Maggie Throup (Erewash) (Con)
16. What plans the Government have to lead the international response to the recommendations of the final report of the Review on Antimicrobial Resistance, published in May 2016.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Jane Ellison)
The O’Neill AMR review is galvanising global awareness, as I have seen for myself, and it is greatly to the Prime Minister’s credit that he showed the foresight to commission it. The UK continues to play a global leadership role on antimicrobial resistance. We co-sponsored the World Health Organisation’s 2015 global action plan on AMR, we created the Fleming fund to help poorer countries to tackle drug resistance, and we are now championing action, including taking forward the O’Neill review’s recommendations, through the United Nations, the G7, and the G20.
Andrea Jenkyns
I recently met biotech firm Matoke Holdings, which has developed a new technology—reactive oxygen technology. It has found that this technology forms the basis of a whole new generation of antibiotics that has been proven to combat multi-resistant bacteria, including MRSA. This is an incredibly exciting development. Will my hon. Friend and her team agree to meet Matoke Holdings to hear about the new technology and the pace at which it has developed? What are the Government doing to support research into new antibiotics?
Jane Ellison
My hon. Friend will be aware that a key focus of the O’Neill review was how to incentivise the development of new antimicrobials. It is scary to think that there has not been a new class of antibiotics for some decades now. The Government are funding an extensive AMR research programme. Matoke Holdings has been in contact with the Department, and we are in the process of arranging a meeting to discuss reactive oxygen technology in the coming weeks. My ministerial colleague the Under-Secretary of State for Life Sciences has indicated that he would also be happy to have such a meeting.
Maggie Throup
I recently hosted a parliamentary drop-in session to highlight the benefits of C-reactive protein testing as a way of reducing the number of antibiotics inappropriately prescribed in primary care. Will the Minister agree to look again at the case for rolling out CRP testing as standard across primary care as part of the Government’s strategy to tackle antimicrobial resistance?
Jane Ellison
My hon. Friend is right to champion these new technologies. In fact, the Department has already invested in research into CRP. We look forward to seeing what that brings and, in due course, to seeing how it might move forward. It is very much already on our radar.
Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)
There is an impending public health issue in this regard, not least with strains of gonorrhoea, for example, that are starting to show resistance to antibiotics. A number of doctors are incredibly concerned about this. What more can be done to incentivise research and development to ensure that this public health concern does not become a public health crisis?
Jane Ellison
The hon. Gentleman, who knows a great deal about these matters, is right. Incentivising discovery is absolutely at the heart of the O’Neill review. O’Neill has made a series of recommendations about unblocking the drugs pipeline, and we will respond to that in full. It is a critical issue. In the meantime, conservation of the antibiotics we have and sensible prescribing is critical to making sure that, as the hon. Gentleman says, drug-resistant strains of gonorrhoea, for example, do not take hold.
Chris Leslie (Nottingham East) (Lab/Co-op)
This is an incredibly important issue on which I urge the Minister to communicate with the public more effectively, because inappropriate use of antibiotics could have severe effects. Some of the medical interventions that are reliant on antibiotics, whether gut surgery, joint replacements, caesarean sections or chemotherapies, could become too dangerous to perform if we do not get this right.
Jane Ellison
That is exactly right. Things we take for granted now could become risky procedures again. Globally, old diseases could make a comeback because of drug resistance—diseases such as TB which, around the world, people are winning the battle against. This is why it is so important to pay tribute to the Prime Minister’s foresight in commissioning the independent review and taking this issue global. The Government, along with the chief medical officer, are championing this at an international level, but, at the same time, we are not resting closer to home, where we are working with GPs and so on to deal with the prescribing issue. However, it is a big challenge and the hon. Gentleman is right to highlight it.
David Tredinnick (Bosworth) (Con)
Is my hon. Friend aware that there is strong evidence that herbal medicine can help treat conditions currently treated by antibiotics, but there is a desperate need for more research? Is she also aware that homeopathic medicine can do the same, particularly with upper respiratory tract infections, and that homeopathic treatments are now the second largest medical system in the world, according to the World Health Organisation?
Jane Ellison
The Government are always interested in anything that can be proven to be cost-effective and efficacious.
Ms Diane Abbott (Hackney North and Stoke Newington) (Lab)
Millions of people around the world are dying annually from resistant infections. In the light of that and the positive correlation between antibiotic resistance rates and antibiotic consumption, urgent action needs to be taken. What steps and cross-departmental work is the Minister taking to address the findings of the Review on Antimicrobial Resistance and to reduce the unnecessary use of antimicrobials in agriculture?
Jane Ellison
There is consensus on the importance of this issue. It is worth highlighting the work that the Government are doing internationally, through the creation of the Fleming fund, in which we are investing £265 million, to help poorer countries to tackle drug resistance and to make sure that we have proper monitoring systems in place. Without a baseline to understand where we are even starting from, it is very difficult. We will respond more fully to all the issues highlighted by the hon. Lady when we respond formally to the O’Neill review, but it goes without saying that we are trying to take this work forward internationally and we are working towards further meetings at the United Nations this autumn.
