Oral Answers to Questions

Imran Hussain Excerpts

Tuesday 11th October 2016 Commons Chamber

[Imran Hussain (Bradford East) (Lab)]

9. What steps he plans to take to address shortfalls in staff recruitment and retention in the NHS.

[The Minister of State, Department of Health (Mr Philip Dunne)]

I join the Secretary of State in welcoming the dedication and commitment of everyone who works in the NHS. We are taking active steps to encourage more people to become doctors, nurses and support staff. Only last week, my right hon. Friend announced a commitment to recruit an additional 25% of doctors to train in the NHS, which is 1,500 more doctors on top of the 6,000 currently trained every year.

[Imran Hussain]

Net temporary and agency staff expenditure has risen by 40% since 2013. It accounted for 8% of total staff expenditure in 2015-16, which equates to £4.13 billion. Does the Minister agree that rising agency costs point to a recruitment crisis, and will he make a statement to the House outlining his plans to address that crisis?

[Mr Dunne]

We recognise, absolutely, that bills for agency staff have become unsustainable, which is why we have taken deliberate action, including by introducing price caps on hourly rates last November, which has had a significant impact on reducing agency costs. In the year to date, agency costs are some £550 million less than they were last year.

Oral Answers to Questions

Imran Hussain Excerpts

Tuesday 5th July 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

There is a lot of potential in what the right hon. Gentleman says. The financial pressures on the NHS and general practice mean that this is the right moment to rethink the role of pharmacies, and consider whether we can be better at tapping into the incredible skills that pharmacists have as trained clinicians, which I do not think we make the most of. He is right to say that diabetes and childhood obesity is a big priority for the Government, and I hope we will be able to inform the House more about that soon.

[Imran Hussain (Bradford East) (Lab)]

5. How much funding he plans to make available for the proposed pharmacy access scheme.

[The Minister for Community and Social Care (Alistair Burt)]

We intend to announce details of the pharmacy access scheme, including funding, as part of a wider announcement on community pharmacy in 2016-17 and beyond.

[Imran Hussain]

Pharmacies play an important role in our community healthcare system. An accessible pharmacy is particularly important for those with mobility issues and for those from communities with a greater propensity to experience health inequalities. However, the planned changes to pharmacy funding risk closing the pharmacies that serve these groups. Will the Minister give me a direct assurance that the pharmacy access scheme will be properly organised and that no pharmacies serving those vulnerable groups will close because of changes in funding?

[Alistair Burt]

The hon. Gentleman is right to praise the role pharmacies play and right to identify that we must do all we can to ensure that those who are most vulnerable retain the excellent access they currently have. The national formula on access proposal will be used to identify those pharmacies that are most geographically important for patient access, taking into account isolation criteria based on travel times and distances, and population sizes and needs. Both deprivation and isolation will be covered in the access formula.

Oral Answers to Questions

Imran Hussain Excerpts

Tuesday 17th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Alistair Burt]

We are very conscious of the pressure on general practice and of the pressure of ensuring that enough GPs are available. The Government’s plans are for 5,000 more doctors to be working in primary care by 2020, and that is supported by our recruitment, retention and returning campaign, as well as by efforts to ensure that medical schools do everything they can to ensure that general practice is made more attractive. This work will continue right through this Parliament.

[Imran Hussain (Bradford East) (Lab)]

T5. According to Public Health England, life expectancy in the most deprived areas of Bradford is 9.6 years lower for men and eight years lower for women, demonstrating that there are clear health inequalities in urban areas in Bradford. The Government’s attack on the poor makes this issue worse, so will the Minister tell me what they are doing to tackle these inequalities and give people in Bradford the quality of life that they deserve?

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

The hon. Gentleman will be aware of my earlier answers to other questions. A wide range of aspects of the public health work that this Government are taking forward attack that very issue—the inequality of outcomes for some communities. I gave examples earlier, including the family nurse partnership and the troubled families programme, which has a health aspect to it. More widely, the universal health visiting programme, which has just moved into commissioning by local government, contains significant elements that were designed exactly to support poorer families and disadvantaged communities.