Health Questions House of Commons

for the health and social dear

Secretary Jeremy Hunt and his team

of ministers but the Speaker deal

briefly with the Private Bill first.

Order. The title of the Private Bill

set down for consideration. Middle

level Bill as amended and committed

to be considered.

Separation.

Seven

Thursday the 20th of February. I

think people could hear that with

the volume he said it. Questions at

the Secretary of State for Health

and social care.

Question one,.

Minister Jackie Doyle

price.

I'm very grateful to have the

opportunity to pay tribute to the

continued work of NHS staff continue

to work tirelessly to support the

victims of the fire and their

families. So far, more than 4000

contact had been made, 400 adults in

treatment and 96 have completed

their treatment.

We have heard the minister's words

and litany of numbers. I have two

further questions. Number one, is

she considering long-term funding of

mental health services around Grant

felt our own factory plan for --

Greenfell. She addressing the severe

shortage of acute beds for those

suffering mental health crises as is

an entire ward lock and key due to

lack of staff funding where there is

a huge need for more.

The honourable

lady is quite right to press me on

these issues, clearly they will be

ongoing from a firm which we need to

pay attention to make sure is

adequately resourced. I can assure

the honourable lady this is

something very high on the list of

priorities for ministerial group and

I can say we have made 23.9 million

national government funds committed

to survive's needs with additional

income on support. £28 million to

support victims. I am in regular

contact with the services to make

sure we are doing our bit to address

that need.

Question two. In the

last, the average waiting time for

patients to start consultant led

treatment at hospitals in northern

Leticia was around nine weeks. We

recognise that some trusts face

particular challenges with waiting

lists due to rising demand and that

is why the package of support

includes a systemwide improvement

board and that has been established.

It's interesting that statistic the

minister had given, it's an average

weight of 32 weeks. Longer than the

nine weeks he has described and that

a six-week longer in 2017 than it

was in 2016. This is happening on

his watch, what is he going to do

because my constituents do not

accept this is good enough?

The

honourable they prepared to follow

up before hearing the answer. There

is an improvement board established

with the trust which is chaired by

NHS improvement which is tasked with

reducing waiting times and ensuring

the standard is improved but the

average in terms of time waited

currently for patients is 11 weeks

and four in patients is seven weeks.

Can the Minister gave an assurance

that the support that the NHS

improvement and given to the trust

will continue. He will now miss is

the second time the trust has been

in special measures and clearly we

need continued support and will he

reassure us that he will in fact

visit the trust, a promise made by

his predecessor.

My right honourable

friend is right and the need to give

support to the specific trust and

that's what a wider package of £6

billion of funding has been given to

the NHS to improve A&E and elective

care performance. Specific work

through NHS improvement in

addressing some of the specific

issues which he has alluded to with

this trust.

We might cheer from the

honourable gentleman later. A

friendly courtesy to the honourable

gentleman, Kingswood has a great

deal to be said for it, as does

Congleton but both have one thing in

common and that they are a long way

from Northern Lincolnshire.

The fact

that this department has been

renamed the Department for health

and social care, both reflects their

interdependence and our commitment

to achieve coordinated care tailored

to individual needs. The better care

fund is a national integration

programme which helps the NHS and

local government deliver better and

more joined up services.

I can't

thank the Minister for as a to her

place. The proposal to build

community health centres are at big

part of drawing on social care in

Gloucestershire, can the Minister

make progress with the project as

quickly as possible after years and

years of unnecessary delays.

I would

like to thank the honourable

gentleman for raising this important

issue. He's absolutely right to do

so and he is right that the proposal

such as those for Thornbury health

centre are crucial for ensuring

health and social care that is truly

integrated and centred around each

individual and community. South

Gloucester Joe Ceci duke remains

committed to progressing these plans

as soon as possible and that the

local NHS is expected to be able to

provide an update next month.

Thank

you Mr Speaker, is the Minister

aware of the situation surrounding

an infusion treatment and many of

the 86 patients who lose this

treatment and require increasing

levels of social care. Consultants

have written letters and said that

if you remove this treatment, there

is an increased risk of mortality

for those patients. Will the

Minister please meet with me

marginally to discuss this and write

to the

to review the decision in the light

of the evidence from the

consultants. ?

Blanket bans on

treatment are unacceptable and

decisions on treatment should with

be made locally by based on clinical

assessment. In this circumstance,

these patients will be offered an

alternative service and the CCG

average for patients to need with

the consultant to discuss their

treatment.

With my honourable friend

agree with me that the integration

of health and social care is so

important to the future success of

the NHS that really everything needs

to be done to speed up the programme

-- please join with me in

encouraging in Sony -- will she join

with me. A speedier approach to this

method.

My right honourable friend

is absolutely right. This is having

the better care fund, it is having a

fantastic impact in the area, we are

developing processes by to processes

where health and social care is

concerned and we have to proceed as

rapidly as possible and with his

backing in his local area, it will

happen.

It's very important that the

integration these two services but

there is not enough money. Over a

year ago, one of my predecessors

praised as for the work we are doing

but that is now on the big the money

it has got to deliver statutory

duties. Not enough money and the

government keeps trying to avoid it.

Mr Speaker, we have given £2 billion

extra funding over the next three

years to help councils commission

high-quality services and that is in

addition to giving councils access

to up to £9.25 billion dedicated

social care funding by 1920.