Chris Green (Bolton West) (Con)
2. What assessment his Department has made of the uptake of the Target antibiotics toolkit among NHS commissioners and GPs.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Jane Ellison)
Continuing with the same important theme, it is excellent to see Parliament taking such a close interest in antibiotic resistance. In England, 60% of clinical commissioning groups reported reviewing the Target toolkit, which has been designed to help GPs in particular, in a primary care survey in November 2014. A patient safety alert went to providers and commissioners in 2015, highlighting the importance of programmes such as Target. The House might be interested to know that the Target programme gives GPs help in understanding how to deal with the pressure from patients, because a lot of inappropriate antibiotic prescribing comes from the pressure from patients to walk away with an antibiotic script. Work is being done, but we know that we have more to do.
Chris Green
I thank the Minister for her reply. Disappointingly, the most recent data show Bolton to be one of the highest prescribers of antimicrobial agents in Greater Manchester, and it is in the highest quartile nationally. Although Bolton CCG has seen reductions in antibiotic prescribing following guidance given to GPs, when will the Target antibiotics toolkit be fully implemented across all CCGs in England?
Jane Ellison
Public Health England is doing a huge amount of work on this. There has been a very welcome drop in prescribing in the last year and that appears in the data available for this year. That gives us encouragement. Of course, 79% of antibiotic prescribing occurs outside hospital, so my hon. Friend is right to highlight general practices. I draw his attention to Public Health England’s Fingertips portal, which allows both providers and commissioners to assess how they are doing compared with other areas locally. That is allowing us to see where we have particular problems. It varies around the country and Public Health England is leading the action being taken in that regard.
Chris Evans (Islwyn) (Lab/Co-op)
The growth of antibiotic resistance is a massive problem worldwide, as the Minister knows. No new antibiotics have been classified for more than 25 years. This is a real problem, as antibiotic resistance increases. What are the Government doing to address the issue?
Jane Ellison
As I have said, it was our Prime Minister who commissioned the independent O’Neill review, showing astonishing foresight, and that review is now galvanising the discussion. I was at the World Health Assembly in Geneva in May, and the review was the talk of Geneva. Lord O’Neill presented it to many delegations from around the world and we now need to move forward. As well as working on human health, we are also looking to work with animal health organisations, as we take forward the very important recommendations on prescribing and the use of antibiotics as growth stimulators.
Martyn Day (Linlithgow and East Falkirk) (SNP)
3. If he will make an assessment of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU on the availability of NHS services for (a) EU nationals living, studying and working in the UK and (b) UK citizens abroad.
The Secretary of State for Health (Mr Jeremy Hunt)
Before I start, the House will want to mark an important milestone, which is that this year, alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger, Brian May, Camilla Parker Bowles and Meat Loaf, the NHS is 68 years old, and its birthday is, in fact, today. I know that we will all want to wish the NHS and all who work there a very happy birthday.
As long as the UK is subject to EU law, current arrangements remain in place. As we move to a new relationship with Europe, our guiding principle will be to get the best possible deal for British citizens who live and work in, and who visit, EU countries. An EU unit will be set up in the Cabinet Office and will report to the Cabinet, and my Department will feed into its work.
Martyn Day
I am aware that nothing will change for the next two years, but what is the Secretary of State’s proposal for reciprocity of access to healthcare within the EU, and does he envisage the £500 NHS immigration health surcharge applying to EU nationals already living in the UK?
Mr Hunt
The health surcharge that this Government have instituted for people on long-term visas to come and work and live in the UK is the right thing to do, because it is important that everyone makes a fair contribution to the cost of NHS services. In terms of future arrangements for EU nationals in the UK, that would obviously be subject to the negotiations that now happen, and a very important part of those negotiations will be access to the EU health systems for British citizens currently living in EU countries.
Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
Will the Secretary of State tell the House how many EU nationals work in the national health service and how many EU nationals use the national health service? Is it not the case that the number of eastern Europeans, especially, coming to this country has simply overwhelmed GP practices and A&E centres up and down the country, and now we have got a chance to redress the balance?
Mr Hunt
Without wanting to reopen the debate that concluded on 23 June, the overwhelming view in the NHS is that we are very lucky to have the incredible support of 110,000 EU nationals working in the health and social care system. I want to put on record to this House what a fantastic job they do and how much we are all in their debt.
Norman Lamb (North Norfolk) (LD)
Very many of those 110,000 people are now acutely anxious about their future in this country, because of the despicable suggestion that they should be used as a bargaining pawn in negotiations with the EU. Will the Secretary of State ensure that the Government, as a matter of urgency, guarantee their future in this country doing their dedicated work in our NHS and care system?
Mr Hunt
I can reassure the right hon. Gentleman that we are incredibly aware of the brilliant work that EU nationals do, not just in the NHS but in the social care system, which he was responsible for, in care homes up and down the country. We recognise that, and I hope that he will be reassured by statements made by the Foreign Secretary and the Home Secretary yesterday that we want to find a way of allowing those people to stay in the UK for as long as they wish to. We recognise the incredibly valuable contribution that they make, and we are confident in the negotiations ahead that we will be able to secure the outcome that they and we all want.
Heidi Alexander (Lewisham East) (Lab)
The last time the Secretary of State and I had an exchange in this Chamber, I suggested to him that it might be the final time we would face each other over the Dispatch Box. Although I was clearly prescient, it has not quite turned out the way I thought it would.
