My Lords, is not part of the problem for the NHS, and for hospitals in particular, during the winter that so many people have difficulty in accessing their GP? The number of GPs has fallen by 3% over the last two years. Is it not, therefore, counterproductive that the Government have been cutting funding for community pharmacies when many more people should be seeing their pharmacist and not seeking to see their GP or even turning up at A&E units?

Mental Health Services: Children and Adolescents

Debate between Lord Rennard and Lord O'Shaughnessy

Monday 17th July 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

I thank the right reverend Prelate for raising this issue. I have mentioned mental health training and single point of contact. There are also curriculum changes. There will certainly be a number of policies within the Green Paper that will address the points she has raised.

[Lord Rennard (LD)]

The Government in Scotland are considering providing mental health counsellors in every secondary school. Does the Minister accept that all schools should have dedicated members of staff able to do more than just provide mental health first aid, and that there should be a trained mental health and well-being lead in every school, college and university?

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

That is what we are moving towards with the mental health first aid training for teachers in all schools. The noble Lord will recognise that schools come in all different shapes and sizes and that it is easier to do that initially in secondary schools, which are bigger than, for example, rural primary schools which might only have a staff of 10. It is critical to make sure that there is at least one member of staff who is highly trained in spotting and dealing with the initial signs of mental health problems and signposting them to the relevant authority—local health authority or whatever it is—for further care.

National Stroke Strategy

Debate between Lord Rennard and Lord O'Shaughnessy

Wednesday 5th July 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord O’Shaughnessy]

Well, in order not to fall out with Scottish noble Lords, I shall not comment on that. Under successive Governments there have been improvements in stroke outcomes, which have come about through the centralisation and specialisation of care. That is not always popular because of what it does with reorganisations, but it is definitely paying dividends in England.

[Lord Rennard (LD)]

My Lords, there is very strong evidence that the number of strokes could be reduced nationally if there was better detection and appropriate treatment of atrial fibrillation. Will the Minister commit to a proper national screening programme to detect this condition and ensure that there is appropriate follow-up treatment for those diagnosed as suffering from atrial fibrillation?

[Lord O’Shaughnessy]

The noble Lord is quite right to highlight that issue. There is increased screening for atrial fibrillation as part of the community-based efforts to prevent the incidence of stroke, and that has been one of the factors that have reduced the incidence of stroke over the past few years.