Will

the Minister look at the benefits of

independent living schemes such as

that of prior review pioneered by

the council in terms of reduced

hospital board admission and reduce

demands on social care. Greater use

of exercise classes in such

establishments.

My honourable friend

is right to raise this independent

living schemes because they can keep

people living healthier and more

independently much longer and

provide the comradeship and

camaraderie that keep people active

and healthy. He is right to raise

the importance and the government is

very much in support of that.

With

referencing to the integration of

health and social care, the Minister

might be aware that I have two

outstanding respite and rehab homes,

they are both under threat of

closure by the county council

because they say central government

isn't giving them enough money. This

ever crucial purpose in supporting

the local hospital. Will the

Minister agree to meet with me and

representatives from the county

council so we can work out a way to

find a fund to keep these vital

homes open?

The honourable gentleman

is absolutely right to stand up for

the good quality respite in his

local area. The care act does

require local authorities to ship

local markets and ensure that they

are giving a sustainable

high-quality local offer. I am happy

to meet with them to discuss this.

And I welcome the Minister to her

place. One model of integration

which has raised considerable

concern is the accountable care

organisation. Many are concerned

this means greater private sector

involvement and given legitimate

worries about Carillion going bust,

capita not able to support GPs,

these concerns are well founded, can

she rule out any private sector

involvement and will she also now

delay blamed the relevant

regulations to an ACL until after

the two judicial reviews and the NHS

England consultation.

Thank you Mr

Speaker, the honourable gentleman is

right to raise this. NHS England are

consulting on this at the moment and

I can confirm that regulations will

be laid until that as this has been

complete. Can I ask the Minister

about funding because integration of

health and social care.

It needs

more funding. The NHS is going for

the biggest financial squeeze in

Sicily and social care has been cut

by billions since 2010. The Minister

said the funding is adequate but if

funding is adequate, why are delayed

discharges of care up 50% since 2010

and if funding is adequate hackers

and other social good, why did NHS

England on Friday say that for the

rest of this year, the A&E target

has been abandoned?

We recognise that there are

pressures on our social care of the

population ages, in the short term

we have made the extra £2 billion

funding available to local

authorities. In the medium time, we

need to make sure that best practice

is observed across all local

authorities and NHS trusts and we

will be coming forward with the

Green paper on social care later

this year.

Question number four.

Mr

Speaker, the NHS needs more nurses

which is why we are making big

changes in terms of new entries into

the profession including new

apprenticeships.

Thank you, Mr

Speaker. I'm glad to hear that the

Secretary of State values the degree

of friendship as a way to provide

further routes into nursing. Will he

consider increasing the funding

level for nursing courses which

educational establishments received

from the interview of a -- from the

Department to further incentivise

the universities?

I thank him for

his question which will strengthen

my hand with it the Palme d'Or

funding, but the department have

given at the highest level of

funding from the demand of

education, but we never say no to

any more.

Will he not admit that he

has made a basic error by scrapping

nurse bursaries, which has led to a

23% fall in the numbers of people

applying to nurse courses? Why

doesn't he look at that if he wants

to widen the entrants into nursing?

I am not sure if the honourable lady

was listening to the answer I just

gave, but the point about nurse

degree apprenticeships... I am most

grateful, she says she always

listens to me. A very rare

continent, Mr Speaker so I shall

savour it. -- a very rare

compliment. But I will say is the

point about nurse degree

apprenticeships is that it is

possible it to transition from

nothing into a health assistant --

to nursing without any fees.

As she

is sporting a very fetching

suffragette rosette, it's timely to

record that in the great success of

our National Health Service, well

over 70% of the people who make it

great art women.

Thank you, Mr

Speaker. Following the health select

committee was like recent inquiry

into the nursing workforce, we

absolutely welcome the new routes

into nursing including the new role

of nursing associate. However one of

the issues that are strongly

highlighted was the need to retain

our existing workforce as well as

recruit into it.

Could he comment on

that? My honourable friend speaks

very wisely and we do need to be

better at retaining our existing

workforce, that is one of the

reasons why the Treasury has given

me extra latitude in negotiations

over the pay rise and the

discussions that are currently

happening but we also need to be

much better at flexible working and

recognising the challenges that

people have in their ordinary

working lives.

Thank you, Mr

Speaker. Unlike Scotland where

student nurses receive the free

tuition under nursing bursary of

over 6500 a year, nurses in England

face debt of 50,000 on graduation.

Nursing applications have dropped by

a 30% and the new friendship only

got 30 applications after they

wanted 1000, will he not admit he

was wrong to scrap the nursing

bursary is?

I notice that audit

culture and say that in Scotland

there a long -- audit Scotland say

that there is a lack of a long-term

plan for the pressures of workforce.

We have a plan to dramatically

increase the number of nurses that

we employ in the NHS and I'm sure

many people in Scotland would like

to see the same.

The secretary of

state has claimed the removal of the

bursary would fund 5000 places but

the nurses will only horrify in

2021. With -- qualify in 2021. With

more nurses leaving the joining and

a 90% drop in EU nurses coming to

the UK because of Brexit, who does

he expect to care for patients in

the meantime?

By broadening the

routes into nursing away from people

who take traditional higher

education courses including nurse

apprentices, people able to train

over four years in a hospital on the

job, we hope there will be a group

of health care assistants who

currently find it very difficult to

get into nursing who can become

nurses, and I think that would be

welcome in Scotland as well.

Could

the Health Secretary update the

House on progress made to reduce the

cost of agency nurses so it can be

reinvested in full-time nursing?