Following the results of the referendum, will the Secretary of State say whether he still intends to introduce an NHS charges Bill as outlined in the Queen’s Speech? Does he agree that migrants give more to the NHS than they take, that their contribution should be welcomed and that our NHS simply could not survive without them?
Mr Hunt
I enjoyed our many exchanges in this House, and it is a loss on our side as well that they will not continue. I would like to welcome the hon. Lady’s successor to her post, and I hope that I will have a chance to do so again when she asks a question later.
I agree with the hon. Member for Lewisham East (Heidi Alexander). Migrants, or the people who work in the NHS who come from different countries, make an extraordinary contribution. It is fair to say that the NHS would fall over without the incredible work that they do. It is also true that the British people voted to control migration on 23 June, and we have to accept that verdict. In terms of the NHS and social care system, I did not hear, and I have not heard in my time as Health Secretary, enormous amounts of worry about the pressure of migration on NHS services, because on the whole migrants tend to be younger and fitter people. While accepting the verdict of the British people and what they said on 23 June, the important reassurance that we now need to give is to the many people from outside the UK who make a fantastic contribution to the running of our health and care system.
Ms Diane Abbott (Hackney North and Stoke Newington) (Lab)
The Secretary of State may be aware that in the wake of the Brexit vote NHS commissioning bosses have delayed funding for vital medicines and services because of the fall in the value of the pound. One affected patient is Abi Longfellow, the teenager who won her battle for a wonder drug thanks to a campaign by the Sunday People. Abi currently spends 11 hours a day on a dialysis machine and was due to start on a drug that would give her a fighting chance with a kidney transplant. We were all aware that the pound might fall post referendum, so will the Secretary of State explain why no contingency plans were put in place and what he will do to ensure that, despite the Brexit vote, patients like Abi receive the lifesaving treatments and medicines that they need?
Mr Hunt
First, I welcome the hon. Lady to her position. She is the third shadow Health Secretary I have faced in less than a year, and I am beginning to worry that it may be something personal. I wish her well; she knows the brief extremely well and has campaigned on it a great deal in her long parliamentary career. I will look into the case she brought up. I would not want anyone to be deprived of vital lifesaving drugs because of exchange rate fluctuations. The whole British economy, including the NHS, will have to deal with the economic shock that we may now face as a result of the Brexit vote. But now that the decision has been taken by the British people we must look for the opportunities for the UK and the NHS, and not simply worry about the uncertainties, although there will be lots of things we have to deal with.
John Howell (Henley) (Con)
4. What plans his Department has to increase capacity in general practice and primary care.
David Warburton (Somerton and Frome) (Con)
10. What plans his Department has to increase capacity in general practice and primary care.
The Secretary of State for Health (Mr Jeremy Hunt)
We will be investing an extra £2.4 billion a year in general practice by 2020-21, a 14% increase in real terms. The General Practice Forward View, published earlier this year, sets out a package of support for general practice to boost the workforce, drive efficiencies in workload and modernise primary care infrastructure and technology.
John Howell
General practitioners in Henley have recently written a letter to all their patients pointing out the difficulties they face in fulfilling their workload. Will the Secretary of State explain what the Government are doing about that and how what they are doing will help?
Mr Hunt
I am happy to do so. I recognise the picture that my hon. Friend paints—not just in Henley but across the country—of a huge increase in GPs’ workload, which they are finding extremely challenging. What have we done? We have almost 1,300 more GPs working and training in the NHS compared with 2010. We have said that by the end of this Parliament we will seek to make available an additional 10,000 primary and community care staff, including 5,000 doctors working in general practice and 1,000 physician associates. We recognise the problem and are doing something about it.
Michael Tomlinson
Given proposals for significant increases in housing across Dorset, my constituents are rightly concerned about access to services, including to GPs. Will the Secretary of State reassure me and my constituents that housing numbers will be taken into account when assessing provision and increasing capacity of general practice in Poole and Dorset?
Mr Hunt
I am happy to give my hon. Friend that assurance. NHS England looks at areas of new housing very carefully when deciding where to invest additional resources for new GP practices. I recognise those concerns. I was in Dorset at the weekend. It is a lovely place that many people retire to, and of course older people tend to use the NHS more, so it is very important that that is reflected in our investment patterns.
David Warburton
Having met GPs, health centre managers and patient groups in Frome, Wincanton and Somerton in my constituency, I know that GP recruitment is a serious problem in Somerset. What measures is the Department putting in place to address both that issue and the additional challenge of excessive agency costs, both of which are placing a considerable strain on rural health providers?
Mr Hunt
I am happy to do that—I visited a GP practice with my hon. Friend in the run-up to the last election, and I know the close interest that he takes in this issue. As I said, we are making huge efforts to recruit more GPs during this Parliament, and to do that we must increase the number of medical school graduates to 3,250 a year. We are making progress in that direction, and we have also introduced tough new rules on the use of agencies, including maximum hourly rates for agency doctors and nurses.
Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)
Will the Secretary of State do something about the Hardwick commissioning group in north Derbyshire? I met it a week last Friday to talk about dementia care, which he knows is due to change a little, according to the local authorities and so on. Will he tell the group that the mad idea to close Bolsover hospital, and the hospital in Bakewell in Derbyshire Dales, should be stopped? Will he tell Hardwick commissioning group that it has gone beyond its terms of reference, and that those hospitals should remain open?
