Health and Social Care

Liz McInnes Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Liz McInnes (Heywood and Middleton) (Lab)]

It has been a great pleasure to listen to so many wonderful maiden speeches this afternoon, and it is a particular pleasure to follow my hon. Friends the Members for Coventry North East (Colleen Fletcher) and for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney (Gerald Jones), who both gave wonderful guided tours of their constituencies. It is a pleasure to welcome them to the House. I almost feel like I am making a maiden speech myself. Mine was a bit of a solitary affair as I was elected in a by-election in October last year, and it is quite nice to feel the solidarity and camaraderie coming from the new Members, who are all supporting each other.

Before I was elected to this House, I spent over 30 years employed as a biochemist in the NHS and I want to talk in particular about the parts of the Queen’s Speech that referred to seven-day working in the NHS. I am concerned about the push towards seven-day working because I feel the impression is being given that the NHS does not currently operate on a seven-day-a-week basis.

Ever since I was first employed in the NHS, the various pathology departments I have worked in have never, ever closed. One of my colleagues used to joke that if he had his time over again, he would have chosen a job somewhere that closed every now and then. We always provided an emergency service at evenings and weekends via an on-call system and latterly, as the workload became more and more demanding, via a shift system. Not everyone took part in these rotas as it was deemed that some jobs had to be done during office hours and allowances were always made for staff with carer’s commitments and family responsibilities. Staff pay for working unsocial hours in the NHS has taken a hit over the past few years, with staff now providing an around-the-clock service for far less remuneration than previously, and I worry that the current push towards so-called seven-day working is merely an attempt to normalise out-of-hours working in order to reduce further unsocial hours payments to NHS staff.

I was very concerned on visiting an NHS lab recently to be informed that management were attempting to get everyone in the lab to work shifts regardless of whether they wanted to or not, or indeed whether their commitments outside of work allowed them to. I worry that the push towards seven-day working is creating a working environment where staff feel bullied into changing their contractual hours because of a perception that seven-day working is now the norm. The fact is that full seven-day working in the NHS will be achieved only by investment in the service. Recognition has to be given that staff working at weekends and on bank holidays are giving up time that would otherwise be spent with their families, and that staff working at night are putting their own health at considerable risk. Sleep disorders, fatigue, gastrointestinal problems, stress and psychological issues commonly affect night workers. All attempts to normalise seven-day-a-week, round-the-clock working should be resisted. Such a service does not come without a price.

Another issue that is causing great concern in my constituency is the provision of health visitors, nursery nurses and school nurses. Health visitors and nursery and school nurses in my constituency are retiring faster than they can be replaced. The service they provide is under a great deal of stress owing to an ever-increasing workload. They perform a vital role in child health, safeguarding and protection, yet the service is struggling, with only 16 school nurses for 42,000 children in the borough. The staff are also concerned that their services might go out to tender, and that they could be taken over by the likes of Virgin Health. Those staff are not being listened to, despite assurances that whistleblowers and staff will be protected and listened to. They have raised these issues with the management, but the management are in denial, saying that there are no problems with the service and accusing staff of negativity if they raise concerns.

Just recently, I received a consultation paper on the child and adolescent mental health service in the borough. It contained plans to reduce demand on the CAMHS service by working more closely with professionals who work with children, and yes, school nurses, nursery nurses and health visitors would be among them. The CAMHS service is the cause of many complaints among my constituents. Common issues include the fact that

“you have to fight just to get referred”,

that

“waiting times are still at 10 to 12 months” ,

and that

“when you get there they are great but the moment you have a diagnosis you are discharged with no other support because they are so busy.”

Funding for the CAMHS service has been reduced under this Government, and a combination of less resources and greater demand has led to the service raising the threshold for access, with initiatives such as the one I have just mentioned, in which one hard-pressed service relies on another hard-pressed service to act as a gatekeeper. None of this is sustainable. Health visitor numbers cannot be maintained with so many leaving because of stress. The average child has 12 minutes of school nursing a year, and parents report that their children cannot access child and adolescent mental health services until their situation becomes critical. I want to ask the Secretary of State what his vision is for the future of health visiting, school nursing and children’s mental health services. These services require investment, the staff need to be listened to, and our children need to be protected.