National Strategy for Self-Care

Peter Dowd Excerpts

Tuesday 26th April 2022 Westminster Hall

[Peter Dowd (Bootle) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to be under your stewardship, Sir Charles. I thank my right hon. Friend the Member for Knowsley (Sir George Howarth) for securing the debate.

We all know that people have self-cared in one fashion or another for thousands of years. Personally, I think that self-care starts with mental health, which can often be forgotten in strategies. The old Hippocratic approach was to be in a good frame of mind: a healthy mind produces a healthy body, and that is as pertinent today as it was more than 2,000 years ago. A self-care strategy should take a holistic approach that covers lifestyle, diet, as my right hon. Friend has said, and exercise, and a person’s state of employment is also a factor. They must all be taken into account by strategies dealing with self-care, because this is about not just people’s physical health, but their social and economic health.

On the point made by the hon. Member for Glasgow Central (Alison Thewliss) about self-care, I do not think that self-care means self-isolation as far as healthcare is concerned. It is about sharing care. It is also important that people use the healthcare system responsibly. Some referrals to GPs and hospitals could be considered inappropriate—I think my right hon. Friend the Member for Knowsley touched on that—with people turning up and putting a strain on the system. We have a personal responsibility to ensure that the health service is used in the most appropriate way. That is not to dissuade people or tell them not to go to the GP, but it is a factor that must be taken into account. There must be a system that assists in self-care so that people feel empowered and, crucially, safe, as the hon. Member for Glasgow Central referred to, when making decisions about self-care.

We have also got to take into account those people who cannot self-care and need support from family or carers who are, in effect, proxy self-carers, if I may use that phrase. A strategy must also include a safety net for people who are not in a position to self-care as much as they would like.

The World Health Organisation has an excellent prospectus on self-care. It straddles many different cultures and countries, but broadly talks about self-management, the use of self-testing and, importantly, self-awareness, which goes back to one or two of my earlier points.

I welcome the 2019 clinical consensus statement on self-care, which sets out seven recommendations, as touched on by my right hon. Friend the Member for Knowsley. More recently, “Realising the potential: Developing a blueprint for a self-care strategy for England” sets out nine themes.

In the current climate there are huge stresses on the health service and on people’s mental health and, subsequently, their physical health, partly because of covid and partly because of their individual social and economic circumstances. A care strategy must take into account societal movement and those social and economic factors that impinge on people’s health, so that, in helping people to self-care, we must also have a net in place to ensure that that self-care is safe.

[Sir Charles Walker (in the Chair)]

I will call the shadow Minister shortly. There is usually a five-minute limit for the Opposition spokesperson, but as we have quite a long time left, if the hon. Lady would like to speak for longer, she can do so, although she is under no obligation to do that. I am sure the Minister would not mind either.

--- Later in debate ---

[Karin Smyth (Bristol South) (Lab)]

Yes, indeed. Having sat opposite the Minister in Committee and when ping-ponging with Lords amendments, I am sure I can dredge up an awful lot to talk about for a very long time, but I will not do that. That would be unfair, although we might have another opportunity to do that tomorrow.

It is a pleasure serve under your chairmanship, Sir Charles, and I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Knowsley (Sir George Howarth) on securing this debate. There are not many hon. Members here, but that belies the fact that this subject is of interest to an awful lot of people. As my hon. Friend the Member for Bootle (Peter Dowd) outlined, it covers not only physical health but mental health, and deserves time to be discussed.

As my right hon. Friend the Member for Knowsley said, self-care refers to long-term conditions and preventive health measures. It is an important component for healthy living. We all need to be clear that self-care is not passing responsibility that should be with professionals to the individual, or that we are using self-care to prop up our increasingly underfunded health and social care systems. We need to look at self-care in a positive sense, as has been discussed, as empowering people and patients to know and understand their own bodies and their own physical and mental health, but also to know how to manage the many things that life throws at us all along the way, and to do that from a young age.

Self-care is about lifestyle choices, but also about better awareness of symptoms and when it is important to seek professional advice. Our professional systems should be set up with that in mind, starting with empowering people and not telling them all the time what they should be doing or expecting them to be at the end of a professional opinion. There are many examples, but with cancer symptoms, early diagnosis is crucial and we know that can be a matter of life and death. We also need to understand when an ailment can be treated by someone themselves, and when to do that, or by talking to community pharmacists, as has been mentioned and which I will say more about as I go on.

My right hon. Friend the Member for Knowsley talked eloquently and from experience about diabetes, which is an important area. We know how many people have diabetes, what a huge area it is for the health service and how important education and self-management strategies are for people with diabetes. Before the pandemic, I worked a lot with Diabetes UK in my constituency and across Bristol, as I did in my previous life as a health service manager, to support those important local groups of people coming together. Those groups support individuals, share professional information and empower people very well. We all look forward to the results of my right hon. Friend’s work with the right hon. Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May). We wish them well and offer our support for that work in any way we can.

My area, like many other constituencies, has high levels of health inequality. I recognise the importance of improving health literacy as a way of supporting people to help them tackle some of those health inequalities themselves.

As the Minister would expect me to say, after a decade of Tory mismanagement of the NHS, with long waiting lists before the pandemic and staff shortages, record numbers of people are waiting for care. Self-care is essential for the future sustainability of the NHS. Through empowering people to take control of minor ailments, we can focus NHS resources on those who need them most.

[Peter Dowd]

Does my hon. Friend agree that organisations such as those in the voluntary, community and faith sector have been absolutely fantastic in supporting people over the last two years and have enabled them to self-care as part of their healthy lifestyle, at a time when the NHS has been under huge stress?

--- Later in debate ---

[Edward Argar]

I entirely agree that for health professionals, having up-to-date and refreshed knowledge is hugely important. In my current role and my previous role at the Ministry of Justice, I have looked at this point when considering domestic abuse and domestic violence. GP practice staff are often the first people to get an indication that something is wrong—not necessarily because a patient presents saying so, but because of the nature of their injuries or what they present with. Up-to-date knowledge across a range of areas is hugely important.

The hon. Member for Bristol South is right that education cannot start too early for forming good habits, and that, through school and beyond, it is important to educate people about the choices they make and the impact of those choices. That is not the so-called nanny state; it is about people being given the information to make an informed and educated choice for themselves and the benefit of their health. Another key element is confidence. People need information, but they also need to be confident to take a decision on that basis and to know where to go if they are not sure. I will turn to community pharmacies in a moment.

There are two other broad points to highlight—mental and emotional health—which the hon. Member for Bootle (Peter Dowd) quite rightly highlighted. I hope that all of us in this place agree, and that it is understood more broadly in society, that we cannot look at physical health in isolation. All elements interact with and impact on each other. We need to be fully cognisant of that and of the broader determinants of health and health inequalities, be they social, economic or health factors. There are a whole range of impacts on individuals and their overall health.

