NHS: Financial Performance

David Tredinnick Excerpts

Monday 12th October 2015 Commons Chamber

[Ben Gummer]

The hon. Gentleman is right that, in the past, the NHS has not had the funding that it requires. That is exactly why the Government have committed £10 billion to the NHS at a time when efficiency savings are being made across all other Departments. That is the mark of a party that believes in the NHS and the reason why only this party can fairly claim to be the party of the NHS.

[David Tredinnick (Bosworth) (Con)]

I suggest to my hon. Friend that one way to reduce the pressures on the service would be to make greater use of health professionals who are regulated by the Professional Standards Authority, which covers 13 mental health and wellbeing professions. What is the point of people getting statutory oversight, regulation and registration if the health service does not employ them to reduce the demand for its services?

[Ben Gummer]

My hon. Friend is right to point to this area of health policy as one that is of interest. That is why the Law Commission reported on professional regulation before the last election. It is being kept under close review within the Department.

Oral Answers to Questions

David Tredinnick Excerpts

Tuesday 7th July 2015 Commons Chamber

[David Tredinnick (Bosworth) (Con)]

Has my right hon. Friend had a chance to read the report by the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care, which says that pressure would be taken off doctors and nurses if greater use were made of the 63,000 practitioners that it regulates on 17 separate registers covering 25 occupations? Will he look at the report and write to me?

[Mr Hunt]

I am very happy to do that. My hon. Friend is right to point out that the solution to the problem is not just about expanding the number of appointments offered by GPs, although we are doing that; it is also about looking at the very important role that pharmacists and other allied health professionals have to play in out-of-hospital care.

Health and Social Care

David Tredinnick Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

We do need to make important changes to the training of medical staff, and I shall give the hon. Gentleman one example of where that matters: creating the right culture in the NHS so that doctors and nurses feel able to speak out if they see poor care. In a lot of hospitals they find that very difficult, because they are working for someone directly responsible for their own career progress, and they worry that if they speak out, that will inhibit their own careers. We do not have that culture of openness. The royal colleges have been very supportive in helping us make that change, but yes, medical training is extremely important.

[David Tredinnick (Bosworth) (Con)]

To build on the point made by the hon. Member for Huddersfield (Mr Sheerman), is not a critical aspect—something that the Health Committee has looked at—what doctors are learning now? More needs to be done about prevention. Has my right hon. Friend seen early-day motion 1 about reducing levels of obesity, and is not reducing the amount of sugar in fizzy drinks a key challenge for him?

[Mr Hunt]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The big change we need to see in the NHS over this Parliament is a move from a focus on cure to a focus on prevention. In this Parliament, we will probably see the biggest single public health challenge change from smoking to obesity. It is still a national scandal that one in five 11-year-olds are clinically obese, and I think we need to do something significant to tackle that in this Parliament.

--- Later in debate ---

[Andy Burnham]

As my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Walton (Steve Rotheram) pointed out a moment ago, NHS services are often not there for young people in particular when they need them, but we must also ask ourselves why people end up in that position in the first place. We have seen, in some of the public policy decisions that have been made in recent times, a failure to understand how changes can affect people’s mental health. The work capability assessment, for instance, did not pay sufficient regard to mental health, and that needs to change if we are to give people proper support in this Parliament.

Let me, at the start of the new Parliament, urge all new and all re-elected Members to bear in mind the momentum on mental health that was built in the last Parliament, and to do everything they can to build on it. Given the nature of modern living and the stress and insecurity that we all have to absorb, mental health will remain the issue of our times, and we shall need public policy to match. The last Parliament made huge progress in raising mental health issues, but this Parliament needs to translate those words into action.

Progress was also made on patient safety, and the Secretary of State deserves credit for that, but, again, it is important for the momentum not to be lost in this Parliament. In that context, there appears to be a significant omission from the Gracious Speech. Improving the regulation of health professionals was a central recommendation that emerged from the Francis report, and a Bill to modernise professional regulation has long been anticipated. It would have had cross-party support, and would have enabled the regulators to get on with the job of protecting and safeguarding the public from poor care. The failure to introduce such a Bill means that there is now no prospect of reducing the time it takes to deal with complaints, which, at present, is typically 15 months from start to finish. Jackie Smith, chief executive of the Nursing and Midwifery Council, has said that she is “deeply disappointed” by the omission, and that it is a “major setback” to the response to the Francis report. Can the Secretary of State explain why no such Bill was mentioned in the Queen’s Speech, and tell us when it can be expected? We need a professional regulatory regime that is modern, up to date and fit for purpose.

The issue on which I now intend to focus is finance. For the last five years, we have been treated to repeated lectures from Ministers about the importance of sound management of the public finances. That is the signature of this Government, or so they like to claim. Today I want to put that claim to the test in respect of the NHS, and to look in detail at the Government’s stewardship of NHS finances.

The Government like to talk about the deficit, but they do not often mention the very large deficit they have created at the heart of the NHS. We will put that right today, and consider the promises they made in the run-up to the election: local promises to reopen A&E departments, and national promises to deliver GP opening hours of 8 am to 8 pm and seven-day NHS working. We will ask how all that can be delivered, given that the NHS finances are deteriorating fast.

[David Tredinnick]

I am listening with interest to the right hon. Gentleman, but surely he has forgotten about the private finance initiative, which was his initiative and which got us into all sorts of trouble financially.

[Andy Burnham]

The Conservatives are fond of saying that we did not fix the roof when the sun was shining, but I can tell the hon. Gentleman that we did fix the leaking roofs of hospitals and GP surgeries that they left behind, and we had to invest a significant amount to do so. When we came to office in 1997, more than half the NHS estate predated the NHS itself, and people remember those days. We had to put that right: we had to rebuild substantial portions of the NHS simultaneously by means of the PFI, which, I might add, was inherited from the Major Government.

Oral Answers to Questions

David Tredinnick Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Ben Gummer]

I should make it clear first that, for the hon. Lady’s constituents, we have no say over the control of the health service in Northern Ireland. We have seen an increase of 24% in middle-grade doctors in the English health service and, as I have said, we have seen an increase in all doctors in emergency medicine of 25%. That is a considerable increase in an area that has been difficult to recruit to for a very long time. The Government made a difference in our previous incarnation and we will continue to do so.

[David Tredinnick (Bosworth) (Con)]

I welcome my hon. Friend to his place and wish him well. Is he aware that when the Select Committee on Health considered emergency care and took evidence from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine in the last Parliament it was clear that there was a perception among doctors that this was not as attractive as other specialties and that that is a serious problem? What is he going to do about it?

[Ben Gummer]

I thank my hon. Friend for bringing that to my attention. I was not aware of it and it is certainly something I shall consider. There are several specialties in the NHS where this is a problem and I shall be addressing that as I review the workforce in the years to come.