Mr Hunt
I recognise the important role that community hospitals play in many of our constituencies, and that role will change as we get better at looking after people at home, which is what people want. We can all be proud of significant progress on dementia in recent years. Dementia diagnosis rates have risen by about 50%—indeed, we think we have the highest diagnosis rates in the world. However, it is not just about diagnosis; it is about what happens when someone receives that diagnosis, and the priority of this Parliament will be to ensure that we wrap around people the care that they need when they receive that diagnosis.
Barbara Keeley (Worsley and Eccles South) (Lab)
The Health Secretary has just promised 5,000 new GPs, and GP Forward View mentions recruiting 500 GPs from overseas. I understand that Lincolnshire GP leaders are looking to recruit GPs from Spain, Poland and Romania. As we have heard, EU nationals who live in the UK and work in the NHS are seen by the Home Secretary as bargaining chips, which has made them incredibly nervous about their status. How successful does the Health Secretary think that that GP recruitment will be?
Mr Hunt
This is a time when all sides of the House should be seeking to reassure many people from other countries who do a fantastic job in our NHS that we believe they will have a great future here. The Home Secretary has prioritised doctors, paramedics and nurses in the shortage occupation lists, and in all countries that have points-based systems—look at what happens in Australia or Canada—the needs of the health service and health care system are usually given very high priority.
Keith Vaz (Leicester East) (Lab)
Mr Speaker, let us note another milestone this year: your election yesterday as a freeman of the City of London. We look forward to you bringing your own flock of sheep to Westminster in future.
The Secretary of State will know that we are facing a diabetes crisis, and by 2025, 5 million people will have been diagnosed with diabetes. There are 32,000 pharmacies in the United Kingdom, with 13,000 community-based schemes. Given that 99% of the population live near a pharmacy, does the Secretary of State agree that more diabetes work should be given to pharmacies, to try to ease the burden and pressure on general practitioners?
Mr Hunt
There is a lot of potential in what the right hon. Gentleman says. The financial pressures on the NHS and general practice mean that this is the right moment to rethink the role of pharmacies, and consider whether we can be better at tapping into the incredible skills that pharmacists have as trained clinicians, which I do not think we make the most of. He is right to say that diabetes and childhood obesity is a big priority for the Government, and I hope we will be able to inform the House more about that soon.
Imran Hussain (Bradford East) (Lab)
5. How much funding he plans to make available for the proposed pharmacy access scheme.
The Minister for Community and Social Care (Alistair Burt)
We intend to announce details of the pharmacy access scheme, including funding, as part of a wider announcement on community pharmacy in 2016-17 and beyond.
Imran Hussain
Pharmacies play an important role in our community healthcare system. An accessible pharmacy is particularly important for those with mobility issues and for those from communities with a greater propensity to experience health inequalities. However, the planned changes to pharmacy funding risk closing the pharmacies that serve these groups. Will the Minister give me a direct assurance that the pharmacy access scheme will be properly organised and that no pharmacies serving those vulnerable groups will close because of changes in funding?
Alistair Burt
The hon. Gentleman is right to praise the role pharmacies play and right to identify that we must do all we can to ensure that those who are most vulnerable retain the excellent access they currently have. The national formula on access proposal will be used to identify those pharmacies that are most geographically important for patient access, taking into account isolation criteria based on travel times and distances, and population sizes and needs. Both deprivation and isolation will be covered in the access formula.
Kevin Barron (Rother Valley) (Lab)
Given that the access scheme could potentially alter the situation for community pharmacies, will the Minister consider more money than was originally proposed for community pharmacy budgets to stop any shock from the cuts we are expecting later this financial year?
Alistair Burt
There are no changes to the funding issues announced when the review of pharmacies started on 15 December. As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State said, we are hoping to make an announcement on pharmacy when we can. I am aware that pharmacy is waiting for that.
Will Quince (Colchester) (Con)
7. What progress his Department has made on improving the safety of maternity care.
The Secretary of State for Health (Mr Jeremy Hunt)
Since 2010, we have invested £37 million in improving the physical environment of over 140 maternity units and purchasing equipment to improve safety. We now have 2,103 more midwives in the NHS and 6,400 more in training than in 2010.
Will Quince
Expectant parents in Colchester are among the first in the UK to have hypnobirthing courses—I recently attended one myself. What consideration has the Secretary of State given to the effectiveness of hypnobirthing in improving maternity safety?
Mr Hunt
A variety of pioneering techniques, which could make a huge difference to women’s experience of birth, are emerging. I am delighted that we are seeing lots of experimentation and innovation. I would particularly like to pay tribute to my hon. Friend’s trust, which is in special measures and has been through a very difficult period. The fact that it is still managing to do this kind of innovation is wholly to be commended.
Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)
Has the Secretary of State seen the Autism Commission report on barriers to healthcare for people with autism? In maternity care and all other care there are very severe barriers that, with the right will and the right action, we can overcome. Will he read the report and talk to me about it?
Mr Hunt
I am more than happy to do so. In fact, we have a copy of the report right here, which my Minister of State has handily given to me. When I was shadow Minister for disabled people, I had a lot of contact with parents of autistic children and with people on the autistic spectrum themselves. The hon. Gentleman makes a very important point.
