Health

Debate between Norman Lamb and Jamie Reed

Monday 9th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Norman Lamb]

The Government are not convinced by the argument for statutory regulation. The hon. Gentleman and I have had this debate many times, and I am happy to continue to discuss the matter with him.

In the wake of Francis, the Government are clear that poor or unsafe care will not be tolerated. There will be consequences for those who fail patients.

Opposition Members have criticised the lack of health legislation in the Gracious Speech, yet, as several of my hon. Friends, including the Members for Witham (Priti Patel) and for Rochford and Southend East (James Duddridge), have noted, people are not out there on the streets demanding a new NHS Act of Parliament; they want safe, good, compassionate care.

The Government remain committed to legislating on professional regulation when parliamentary time allows.

[Mr Jamie Reed (Copeland) (Lab)]

Will the Minister give way?

[Norman Lamb]

Let me complete this point.

This is a complex area and we should not rush to legislate. We will keep making progress to respond to the scandal of Mid Staffordshire for the remainder of this Parliament. We are working closely with the regulators to ensure that key provisions, such as a faster fitness to practise test for nurses and midwives and English-language checks for all health care professionals, are in place during this Parliament.

The shadow Secretary of State quoted selected statistics on access to a GP, yet 86% of patients are satisfied with their GP practice. The Government have introduced a £50 million challenge fund, which will support more than 1,000 practices to develop innovative and flexible services. That will include Skype and e-mail consultations, as well as extended hours, and will benefit more than 7 million people.

The right hon. Member for Cynon Valley (Ann Clwyd) again spoke extraordinarily passionately, giving a voice to those who feel they have no voice in our system. We should all express our gratitude to her for her continued campaigning on this critical issue, which demonstrates that we still have a long way to go if we are to ensure that we have a system of which we can all be genuinely proud. Like the right hon. Lady, I hope that one day the flood of letters on poor care will stop. We are doing what we can through the actions we are taking and we are grateful to her for the enormously valuable work she did on the complaints system. I hope the Labour Administration in Wales will do the same, especially after she eloquently highlighted the problems there in a recent BBC documentary.

--- Later in debate ---

[Norman Lamb]

No, I will not; I have given way many times. The fund is the largest financial incentive by any Government to promote integrated care, and it would be better if Opposition Members applauded the initiative rather than constantly criticising it.

At the start of this Parliament, this Government had five priorities for health and social care. We have delivered on all of them. Through the Care Act 2014, we have delivered the most profound change to the care and support system for a generation. After a decade of inaction under the previous Labour Government, we have introduced, for the first time, a cap on care costs and extended means-tested support. No one will have to sell their home during their lifetime to pay for care.

Under the leadership of Public Health England, we have created a new public health service, giving public health the priority it deserves in local government alongside other local services. As my hon. Friend the Member for Newbury (Richard Benyon) outlined, it is vital that we prevent ill health in the first place, as opposed to repairing the damage once it is done.

We are transforming health and care so that services are integrated around the needs of patients and users. We have revolutionised NHS accountability and seen a successful transition to a new health and care system. Finally, by focusing on outcomes rather than top-down diktat, we can identify what works and where we need to give additional support to help the system do more.

[Mr Jamie Reed]

I always enjoy the hon. Gentleman’s emollient Dr Jekyll, in contrast to the Secretary of State’s Mr Hyde. Will he be following the Crosby diktat and keeping his head down and his mouth shut about the Government’s record on the NHS between now and the general election, or will the Liberal Democrats be doing something rather different?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Norman Lamb and Jamie Reed

Monday 12th May 2014 Commons Chamber

[Norman Lamb]

Given that time is tight, I simply confirm that I strongly support what Earl Howe said in the other place, and reinforce the points that my right hon. Friend has made.

For NHS trusts, clause 118 already requires the Secretary of State to produce guidance on seeking commissioner support and involving NHS England, and we will ensure that the key principles of parity between affected commissioners and the essential services they commission are captured in the guidance. I urge the House to support the Lords’ amendments.

[Mr Jamie Reed (Copeland) (Lab)]

Our amendments to Lords amendments 40B and 40C are designed to protect patients, improve transparency and decision making, and ensure that health service reconfigurations do not result in a restriction of access to services for patients. I give notice that I wish to press amendments (a) and (b) to Lords amendment 40B to a vote.