I'm

happy to do that. It's one of the

great successes that I think should

be celebrated for NHS improvement,

that they have brought down the

amount spent on agency nursing by £1

billion in the last couple of years.

That's huge achievement, every penny

of that goes back into front-line

care.

The government cut the number

of nurse training places in 2010 and

when it scrapped bursaries,

applications from mature students

have had particularly. What is the

point of blaming trusts for hiring

agency staff and the government does

simply not train enough nurses to

fill the vacancies?

Perhaps I should

set the record straight, we have

52,000 nurses in training now, more

than was ever the case under the

last Labour government, who were

planning to cut nurse training

places by 6%. What we are doing is

planning to increase them by 25%. I

think that shows our commitment to

nursing.

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Yesterday the RCN reported on the

total failure of government policy

to increase the nursing workforce.

As we have heard, the government

hoped to recruit 1000 apprentices

but ended up with dirty. This year

the numbers of university places

being applied for have fallen by

33%. We have a workforce crisis

exacerbated by badly thought out

policies, so isn't it time that he

admits that scrapping the bursary

was a mistake?

That's not the first

time he has painted an incomplete

picture of what's happening. We have

a lot more nurses and the reason of

the vacancies and the pressure is

because we know under his last

government, we had mid staffs which

is under a crisis of low staff in

which we are tried to put right

under this government.

Number five,

Mr Speaker.

I would like to take

this with questions eight and 13.

This week is children's mental

health week and still too many

children and young people wait too

long for mental health provision in

the NHS so by the end of next year

we will have invested an extra £1.4

billion giving 70,000 extra children

and young people the opportunity to

be seen.

A constituent's 14-year-old

son had severe OCD resulting in self

harm, treatment has not worked and

his doctor recommends an intensive

treatment programme residentially.

He is now waiting for seven weeks

and counting with 24 hour parental

support and supervision. What more

can be done to insure that

adolescents in desperate need of

help get the hell before it is too

late?

-- get the help before it is

too late? I understand that

clinicians are hoping to resolve

those issues this week. We need to

expand the number of beds available

for young people, they are at record

levels, 1440, it went up 81 last

year. But no -- more needs to be

done.

I have been approached by

another of my constituents in

Leicestershire concerned about the

weights between a referral to

treatment and the allocation of

eight caseworker and formal

treatment. Can my right honourable

friend in large on the steps that he

has taken which would reduce weights

in Leicestershire across the

country?

I am happy to do that, the

simple truth is it's a tragedy when

any child have to wait for mental

health care, because half of the

conditions are set in before they

are 14 and they can get worst. So we

are setting up services inside

schools to spot these things earlier

and we are setting up a waiting time

targets for upon it.

65% in of young

people in England got treatment for

eating disorders last day, the

target is 95%, can he update us on

how that is going to be reached, and

can he agree with me that waiting

time targets are very important?

I

agree and I join her in supporting

having those waiting time targets

introduced in Scotland and other

part of the England. We are hitting

79% in urgent dreams of eating

disorders, we are on our way to 95%

and -- in urgent treatment of eating

disorders, we are on our way to 95%.

I listened very carefully about the

additional funding which is supposed

to be getting to the front line, but

the main service for young people's

mental health in Liverpool has seen

a 43% cut in this financial year.

There are now 412 children in

Liverpool waiting more than 28 weeks

for an assessment, not even for

treatment. It's absolutely shocking.

How can he stand there this week and

say that everything is rosy?

I

didn't, I said the opposite, I said

we need to do a lot more and I told

the House would we be doing. She

looks at what's happening in her own

CCG, she will see that the amount

spent on the door health has gone

up, this government has -- on mental

health has gone up, this government

has done a huge amount on mental

health. In 13 years, we didn't have

any waiting time targets for mental

health, we did not have parity of

esteem, a whole range of things

which are now happening that she

should be supporting.

Will the

government commissioned more

extensive research into the causes

of mental ill-health among children

and young people, both pre-and

postnatal, with a view to preventing

as much ill-health as possible in

the future?

We are absolutely going

to do that. And we have a big

programme of expansion in terms of

our perinatal mental health support

because we think there is a lot of

evidence that pressures on mothers

around the time of birth transmit

their children and can leave lasting

damage.

Mr Speaker, specialist

mental health crisis care for young

people in South Cumbria is only

available between the hours of 9am

and 5pm, Monday to Friday. Will he

agree with me that in the light of

the CQC damning report recently that

this is not acceptable and he will

join with me in asking the CCG in

Morecambe Bay to ensure there is

out-of-hours care for all people?

I

am happy to look into the issue and

I would save that his colleagues,

the Honourable member did a huge

amount in terms of setting up crisis

care around the country. We need to

do that because if we are going to

have parity of esteem, people need

to get help in a mental health

crisis just as they do with physical

health as improving treatment of

adolescent ill-health, does he agree

that everything possible needs to

done to prevent crisis in the first

place?

We are seeing a surge and

clinicians with the best tailor

their response.

This is something

that he had thought a lot about and

a particular area of concern is the

growth of mental health problems in

young women between the age of 18

and 24 and we are looking carefully

as to whether this relates to social

media use which is an additional

pressure that many of us did not

face at that age and I thank him for

his campaigning.

Figures show that

on average children and young people

have to visit their GP three times

before a referral is made for a

specialist mental health assessment.