We need to ensure that people have access not only to information, but to the technology and kit to be able to manage their condition. During the pandemic, virtual wards have become more prevalent. For example, there are pieces of kit that monitor oxygen levels in blood and report back to the GP to give an early indication. That is just one example of how technology can assist, and it expanded rapidly of necessity.

I will turn to the recommendations in the report, speak a little about community pharmacies, which have quite rightly been highlighted, and then turn to the request of the right hon. Member for Knowsley for a meeting—always an easy point to respond to when one is not the Minister responsible. It is always nice to be able to commit other colleagues to meetings, but I will also address the issues in my own right.

I hear what the right hon. Member for Knowsley says about the need for a specific strategy, but I would sound a slight note of caution. It is often the case that the first call in a particular area of policy is, “We need a strategy around this”, and I am slightly cautious about having a multiplicity of strategies without bringing together a whole range of actions. That may be a point that the right hon. Gentleman wishes to raise with my hon. Friend the Member for Lewes, who I will commit to meeting him in a moment.

On that specific recommendation, self-care is an integral part of the NHS long-term plan, which we are looking at at the moment in the light of the experiences and impacts of covid, and the community pharmacy contractual framework—the five-year deal running to 2024. For that reason, I merely sound a note of caution about an additional national strategy, because over the past two and a half—almost three—years, what I have often seen in the Department of Health is a strategy for a particular issue or area of care that does not always interact with other elements of the system or take into account just how complex that landscape is. The right hon. Member for Knowsley is aware of that point from his many years in this House, but I merely sound a slight note of caution.

[Peter Dowd]

The Minister is making an important point. However, I am sure he also recognises that there are already lots of things out there in the care continuum he spoke about: the health literacy toolkit, the e-learning programme on health literacy from Health Education England, the health literacy support hub, guidance on physical health and mental wellbeing in schools, the community pharmacy contractual framework to which he referred, modules on self-care for minor ailments and successful self-care, and so on. Part of a strategy, if that is what we want to call it, is trying to bring all those things together. On top of that, does the Minister agree that in the plan, so to speak—the “Realising the Potential” document—there is a reference to how

“There should be a cultural shift among healthcare professionals, towards wellbeing and away from the biomedical model of care”?

It is about trying to fit those things together in a coherent strategy, if that is what we want to call it.

[Edward Argar]

The hon. Gentleman is seeking to find a way through some of these points in his typically dexterous way. Suggesting “a strategy, if that is what we want to call it”, leaves open the option for my hon. Friend the Member for Lewes to consider other ways in which the same thing might be achieved. I do not want to prejudge the conclusion that she will come to, but I will ensure that she receives a transcript of this debate.

Health and Care Bill

Peter Dowd Excerpts

Consideration of Lords amendments
Wednesday 30th March 2022 Commons Chamber

In a survey run by the Brain Tumour Charity, nearly one in six respondents with a brain tumour said that they were not given any access to a clinical nurse specialist, and 59% of respondents were able to speak to a keyworker, but that was all. In addition, the 10-year plan recommended holistic needs assessment provision, but for that, time and staff are needed. Ultimately, this challenge comes down to the NHS workforce. In the 2021 spending review, the Government announced funding specifically for the NHS workforce, but we recognise this afternoon that Lords amendment 21 is the only way for the independent assessments to deliver current and future workforce needs.

[Peter Dowd (Bootle) (Lab)]

I concur with the comments made by every hon. and right hon. Member today, with the exception of the Minister. There is no question but that the NHS workforce is in crisis; that is what so many organisations say. The Government response has been limited to stopgap measures, so I am grateful to the Lords for their hard work on this Bill, which has been much improved since it left the Commons. The Lords are clearly on the side of the NHS. I hope that, even at this late stage, the Government will recognise that Lords amendment 29, which I support, is perfectly reasonable, and will welcome it with open arms. If they do not, the question is: why not?

I have had many emails from nurses and other healthcare professionals who are calling for such a measure to be supported. The amendment refers to a report on workforce needs, and says that it must include independently verified assessments of current and future workforce numbers required to deliver care to the population of England. What is wrong with that? It seems perfectly sensible. Planning the NHS workforce is central to the smooth operation of the service. The Lords amendment seeks to ensure that.

In north-west England, NHS vacancy rates have increased over the past year; they are reaching 13,500. That puts huge strain on the remaining workforce. There is a chronic workforce shortage in the NHS, driven by years of insufficient investment, and that needs to change. Mental health issues, alongside covid-related absences, are having a lasting effect on the mental health of NHS staff. British Medical Association surveys have consistently shown that the pandemic has, since its start, left staff reeling, and they are increasingly burned out as a result of the lack of support.

The number of people in the general practice workforce has lagged behind demand in recent years, as people have said time after time, and the pressure is becoming unsustainable. It is driving GPs out of the workforce and threatening to destabilise general practice. That is also the case for many other allied professionals across the whole spectrum. To address that, it is vital that the Government develop and implement a detailed plan to fill workforce shortages, but they have not yet seized that opportunity. The granularity of the assessment of the workforce situation sets the scene for the bigger picture. The chronic lack of resources and support has been keenly felt in the Liverpool city region. Hospital trusts in Liverpool plan to reintroduce car parking charges for NHS workers from 1 April. After everything those workers have done during the pandemic, it is dreadful that, in the midst of a cost of living crisis, they are being asked to cough up substantial resources just to get to work.

Workers are working two, three or four extra shifts per week. That is dangerous. NHS healthcare workers in Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust and St Helens and Knowsley NHS Trust are campaigning to be re-banded because they are doing work that they should not have to do, and that they are not necessarily trained for. That is why I support Lords amendment 29, which is sensible and proportionate. As for the Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee, I say: there are 100 healthcare and related organisations saying, “This amendment is the right thing to do.” If those on the frontline think it is the right thing to do, why do the Government not also think it is the best thing to do?

[Mike Wood (Dudley South) (Con)]

At its best, our national health service provides truly world-class care. That is down to the skill, passion and professionalism of its workforce. As hon. Members will know, I have personal reason to forever be grateful to the NHS, and particularly the staff at Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley. While new hospitals, equipment and technology are all crucial, they are nothing without the health and social care staff who are the beating heart of our health service.

However, I am concerned that Lords amendment 29 does little more than add to an already onerous level of bureaucracy in our NHS. Providing a report every two years instead of every five does not improve the record number of doctors and nurses. The Government are already committed to reviewing the long-term strategic trends in the health and social care workforce, and to developing a workforce strategy, and clause 35 of the Bill already commits to a workforce review every five years. That in itself will be quite an arduous task.

