My Lords, when I knew I was going to give some relief to my noble friend Lord Duncan in responding, I wanted to look up what hyponatremia actually means, and what happens to your body when it is low on sodium. I wanted to add a little to what the noble Baroness, Lady Smith, said. Low blood sodium hyponatremia occurs when you have an abnormally low amount of sodium in your blood, or when you have too much water in your blood. Signs and symptoms of hyponatremia can include altered personality, lethargy and confusion. Severe hyponatremia can cause seizures, coma and even death—so I am left in no doubt about the seriousness of this particular matter.
Amendment 9 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Smith, and Amendment 12 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Bruce, provide that the guidance should require Northern Ireland departments to update the Secretary of State to implement the recommendation of an important inquiry into hyponatremia that reported earlier this year. As has been said, the proposed legislation is not a move to direct rule. Northern Ireland departments are not subject to the direction and control of the Secretary of State. As a consequence, to have this requirement on the Northern Ireland Department of Health to report to the Government in such a way on the face of the Bill is not consistent with the aim and intention of the guidance, which is to provide guidance as to the exercise of functions in the public interest, not to direct specific action. To use this guidance to direct individual decisions or to seek to introduce formal reporting mechanisms would therefore go against this principle.
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However, I am sympathetic to the noble Baroness’s desire to see progress on this matter. We have therefore sought an update from the Northern Ireland Department of Health and have been assured that a team was established in June to consider options for implementation of the inquiry’s recommendations. A meeting has already been scheduled for that team, led by the Deputy Chief Medical Officer, to brief Justice O’Hara QC at the end of November on progress, and I intend that the Government should write to the Northern Ireland
Department of Health to seek an update following that meeting on implementation of the inquiry’s recommendations. We will ensure that this update can be made public and will request further updates on a six-monthly basis.
To take the matter further with the noble Baroness, Lady Smith, the Department of Health Northern Ireland has said that it will respond. The letter, which I believe she has received, commits that we will write to the Department of Health Northern Ireland, asking for an update on the recommendations in the manner proposed by the noble Baroness’s amendment. We shall share those updates publicly. On the basis that work is ongoing and with the reassurances we have given that regular updates will be provided, I hope that the noble Baroness will feel able to withdraw her amendment.