And then they have to wait sometimes

six months for treatment. In

Lewisham, the budget is being cut

which is likely to result in longer

waiting times for treatment. The

right honourable gentleman said that

these waiting times were tragedy but

how bad things have to get before

the government takes action?

With

respect, we are taking action. Last

year spending on mental health went

up by 525 million, four out of five

CCGs increased mental health spend

by more than their overall spend.

And this year all of them will do

that so that will apply in Lewisham

as it applies everywhere else in the

country.

Under plans announced by

energies into an, child victims of

sexual assault in Stoke-on-Trent

would have to travel as far as

Birmingham to get support. Will the

Secretary of State agreed to look

urgently into the proposals to

remove child sexual assault services

from the city?

I will happily do so.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Research by

the children's Commissioner revealed

the spend on children and young

people's mental health services are

varied by CCG from 0.2% to 9%

resulting in services in some areas

being as shockingly poor. Can he

therefore explain the reason for the

variation, and will he today commits

to match Labour's pledge to increase

the proportion of mental health

budget spent on these services?

Wade she is right to shine a light

on the variation. This government

has introduced Ofsted ratings for

all CCG to make sure we understand

it is all mental health now we see

that variation but specifically when

it comes to children and young

people's mental health. Last year,

overall spending went up by 20% and

the Green paper we published, and

additional £300 million in

investment.

This government wants to see all

children and young people get the

best start in life. We are in

fomenting a wide range of policies

to improve child health, including

most childhood obesity plan in the

world, transformation of Jordan's

mental health on maternity services,

improving immunisation rate and

tackling child sexual abuse.

The

Royal College of paediatrics

recently praised NHS Scotland's

innovations to improve children's

health. The Scottish imitative has

greatly improve children's mental

health, reducing by 24% and cutting

annual dental treatment by £5

million. It is now the UK

Government. Why is this initiative

not being rolled out to all children

in England?

The honourable gentleman

is right to highlight this issue and

we are always keen to response to

any representations made on this

very important issue and we are very

keen to learn from the other nations

in this area because it is quite

clear that the more we can do with

early intervention in childhood, the

better we protect people's long-term

health. I will look more

specifically at the point.

As

children's., children's health is

very important to me and the case

children's Doctor, it worries me and

doctors up and down this country. In

NHS practice, I have seen the

adverse effect in reflective

practice and the impact it has on

staff morale and it will ultimately

impact on patient safety. By now the

Secretary of State Schuurs concerns.

What is he going to do about it?

I

wrote honourable friend will address

this in a little while but it is

important to know that the whole

issue of reflexive learning is an

important issue and shouldn't be, we

shouldn't do this case prevent

people from being honest about the

experiences they have had.

Mr

Speaker, energy drinks packed with

caffeine have been connected to

problems with children's health.

Tesco, Asda and Aldi have banned the

sales of these drinks to under 16

is. Will the government do the same?

I thank the honourable gentleman for

raising this issue. We are becoming

increasingly conscious of drinks

with additional unnatural stimulants

and their impact on people's health

generally. That becomes more acute

when it comes to children's health.

We will look more closely at this.

I'm glad he has highlighted the

initiative taken by individual

retailers because it is up to them

to implement good practice.

Does my

honourable friend agrees me that the

best to achieve strong good mental

health for children is at the very

early stages and forming strong

attachment between that child and

their parent in the first thousand

days in conception. Why isn't there

more in the mental health green

paper about postnatal health?

And

grateful to my honourable friend for

raising this. The reason why there

is not more than a Green paper is

because the green paper is very much

about what we are doing in skills

but he is absolutely right, he is

highlighting the earliest of

earliest interventions and one of

the reasons why we are so much

admire more than perinatal mental

health to ensure the bonds between

the mother and baby are as strong as

they can possibly be.

To follow on

from the question from my honourable

friend and the answer she gave, can

I just revisit the issue around

energy drinks. She may know that a

500 millilitre can then energy drink

has 12 teaspoons of sugar and has

the same amount of caffeine as at

double espresso. Energy drinks are

being sold for as little as 25p to

children as young as ten. And around

one in three young people say they

regularly consume energy drinks.

Given the health risk associated

with energy drinks, Kenji coming

more about what steps she and her

department are taken to reduce

energy drink sales and consumption

by children?

The honourable lady will know that

this is part of the whole childhood

obesity plan that my honourable

friend is taking forward in terms of

the action against sugar. There is a

lot more we can do to address the

concerns about caffeine and it is

high on my honourable friend's to do

list and now that will have more

exchanges on this in due course.

Secretary of State. For we wanted to

half still by 2030.

The progress we

have been making. We brought it

forward to 2025.

I'm glad to hear

that progress has been made. The 20

16th world breast-feeding initiative

highlighted several gaps and access

to breast-feeding support including

deficiencies in clinical training

and lack of integration between NHS

and voluntary sector services. What

can be done through the maternity

transformation programme to make

sure women can access and health

professionals can provide the best

advice right across the country?

She

is absolutely right to highlight

this area, one of six high impact

areas we are focusing on throughout

the country. We are making progress

and we know we can do a lot better.

There are no plans to hold

discussions with the Chancellor of

the Exchequer on VAT status for NHS

trusts.

That ought to be

reconsidered. NHS trusts desperate

to avoid financial situation appear

to have found a new magic money

tree. Setting up subsidiaries to

avoid paying substantial amounts of

tax to the Treasury. Rather than

encouraging this tax dodging and

further fragmenting the NHS, why

doesn't the Secretary of State and

his friend the Chancellor ban this

practice or agree to let them all

have the VAT exemptions?