Huge steps have been taken in investing in the future of the NHS workforce, including by funding a 25% increase in places since 2016-17. That means 7,500 more medical schools training places in England over the past six years. The shadow Health Secretary is obviously right to say that the population has grown in recent decades, but I think it has grown by 8% since 2010, while the number of doctors working in our NHS is up by about one third. Clause 35 allows for medium and long-term workforce plans, and offers a sensible balance between the need for such work and the need to minimise unnecessary bureaucracy. That is why I will not support the amendment.

Turning to Lords amendment 30, while I recognise the arguments made by Opposition Members, I do not agree with them or believe that clause 40 should be removed from the Bill. I believe it contains sensible powers. We expect the Secretary of State to be responsible for our national health service—for the services provided in every part of the country. There was much opposition and controversy when provisions reducing that responsibility were introduced in previous legislation. If he is to exercise that responsibility, he must have the powers to do so.

Voters and Members of Parliament expect the Secretary of State to be able to take action where health services have been reduced. On 11 November, a few weeks before the by-election in North Shropshire, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, the right hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Ed Davey), questioned the Prime Minister at Prime Minister’s questions about the closure of Oswestry ambulance service. If we are to question the Prime Minister or the Health Secretary on the closure of services such as ambulance stations or hospitals, then it is only right that the Secretary of State should, in extreme circumstances, have the power prevent those closures. Our voters expect that, and frankly so do the Opposition.

Oral Answers to Questions

Peter Dowd Excerpts

Tuesday 1st March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Edward Argar]

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend, who is tireless in her determination to ensure value for money for her and all of our taxpayers’ pounds, particularly in this space. We continue to work hard to drive down agency and locum spend, focusing instead on both bank staff and our full-time recruitment, on which the Secretary of State has set out the success that we have been having. Since 2015, we have controlled agency spend through price caps and procurement frameworks. However, she is absolutely right, and we want to see more full-time NHS employed staff working at NHS rates in our trusts.

[Peter Dowd (Bootle) (Lab)]

9. Whether his Department is taking steps to help improve health outcomes through the implementation of public-private partnerships.

[The Minister for Health (Edward Argar)]

Throughout the pandemic, partnerships between the public and private sectors have been vital in securing the resources to protect public health. As one element of that partnership, independent sector providers, for example, delivered almost 7 million episodes of care for NHS patients between April 2020 and December 2021 according to hospital episode statistics data. We continue to support the partnership approach more broadly as part of our plans both to tackle the backlog of elective care and to improve broader health outcomes.

[Peter Dowd]

I thank the Minister for that response. As he is aware, the national diet and nutrition survey has shown that average intakes of dietary fibre in the United Kingdom are well below recommended levels and less than a quarter of those of countries such as Denmark, where the Government work across industry on a public-private partnership basis to boost wholegrain intakes. What consideration has the Minister given to implementing such an initiative in the United Kingdom to provide a much-needed boost in fibre intakes among the public?

[Edward Argar]

The hon. Gentleman makes a typically sensible and reasonable point. Government advice on a healthy balanced diet is encapsulated in the UK’s national food model, the “Eatwell Guide”. It includes advice on incorporating fibre into the diet through fruit and vegetables, bread, rice and pasta. We set nutritional standards for catering in all Government Departments and related organisations to improve the nutritional content of food served, including increasing fibre. I agree that it would be helpful to increase intakes of fibre in our diet, guided appropriately by clinical and medical advice, and a key element of achieving that is working with industry.

Access to NHS Dentistry

Peter Dowd Excerpts

Thursday 10th February 2022 Westminster Hall

[Peter Dowd (Bootle) (Lab)]

I thank the hon. Member for Waveney (Peter Aldous) and my hon. Friend the Member for Bradford South (Judith Cummins) for raising this issue and for their tenacity. It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Ms Ali.

As many hon. Members have said, dentistry is not just about teeth; it is a vital component of our health. The hon. Member for North Devon (Selaine Saxby) shared a Shakespearian quote, and there is another one worth mentioning. In Shakespeare’s “As You Like It”, Jaques says:

“Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.”

If the Government carry on the way they are, it will be “sans dentists” as well. They need to get a grip of the situation.

The hon. Member for North East Bedfordshire (Richard Fuller) talked about the cash and the expenditure. I am happy to have a debate with him on this issue, and if he wants to secure a Westminster Hall debate on public expenditure, I will join him. I will give him an example of what he was talking about: the £10 billion-worth of covid-related fraud. That is equivalent to £153 for every person in his constituency—the best part of £50 million, which would be better spent on dental services in his constituency.

[Kevin Hollinrake]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Peter Dowd]

I am more than happy to come back to the hon. Gentleman in a moment.

Last week, I took part in a debate on the energy crisis. This week, I took part in debates on the crisis in children’s mental health services, the food insecurity crisis and the cost of living crisis. Today, it is about the access to dental services crisis. There is a bit of a theme beginning to develop here—it is about crisis, and all these crises are not isolated.

It is not as though the Government are having a run of bad luck through no fault of their own and have an otherwise impeccable record; there is something systemic and even endemic going on. I get a bit tired of the Government’s default approach to any deficit in policy application, and we have heard it a bit here: it is the CCGs, the NHS, the officials—it is everybody else’s fault bar the Government’s. They have to take responsibility.

[Mrs Miller]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Peter Dowd]

In a moment. I am happy to give way, but we were told earlier that we did not have much time.

I do not want to detract from the substance of the debate, but it would be remiss of me not to talk about the crisis in health and social care more generally. Specific recognition from the Government of a crisis in access to dental services would give me a bit more confidence that they have a handle on it. More importantly, it would give me confidence that they are actually going to do something substantive about it. I wait with bated breath.

[Mrs Miller]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Peter Dowd]

In a moment.

Any denial by the Minister that there is a problem is itself a part of the problem. I really do not want to hear any denials.

[Kevin Hollinrake]

The hon. Gentleman is not making a particularly collegiate speech, but never mind. I have a lot of time for him. I do not know where the £10 billion fraud figure he throws out has come from. If it is about PPE, he should look at the facts behind that: £4.6 billion of that was write-down of current value versus value at the time of the pandemic. If we are going to debate in this place, it should at least represent the facts.

[Peter Dowd]

I am pleased that the hon. Gentleman raises that. The bottom line is this: look at the Public Accounts Committee documents. There are more to come out. If the hon. Gentleman wants to have a debate on fraud, I am more than happy to have one. Perhaps he can put in the application and I will come and speak to him about it.

[Mrs Miller]

What would the hon. Gentleman have done differently in 2006 when the current dental contract was put in place? Of course, at that point, he would have been able to influence the Labour Government.

[Peter Dowd]

I will come back to that in a minute. I am an optimist—hope springs eternal, as Alexander Pope said—and I hope the Minister will accept that there is a crisis. Perhaps then we can all move on, in a very collegiate way, as the hon. Member for Thirsk and Malton (Kevin Hollinrake) says, towards finding a solution, which he knows I am more than happy to do.

