Speeches by Dixon.

“I am glad that you said what you said. We have an excellent primary care practice called Bevan Healthcare, which is specifically set up to provide specialised primary health and medical care both to asylum seekers in hotels and to recently arrived refugees, so that they can better help meet the needs of people coming i…”

“We will come on to inequalities, but I am guessing that you have given some of the answers there around underlying social determinants and better health. On the specifics of migration, is that an issue for broader biosecurity? Are there any measures that can be taken to mitigate our higher risk?”

“We should note that there is a risk and it is not currently being factored into some of our trade deals. I want to come back to human health and international comparisons. We have talked about animals, in which there are certain countries that are making much higher use. The league table on human use of antibiotics pro…”

“Yes, indeed. It speaks for itself. So there is a higher risk as we move outside and start to import food from places other than the European Union, where we can be confident of that type of biosecurity and standards, and from countries that have lower standards than the UK. In your view, that situation is likely to inc…”

“Would you like to add anything, Ms Seager, in relation to animals?”

“Before I move on to human health, I want to press this point. I was very taken with what you said, Sir Chris, about the fact that some of this resistance can jump from animal to human. As we have seen in some of the diagrams, one of the pathways is via food. Having left the European Union, what are we doing to ensure t…”

“That is fine. Thank you. That has been useful questioning.”

“Lord O’Neill, do you want to add anything?”

“You mentioned cleanability—I do not know whether that is a word. We have received some written evidence stressing hygiene—not just personal hygiene, which we all got good at during covid, but cleaning regimes, whether specifically in healthcare settings or more generally in public areas. How much do you think it is beh…”

“We are about to make large investments in the new hospital programme. You would say you are more confident that the designs that are being looked at there build in sufficient safeguards in terms of reducing infection, but you are saying it is more challenging in refurb.”

“Great. I was going to come on to that.”

“Increasing active travel by 50% in England would result in 1.8 million fewer GP visits and 4 million fewer sick days. I therefore welcome the Government’s commitment, reiterated by the Minister, to build 300 miles of new cycle lanes and walkways. Will the Minister meet me and the Friends of Wharfedale Greenway to see h…”

“Would you say that the emphasis for public education should be much more on infection reduction than on antibiotics?”

“That is music to certainly my ears, as someone who is from a public health background. Hopefully the Treasury is listening to your interesting comments on preventive health as an investment. Certainly, the numbers we see in the Report about the economic impact if we do not get AMR under control are quite significant. Y…”

“Good morning and thank you for coming. Before I get into my questions, I will declare that I worked as a civil servant in the Department of Health from 2013 to 2015, when Dame Sally Davies was the chief medical officer. All credit to her for championing both nationally and globally this very important issue at that tim…”

“I am interested in the public, going beyond the professional.”

“I was thinking about your winter flu campaigns. I understand that the NHS runs public-facing campaigns; I just wondered why not on this.”

“As hospitals’ budgets have been squeezed, has there been any concern that there has not been the appropriate level of cleaning, particularly with outsourcing? Is there any evidence of a difference between insourced and outsourced cleaning?”

“Let me flip the question. Why is a shortage of these particular specialists a threat to us achieving what we need to on AMR? Let us make it really specific.”

“Some of that could be replaced. We have talked about other countries having e-prescribing and EPRs. We are talking about AI decision support. Are there better and more efficient ways in which we can make sure that every generalist has, at their fingertips, the right sort of decision support in terms of ensuring greater…”