Covid-19: NHS Long-term Plan

Baroness Browning Excerpts

Tuesday 15th September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, the right reverend Prelate is right; health inequalities are a massive priority for the Government. Covid has demonstrated how health inequalities play out when an epidemic such as this one hits the country. That is why we put education and levelling-up on health generally as major government priorities, why we are investing in 50,000 new nurses and 40 new hospitals, and why health remains a number one priority for this Government.

[Baroness Browning (Con) [V]]

My Lords, my noble friend will be aware that the long-term plan has set an ambitious target for 2028 of 75% of cancers being diagnosed at stages 1 and 2. Does he agree that this must involve GPs, and that GPs having face-to-face consultations with patients is the only way that this target will be achieved?

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

We are enormously proud of the commitment to early intervention on cancer. This is the absolute core of our life science priorities. It is envisaged that we will have a revolution in the diagnostic capabilities of the NHS in order to hit these targets and, where necessary, face-to-face GP appointments will be made available. However, I am not sure that every single appointment needs to be face to face. One of the learnings of more than half of the 100 million consultations that took place between March and June was that telephone and video appointments can be extremely productive.

Covid-19

Baroness Browning Excerpts

Thursday 3rd September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

The right reverend Prelate is entirely right to raise this point; it is emerging as a massive concern. The idea that Covid will somehow pass through Britain and leave people untouched, a bit like simple winter flu, is beginning to prove worryingly untrue. Her anecdote from Bristol is completely consistent with what we are seeing across the piece. In particular, those who have had acute infection but also, I fear, some who have had relatively asymptomatic or low-symptom Covid have found in later weeks and months symptoms of fatigue, arrythmia, renal impact, scarring on the lungs and memory loss. These are extremely worrying symptoms. Sir Patrick Vallance, the Government Chief Scientific Adviser, is running an operation to understand what the right reverend Prelate rightly calls long Covid; we are using big data to analyse the scans we have collected from acute patients and to understand the impact of asymptomatic infection. This is an extremely worrying manifestation of Covid, one that we are acutely aware of, and we are investigating very urgently.

[Baroness Browning (Con) [V]]

My noble friend will be only too aware of the consequences of non-Covid patients’ reluctance to present themselves at hospitals and even to GPs for treatment and support. With the winter months approaching, what can he do to make sure that, at a local level, in advance of people having symptoms, they are reassured that they will be safe to approach the NHS? The idea that “it will be all right on the night” and just requires encouragement has clearly not been enough in the past and, I fear, will not be enough in the coming months.

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, my noble friend is entirely right that confidence in attending NHS venues is hard hit by Covid. One of the inspiring and interesting things that has happened has been the switch to using telemedicine—video and telephone calls—for referrals. This has been particularly and interestingly used in mental health, where attendance at clinics is something that many patients would wisely seek to avoid, but in fact the delivery of mental health therapy through telemedicine and calls has proved to be incredibly effective and has worked very well. We are working hard, through the NHS, to try to de-weight attendance at venues, particularly big central hospitals, and move much more towards attendance in the community, or through technology, in order to give patients a choice and to increase our engagement at a time when people are fearful of going back to their GP surgeries.

Covid-19: Personal Protective Equipment

Baroness Browning Excerpts

Thursday 16th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell [V]]

My Lords, I completely share the concerns of the noble Baroness, Lady Andrews, about a second peak and we are working to prepare for that. I respect the views of the PAC and emphasise that our approach to PPE is incredibly serious. A huge amount of work has gone into it and a huge amount of progress has been made.

[Baroness Browning (Con) [V]]

Can my noble friend identify what lessons have been learnt so far from both the quantity and quality of the PPE that has been used in homes and hospitals? What action will be taken to minimise cross-infection for those who have to go into people’s domestic homes and who often work in more than one location?

[Lord Bethell [V]]

My Lords, the big lesson from Covid is that the quantity of PPE needed for a disease like this is massively more that could ever have been expected, particularly compared with our past experience. It has hit every country in the world and has hit the global supply chains incredibly hard. A benign lesson is that British manufacturers are capable of stepping up the challenge, and I salute their work. Contamination from itinerant workers was always one of the greatest challenges of the care sector, and we have put in a huge amount of work and financial resources to avoid the need for workers who move from home to home.

Hospitals: Patient Safety

Baroness Browning Excerpts

Thursday 21st May 2020 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Browning]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to update the guidance given to hospitals about ensuring the safety of patients who do not have Covid-19 who require life-saving emergency treatment.

The Question was considered in a Virtual Proceeding via video call.

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

My Lords, despite Covid-19, the day-to-day health of the nation remains the business of the NHS. That is why the NHS has issued a new operating framework to help hospitals to continue providing essential and emergency care for patients who do not have Covid-19. This guidance is being kept under review. I have placed a copy of the framework in the Library.

[Baroness Browning (Con)]

Emergency admissions, of which we have seen many, though perhaps not enough, have resulted in people being very afraid of going into hospital, because there has been a lack of information for the general public. For example, what happens at the triage stage, what sort of PPE will people be wearing and how will they be protected? What can the Minister do to reassure the public that they will be safe and, on top of their emergency, will have the absolute minimum chance of getting Covid-19?

[Lord Bethell]

My Lords, I acknowledge that people’s concerns have led to a decline in attendance at A&E. That is why the NHS is running an “Open for business” media campaign, encouraging all patients in need of urgent or emergency medical care to seek appropriate treatment, including, where appropriate, attendance at A&E.