[Wera Hobhouse]

For the purpose of giving everybody a voice, would it not be most collegiate if we actually acknowledged that the dental contract was introduced under a Labour Government? It is important to address that, but it is also important to address the fact that the bottom line is public funding for a good service.

[Peter Dowd]

Frankly, the coalition, including the Liberal Democrat party, which the hon. Lady serves, could have sorted that problem out in the last 10 years, but they dithered, ducked and dived. Let us not go there. She is on dodgy ground in relation to that, I have to say.

Facts are stubborn, and here are a few. The Government have cut dental budgets by a third in real terms over the last decade. They are making a meal out of their recent time-limited £50 million injection into the service, or the so-called dental treatment blitz—a blitz that will barely blow the top off a toothpaste tube. I suspect that that £50 million—a veneer if ever there was one—is unlikely to be fully spent.

The bottom line is that we are in a crisis. The British Dental Association estimates that it will take £880 million a year to put things back to where they were in 2010—that is a fact, and it does not account for the huge impact of the pandemic. We also need to address the chronic underfunding and to have a clear commitment to ending the system based on units of dental activity that has been going on since 2011—it has been discussed today so I will not go into it any more. It has been over a decade, and the Government really need to get a grip of that.

In my constituency, 5% of dentists in South Sefton CCG stopped providing NHS services in the last two years. That vastly underestimates the loss of local provision, as most dentists tend to reduce the size of their NHS contract gradually before they quit the NHS completely. Across the country, 40 million NHS dental appointments have been lost since the pandemic. That is a whole year of dental provision. Without better support from the Government and, crucially, an end to the chronic underfunding, and without a clear commitment to and progress on contract reform, there is no way dentistry will be able to recover.

The covid alibi is beginning to wear a bit thin. This is all about pre-covid. Covid has exacerbated the situation, but pre-covid is also significant. Enormous backlogs began pre-covid. Let us get a grip of that. I ask hon. Members across the way to press the Minister and ask the Secretary of State and the Prime Minister—their colleagues—to listen to the facts, because, unless Members opposite can get that message across to an indurate Government, things can only get worse. No more excuses, no more prevarication, no more procrastination, no more pretext or self-exoneration—as I have heard today. The Government need to pull their finger out. We need action now. There is no excuse for letting the opportunity go by.

In closing, perhaps I can re-jig what Ian Fleming said to make a point about the Government’s lack of action in this crisis. He said:

“Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.”

Which one does the Minister think it is? I cannot speak for the dental profession, but I think I know which one it is, and it is not one of the first two.

Children’s Mental Health

Peter Dowd Excerpts

Tuesday 8th February 2022 Commons Chamber

[Peter Dowd (Bootle) (Lab)]

Today’s Opposition debate on children’s mental health is timely, as children have been deprived of seeing their friends, unable to attend school and even told that they cannot hug their grandparents. Those circumstances have all fed into a wave of anxiety, and we have seen record numbers of children seeking mental health services during this pandemic. Current modelling by the Centre for Mental Health suggests that 1.5 million children and young people in England will need either new or additional mental health support as a result of the pandemic. The Health and Social Care Committee notes that 60% of young people with a mental disorder are not able to access mental health support. It also warned that without urgent action, mental health services are likely to slip backwards as a result of additional demand and the scale of unmet need prior to the pandemic.

Many of us, from across this House, have spent much of the past decade warning of the detrimental impact that cuts to local government budgets and Sure Start centres would have on mental health support for our young people, and far too often those warnings fell on deaf ears. A study by the Children’s Commissioner for England in 2019 found that about 60% of local authority areas have seen a real-terms fall in spending on low-level mental health services for children. We know that deprivation and economic inequality are strongly predictive of children and young people’s wellbeing.

My local council is one of the most deprived in the country and it is reporting that about 20% of new parents are suffering with mental health issues. Our local community cannot afford to wait, which is why Sefton Council and Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust’s mental health team have created a new, groundbreaking early intervention programme to support parents and their babies, in an endeavour to break the cycle. In 2018, local health and social care professionals Dr Lisa Marsland Hall and Majella Maguire developed a bespoke specialist mental health service from work undertaken in Knowsley borough and in 2020 they were able to launch a 12-month pilot for a Sefton Building Attachments and Bonds Service—BABS. That has now been rolled out for a longer period of time. I will pass on the information to the Minister, because he may well use it, as it is an excellent service.

The Early Intervention Foundation has found that a failure to intervene early to avoid preventable mental health difficulties costs the NHS £3.7 billion per year, and a further £2.7 billion in relation to Department for Work and Pensions costs. The 10-year long-term plan is just that—it is over 10 years. We really do not have 10 years to sort this problem out for our children.

Health Inequalities: Office for Health Improvement and Disparities

Peter Dowd Excerpts

Wednesday 26th January 2022 Westminster Hall

[Derek Twigg (in the Chair)]

Before we begin, I remind hon. Members that they are expected to wear face coverings when they are not speaking in the debate. This is in line with the current Government guidance and that of the House of Commons Commission. I remind Members that they are asked by the House to have a covid lateral flow test before coming on to the parliamentary estate. Please also give each other and members of staff space when seated and when entering and leaving the room.

[Peter Dowd (Bootle) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities and health inequalities.

It is a real pleasure to be here under your stewardship this afternoon, Mr Twigg. I thank all those who have come along—all on the Labour side of the House—to debate this important issue, which affects so many of our constituents. I thank the organisations that have provided me with information to help me articulate my points, including the Royal College of Physicians, the Inequalities in Health Alliance, the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Maternity Action, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the NHS Federation, the UK Vaping Industry Association, Kidney Research UK, the Health Foundation, the Terrence Higgins Trust, Global Blood Therapeutics, the Local Government Association, the Institute of Alcohol Studies, the Children’s Alliance and, as ever, the House of Commons Library, which brings much of this together. I do not believe I have missed any organisation out. If I have, I apologise.

Each organisation made helpful and constructive comments about the matter we are debating today. The extent of health inequalities is remarkably wide—in fact, I felt I understood the extent of such inequalities, but the information from those organisations has widened my knowledge significantly. Each of the organisations had the decency to send me information, so I will read out comments from each of them, if I may.

Alongside its key ask for a cross-governmental strategy to reduce health inequalities, the Inequalities in Health Alliance also asks the Government to

“commence the socio-economic duty, section 1 of the Equality Act 2010”

and to

“adopt a ‘child health in all policies’ approach.”

The Health Foundation notes:

“Public health funding grants to councils have been reduced by £700 million in real terms from 2015/16 to 2019/20. In the Spending Review published in October 2021, the Government said it would maintain the public health grant ‘in real terms’ until 2024/25, but has yet to confirm the amount for 2022/23.”

