Covid-19: International Response

Viscount Bridgeman Excerpts

Monday 18th May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Viscount Bridgeman (Con)]

My Lords, surely one of the few good outcomes of this dreadful virus is the emergence of unprecedented co-operation among health authorities worldwide in fighting it, of which the highest profile is of course the work towards the development of a vaccine. I am grateful to the Minister for telling us the contribution of the United Kingdom. Sadly, all this is of course without the proper leadership that we could have expected from the United States.

The devotion and courage of health workers on the front line and indeed of their support teams in this country are beyond praise, but the organisation and management of the NHS is in need of review, a problem dodged by successive Governments. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—at least I hope so—for Her Majesty’s Government to take advantage of this global identity of mission to appoint a royal commission to compare in unprecedented depth the workings of our National Health Service, with all its brilliant achievements but with its shortcomings too, with those of other national health services worldwide, particularly those adopting a high profile in the current crisis, and recommend from whatever source the adoption of the best practices that the commission can identify.

Back in the 2000s, my noble friend Lord Hague, then leader of the Opposition, mandated my now right honourable friend Liam Fox, who was then shadow Health Minister, to familiarise himself with other health services in the EEA. His firm conclusion was that, for patients and clinicians, Germany was the place to be. I have checked this with Liam Fox, and his current view is that Switzerland now wins by a short head, but this is simply two centres of excellence in comparison with one another. All this would be for the royal commission for find out for itself. These are just two of the examples that we can take from some of our nearest neighbours.