Sudden Cardiac Death: Screening for Young People
Debate between Baroness Finlay of Llandaff and Baroness Blake of Leeds
Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)
Comparisons of screening programmes with other health systems can be misleading. For example, the programme in Italy operates only in the area around Venice; it is not a national screening programme. The published data is unclear and we have requested further information. Of course, if any programme in the world is really cutting through, we want to know about it. We would love to know more, and we urge the Italians to respond to our request for more information.
Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (CB)
I declare that my son is a cardiologist. Following on from the Minister’s comments about the risks associated with false positives, where 30% to 40% of those who had a false positive, even after having been proven not to have particular cardiac risk, have long-term health anxiety and sport avoidance, will the Minister ensure that the national screening committee is also able to consider the importance of defibrillators being available 24/7 on a national database that can be accessed by anyone, of those defibrillators being maintained, and of all young people—that is, those at school, students and those in employment—have training in CPR? There is evidence that immediate CPR when someone collapses with cardiac arrest can be a very effective way of managing it at a relatively low cost.
Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)
I have some experience in the rollout of defibrillators, which is delegated to local areas, and well-meaning groups fundraise and want them in a particular place. Managing and maintaining them properly is paramount, as is training people in how to use them. Understanding them and going through general training, which I think most local authority members have done, is critical. We have so many examples where immediate intervention saves lives. It is a big programme with a huge number of defibrillators—over 110,000 as we speak—but it is life-saving, so it needs to be taken seriously.
Advertising Restrictions on Less Healthy Food
Debate between Baroness Finlay of Llandaff and Baroness Blake of Leeds
Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)
I completely agree with the noble Lord and I have personal experience from my background. It is empowering when a parent presents at a community organisation with a child who has an eating disorder or who is becoming obese, and they work together through cooking, education and shopping. All those things are fundamental and they need to be reinforced in schools, and I agree with the noble Lord that we need to tackle this on all levels. We obviously have to have the top-down measures that we were talking about earlier, but changing habits is going to be transformational.
Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (CB)
My Lords, given the commercial determinants of ill health that are now clear, what work are the Government doing with local authorities to make sure that shops such as greengrocers are available on high streets across the country, so that children can work through the lessons that they might learn in school and be encouraged to eat healthily and have healthy snacks rather than be tempted by the supermarket shelves, which are certainly peddling foods that are high in fat, salt and sugar?
NHS 10-Year Plan
Debate between Baroness Finlay of Llandaff and Baroness Blake of Leeds(6 months ago)
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Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (CB)
My Lords, from these Benches, we too send best wishes to the noble Baroness, Lady Merron.
The stress on prevention in this plan is welcome, but it does not adequately address the commercial determinants of ill health. On every high street there is alcohol for sale which does not have minimum unit pricing, and that is not coming in. There are vape shops and betting shops, and poor quality ultra-processed food is the food available for purchase. Putting the onus on the individual under the name of choice is unfair when they do not have anything reasonable to choose from that they can afford. I really push the Government to look at these broader commercial determinants of ill health.
I was disappointed that palliative care was mentioned only once, because the Commission on Palliative and End-of-Life Care has shown that good care is less costly than poor care. It can avoid inappropriate admissions to hospital and support people to live well. When at peace emotionally and physically comfortable, they can gently let go of life and die gently in the place of their choice, which is usually their home. But for care at home, they need support 24/7. My concern has been that the plan does not really emphasise that there are times at nights and weekends when AI and technology are not the answer. You need a person who is available to come out and provide help and support to someone in the home. I hope that in the neighbourhoods, the 24/7 need will be addressed and that there will not be an excessive reliance on AI, thinking that it will be the answer to everything. I look forward to hearing the response.
Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)
I thank the noble Baroness for her questions and for her best wishes to my noble friend Lady Merron—I am sure that she will receive them. I thank her for bringing up the commercial determinants of health, which are critical. I reassure her that, outside of the health scenario, an enormous amount of work is happening. The NHS is going to work much more closely with local government—which has responsibility for trading standards, for example—and other local public services. We have certain things in place. Come the autumn, we will be bringing back the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, for example, with its huge opportunity to create a smoke-free generation. We are restricting junk food advertising targeted at children, banning the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to the under-16s, and we will be the first country in the world to introduce mandatory health food sales reporting for all large companies in the food sector.
The noble Baroness raised a few questions. I have to be brief to give other people the opportunity to come in, but palliative care is a real priority moving forward. I will leave it there, but I am happy to pick up anything that I have missed with her outside the House.