Peter Heaton-Jones (North Devon) (Con)
The maternity unit at North Devon district hospital in Barnstaple in my constituency is one of the services being reviewed under the current Success Regime. Can the Secretary of State reassure me and my constituents that maternity care, and the safety thereof in what is a geographically huge region, will be the first priority under this review?
Mr Hunt
I can absolutely assure my hon. Friend on that. I know there are very big national and global events happening right now, but I want to tell the House that over the next month one of my big priorities will be to do something to improve our record on maternity safety. We have made huge progress in reducing stillbirth rates and so on, but maternity safety is still not as good as it should be and certainly not as good as in other countries in western Europe. This is an absolute priority and I hope to be able to inform the House more on this before recess.
Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)
As the chair of the all-party group on infant feeding and inequalities, I welcome the new guidance issued by Public Health England, in conjunction with UNICEF Baby Friendly, on the commissioning of infant feeding services. I welcome in particular the recognition of raising infant feeding at the antenatal stage. Will the Secretary of State explain what resources the Department of Health is putting in to promote the guidance and increase breastfeeding at local levels?
Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)
8. How many staff working in the NHS have been recruited from other European countries in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Ben Gummer)
There are no centrally held data on the countries from which NHS staff are recruited, but self-reported nationality data suggest that 15,723 non-UK European nationals joined the NHS in England and that 7,900 left, leaving a net increase of 7,800. As the Minister responsible for the NHS workforce, may I say that every single one of them is very welcome in, and provides an invaluable contribution to, our NHS?
Fiona Mactaggart
The problem is that the Immigration Minister’s waffle yesterday and Ministers’ warm words today are not giving confidence to these vital NHS employees. Has the Minister spoken to the Immigration Minister to request that he guarantee permanent residence to every EU national working in the NHS so that they can have the security that they—and we, their patients—need?
Ben Gummer
The Home Secretary is well aware of the enormous contribution that EU nationals make to the NHS. We all have a duty to undo the damage done during the referendum campaign and the poisonous atmosphere that exists in some parts of our communities and to thank personally—I will be doing so myself—EU nationals working in the NHS for their hard work and dedication so that they feel valued by each and every one of us.
Dr Philippa Whitford (Central Ayrshire) (SNP)
There has been a 27% surge in trainee applications to NHS Scotland because of the conflict around the junior doctors contract in England, and now doctors and academics from the EU are not taking up posts here because of the Brexit vote. With a one-in-four rota gap in many specialties, how does the Minister plan to sustain the current service, let alone extend it?
Ben Gummer
As much as I admire and like the hon. Lady, my opposite number on the Scottish National party Benches, I think that the behaviour of some of her colleagues in Scotland during the junior doctors dispute was not in the spirit of concord by which we try to establish relations with the devolved Administrations. I do not recognise the figures she quoted about junior doctors—I am glad that we have recruited well in this country during this difficult period—but I know that she will want to thank the British Medical Association for its work in bringing the dispute to an end. I hope that in the next few days we will come to a conclusion suitable for everyone.
Dr Whitford
I thank the Minister for that and for his welcome to EU nationals here, but with the Secretary of State merely repeating what the Immigration Minister said yesterday and given what the Home Secretary has said, does he not understand the urgent situation facing EU nationals working here? With more than 100,000 of them, do we not want to give them security of residency now to avoid haemorrhaging vital staff from the NHS?
Ben Gummer
The Home Secretary said she was confident we could get a deal ensuring that they could stay, but we need a new Prime Minister able to start the negotiations caused by the decision of the British people on 23 June. I say in my capacity as a Health Minister— the House has heard from other Members, including the Secretary of State—that we have full confidence in the EU nationals working in the NHS and wish to praise their contribution, which makes the NHS a better organisation.
Ms Diane Abbott (Hackney North and Stoke Newington) (Lab)
The head of the NHS, Simon Stevens, has strongly defended the role of immigrants in the NHS, saying that there has never been a time in its 68-year history when the NHS has not
“relied on committed employees from around the world”.
One of these employees was my own mother, who migrated from Jamaica to the UK in the 1950s to be a pupil nurse. Workers from the EU and other countries are the backbone not just of the NHS but of our social care system, which is facing many challenges. Does the Minister agree that we should be thanking these hard-working individuals for their service, not leaving them with questions about their status and job security?
Ben Gummer
I agree entirely with the hon. Lady that we should be thanking EU nationals working in the NHS and social care system. She herself is evidence of the enormous contribution of migrant labourers, not just in the first generation but in subsequent ones. We, as a nation and a House, should be grateful for it. This is a difficult time for many EU nationals in this country, and we should be thanking them not just for the numbers but for the special qualities they bring. In my constituency, the amazing Portuguese nurses in Ipswich hospital bring qualities and skills that some of our own nurses in our own country do not possess in our own hospitals.
