NHS (Government Spending)

Grahame Morris Excerpts

Wednesday 28th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Chris Leslie]

I think we got the gist of the intervention. The hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton) opposed such competition, but I think he voted for it in the Health and Social Care Bill. He has his own demons to worry about on that.

[Grahame M. Morris (Easington) (Lab)]

I, too, served on the Health and Social Care Bill Committee. Does my hon. Friend agree that one of the great problems we face with work force planning, as Government Members have highlighted, is that private sector providers by and large are not training the doctors and the range of staff we need to deliver an integrated health service?

[Chris Leslie]

My hon. Friend is right. That is the crucial difference between those on the two sides of the Chamber: Government Members are not interested in having private or voluntary sector supplements where there is need in the NHS; their agenda is to replace provision across the NHS and to contract out across the board.

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[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Dr Daniel Poulter)]

I welcome this opportunity to discuss the NHS. In answer to the question from the hon. Member for Nottingham East (Chris Leslie), I reconfirm the Government’s commitment to an NHS free at the point of need and free at the point of delivery. Only with a strong economy can we afford to pay for our NHS.

It would be wrong to open my remarks without commenting on the Labour party’s increasingly regrettable approach of weaponising the NHS. I still work as an NHS hospital doctor. There are a lot of professional politicians on the Opposition Front Bench. In my capacity as a local MP, I have been out on the front line with the East of England ambulance service during night shifts over this busy winter period. Front-line NHS staff do not appreciate the way in which the Labour party is trying to run down our NHS. There are a lot of staff working incredibly hard over this busy winter period and they should be congratulated on the effort and dedication that they put into front-line patient care. I hope that the hon. Member for Nottingham East and the Leader of the Opposition will reflect on that.

As this is an economic motion, it is appropriate in my opening remarks to address the economic situation our country was in when we came into government. We inherited the worst economic record of any new Government since the 1930s. Labour’s record of economic incompetence and profligate spending meant that the annual deficit was £134 billion and that we were paying back £367 million each and every day in debt interest alone. I believe that the hon. Member for Nottingham East was a special adviser who advised on that profligacy and incompetence. Labour left Britain with its largest deficit since the second world war. One pound in every four that was spent by the Government came from borrowing. Labour’s outgoing Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Mr Byrne), summed it up in his note to his successor with the words, “Good luck. There’s no money left.” There we have it—Labour’s record of economic incompetence. Britain was bankrupted by the last Labour Government, but thanks to our long-term economic plan things have changed for the better and Britain is back on track. There are now 2.16 million more private sector jobs since the coalition came to power, and 2 million more people have started an apprenticeship. The Government are giving more young people a chance in life and the opportunity to take home a pay packet.

[Grahame M. Morris]

May I just point out one of the lessons from history? When the NHS was established after the second world war, the country was tasked with rebuilding and its debt and deficit were considerable. But the Labour politicians of the day had the strength of character and the will to make that investment in the interests of the health of the nation. Should we not do that now?

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[Mr Mark Spencer (Sherwood) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Islington South and Finsbury (Emily Thornberry).

It is a little sad, to be honest, to be having this debate today, because we could approach this issue in a much more mature way as politicians. Clearly there are enormous challenges facing our health service and our adult social care services, not only for this Government or the next, but for the two Governments after them. As politicians, we owe it to our constituents to have a mature debate about how we are going to avert the demographic time bomb that is heading our way. Frankly, we all have an interest in that. Just like the hon. Member for Nottingham East (Chris Leslie), we are probably going to need those services at some point. I hope I will not find myself in a bed next to him, but we could end up on the same ward.

It is worth saying that every Labour party election leaflet for the last 50 years has said, “You can’t trust the Tories with the NHS.” Yet we have had countless Conservative Governments over that period, and the NHS continues to thrive, to look after people and to offer its services.

[Grahame M. Morris]

The hon. Gentleman is saying that the NHS is safe in Conservative hands, but let me remind him that in 1997, when Labour came to power, there had been 18 years—a considerable length of time—of under-investment. Expenditure on the NHS was increased 300% by the Labour Government: from £30 billion to over £100 billion. Every accident and emergency unit was rebuilt and many hospitals were rebuilt, too.