The all NHS

trusts in September 20 17th, we

reminded them that tax avoidance

scheme should not be entered into

under any circumstances. She seems

to be arguing that NHS hospitals are

in essence paying too much tax to

the Treasury. More than actually

having that money within the NHS.

These are subsidiaries that the 100%

owned by the trust themselves. Mr

Speaker, the government has already

legislated for but not implemented a

proposal to introduce 95,000 and

£85,000 limit on exit payments for

public servants in the NHS.

Would it

not be sensible in the meantime to

charge NHS trusts VAT on any exit

payments in excess of £95,000 in

order to try to deter such waste of

public resources?

I admire the

winner VAT element of that question

was brought into a discussion about

then exit payment. My honourable

friend will be well aware that the

issue of exit payments was one I

visited very frequently as a member

of the Public committee and it is

one I'm very happy to discuss

further with the honourable

gentleman.

Question number ten.

The

free Sanders agency unit is crucial

to protecting consumers from serious

criminal activity.

That impacts on

the safety. We will explore options

for the unit's future funding and

it's decision that is expected in

late spring. The Food Standards

Agency is answerable to the health

department because of the safety of

food and there are a lot of

assurance schemes that Dovale answer

to anybody. The FSA needs to be able

to come together and that is where

the crime unit can do a really good

job. Anything you can do to get back

a crime unit up and running would be

very good.

I thank the chairman of

the environment group through the

royal rural affairs Select Committee

for his advice and this is something

that he is very keen and astute on

ensuring that the businesses are

reaching their safety

responsibilities.

It is one of the

most important roles of the Food

Standards Agency. They are

developing a new regulatory model

and actively engaging with that

party assurance scheme on us to

determine how information and data

can be shared and how there can be

more effectively used by regulators.

Businesses of congratulations for

the Secretary of State for rapid

response to President Trump on the

values of the NHS. As chair of the

Westminster autism commission, we

will bring out a fig report -- big

. Will he go very quickly to stop

this dreadful trade of fake

medicine? I'm not quite sure this is

altogether related to the question.

Possibly, but it is a worthy effort.

I will give the honourable gentleman

the benefit of the doubt. Let's hear

the Minister.

On the basis he has

been so very charming to the

Secretary of State, we will of

course look at it.

Today marks five

years since the landmark publication

of the Francis Report into mid

Staffordshire warily NHS has made a

huge number of changes, not least 34

trusts going to special measures and

19 coming up and I want to

congratulate West Hertfordshire

trust on coming out of special

measures in January and getting a

good score for their care and a

fantastic achievement for staff.

Thank you Mr Speaker. With your get

the local health service in special

measures, the two funding in the

budget for when to health pressures

was very welcome Dawes additional

funding.

Yorked NHS has already

received the tranche of this. The

remainder of Yorkshire has not been

released will stop discussions are

ongoing with NHS improvement, sick

or the Secretary of State committee

looking into this matter as a matter

of urgency.

I will happily do so.

The Secretary of State will be aware

of the importance of Kings College

Hospital to my constituents. In

2009, it was rated as excellent, one

of the top hospitals the country.

Now it is missing its A&E Widegren

targets, missing its cancer

treatment target and an increase in

cancelled operations. And as an

special measures. The government

must step up to the plate and help

this and including with the

resources that it needs.

Let me

reassure The Right Honourable

Aguillon we do not wash our hands of

any trust that goes on to special

measures. The point of this is to

highlight where government

intervention is necessary, needed.

Kings is an example of the hospital

and I know she will agree there is a

huge and a very fine treatment that

happens there every single day but

also they are having some profound

issues in terms of the management of

finances and some of their waiting

times and that is why we're doing

everything we can to them.

With a

high delayed discharge rate of 10%,

Kettering General Hospital, which is

in special measures, 60 patients in

any one day who have completed their

treatment and await transfer out

into the community. Northamptonshire

County Council has given millions of

pounds for a better care fund but is

simply not up to the job. What can

be done in that situation?

I'm very

aware of the pressures at Kettering

and it's a very busy hospital and

they have had a number of changes of

management. I want to reassure my

honourable friend that there is a

very big improvement package in

place to support that hospital and

we want to get it out of special

measures as soon as possible.

The

previous chair of King's College

Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

resigned because he concluded the

funding provided to the hospital

placed the trust in an impossible

position for that the current

interim chair has stated his view

that the proportion of GDP spent on

health and social care needs to rise

to match other European countries in

order for our NHS to be sustainable.

One will the Secretary of State 's

the morning and commit the funding

that things needs and more widely

our NHS needs to deliver the care

for our constituents?

Let me tell

the honourable lady that we spend

9.9% of our GDP on health, that

compares to the EU 15%, the richer

EU countries who spend 9.6%,

slightly less than us on average.

The reason we are able to spend more

is because this government that the

economy back on its feet and that is

why we're putting more into the NHS.

Number 12.

It is good to be back. I

have repeatedly said that this

dispatch .com pharmacies are a vital

front-line service for NHS with over

1.2 million health-related visits

every day. Community pharmacies have

once again stepped up this winter

period and I would like to thank

them for their hard work vaccinating

over 1 million people against

seasonal flu since I saw -- October.