We are only a couple of months away from the beginning of that financial year. The Terrence Higgins Trust asked me to ask whether the Minister can confirm when local authorities will have their public health grant allocations published. Other organisations also asked that question.

The Institute of Alcohol Studies said:

“People from the most deprived groups in England are 60% more likely to die or be admitted to hospital due to alcohol than those from the least deprived… We believe that for any levelling up agenda to be comprehensively successful, it must address alcohol harm as a top priority.”

The LGA said:

“Councils have seen a significant reduction to their public health budgets in the period between 2015/16 and 2019/20. The recent announcement of a real-terms protection of the public health grant is welcome, but is unlikely to address the impact of the past reductions to funding.”

Cancer Research said that its modelling estimates suggest that

“30,000 extra cases of cancer in the UK each year are attributable to socio-economic deprivation. The two biggest preventable causes of cancer—smoking and overweight and obesity—are more prevalent in deprived groups.”

Kidney Research said:

“Around 3 million people in the UK have kidney disease and every day, 20 people develop kidney failure…. There is also a gender bias associated with kidney disease—women are more likely to be diagnosed with kidney disease and are at higher risk of developing end stage renal failure than men.”

[Judith Cummins (Bradford South) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. On that point, I want to ask him about gender inequality in terms of health. As a member of the all-party parliamentary group on osteoporosis and bone health, he will know that fracture liaison services are key to prompt and timely diagnosis of osteoporosis, but only 51% of NHS trusts in England have an FLS and only 41% of all NHS trusts have permanent and sustainable funding in place for their FLS. That means that every year an estimated 900,000 people miss out on the medication they need to prevent avoidable fractures. Does he agree that this health inequality, or postcode lottery, needs to end?

[Peter Dowd]

My hon. Friend is completely right and she has been a real champion of osteoporosis services, pushing them in her own area and as chair of the APPG. One figure shows that half of women over the age of 50 suffer a broken bone due to osteoporosis. That is the kind of stark figure that we have to face. I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention.

The NHS Confederation has made comments similar to those I have mentioned:

“The number of people waiting for planned NHS care in England has grown to record levels, with more than 5.6 million people currently on the waiting list and over 7 million ‘missing patients’ anticipated to come forward... Inequalities are now becoming evident in the backlog, with evidence suggesting that waiting lists have grown more rapidly in more deprived areas during the pandemic.”

Maternity Action says:

“Vulnerable migrant women face charges of £7,000 or more for… maternity care. Charges are levied on women with insecure immigration status, including destitute asylum seekers whose claim has been refused and who are not in receipt of Home Office support, women whose relationship has broken down and who were dependent on their partner for their immigration status, women on fiancee visas and women who have been unable to afford to renew their visas. This policy disproportionately impacts on minority ethnic women, who make up 85% of women using Maternity Action's Maternity Care Access Advice Service, which advises women”

on such matters.

The British Heart Foundation said:

“The prevalence of heart failure, stroke, and mini stroke in adults with learning disabilities in England is higher than the general population, and circulatory diseases are one of the main causes of death in people with learning disabilities. For the most part, this can be attributed to differences in the social determinants of health.”

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said:

“Child health outcomes in England are some of the worst in Europe… Our State of Child Health 2020 report reveals a widening gap between health outcomes across nearly 30 indicators. It shows that children living in more deprived areas have worse health outcomes than their peers living in less deprived areas… The COVID-19 pandemic has also highlighted and accelerated the devastating impact of health inequalities.”

[Apsana Begum (Poplar and Limehouse) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. Does he agree that, given that the largest number of covid-related deaths have been experienced by ethnic minority communities, it is imperative that the Minister provides clarity on whether the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities and the Health Promotion Taskforce will be given a remit outside the Department for Health and Social Care?

[Peter Dowd]

I am pleased that my hon. Friend asked that question, because it is one that has been asked many times, and I am sure the Minister will cover it—it is one of the questions I have as well.

The UK vaping industry said:

“It is absolutely critical that the new Office for Health Improvement and Disparities continues the pragmatic approach of Public Health England in recognising the role of vaping in tackling inequalities. It is essential that the institutional knowledge of PHE is not lost in the establishment of the OHID”

It is important that that is factored into these debates.

The House of Commons Library referred to the debate on health inequalities versus disparities. Jabeer Butt of the Race Equalities Foundation has welcomed the institution of the OHID and the possibility of working alongside it, but he said:

“With the establishment of OHID, we can’t help but wonder why the language used by the Health and Social Care Secretary talks about ‘health disparities’, compared to Professor Chris Whitty, who describes ‘health inequalities in the Government announcement.”

This is not just about semantics. It is important that we recognise that it is about not just disparities but health inequalities as well.

[Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) (Lab)]

I commend my hon. Friend on his speech. He touched on a really important point: that the Government talk about disparities when they should talk about inequalities. To truly tackle health inequalities, we need to look at social factors, such as housing, racism and air pollution, and socioeconomic factors. Does he agree that, to tackle all of those inequalities, the OHID will need to look in the round at all those issues and seek a cross-governmental role to deliver on the Department of Health and Social Care’s aims?

[Peter Dowd]

My hon. Friend is spot on. That is a key point that we want to tease out today: cross-departmental working.

As with many other health issues, the devil is in the detail. Only by looking into the granularity of the issues can a real understanding of the levels of inequality and disparity be established. I do not have time for more significant references to the organisations concerned, but it really was important for me to get down to the detail of the information that they provided. I will give the documents to the Minister for her perusal in due course.

Before the pandemic, growth in life expectancy had stalled for the most deprived in England. Between 2014 and 2019, people in the least deprived areas saw their life expectancy grow significantly, but there were no significant changes for people in the most deprived areas. For women in the most deprived areas of England, life expectancy fell between 2010 and 2019—a stark fact. The pandemic unambiguously exposed and exacerbated inequalities that have existed in our society for far too long, as many hon. Members will have seen first hand in their constituencies. The pandemic has widened gaps that were already too big to begin with, and once again it is the most vulnerable who have borne the brunt.

We know from the Sir Michael Marmot’s “Build Back Fairer” report that mortality rates for covid in the first wave mirrored mortality rates for other causes. In order words, the causes of health inequalities more widely were similar to the underlying drivers of covid-19 deaths among certain groups. It has been estimated that working-age adults in England’s poorest areas were almost four times more likely to die from covid than those in the wealthiest areas—another stark figure. Now, with the backlog, analysis of waiting list data shows that people living in the most deprived areas are nearly twice as likely to wait more than a year for treatment compared to those living in the least deprived areas. That cannot be right.

