Tag: NHS

Bishop of London leads debate on ambulance handovers

The Bishop of London tabled a question for short debate on 3rd November 2022, concerning ambulance handovers in light of an upcoming strike:

The Lord Bishop of London: To ask His Majesty’s Government what progress they are making on ensuring swift ambulance handovers, as set out in Our Plan for Patients, published on 22 September, given the decision of ambulance workers across 11 trusts to ballot for strike action.

My Lords, I start by saying how grateful I am to your Lordships’ House for setting time aside for what I think is an important and timely debate. I am also grateful for the briefing from the House of Lords Library.

Last week, the GMB union announced that it was balloting ambulance workers over strike action across 11 trusts in what would be the biggest ambulance workers’ strike for 30 years. I think it would be wise to ask ourselves what has happened across the whole system to bring us to this point. Ambulance handover delays are an increasing issue across the trusts in England. The NHS contract for this year sets out that 90% of handovers should take place within 30 minutes and 65% within 15. However, the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives notes 40,000 cases of patients waiting longer than an hour for handover—this was recorded this year and is the third-highest volume on record.

Long handover delays increase the risk of harm to patients while they are in ambulances. The NHS Confederation says that eight out of 10 patients who were delayed beyond 60 minutes were assessed as having had an experience that had potentially harmed them, and nearly one in 10 experienced severe harm as a result. The number of ambulances waiting to transfer their patients also impacts on the availability of ambulances, and the response times therefore increase. This in turn risks increasing further harm to those who are waiting for an ambulance in the community. Florence Nightingale famously once said that hospitals should do no harm. It is a sentiment that I believe is appropriate to the wider healthcare system. The healthcare system should do no harm.

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Bishop of Gloucester asks about automatic registration for the Healthy Start Scheme

The Bishop of Gloucester received the following written answer on 20th July 2022:

The Lord Bishop of Gloucester asked Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to the potential merits of introducing an automatic registration process for the Healthy Start scheme.

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Bishop of St Albans asks a question on healthcare recruitment data

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 18th July 2022:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Kamall on 27 June (HL1046), what plans they have to record data on the number of health care professionals who were hired from countries graded as red by the World Health Organisation.

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Bishop of Manchester asks a question on ambulance delays

The Bishop of Manchester asked the following question on 4th July 2022:

The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, our prime objective must be to eliminate all these unacceptable delays as quickly as possible. Can the Minister confirm what work is being done in the interim to ensure that effective pastoral care is available for those who are currently waiting for long periods in ambulances, particularly for the many for whom last rites and other rituals that take place at the point of death form an important part of their faith?

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Votes: Pharmacy (Responsible Pharmacists, Superintendent Pharmacists etc) Order 2022

On 28th June 2022, the House of Lords debated amendments to the Pharmacy Order 2022, at the approval stage. A vote was held on an amendment to the order, in which a Bishop took part.

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Bishop of London speaks in a debate on nursing

The Bishop of London spoke in a debate on nursing staffing on 16th June 2022:

The Lord Bishop of London: My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Tyler, for securing this timely debate. This issue is close to my heart. I draw noble Lords’ attention to my interests as set out in the register, specifically as a former government Chief Nursing Officer for England.

In my role as chair of a health inequalities action group, and as a Bishop with oversight of a diocese that includes some of the best hospitals in the world, I have had the privilege over the last few months of listening to a wide range of nurses. They have talked about their continued passion for high-quality nursing care, the wonderful teams of which they are a part, the innovations that are happening and their pride in their work.

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Bishop of London asks a question about PPE allocation

The Bishop of London asked a question during a debate on Personal Protective Equipment during the COVID-19 Pandemic on 14th June 2022:

The Lord Bishop of London: My Lords, I recognise the considerable pressure that the Government, the NHS and Ministers were put under, but can the Minister tell us what is being done so that we can learn from this situation and not replicate it in the next pandemic?

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Bishop of Durham asks about the North East Ambulance Service

The Bishop of Durham asked a question during a discussion on the North East Ambulance Service on 23rd May 2022:

The Lord Bishop of Durham: My Lords, I should declare that NEAS serves the area that I live in; indeed, I shall be in Shildon on other business later this week. Will the Minister take the opportunity to applaud the work—on the ground and in the vehicles—of members of the ambulance service? They seek to do their best under incredible pressure, day in and day out. This is an opportunity to thank them, I think, even in the face of such tragedy.

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Bishop of St Albans asks about gambling treatment services

The Bishop of St Albans asked about funding of NHS gambling treatment services on 28th March 2022:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the announcements that the NHS (1) will no longer accept money from GambleAware, and (2) is establishing two additional NHS gambling clinics to meet demand, what plans they have to agree a long-term independent funding settlement for NHS gambling treatment services.

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Bishop of Exeter asks about access to dental service in rural communities

The Bishop of Exeter asked a question on access to dental services for rural communities on 31st January 2022, during a debate on issues in NHS dental care:

The Lord Bishop of Exeter: My Lords, the report of Healthwatch England states that, of all the areas in the country with lack of access to NHS dentistry,

“the worst affected is Devon, as there are currently no practices showing as taking on adult or child patients.”

Can the Minister assure the House that, as part of the Government’s levelling-up policy, rural communities in Devon and elsewhere will not be further disadvantaged and will have access to NHS dental services?

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