Pharmacists will be wider accepted

into the health

the Minister for that answer. I

wonder if my friend had come to

Derby to meet my constituents who

has a number of pharmacies working

very hard to keep patients out of

hospital and therefore saving the

NHS money. By their innovative

ideas. I will very much do that, we

have that provision date in the

diary for early month.

We continue

to promote pharmacy first next month

we want to seek a £2 million

pharmacy campaign which continues to

promote the idea of community

pharmacies as the first port of call

for so many minor health concerns. I

was there at a pharmacy last began

pleased to call and see her.

The Minister will be aware that at

the moment there are a

disproportionate amount of GPs

heading toward retirement. The need

for support for primary care

services is vital. What steps can be

taken for pharmacists to increase

their use but also more generally to

see alternatives to GPs?

There are

on record number of training places.

We know that one of the main reasons

that GPs relieve practice is

retirement so we put content

measures in place to meet our

commitment of extra 5000 GPs by

2020, so retention schemes and

another refresher scheme will get

valuable and experience to GPs back

into our NHS to doing the work that

our constituents benefit from.

Number 14.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. We

recognise the acute shortages in

general practice which is why we

remain committed to delivering

additional doctors working in

general practice by 2020 will stop

many of patients have been able to

access evening and weekend

appointments, we picked everyone to

have access by March 20 19.

-- we

expect everyone to have access. I'm

very fortunate to work closely with

GPs in my constituency and for a

variety of reasons, it would appear

that the younger GPs are not as

likely to either the partnership

model as their predecessors. Would

he agree with me that we need a

mixed model of both private

partnership contract and direct NHS

state provision, if we're going to

get GPs to the places where the

public need them?

I know my

honourable friend works very closely

with GPs and commissioning groups in

his constituency. We back the

partnership model of the Secretary

of State said last month at the

Royal College of GPs. We believe its

many benefits as the cornerstone of

primary care which is why we are

exploring other models to look at

the partnership model within the

care system at scale.

Doctor

Williams, you wanted to speak? Can

be abandoned the idea? Very well.

There is an alarming decline in the

number of family doctors working

across the north-east so I am

supporting the University of

Sunderland's bid to a stab at -- to

establish a new medical school.

There are record numbers in

training, I take note of her bid for

the training school. One of the

reasons why we have placed such

importance in the department and in

my brief for recruiting new GPs into

the NHS England and making sure that

people can stay working in the NHS

is because we seek general practice

as the cornerstone of the health

service.

Topical questions, and a

Subaru. -- and a Subaru. You wear it

well. I don't know if she means by

age or the rosette? I thought she

meant the rosette!

On the day we

mark the 100th anniversary of giving

a voice on women, I want to update

the House on concern to my not be

able to give voice to doctors. I

have announced Professor Sir Norman

Williams, former president of the

Royal College of surgeons, to

conduct a rapid review into the

application of gross negligence

manslaughter in health care, working

with senior lawyers, reviewing how

we insure the vital role of

reflective learning, openness and

transparency is protected so that

mistakes are learned from a not

covered up. How we each other is

clarity between Great slippers and a

human area -- between gross

negligence and human error, and any

lessons that need to be learned by

the general medical practice Council

and others. I will involve the

professional standards authority for

health and social care in this vital

review which will report to me

before the end of April 20 18.

Can I

thank the Secretary of State for

that answer. Or at least that

statement. And also for his very

robust tweets he makes and other

issues. Would he be amenable to

following on Twitter the Oliver King

foundation? I have written to all

schools in my area urging them to

install the platers. What assistance

in the Department of Health giving

such an admirable charity -- install

defibrilators.

I think a fantastic

charity and the boy concerned would

have been 19 shortly, so it's a very

sad story. I thank her for her

campaigning on this issue and we

need to make sure that we have a

grocery everywhere necessary to save

these tragedies.

-- that we have

defibrilators. Can I start by

welcoming the review that the health

and social care secretary has

announced and welcome the addition

of social care to the Health

Secretary's roll? I welcome the

government belatedly realising that

social care should be a Cabinet

level role, as Labour has done since

2010. Yesterday the Alzheimer's

Society reported that care homes are

turning away people with advanced

amateur, or even evicting them

because care providers do not get

enough money -- with advanced

dementia. Will the secretary now the

arguing with Treasury colleagues to

insure that people with dementia are

not evicted from care homes due to

lack of funding?

She always vary

powerfully speaks about the social

care system and I would say to her

that one of the key parts of the

social care paper we are currently

working through is around market

stabilisation. We have seen a number

of care homes going under, the

number overall of birds has remained

stable but our concern -- the amount

of beds, but the particular concern

is people at the advanced stages of

dementia who could not get the care

that they want so this is welcome.

I

have had concerns highlighted to me

over the National Cancer patient

experience survey in light of the

introduction of a new national opt

out model. Can the Minister confirm

that the survey will continue to

deliver the same high-quality data

annually and give a final decision

on how it will be made?

I have been

listening to cancer charities,

commissions and patients on how

important the patient experience

survey is. Whatever form it takes in

the future as a result of the

changes to how data is shared, we

want this survey to continue, with

methodologies as close to the

current survey as possible.

Last

week at PMQs, the Prime Minister

made an inaccurate statement about

emergency health services in Wales.

The chair of the UK Statistics

Authority concluded that the Prime

Minister's comparison was not valid.

Comparisons on the performance of

our NHS are important, so can

government ministers check their

figures in the future?

