NHS Reorganisation

Debate between Mark Simmonds and Baroness Morgan of Cotes

Wednesday 16th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Nicky Morgan (Loughborough) (Con)]

My hon. Friend is making a powerful argument. Does he agree that it is rather tragic—nay, even worse—that we have heard Opposition Members having a go at the motives of both GPs and those who work in hospitals? Opposition Members think that they are driven by money, not by the quality of patient care and outcomes.

[Mark Simmonds]

I thank my hon. Friend for the point that she has forcefully made. A few—not all—on the Opposition Benches believe that GPs are in it for the money. No GP I have ever met, or with whom I have discussed patient care, is interested in money. They are there to improve the lives of the patients for whom they are responsible.

If we are to engage seriously with improving patient care, we must allow any willing provider to provide services, and allow the provider that is best for optimising patient outcomes in a regulated way to drive up standards. As my hon. Friend the Member for York Outer (Julian Sturdy) said, it is perplexing to hear the arguments that Labour Members have been coming out with today, and ever since Christmas. Is it right that substandard and mediocre services should be allowed to continue purely because they are provided by the state, even when the patient can get better care elsewhere at the same cost? That has to be wrong. What is important is the quality of patient care that is free at the point of delivery, not the delivery mechanism.

The shadow Secretary of State’s position is completely untenable. He must be squirming inside, because he is an intelligent man and a reformer. The Labour party introduced foundation trusts, payment by results, patient choice and private sector provision in the delivery of patient care, and it twice introduced GP commissioning. As recently as 2010, the Labour party manifesto stated:

“We will support an active role for the independent sector”—

that is in the Bill;

“Patients requiring elective care will have the right, in law, to choose from any provider”—

that is in the Bill;

“All hospitals will become Foundation Trusts”—

that is in the Bill;

“Foundation Trusts will be given the freedom to expand their…private services—.

that is in the Bill. Labour also claimed that it would

“ensure that family doctors have more power over their budgets.”

That is in the Bill. The Labour party should support the Bill, not castigate it on the basis of false promises.

The Government are absolutely right to push the Bill, which is on exactly the right lines. We need more investment in the NHS, less waste and more powers for doctors and nurses to be involved in commissioning and clinical decisions. We need to focus on results, create accountability and transparency, and facilitate innovation. The Bill preserves the best of the NHS—equality of access—and creates the architecture to drive and deliver excellence for all.