"I have listened to many of these stories with growing anger. Constituents of mine have also been affected. Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that Governments of both parties have failed our constituents for many years, and that the House will have no patience with any Government of any party …..." Richard Bacon - View Speech
"I support what my hon. Friend says about front-line staff; I have had personal experience of that in my own family in Norfolk. The paramedics that we encountered were outstanding. Does she share my puzzlement that some of the best staff in the call centre, whom I have sat next …..." Richard Bacon - View Speech
"It is a pleasure to speak in this debate and I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Witham (Priti Patel) on securing it. The national health service includes many people with different callings, and thank goodness for that. Some have a calling to look down microscopes and to do …..." Richard Bacon - View Speech
"The phenomenon of people forgetting what they are there for, which my hon. Friend alluded to, is of course what would happen in a mates culture. I have had the feeling for a long time that there has been the growth of what we might call a self-serving nomenclatura that …..." Richard Bacon - View Speech
"It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr McCrea. I am reminded of Fidel Castro’s old maxim that any speech of less than three or four hours cannot be any good, and when I reviewed the material available for this debate, I felt that it might be difficult …..." Richard Bacon - View Speech
"I agree with the right hon. Lady that the Government need to maintain focus. I noted that our Committee’s report says that the Department of Health itself acknowledged that it was slow to put in place key mechanisms to deliver its target and that it had used such mechanisms in …..." Richard Bacon - View Speech
"It is a pleasure, Miss Clark, to join under your chairmanship this debate on my favourite subject, the Select Committee on Public Accounts, along with the right hon. Member for Barking (Margaret Hodge) and other Committee members, as well as one of my favourite Ministers, the Under-Secretary of State for …..." Richard Bacon - View Speech
"That is right: people will do what they are paid to do. One criticism I have also heard is that the more we treat people like employees, the more they will behave like employees. In recent years, a lot of GPs have felt more bossed around, so they act like …..." Richard Bacon - View Speech
"The hon. Lady makes an important point. One issue is the number of GPs in deprived areas, and a chart in the report shows the variation in those numbers. At one extreme, we have about 110 or 115 GPs per 100,000 of population, although that figure is an outlier, and …..." Richard Bacon - View Speech