What is

interesting is looking at the

comparisons and the fact that the

NHS in Wales appears to have changed

another of the comparisons to make

it more difficult to compare

performance between England and

Wales. The more screeching Greek

there is before -- the more scrutiny

there is between the performances

where the best performance in Wales

equates to the worst performance in

England, the more we will see

changes in how the NHS delivers its

services in Wales.

We have a huge

exciting plan for a Cancer hub in my

constituency, providing a global

centre for cancer innovation which

will provide a huge boost for the

local economy including 13,000 new

jobs. Will he join me to see the

opportunity first-hand and will heed

tell us how the comment life

sciences strategy will be good by

this?

I'm keen to visit him, let's

fix it up. I like the idea of these

one-stop shops and the hub he talks

about could be exciting.

The

delivery of the sustainability and

transformation plans is too

dependent on the estate strategy and

there is great concern that our NHS

assets will be sold off quickly and

cheaply without transparency to make

up for government underfunding. Will

the Minister agree to pause the

process to accommodate the urgent

need for Parliamentary scrutiny?

It

is the King 's fund that said that

these offer the best hope for the

NHS to sustain and transform health

care. As the honourable lady

Woolnough, in the spring budget we

announced an additional £305 million

of capital funding to invest in

local areas, and in the autumn

budget, there was an extra 10

billion in capital investment over

the course of this armament.

Last

week our former colleague Tessa

Jowell gave an inspiring speech on

her battle with brain cancer and I

hope that colleagues will join me in

paying tribute to her work and spoke

with grace and the ability to make

others not go through what she is

suffering. The report that was

produced last week by the brain

cancer task force be taken

seriously, and do everything to make

sure this cancer receive the funding

it deserves so that Tessa Jowell's

words do not go in vain?

I would

like to thank my Honourable friend

for the wiki did in this subject, I

the Secretary of State was in the

other place to listen to the speech,

her speech was very moving and a

very brave piece of work. We take it

very serious, I know that my

colleagues have the report and we

are going through it line by line

and we will jointly chair a Round

Table on the subject in the next few

weeks.

Will the Secretary of State

give an assurance that any

accountable care organisations he

establishes will not be able to use

commercial conventionality excuses

to evade scrutiny under FOIA

legislation?

Public money is public

money and people in this house have

the right to know how it's spent so

we will make sure those contracts

are signed in the fairway.

The

Secretary of State as he is carrying

out a review into social care

funding, I would urge him to look

carefully as to whether we should

look again at implementing the

commission proposals given that we

have legislated for them will stop

my judgment is that it is the only

way we will tackle this issue with

urgency.

The Dell not proposals was

the idea of risk pooling, the idea

that there is a randomness that

affect us in our later years, but we

would want as a civilised society to

do something about. I would confirm

that we will consult on a cap on

social care costs.

I was shocked

that my local hospital in Southport

has unused bed and theatre capacity

despite the huge winter crisis and

the pressure in the NHS locally.

That same trust last night, the

virgin run walk-in centre had a

computed glitch so told everyone to

go to A&E or come back tomorrow.

Have the Secretary of State made any

assessment of the number of beds and

theatre hours which could be

resourced to relieve the winter

pressures and save lives?

The

Honourable Lady brings up an

important point which is the

variance of performance between

trusts, how we look at some of the

lessons on efficiency, on rotors and

how we maximise value for funding

and I'm happy to look at the

specific point she raises. How we

manage the patient pathway and the

43% of beds occupied in hospitals by

5% of patients is a key challenge we

are looking at.

For the first time

ever in Devon and Plymouth, GP

practices are struggling to recruit

new doctors especially new partners.

They are spending a fortune on glow

comes as a result. I know the

government has at -- on low,s. What

can be done in the meantime to make

sure that my constituents can access

primary care services?

There are two

things, we have succeeded in

increasing the number of medical

school graduates who go into general

practice. The second thing and I

know this because we had

conversations in my Honourable

friend's constituencies with GPs is

to do what I can to invigorate the

partnership model. Since meeting

with them, I have agreed with the

Royal College of GPs that we will do

a full review of how the partnership

model leads to evolve in the modern

NHS.

Does he agree with me that as a

consequence of creating a council of

care organisations, it would be

wholly unacceptable if private

companies gained control over

strategic decisions for local health

services?

I just point the

Honourable gentleman to what the

King's Fund says, which is that

these make massive differences in

care to patients. This is not a

pro-government organisation, they

regularly hold the government to

account at election time and

throughout the year. But just to

them, Polly Toynbee, many other

people.

It is very positive that Corby CCG

have announced that urgent care

services will be protected in Corby

along with new GP access and primary

care facilities. Will my right

honourable friend join me in keeping

a close eye on the CCG as they

design you access arrangements

because people must be able to

access those urgent care services in

the right place at the right time.

You are right to draw attention to

the funding going into Corby, and it

is a tribute to his campaigning as a

constituency MP that that measure is

being taken. I'm happy to look at

the specific issue and it's

important that the CCG continued to

consult with both members of

Parliament and the public as take

this forward.

GP services are in

crisis, practice after praxis is

closing, more GPs leave the service

every day. When will the Secretary

of State listened to the BMA GP

committee chair who says current GB

funding is nowhere near enough?

We

have been listening to the Royal

College of GPs and BMA, that's why

last year funding for GPs went up by

340 million. Over the five-year

period it will be going up by £2.4

billion which is a 14% real terms

increase.

