Health Bill

Baroness Hyde of Bemerton Excerpts

Committee stage
Tuesday 3rd November 2026 Lords Chamber

Debate on Amendment 21 resumed.

[Baroness in Waiting/Government Whip (Baroness Hyde of Bemerton) (Lab)]

My Lords, before we continue to debate Amendment 21, I remind the Committee that this is an adjourned debate. Therefore, unless you were present at the start of consideration of the group, you are not able to contribute. The Clerk at the Table has a full list of those who were present.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, as I moved the first amendment in this group, it might be helpful if I recap the nature of the debate last week. The noble Baroness, Lady Tyler, spoke to a number of amendments on carers. She said that there are

“4.7 million unpaid carers in England”.—[Official Report, 28/10/26; col. 1234.]

They lack support. One of the reasons for that is that we do not have a system of identifying who they are. This was backed up by the noble Lord, Lord Young, who spoke about young carers. He spoke of

“15,000 schoolchildren spending more than 50 hours a week looking after their parents or siblings, and 3,000 of those were aged between five and nine”.—[Official Report, 28/10/26; col. 1237.]

They face many disadvantages in the field of education, as the noble Lord, Lord Young, identified. They are rarely identified by the relevant authorities until, on average, three years have passed since they first began caring.

My amendments run in parallel to those tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Tyler. They are about introducing a new legal right to ensure that no one is cut off from relatives and friends in care homes, hospitals and other care settings. This would mean that anyone relying on health and care services, either in the short or longer term, would have the right to nominate a trusted relative, friend or paid carer to provide essential in-person support. Their access will be protected and their advocacy respected. During Covid in particular, but subsequently too, there was a lot of evidence that, when a carer, relative or friend raised concerns about their loved one in a residential care home, in some cases they were told that they were not allowed to visit again. There have been some cases, too, where the resident was required to be removed from the home. The noble and learned Baroness, Lady Hallett, recognised the importance of this in her recent Covid-19 inquiry report:

“In a future pandemic, visits from essential carers should be available to all residents where possible and should be distinct from considerations regarding general visiting”.


Her report recommended this protection be framed as a right.