Before the pandemic, through the pandemic and now as we emerge, we hope, from the worst of the omicron variant—it is clear that there is a deep-rooted inequality in our society that causes huge inequality in health. The gap in life expectancy is startling. People in my constituency live on average 12 years less than people in Southport—just at the other end of the borough. Those are stark differences in healthy life expectancy—how many years a person spends in good health. Before covid, it was estimated that people in the richest communities in England could expect to live in good health for up to two decades more than the poorest. In Bootle, according to Nomis at the Office for National Statistics, 42% of people who are economically inactive are long-term sick, compared to the national average of 24%.

However, statistics get us only so far. A recent paper from the Royal College of Physicians brings to life the reality of health inequalities. One hospital clinician saw a patient who was extremely malnourished and dehydrated. The patient had been regularly missing meals so she could feed her teenage son. When she first became unwell, she did not call the GP, because she was unable to afford to pay someone to look after her son, and was frightened that he would be taken into care if she had to go to hospital for a long time. She was eventually admitted to hospital with sepsis. There are other stories in the paper of people who missed hospital appointments because they could not afford public transport, people who do not have the kitchen facilities to cook food and someone who was hospitalised because their asthma was aggravated by mould in their flat that the landlord refused to fix.

As we all know, 40 years ago, Sir Douglas Black, a former president of the Royal College of Physicians, was asked by the Department of Health and Social Security to lead an expert committee looking into health and inequality. That now famous Black report was unequivocal and said that while overall health had improved since the introduction of the welfare state, there were widespread health inequalities, the main cause of which were economic inequalities.

In his foreword to the report, the then Secretary of State said:

“the influences at work in explaining the relative health experience of different parts of our society are many and interrelated.”

That is as true today as it was then. It might seem that health inequality is a matter for the Department of Health and Social Care and the NHS but, as other hon. Members have said, health and social care services can only try to cure the ailments created by the environments people live in.

Research by the University of York linked austerity measures with the deaths of almost 60,000 more people than would be expected in the four years following their introduction. The money a person has will change the decisions they make about their health. It is the difference between having a healthy meal and having a meal at all, or between choosing to pay for the journey to the GP for an ongoing cough or choosing not to.

Housing affects health too. Last year, Shelter found that poor housing was harming the health of a fifth of renters. Our society benefits some people and deprives others, and those structural inequalities drive many of the health inequalities in black, Asian and other minority ethnic groups. We have to address that if we want to tackle this issue.

If we are to prevent ill health in the first place, we need to take action on issues such as how much money people have, poor housing, food quality, communities, place, employment, racism and discrimination, transport, and air pollution. That is why many organisations and coalitions, including the 200 members of the Inequalities in Health Alliance, which is convened by the Royal College of Physicians, have made calls for a cross-Government strategy to reduce health inequalities.

Tackling health inequality requires a considered and co-ordinated approach across myriad factors. Last year, the Government signalled that they recognise the need to look beyond the Department of Health and Social Care and the NHS and to take action on the issues that cause ill health. When the Secretary of State announced the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities in October last year, we were promised a new cross-Government agenda that would look to track the wider determinants of health and reduce disparities. The Health Promotion Taskforce was established.

These are potentially encouraging signs, but I am concerned that we are yet to hear the detail of what the OHID will do to reduce health inequalities. Will the Health Promotion Taskforce have a remit to take action outside the Department of Health and Social Care? When will we see a strategy on reducing health inequalities, so that we know what the Government’s ambition is in this area and we can track progress? Will the Government commit to developing a cross-Government strategy to reduce health inequalities?

Will the Minister set out how the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities will reduce health inequalities? Will he tell us about the work of the Health Promotion Taskforce and how often it meets? What engagement has the OHID had with Government Departments to date, since it was formally established on 1 October 2021? Importantly, will the Minister set out how the OHID will work with integrated care systems and support them to address health inequalities in their areas? I hope he can answer some of those questions.

When the Labour Government first asked Professor Marmot to review health inequalities in 2008, Gordon Brown said:

“The health inequalities we are talking about are not only unjust, condemning millions of men, women and children to avoidable ill-health. They also limit the development and the prosperity of communities, whole nations and even continents.”

He was absolutely right.

This Government were elected on a platform of levelling up, but while covid-19 caused a decrease in life expectancies for most countries between 2019 and 2020, the UK’s life expectancy has fallen below where it was in 2010. The UK was one of only two countries where that happened, the other being the United States.

In 1980, the Government responded to the Black report by saying:

“you might be right about the solution, but it’s going to cost too much.”

After two years of living with the pandemic, which, of course, has hit the most deprived the hardest, it is clear that the real cost lies in not supporting those who need that support most. Only Government can create the conditions for better health by improving the factors that lead to ill health in the first place. I hope the Minister can set out what the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities can do to achieve the aim of reducing inequality, and can confirm that the Government intend to tackle the wider determinants of health, which drive so much of the health inequality that we see.

[Derek Twigg (in the Chair)]

A good number of Members want to speak today. I do not intend to impose a time limit, but it would helpful if you could keep your speeches to around six minutes. That will ensure that everybody gets in. I intend to call the Front Benchers at no later than 3.40 pm.

--- Later in debate ---

[Peter Dowd]

I appreciate the fact that so many colleagues have come here to discuss this matter today, because it really goes to the heart of the needs of our communities.

We need a seismic shift—a paradigm shift—to tackle health inequalities and inequalities more generally. If we can guarantee £1.3 trillion to support a few institutions because of the banking crisis and £400 billion in relation to the pandemic, surely we can afford in the longer term to tackle health inequalities that affect the lives of millions of our constituents—many of whose lives are, to quote Thomas Hobbes’s “Leviathan”, “nasty, brutish, and short”.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities and health inequalities.

Health and Care Bill

Peter Dowd Excerpts

Report stage
Tuesday 23rd November 2021 Commons Chamber

I would like the Government to set out, perhaps when the Minister responds to the debate, what plans they have going forward. I hope that the new clause passes today, and I will be pressing it to a vote. It is no longer sufficient to say that changes such as this can come from the Back Benches—that got us where we are today, dividing our country. The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has the responsibility for abortion policy in this country and he needs to act so that every women in this United Kingdom has the same rights when it comes to abortion, and the same protections too.

[Peter Dowd (Bootle) (Lab)]

Yesterday, regrettably, the Minister did not respond to my exhortations on self-care in his summing up, although to be fair it did not take Sherlock Holmes to work out that he had his mind occupied with more contentious issues. New clause 13 gives him the opportunity to formalise the role of self-care by introducing a national self-care strategy that is more than just a footnote or passing reference in the NHS plan. The new clause would ensure that the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care publishes a national care strategy, to integrate self-care for minor ailments into the national health system. Surveys by the Proprietary Association of Great Britain have shown that people have been more amenable to seeking health advice that is outwith the GP practice, the walk-in centre or accident and emergency. Why not build upon that behavioural change? As shown during the pandemic, self-care is a crucial element of our healthcare system and it reduces the strain on GPs and A&E, so that those with more serious conditions can be treated with greater efficiency.