A magnificent array of

rosettes on both side of the

chamber, which today, today only I

will allowed to influence me.

Thank

you, Mr Speaker, it is a proud day

to be a woman in this House. In

Midlands South Essex there are plans

for a hyper acute stroke unit at

Basildon Hospital. Can the Secretary

of State or one of the ministers

confirmed this will be an

improvement of services for my

constituents in Chelmsford and not a

downgrade?

I'm happy to confirm this

observation. It is absolutely about

improving services, this proposal

for a new hybrid acute stroke unit

in Basildon will ensure there are

specialist doctors and nurses

available to manage patients at all

time. The lessons we have seen in

London where we consolidate drug

services and health outcomes and

lives were saved.

Valerie and Colin

Hindmarch in my constituency were

prescribed Premadasa at eight months

pregnant, their child Colin would

have been 50 on the 12th of this

month however died at five months

old. Most of Valerie's medical

records are missing. When will the

Secretary of State offer an enquiry

into this, and acknowledge crucially

that trust and confidence of the

victims can only come to this judge

led public enquiry?

The honourable

lady will know we are currently

implementing the findings of the

expert working group and we are

continuing our discussions with the

all-party groups to see how much

further we can go with actually

answering peoples questions and

responding to the moving cases, one

of which she has just explained. I

will be happy to have further

conversations with any honourable

member who wants to discuss this

further.

In Shropshire, we have had

four years of confusion around the

future of our two hospitals. Will

the Secretary of State tell the

people of Shropshire whether there

is government funding for the

proposed reconfiguration of the

county 's hospitals?

As you will be

aware, we have announced by the

funding in the budget and Autumn

Statement on the specific case here,

which I know the honourable lady has

raised often, I am happy to have

further discussions with her.

In my

constituency, Sheldon medical Centre

and half the Richardson Hospital are

empty, yet patients services are

being cut because the rent charge by

NHS property services are too high.

When will the Secretary of State

sort out this waste of resources?

While not aware of the specific case

the honourable lady highlights, I'm

happy to look at that and understand

why she feels the rents are

disproportionately high. What she

refers to really is the point I made

earlier to the Member for West

Lancashire, which is the variance in

the system and how we sure we obtain

best value for money. The reality of

the debate on health is that the

party opposite simply see the debate

in terms of how much money is put

in. On the side of the House, we

recognise we need to invest more in

the NHS and ensure we get the best

outcomes. That is the key dividing

line between parties.

For six years,

the people of Redditch have enjoyed

a painful consultation into the

hospital the Alex which has dragged

on and on, as a result they have

lost maternity and children's

emergency services, something nobody

wanted even though they were

consulted. People have taken the

pain, when will they get the game?

When will they see the urgent care

centre, when will the £29 million be

spent on the Alex?

There are good

funds in place for getting the Alex

special measures, a packet of

support is in place to enable the

trust to improve its quality of

care. Delivery of the acute service

redesign plan is a key driver to

sustaining services in the medium

term and 29.6 million of STB funding

has been agreed to support this.

At

the weekend, NHS England gave up on

the key A&E waiting time targets.

Does the Minister agree that it's

very important that when people go

to A&E, they don't have to wait

longer than four hours as more than

two and a half million did last

year?

I have great respect for the

honourable gentleman but he is

saying something that is a big

exaggeration. What the NHS has

committed to is that by the end of

this year, the end of the year

coming up, more than half the trust

in the country will meet the A&E

target and we will go back to

meeting it across the whole country

in the following year. We are

absolutely committed to this target.

We recognise there are real

pressures which is why it will take

time, but we will get there.

Can I

congratulate my honourable friend

for securing the £10 billion capital

commitment in the budget at the end

of last year to spend on the NHS,

and could I take advantage of my

position on these benches to urge

him for the next allocation of STB

funding to adopt the advice of my

honourable friend for Telford and

ensure that Shropshire Shrewsbury

and told the hospital trust gets the

future fit funding it needs.

Can I

first pay tribute to my honourable

friend for the work he did in the

Department of Health, and the high

esteem he was held by those working

in the NHS. In terms of Shrewsbury

in Telford, I appreciate the

importance of reconfiguration to the

trust, we do expect a decision

shortly on that the one not in a

position to announce that position

today.

The Secretary of State will

be aware there was huge disruption

at Manchester hospitals this week

because water supplies and a big

water leak. Emmeline Pankhurst's

home is on the site of the

Manchester hospitals as well, but

what conversations has he had with

United Utilities and other water

companies to ensure we have six

supplies, constant supplies of water

to allow hospitals to ensure these

disruptions don't happen?

I know NHS

improvement are aware of the

situation and imported conversations

are ongoing to improve the

resilience of all our hospitals, but

I will happily write to her on the

issue.

I will call on the gentleman

for East Worthing and his question

is shorter than his tie.

10% of

women in this country, many without

a diagnosis, so why is it an

increasing number of my constituents

say they cannot get any therapeutic

interventions by the CCG and will he

meet a delegation of those people?

Of course I will meet my short tide

friend with a delegation he

requests.

We are well over time but

don't the honourable gentleman feel

isolated.

Thank you. Suicide calls

are at a record high. The NHS

currently spends only 11% of their

budget on health issues, could be

secretary indicate what he will do

to prevent suicides?

We are very

focused on reducing all suicides, as

the gentleman will know, we have a

plan to reduce suicide rates by 10%.

Last week we announced a plan to

reduce inpatient suicides to zero

which is a