David T. C. Davies (Monmouth) (Con)
9. What the cost to the public purse was in 2015-16 of providing interpreters for people using the NHS who did not speak English.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Life Sciences (George Freeman)
Until now, data on NHS foreign language translation and interpretation have not been gathered centrally, but I am delighted to say that, as a result of the representations of my hon. Friend and other colleagues, we have changed that, and NHS England is now conducting a major piece of work looking at both commissioning and provider organisations’ expenditure as part of a procurement review. It is worth saying that in view of the importance of effective communication in good diagnosis, informed consent, safeguarding and public health, it is in all our interests that all our patients understand what the doctors and clinicians are saying to them.
David T. C. Davies
I am grateful for that answer, but may I respectfully suggest to the Minister that if we are to have a serious discussion about the costs and the impacts of large-scale migration into the UK on the NHS, we must have access to figures on this cost and we should not have to wait months and months to get them? The figures must be out there somewhere.
George Freeman
My hon. Friend will find no more passionate champion of good data in the NHS than myself. He makes an important point about getting on with this, and I have already signalled to the team in NHS England that we will need to get a grip on this quickly, not least so that the new Administration implementing the Brexit decision will know the figures and have them to hand.
Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con)
I made a recent freedom of information request to my local hospitals to find out the cost of interpreters. Airedale hospital reported that last year the cost was almost £200,000 and I suspect that, when I receive an answer, it will be even higher at Bradford royal infirmary. This money could be better spent on patient care. Surely it is better for these patients, if they want to contribute to the British way of life, to be able to speak English themselves. What is the Minister’s Department doing with other Government Departments to make sure that people who live in this country can speak English so that money for the NHS goes to the purposes for which it was intended?
George Freeman
Let me gently and respectfully point out that those who work in the NHS and the leaders responsible for it have made it very clear how dependent it is on people who come to work here in the NHS from overseas. Under the terms of our own mandate and indeed our own laws, the NHS has a duty to make sure that it provides proper diagnosis and treatment for all our citizens. For public health and safety, it is in nobody’s interests for citizens of the UK not to be able to integrate, deal with and get proper diagnosis from the system. My hon. Friend’s wider points about the speaking of English are well made, but they are not relevant to this particular question.
Kelly Tolhurst (Rochester and Strood) (Con)
11. What steps his Department plans to take to improve local dispensing arrangements.
The Minister for Community and Social Care (Alistair Burt)
For improving local dispensing arrangements, patients need to receive their NHS prescribed medicines promptly, efficiently, conveniently and to high quality. NHS England is responsible for ensuring that there are adequate arrangements in place for the dispensing of medicines so that this happens across the country. We keep this under constant review.
Kelly Tolhurst
I have been contacted by a number of disabled constituents who have encountered difficulties receiving dispensed drugs from their local GPs because they fall outside geographical criteria as of last year, therefore adding a significant financial burden. Given instances where dispensing GPs have blocked the arrival of some local pharmacies in parts of my constituency, will the Minister give some consideration to how this discrepancy could be remedied?
Alistair Burt
I am sorry to hear about the difficulties of my hon. Friend’s constituents. There is a provision within the regulations to enable patients who have serious difficulty in getting to a pharmacy because of the distance involved or the lack of transport to receive dispensing services from a doctor. Doctors should certainly not be blocking the addition of local pharmacies. If my hon. Friend writes to me, I can look into the matter in greater detail.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
Taking into account the immeasurable value that community pharmacies provide for some of the most vulnerable people in sections of our society, does the Minister agree that, when it comes to Government budgets, these dispensing services should be included in any ring-fencing that goes on around front-line services?
Alistair Burt
The hon. Gentleman’s support for these services is well known and what he says is right. The regulations do protect the more vulnerable, but when I next look at them, I will make sure that they fulfil his requirements.
Dr Rosena Allin-Khan (Tooting) (Lab)
12. What assessment he has made of the potential effect of the proposed removal of NHS bursaries on the number of applications from mature students for nurse training places.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Ben Gummer)
Mature students represent a significant proportion of the nursing, midwifery and allied health professions’ workforce. Looking at what happened following the introduction of the maximum £9,000 per annum tuition fees in 2012, the latest UCAS data for last year show that full-time mature student numbers have now significantly exceeded previous levels.
Dr Allin-Khan
I am proud to have served on the front line of our national health service for the last 10 years, and to ask my first question on its 68th birthday.
St George’s hospital in my constituency is operating at a significant deficit, partly owing to expensive agency staff costs. Does the Minister agree that cutting NHS bursaries for nurses, midwives, radiographers and other allied health professionals will prevent the recruitment and retention of high-quality trained staff and make the problem worse?
Ben Gummer
I welcome the hon. Lady to her seat. She fought a courageous campaign, and it is good to see her in the Chamber. She brings expertise to the House, which is also very welcome.
I agree with the first part of the hon. Lady’s question—the deficit at her local hospital is indeed partly caused by the excessive costs of agency nurses, and we are trying to put a cap on those costs—but I am afraid I disagree with the second part. I believe that changes in nurse bursaries will enable us to get more nurses and healthcare professionals into the NHS. There has been a similar development in the rest of the higher education sector, and I want to replicate that success in the NHS so that we can provide it with the workers that it requires.
Justin Madders (Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Lab)
I, too, am delighted to welcome my hon. Friend the Member for Tooting (Dr Allin-Khan) to her seat. Her recent experience on the front line of the NHS will be of great value, and we in the Labour party pride ourselves on listening to NHS staff. Let me also put on record my thanks to my hon. Friend the Member for Lewisham East (Heidi Alexander) for the excellent job that she did as shadow Secretary of State.
