Countess of Chester Hospital Inquiry

Debate between Steve Barclay and Mary Robinson

Monday 4th September 2023 Commons Chamber

[Steve Barclay]

It will not surprise the hon. Gentleman that a central concern of the families when I met them was the extent to which they felt fobbed off when concerns were raised and the ability of those managers either to continue in post or to move to new posts. I think that concern is shared across the House. It is very much central to some of the safeguards that have been put in place through the recommendations from Kark that have already been accepted. It also opens up questions about the role of boards and how we strengthen non-executive directors, the training and induction, and the other provisions that we can put in place. Of course, some of those issues are the reason we are having the inquiry, and through the statutory process, there will be the opportunity to call people to give evidence and for the judge-led inquiry to put questions on behalf of the families.

[Mary Robinson (Cheadle) (Con)]

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for the statement and for the announcement of the judge-led inquiry. The shocking murders of those babies and the attempted murders of so many others have shocked the nation. A major concern for me is that managers ignored consultants who had raised serious issues. It appears that there is in some hospitals a culture of people not being listened to when they raise concerns. Dr Stephen Brearey, one of the whistleblowers in this case, says that he has been inundated with emails from people who say that they have not been listened to when they have spoken about really serious issues. I thank the Secretary of State for everything that he has said today, but does he support a strengthening of the whistleblowing legislation so that all whistleblowers know that they will be heard and protected?

[Steve Barclay]

To provide some reassurance to my hon. Friend, the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 was strengthened in 2018. Obviously, that is post the appalling events covered today, but that Act has already been strengthened. The freedom to speak up guardians have also been implemented since these events, and their role has been strengthened further in the guidance. Significant work has also been done on the role of the child death overview panel and the role of data through the Getting It Right First Time team, picking up data where there are concerns. A significant amount of work has been done on that, but of course through the inquiry, we also need to interrogate more clearly why the concerns raised by clinicians were not acted on by those in leadership positions. I am sure that is something that the judge will want to test in significant detail.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Steve Barclay and Mary Robinson

Tuesday 6th December 2022 Commons Chamber

[Steve Barclay]

The hon. Lady raises an important issue that is of concern across the House, as we have already seen in the exchanges the Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, my hon. Friend the Member for Harborough (Neil O’Brien) answered. That in part was why, during the pandemic, we used £1.7 billion of funding to protect dentistry and why we got a commitment through the £3 billion a year funding of dentistry, but we are looking at how we localise that commissioning to get better value out of the contract, which was the point my hon. Friend raised.

[Mary Robinson (Cheadle) (Con)]

T2. At 1 o’clock today, patient safety expert Dr Bill Kirkup will be speaking to MPs at the all-party parliamentary group for whistleblowing, to which all colleagues are invited. It is a timely meeting following last week’s “Newsnight” programme, which highlighted yet another NHS trust where a culture of fear left staff unable to speak up on patient safety concerns. It is clear change is needed. Does my hon. Friend agree that supporting whistleblowers in the NHS is crucial to patient safety?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Steve Barclay and Mary Robinson

Thursday 16th May 2019 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Barclay]

The hon. Lady is right that it is her job to challenge the Government, and unfortunately for Government Members she usually does that more effectively than we would like her to. On this issue, however, I disagree with her. Labour policy is that it wants a say on EU trade policy, even though EU treaties do not allow that. For many years, Conservative Members have been told by the Labour party that we cannot go into things such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership because that will be a threat to our NHS—that is what Labour Members have said repeatedly. Now they say that they want to pass control of our independent trade policy to the EU, but that that will not be a threat to the NHS. Once again, Labour Members say one thing when it suits them, and another thing today. There is no consistency in their trade policy.

[Mary Robinson (Cheadle) (Con)]

13. What steps the Government are taking to support towns after the UK leaves the EU.