As the NHS seeks to recover from the most recent waves of the pandemic, there will be a unique opportunity to integrate self-care behaviours into the NHS and people’s lives. So by developing and implementing a national care strategy, the Government can ensure that a vision for self-care is realised whereby individuals understand and are willing to practise self-care, knowing how to take care of themselves and where to go when they are feeling unwell. The system will also be supportive of self-care, with pharmacy being much more embedded into the primary care pathway. What is there not to like in this new clause?

Finally, may I mention new clause 18, on the Secretary of State’s duty to report on access to NHS dentistry and to which I am a signatory. Dentistry is a vital component in people’s health. It is not just about teeth; it is about overall health. It can be the first port of call for many people whose symptoms may appear to be related to their teeth but may in fact be symptomatic of another disease, such as oral cancer. So let us make sure that dentistry gets the recognition it deserve—

[Duncan Baker (North Norfolk) (Con)]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Peter Dowd]

I am afraid that I do not have time. Let the Secretary of State report on access to NHS dentistry and give it a seat at the table on integrated care boards and partnerships, along with other health professionals. In conclusion, these proposals are about a comprehensive national care strategy that will help both patients and the NHS, and giving dentistry the attention that it deserves. Those are the areas we need to focus our attention on. They need a bit of tender loving care.

[David Simmonds (Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner) (Con)]

I will be exceptionally brief, Madam Deputy Speaker. I wish to speak on amendments 103 to 105. It seems clear to me that when a House has made a decision to impose statutory obligations on local authorities and other local bodies, we need to ensure that they are effectively consulted, in order to bring their expertise and local insight to bear in improving the quality of services that are offered to our patients. I hope that Ministers will be taking that on board in their response tonight.

Health and Care Bill

Peter Dowd Excerpts

Report stage
Monday 22nd November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Peter Dowd (Bootle) (Lab)]

The hon. Gentleman refers to public health funding since 2015, but is he aware that in 2015, it was identified that the cost to the NHS of smoking was £144.8 million in prescriptions, almost £900 million in out-patient visits, almost £900 million in hospital admissions, and a total of £2.6 billion? Is not investing in smoking cessation money well spent?

[Bob Blackman]

Clearly, if we invest in public health and smoking cessation, we prevent costs in the health service later. It is estimated that most of the cost of people’s healthcare arises in the last two years of their life. Individuals who suffer from cancer or other respiratory diseases caused by smoking will cost the health service dramatic sums of money, so through cessation, we are helping the nation to be healthier and, indeed, saving money for the health service in the long run.

To quote the chief medical officer, the great majority of people who die from lung cancer

“die so that a small number of companies can make profits from the people who they have addicted in young ages, and then keep addicted to something which they know will kill them.”

The time has come to make the tobacco manufacturers pay for the damage that they do, not only to older people but to young people in particular. We need to bring forward the day when smoking is finally obsolete in this country, and I regret to say that if we do not take measures, the time before that day arrives will be lengthened quite considerably.

However, funding alone is not enough; we have to consider tough regulation. The hon. Member for Central Ayrshire mentioned that since lockdown, we have seen the smoking rate among young adults surge by 25%. In the United States, raising the age of sale from 18 to 21 reduced the smoking rate among 18 to 20-year-olds by 30%. We could do the same thing here. We talk about complementary measures; giving tobacco products away is not illegal at the moment. Just imagine—tobacco manufacturers may say, “If we give tobacco products away for free, we can encourage people to become addicted, and then they will buy them, and that will lead them on to a lifetime of smoking.” We have to break that chain of events and make sure that people do not do that.

I have a passion for ensuring that women do not smoke in pregnancy. That is one of the most stubborn measures, and we have to overcome it. Some 11% of women still smoke in pregnancy. We must give them every incentive and introduce every measure to ensure that they give up smoking, and that their partners give up smoking at the same time. That is something that I passionately support.

Our revised amendment, new clause 11, addresses the concerns that the Government raised in Committee about a review of the evidence. I hope that the Government will adopt the new clause at this stage, and then look at the evidence and consult.

People start smoking at certain key points in their life. They may take it up when they are at school and their friends are smokers and they want to be part of the team or the gang. They may take it up when they go to college or university or start a new job, when they are in a new social environment, or at a dreadful time of stress in their life. We have to make sure that they understand that if they take up smoking, they will shorten their life and cause damage to their health—and, indeed, to the health of the people around them.

--- Later in debate ---

[Peter Dowd]

My amendments 1 and 2 primarily relate to self-care. I acknowledge that self-care is recognised by care professionals as part of the healthcare process, but, like prevention, it should not be an afterthought—a concept that we think invaluable but that we never get around to fully including in our health ecosystem in the way we ought to.

Menopause (Support and Services) Bill

Peter Dowd Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 29th October 2021 Commons Chamber

[Peter Dowd (Bootle) (Lab)]

These are some of the words of my hon. Friend the Member for Swansea East (Carolyn Harris) when she launched the all-party group on menopause:

“I’m determined to change the woeful support offered to women…This menopause revolution will bring an end to women’s suffering.”

She also said:

“I know that we can deliver legislation that will make a real difference to women’s lives.”

I commend my hon. Friend on those words and, more importantly, her determination to put them into action by introducing this Bill. I hope to be just one of the many hon. Members who help her achieve her aim to

“bring an end to women’s suffering.”

My hon. Friend is well aware that this Bill is just the start of the process. It is a foundation for much of the rest of the work that has to follow. It is the beginning of a process that will take a great deal of time, effort, endeavour and resource. This House can help in that challenging process by supporting the Bill, and the Government can also help by supporting it.

We are not short of experience, evidence and real-life stories of the impact and effect perimenopause and the menopause can have on women. They are not statistics on a spreadsheet. Those women are our wives, mothers, daughters, aunties, sisters, nieces, friends, colleagues, and constituents.

Millions of women will need the support of everyone in this House to ensure that they get what they are entitled to: not indulgence, but that which is their right. They have a right to live a life that is not bedevilled by the vicissitudes of the menopause or exacerbated through ignorance, lack of support, the unspoken—“let’s not talk about it” approach—that we have seen on this issue for so long. They have a right to a life free from the impacts of the menopause such as anxiety, depression, tiredness and the myriad other challenges women face, many outlined by hon. Members today.

Last week my hon. Friend the Member for Bradford South (Judith Cummins) rightly raised the issue of osteoporosis in the debate on menopause and she rightly did so again today. She highlighted the link between the menopause and osteoporosis.