I must challenge the Minister again about the impact of this policy on mature students. According to an answer given to me by his colleague the Minister for Universities and Science, in 2010-11 there were 740,000 enrolments in higher education among people aged 21 or over. Let me ask a simple question: in 2014-15, after tuition fees trebled, was the number of enrolments among mature students higher or lower?
Ben Gummer
I echo the hon. Gentleman’s remarks about the hon. Member for Lewisham East (Heidi Alexander). She gave the House admirable assistance in challenging the Government, and I regret her loss from the Opposition Front Bench.
The latest figure from UCAS, for 2015, shows that the number of mature student applications has risen since the introduction of £9,000 tuition fees, but the hon. Gentleman is right to identify that factor as a challenge in relation to our new plans. That is why we asked open questions during the consultation, and I hope that, now that it has closed, we shall be able to respond to those questions to ensure that we can give the best possible assistance to mature students who want to become nurses.
Justin Madders
According to the universities Minister, the number of mature students enrolling in universities has fallen by 22%. If that were repeated in the health sector, what is already a staffing crisis would become a catastrophe. The Minister has said that an extra 10,000 training places will be created during the current Parliament, but everything I have heard from the Government suggests that that figure was plucked out of thin air. What is the baseline figure for the Minister’s claim—10,000 more places compared to when?
Ben Gummer
There will be 10,000 additional places over the five years from when the policy was announced last year, and that will give NHS organisations throughout the country the assistance that will enable them to bring down their agency costs. It is only through such bold initiatives that we can reform the NHS for the betterment of patient care throughout the country.
Margaret Greenwood (Wirral West) (Lab)
13. What assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of measures to reduce the size of NHS deficits on NHS staff numbers.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Ben Gummer)
Trusts and foundation trusts are responsible for ensuring that their workforces are affordable, given the financial control totals that have been set for this financial year. We are clear about the fact that the first priority in the reduction of provider deficits will be to reduce unsustainable spending on high-cost temporary staff.
Margaret Greenwood
Five per cent. of NHS workers in England come from the European Union. What steps is the Minister taking to ensure that every effort is made to retain those skilled workers, and will he provide them with the confirmation of their permanent employment status that they so urgently need?
Ben Gummer
At the risk of repeating what the Secretary of State and I have said previously, we very much welcome the contribution of all EU nationals working in the NHS. It is for the process of the negotiations to establish the precise status of everyone, both EU nationals and British nationals working abroad. That was not my choice at the referendum, but the decision has been made by the British people. I hope that the hon. Lady will take comfort from what the Home Secretary has been clear about: that she hopes to be able to secure a deal so that we can retain EU nationals in this country.
Mr David Burrowes (Enfield, Southgate) (Con)
Can the Minister confirm that the challenge to NHS budgets will not compromise in any way the provision of sufficient consultants and middle-grade doctors to not only keep North Middlesex hospital open, but to provide sufficient care to patients and proper quality training to trainee doctors?
Ben Gummer
The problems at my hon. Friend’s hospital are a result of management issues and long-running troubles that the hospital has encountered. I hope we will be able to fix them in the short term and provide long-term solutions, which I will be briefing about in the days to come.
Several hon. Members rose—
Karin Smyth (Bristol South) (Lab)
14. What steps he is taking to ensure that forward budget planning in his Department is robust.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Life Sciences (George Freeman)
In the autumn statement and the Budget the Government fully funded NHS England’s five year forward view. We have committed to an extra £10 billion in-year by the end of this Parliament. Furthermore, we have frontloaded it, as we were asked to do by NHS England, with £6 billion extra by the end of 2016-17 with an extra £4 billion for technology funding.
Karin Smyth
I thank the Minister for his answer. Having published reports on seven areas of the Department’s work since January, members of the Public Accounts Committee, of whom I am one, were looking forward to the publication of the annual accounts with some anticipation. It is becoming clear that Brexit’s impact on staffing, procurement and medicines will be huge, so what is the Minister doing to assess and mitigate the risk to the 2016-17 budget and will this be made clear in this year’s published accounts?
George Freeman
May I first make it clear, as the Prime Minister has done, that nothing immediately changes? We are still full voting-right members of the European Union, and nobody in the system needs to worry about any immediate changes. The Government are putting together a plan for handling the negotiations that now need to be taken forward, and for my own part I as a Minister in the Department have convened a workforce to look at the issues around medicines access. There are three things we need to do: first, to reassure people that this country has a very strong life science and healthcare research system and economy; secondly, to make sure that we negotiate our new relationship with the EU in a way that works; and thirdly, to take advantage of the regulatory freedoms that we now have to make sure that this country is the very best country in the world in which to develop those innovations.
William Wragg (Hazel Grove) (Con)
T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.
The Secretary of State for Health (Mr Jeremy Hunt)
As we plan a new relationship with the EU, this Government will continue to ensure that the NHS is given the priority and stability it deserves. I have already sent a message of reassurance to all NHS staff, emphasising the vital role played by the 110,000 EU nationals working in our health and care system. To be able to allow them to continue making their outstanding contribution will be a key priority in our negotiations, and we are confident they will be able to remain in this country as long as they wish. Whatever other changes are happening at a national or international level, the commitment of the British people and this Government to our NHS and its brilliant staff remains unwavering.