This is probably the final piece of health legislation that will come before this Parliament. To date, this Bill marks four years of chaos and confusion in the NHS—chaos inflicted on the service by the Prime Minister and his two Secretaries of State for Health. What a four years it has been! The Prime Minister promised no top-down reorganisation of the national health service, then introduced the biggest and most chaotic, expensive and wasteful reorganisation that the service has seen in its entire history. He promised a bare-knuckle fight against hospital closures—a fight that not only never appeared, but was knowingly untrue from the outset. We have seen Ministers admit that the 111 service was not ready to be rolled out, but who went ahead, scrapped NHS Direct and rolled it out anyway. We have seen one of the most important schemes for the future of the country and the NHS in the shape of the care.data scheme being bungled, botched and brought to the brink of collapse by ministerial incompetence. We have seen military hospital field tents outside accident and emergency units and police cars being used as makeshift ambulances, queuing outside hospitals for hours on end.

Adult Autism Strategy

Debate between Norman Lamb and Jamie Reed

Wednesday 5th March 2014 Westminster Hall

[Norman Lamb]

I absolutely agree that the NHS ought to be an exemplar employer. I suspect that the truth is that it is variable, with areas of good practice, but we do not know enough about the position throughout the NHS. The message should go out from this debate that the NHS has an obligation to lead by example and to demonstrate what can be done. Several hon. Members made the point that employing someone with autism might be quite challenging to start with, but the potential that that individual can offer is often enormous. An organisation could end up with a loyal employee who can contribute massively. The NHS needs to demonstrate that by leading from the front.

Everyone with autism should be

“able to live fulfilling and rewarding lives within a society that accepts and understands them.”

That was at the heart of the “Fulfilling and rewarding lives” strategy, and I stand firmly behind it. Furthermore, the work of the National Autistic Society’s “Push for Action” campaign has been hugely valuable in helping the Government to focus on the issues that need to be considered. I pay tribute to the society for inspired leadership. Other organisations have worked with us as well, including the Autism Alliance, Autism Plus and Ambitious about Autism, and I pay tribute to the work of all those organisations.

During our review, we ran a comprehensive exercise to listen and learn how the strategy is working. Nearly 2,000 people, including some on the autism spectrum and some who are involved in planning, commissioning and providing services, took part in focus groups, events and conferences, and more than 1,100 people with autism took part in an online survey. Local authorities worked with their partners and local people to complete a self-evaluation exercise on their progress. All this information, including individual returns, will be made available by Public Health England when the update of the strategy is published. As well as cross-departmental discussions, there has been contact with the different parts of the United Kingdom to discuss all four strategies, including that of Northern Ireland, to find common ground and to improve standards across the board.

Foundations for change have been laid and people with autism have increasingly been engaged locally in planning and designing services. Clear national guidance has been issued on the care, management and diagnosis of autism. We have heard about some great experiences that people have had in further education or with particular employers. My hon. Friend the Member for East Worthing and Shoreham made a good point about the need for employers to take the lead and to demonstrate best practice.

In some areas, there are great local autism teams and excellent diagnostic services. I noted what my right hon. Friend the Member for Chesham and Amersham said about her area and the GP who was taking the lead in that county to commission services. That is exactly what needs to be happening everywhere. I also heard of some great services being provided in Swindon, so there are some good things happening, but it was only five years or so ago that low levels of awareness and a lack of services were what led to the Autism Act, back in 2009. There are some real successes, but there is also much more to do to see the foundations translated into a greater difference to peoples’ lives.

When I have talked to people with autism and to families at events that have taken place during the review, I was struck by how variable the position is. In some areas, very little has happened. We now have the legislation in a good place and a good strategy, which is being updated, but translating that into a difference to people’s lives is where an enormous amount of work still needs to be done.

[Mr Jamie Reed]

When the Minister comes to publish the refresh of the strategy, will any care be given—as it should, in my view—to the understanding of NHS front-line staff, in particular in emergency medicine, and their identifying patients with autism? I have a series of examples from my constituency of people with autism accessing emergency services, receiving suboptimal care and getting into some pretty dangerous situations.

[Norman Lamb]

The hon. Gentleman makes a good point. I was going to come on to give an example of that. Sadly, we have also heard from many people with autism, and their families and carers, that things have not yet changed enough, or at all, for them. Gaps in provision or waits for diagnostic services continue to be reported. As my hon. Friend the Member for South Swindon made clear, diagnosis is the start of what can then happen; it is a condition precedent to an improvement in someone’s life, and is of course not enough in itself. Many people have told us that they have skills to offer employers that they cannot use. That is totally frustrating for them, and a waste for the individual and for the economy, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Chesham and Amersham made clear.