[Mr Spencer]

That is where the hon. Gentleman’s party falls down. Labour Members obsess about cash and forget about clinical operation. That is why we ended up with crises such as that at Mid Staffs hospital, with people dying in their beds because of bureaucracy, target setting and obsession with process rather than the care of patients.

The Opposition also have an obsession with the private sector. My father had to have a new knee, unfortunately. He went to the local hospital, which happens to be the one that the constituents of the hon. Member for Nottingham East attend. Rather than being treated in the NHS Queen’s medical centre, he was sent to a hospital in Sherwood in his constituency, which looked after him very well. It was a private hospital and this was in 2008—under the previous Government. The NHS was making use of private services back then. It was very efficient and well delivered. I do not understand this obsession with the private sector. We need to remember that private companies make the drugs that the NHS uses; private companies make all the crutches and the ambulances; and GPs are, in effect, private companies. It works very well. As long as we can deliver a service that is free at the point of use and run in the most efficient way but with the highest levels of care and consideration, I think that is the right place to be.

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[Grahame M. Morris]

I am sorry to interrupt the hon. Lady’s flow, but I want to defend the land of my fathers, Wales. I do not know whether the hon. Lady was present for the urgent question. We often measure the stress on the system according to the declaration of emergency and major incident plans. There have been 15 in England but, as far as I am aware, none in Wales.

[Margot James]

I do not want to cast aspersions relating to cover-ups and the like on some of the NHS management in Wales, but I think that some members of the hon. Gentleman’s own party have some salutary tales to tell on that front.

However, as was pointed out by my hon. Friend the Member for Sherwood (Mr Spencer), this is not just about spending; it is about how we control the budget and what we get for the money that we spend. I appeal to those who rate the Labour party on the basis of its health policies to reflect on its record. They should remember how much Labour was borrowing when it was running the NHS, and that it was spending money as though it were going out of fashion.

Under the last Government, the number of managers increased three times as fast as the number of nurses, and managers’ pay increased far faster than nurses’ pay. The management pay bill more than doubled under the last Government, but we have reduced it by nearly a fifth. There was absolutely no integration of health and social care under the last Government, although they had 13 years in which to put that right. Despite severe financial constraints, our record has been so much better than theirs, and that is the position I will put to my electorate when the time comes. We have produced 13,000 more doctors and nurses, and 21,000 fewer administrators and managers. That is what the public want to see. They know that this Government have the right priorities. In my area, that has translated to 353 more nurses and 84 more doctors in my hospital since this Government came to power. I congratulate our health ministerial team on not caving in all the time to producer interests—another facet of the last Government, with their command and control culture.

I want to mention a few of the things I am proud this Government have achieved within severe spending constraints. We have ended the indignity of mixed sex-wards. We have reduced infection rates dramatically. C. difficile infection rates have come down by a staggering 63%. The last Government grappled with this issue for 13 years, leaving a disaster when they left office. They had an appalling record. Another great innovation—one of many; I have not got time to mention them all—is the Cancer Drugs Fund, which has helped many of my constituents to get the treatment they were denied under the last Government, with all their spending largesse. That has also flowed through to the hospital sector—imaging and radiodiagnostic tests have increased by 34%. All these benefits have been achieved with very small real-terms increases in spend. That is what this Government have been able to do: deliver more with less.

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[Grahame M. Morris (Easington) (Lab)]

I am pleased to follow the hon. Member for Dover (Charlie Elphicke). I wish to make it clear that I have chosen to be here in the Chamber today to participate in this important debate rather than attend the Health Committee, which is also considering important matters, because I feel that we need to set out our view of the direction of the health service.

I was very interested in some of the hon. Gentleman’s views about fair funding. Having experienced NHS funding under the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, I must say that my view is rather different. After the general election in 2010, the funding for a brand-new hospital that would have served my constituency—it was to be funded not through the private finance initiative scheme but by NHS capital—was cancelled by the present Government. It is an absolute disgrace that we still do not have modern facilities to serve my constituents and those of neighbouring constituencies. It prompts us to ask whether fair funding or some kind of gerrymandering is being applied.

The hon. Gentleman was talking about opening urgent treatment centres. That is a revelation to me because the two centres that opened in my constituency under the previous Labour Government are now threatened with closure. We have neither a modern hospital nor modern facilities.