I want to touch on three areas to reinforce what Members have said today. In the first instance, the primary aim of the Bill relates to prescription charges. This is a major anomaly that my hon. Friend the Member for Swansea East has raised time and again. It cannot be right that this crucial health support is out of synch on prescription charges when compared to other forms of non-charging for prescriptions. For example, the hon. Member for Thurrock (Jackie Doyle-Price) referred to erectile dysfunction and issues around contraception. This is all the more important when the impact menopause has on women for years, and the deleterious knock-on effect it has on family life and work life for so many women and their families, is clear.

Secondly, as I alluded to earlier, this is just the start of a process, not the end or the fulfilment of a process. There needs to be a reappraisal of the training given to clinicians both pre-qualification and post-qualification to ensure that this significant health issue, which affects millions of women to one degree or another, is given the priority it deserves. It is not an attempt to point the finger at hard-working and in many cases overworked clinicians, as others have said; it is an attempt to recognise that women have been ignored, not understood and passed over, and that other issues around their perceived health have not been linked to the menopause when they should have been.

Thirdly, I want to make a suggestion. Given that it is patently obvious that women go through the menopause with varying degrees of intensity and impact on their health, what about a menopause health check for women starting at the perimenopausal stage and into the menopausal phase? From the evidence of the all-party parliamentary group on menopause we know that many women themselves were unaware of the symptoms linked to menopause. NICE guidance setting out an holistic approach to support for woman during both phases would be welcome, as the current guidance is not necessarily as comprehensive as it could be. The last guidance was updated in 2019, as far as I can tell. Perhaps a more substantive refresh would be appropriate.

In conclusion, the impact of the menopause on so many women—an impact often hidden, misunderstood, neglected, ignored and misunderstood—really does need a thorough reappraisal, not just in a narrow or focused medical way but with a cultural sea change in attitudes to the menopause and its impacts. Some of them are life changing and they need to be dealt with right across society in schools, health services and workplaces.

I believe the Bill goes some way to address some of the issues we are debating today, but as my hon. Friend the Member for Swansea East said, nothing short of a menopause revolution will suffice to address this challenge, which is not going away. As a vice-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on menopause and a co-sponsor of the Bill, and as someone who has been conscripted into it, not necessarily as a warrior—[Laughter.]—I exhort Members to support it. The Government and Members right across the House can play their part by supporting my hon. Friend’s endeavours. I support the Bill and I really do implore everybody to do so.

World Menopause Month

Peter Dowd Excerpts

Thursday 21st October 2021 Commons Chamber

[Judith Cummins (Bradford South) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to speak in this important debate. I thank the Backbench Business Committee for the opportunity to highlight World Menopause Month and the critical issues associated with menopause, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Swansea East (Carolyn Harris) and the Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, the right hon. Member for Romsey and Southampton North (Caroline Nokes), for securing the debate. I will speak on one aspect of menopause: its link with osteoporosis. I do so as co-chair with Lord Black of Brentwood of the all-party parliamentary group on osteoporosis and bone health.

Menopause is an important time for bone health. When women reach the menopause, oestrogen levels decrease, which causes many women to develop symptoms such as hot flushes and sweats, as we have heard today. According to the Royal Osteoporosis Society, the decrease in oestrogen levels causes loss of bone density, so the menopause is an important cause of osteoporosis. Everyone loses bone density and strength as they get older, but women lose more bone density more rapidly in the years following the menopause, and they can lose up to 20% of their bone density during this time. With that loss of bone density comes reduced bone strength, and a greater risk of breaking bones.

Now for some facts about osteoporosis. Half all women and one in five men over 50 will break a bone as a result of poor bone health. As someone very wise put it to me yesterday, that is literally every other person. Osteoporosis causes more than half a million broken bones every year, which equates to almost one broken bone every minute. Breaking a bone usually means significant short-term pain and inconvenience, but it does not stop there. Many people with osteoporosis who break a bone live with long-term pain and disability, especially if their backs are affected. The reality of broken bones and the fear of falling have an impact on people’s everyday lives and activities, preventing them from doing the things they love and, essentially, from being the people they are.

Yesterday was World Osteoporosis Day, and the Royal Osteoporosis Society marked the day by releasing findings from a new survey of over 3,000 people with osteoporosis, the 2021 “Life with osteoporosis” survey.

[Peter Dowd (Bootle) (Lab)]

I am pleased to be a member of the all-party parliamentary group on menopause, led by my indefatigable hon. Friend the Member for Swansea East (Carolyn Harris). I am also pleased that my hon. Friend the Member for Bradford South (Judith Cummins) has raised the significant links between osteoporosis and the menopause. Does she agree that the four actions called for by the Royal Osteoporosis Society in its manifesto for a future without osteoporosis, including an expansion of the fracture liaison services, are not too much to ask for the 3.5 million people affected by the curse of osteoporosis?

[Judith Cummins]

I could not agree more wholeheartedly with my hon. Friend. Yesterday I had the honour of supporting the ROS, and a group of fantastic and passionate patient advocates who had helped with its report so enthusiastically, in delivering the report to the doorstep of No 10. Following that, we had a meeting with the Minister’s counterpart, the Minister for Care and Mental Health, the hon. Member for Chichester (Gillian Keegan), who received the report on behalf of the Government. I hope that both Ministers, working together with us, will carefully consider the points raised in the report—alongside the ROS’s new policy manifesto, to which my hon. Friend just referred—and will make sure that the needs and wellbeing of all those with osteoporosis, as well as women as they approach and go through the menopause, are at the heart of the Government’s health policies.

I have visited my local fracture liaison service at Bradford Royal Infirmary. It is an excellent and award-winning service. I spent time with the team discussing how good their work was at a local level, and how we could make improvements at a national level. We discussed the inconsistencies in terms of delivery of treatment across the country to which my hon. Friend referred. But one of the astounding things that stood out was their pride, their enthusiasm and their dedication to providing such excellent treatment for the people of Bradford in respect of a disease which, although important, is rarely spoken about.

Significant harm could be prevented if we put prevention at the heart of primary care. Digital solutions which could support that already exist, but they are not properly integrated into IT systems in our GP surgeries. Such systems could easily identify people at risk of osteoporosis before that all-important first fracture. Those who experience early menopause—before the age of 45, and especially before the age of 40—are at particular risk of osteoporosis and fractures in later life. They are advised to take HRT at least up until the normal age of menopause, which is around the age of 50.

I am proud to stand here today to help break the silence of this silent disease, a disease that affects so many women—young women in today’s society; women who have much to offer, women who should not be left undiagnosed, women whose quality of life is left literally to crumble, women who are left to suffer in pain—when in fact this is a treatable condition, because our bones are alive and can be built back stronger with the right treatment. I hope that the Minister will see why it is essential that, around the time of the menopause, women are properly supported to assess their risk of osteoporosis and fractures. I welcome her to her place, and I would also welcome any further conversations with her and her counterparts to ensure that we have the right policies in place to support women at this important time.