I am proud to say that, although I am not a doctor, I did work in the health service. Like my hon. Friend the Member for Heywood and Middleton (Liz McInnes), I worked in a pathology laboratory, doing some important diagnostic work. I am proud of the people who deliver that service; I think they deserve enormous credit.

The creation of the NHS is Labour’s proudest achievement. More than anything else—more than football or cricket—it is what binds us together as a nation. The principle of a free national health service, which is free at the point of use, has huge popular support among the general public.

When the Prime Minister said that his priorities could be summarised in three letters—NHS—we might have been forgiven for thinking that the Conservatives had been transformed and had come to cherish the NHS as much as the British people do. But, with fewer than 100 days to the general election, it is apparent that his words were nothing more than a smokescreen. It is clear that the Government knew that they could never go into a general election stating their true intentions. Now, we have been accused of weaponising the NHS.

[Charlie Elphicke]

Yes, you have.

[Grahame M. Morris]

I would rather weaponise it than privatise it, which is what I accuse the Government of doing. That would not have been possible without the active support of the Liberal Democrat party—talking of which, the hon. Member for Redcar (Ian Swales) has just taken his place in the Chamber. I feel bitter about what has happened. The hon. Gentleman and I both served on the Health and Social Care Bill, which has now been enacted. The lead advocates were the right hon. Members for Chelmsford (Mr Burns) and for Sutton and Cheam (Paul Burstow). That Act was a really dangerous move, because part 3 opened up our national health service to the full force of competition. Conservatives may say that the difference is only marginal, but the truth is that that Act allows hospital trusts to have up to 49% of their income come from private patients.

I know that we are desperately short of time, but I want to set out some political dividing lines. Labour and the Conservatives are making very different offerings for the NHS. Labour’s offering is that it will provide more nurses and GPs, and I think it will find favour. In the next general election—

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Lindsay Hoyle)]

Order.

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[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Jane Ellison)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Leicester West (Liz Kendall). In truth, I think we have heard a great deal more consensus about the future of our health services than the Opposition sometimes like to pretend. It has been obvious that Members in all parts of the House care passionately about their local services. They have spoken up clearly on behalf of local staff who are working so hard through this winter. I thank all hon. Members for their contributions.

All Members speaking up for their constituencies are doing so because they care about their local health services. They also accept the challenge that the NHS and the whole health service in England is facing but is collectively rising to meet. Hard-working NHS staff do not need to hear the endless politically driven scaremongering that we hear all too often from Opposition Members. That was highlighted by my hon. Friend the Member for Daventry (Chris Heaton-Harris) and by many colleagues who have come here with scaremongering leaflets from their constituencies saying the very opposite of what is true. Far too much of that is going on. It must be absolutely demoralising for staff who are working hard in the face of winter pressures.

Despite the huge financial pressures we were faced with when we came to office, such as the need to reduce the deficit we inherited, which was, as Members have said, the worst peacetime—

[Grahame M. Morris]

Will the Minister give way?

[Jane Ellison]

I will make some progress; the hon. Gentleman has made a contribution.

Not only has NHS funding in England been protected; it has risen in every year of this Parliament. That is an indisputable fact that flies in the face of the Opposition’s financial scaremongering. As a result of the additional £2 billion funding for 2015-16 the Chancellor announced in the autumn statement, funding in 2015-16 will be £16 billion higher in cash terms than in 2010-11. Those are the facts. That equates to an increase of £6.8 billion in real terms. That additional investment is a down-payment on the NHS’s own plan, which was set out in the “Five Year Forward View”. The chief executive of NHS England, Simon Stevens, has said that the autumn statement gives the NHS what it needs for next year.

Winter is always challenging for the NHS. This year, it comes on top of a significant increase in A and E attendances, which have been higher than in any year since 2010. On average, 3,000 more patients each day are being seen and treated in under four hours than under Labour. As my hon. Friend the Member for Stourbridge (Margot James) set out clearly in going back over the past few years, the additional funding the Government have put in emphasises the priority we place on the NHS. That makes utter nonsense of the claim that we are going back to 1930s levels of funding. That is ludicrous, and Opposition Members parroting that because they have been told to insults the intelligence of every Member of the House. It is nonsense.