William Wragg
A report published yesterday by the health journal Pulse showed that last year two thirds of young people referred by their GP for mental health services received no treatment, and moreover a third were not even assessed. I am a strong supporter of this Government’s commitment to improving mental health care, so what reassurance can the Secretary of State give today that results in child and adolescent mental health services will improve rapidly?
Mr Hunt
My hon. Friend is right to draw attention to that issue. We, too, are very proud of the progress we have made on mental health, with 1,400 more people accessing mental health services every day than six years ago, but there is a particular job to do with children and young people’s mental health, and we are putting £1.4 billion into that during the course of this Parliament—and there is a specific plan for the Manchester area, which I think will help my hon. Friend’s constituents.
Justin Madders (Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Lab)
It seems that almost every day there is another report about the deteriorating condition of NHS finances. Today we hear of a survey by the Healthcare Financial Management Association that said 67% of clinical commissioning group finance officers reported a high degree of risk in achieving their financial plan for the year, so does the Secretary of State now accept that the Government need to commit more funds to the NHS?
Mr Hunt
We have accepted that, which is why in our manifesto at the last election we were committed to putting £5.5 billion more into the NHS than was being promised by the hon. Gentleman’s party, but we have to live within the country’s financial envelope, because we know that without a strong economy we will not have a strong NHS. We will continue to make sure we get that balance right.
Andrew Stephenson (Pendle) (Con)
T5. In May, the Under-Secretary of State for Health, my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea (Jane Ellison), gave me a very encouraging answer about improving the treatment and diagnosis of Lyme disease. Will she meet me and other concerned colleagues to discuss what more can be done to tackle that terrible condition?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Jane Ellison)
I am pleased to report that the commissioning of the systematic reviews of the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease, which I mentioned at that time, is under way. We expect that work to start in the autumn, and the researchers will approach relevant stakeholders. Once that work is under way, I would be happy to organise a meeting for colleagues at which the experts leading it can brief them further.
Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)
T3. Will the Secretary of State join me in welcoming the formation of the all-party parliamentary group on blood donation? Will he agree to take part in and perhaps give evidence to its inquiry into the criteria for blood donation, particularly those regarding men who have sex with men?
Jane Ellison
As Members will know, the Department has asked the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs—SaBTO—to review the donor selection criteria for blood donation that relate to men who have sex with men. SaBTO has approved the remit, the terms of reference and the work streams, and it is cracking on. It has a second meeting coming up later this month. The chair of the working group has written to the chair of the all-party group, welcoming its inquiry and inviting it to contribute evidence during the autumn.
Andrea Jenkyns (Morley and Outwood) (Con)
T7. To expand on the question asked by the shadow Secretary of State, I too would like to raise the case of my constituent Abi Longfellow who suffers from dense deposit disease and is awaiting a decision by the NHS’s specialised commissioning body. She and her family have been subjected to frequent delays and miscommunications. I first met Health Ministers, NICE and NHS England a year ago to discuss Abi’s situation. What steps will the Government take to ensure that decisions on treatments such as this are taken in a timely fashion and that families are kept updated on the progress of those decisions?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Life Sciences (George Freeman)
My hon. Friend raises an important point. NHS England is currently unable to take final decisions on this year’s new treatments, including this particular drug, until the courts have decided whether pre-exposure prophylaxis HIV prevention should compete with other candidate drugs. She makes an important point about timeliness, and that is why I am leading an accelerated access review to speed up the way in which such decisions are taken.
Martyn Day (Linlithgow and East Falkirk) (SNP)
T4. In March, the Scottish Government made a commitment to substantially increase the financial support for the victims of contaminated blood. Initially, that will have to be administered through the current system, but the Department of Health appears to be dragging its feet. Will the Secretary of State explain the cause of the hold-up and say how he plans to expedite these payments to people with life-threatening illnesses?
Jane Ellison
No one is dragging their feet and we are trying to get this matter sorted out. I have had a number of discussions with the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport, Shona Robison, most recently last Thursday. We are working together to facilitate the increased payments, using the current scheme administrator. We want the payments to be made as quickly as possible to people who were infected in Scotland and across the UK. Officials in the Department of Health and officials in Scotland are working closely together to expedite the matter.
Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con)
T8. Community hospitals such as John Coupland in Gainsborough are very popular, yet health authorities seem intent on centralising services. Will the Secretary of State today make clear his absolute commitment to supporting local community hospitals and giving them work, and state that there will be no closures without his personal authorisation?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Ben Gummer)
Community hospitals form an important part of the NHS landscape and are valued by local communities, many of which have contributed to them through their fundraising efforts. The Secretary of State has to abide by the decisions of the Independent Reconfiguration Panel and the advice of clinicians, but it is clear that community hospitals that evolve and modernise will have a place in the NHS in the future.
Margaret Greenwood (Wirral West) (Lab)
T6. The cancer drugs fund is due to be handed back to NICE later this month. In May, 15 leading UK cancer charities published an open letter detailing their concern that that would see patients missing out on clinically proven cancer drugs because the NICE system is outdated and no longer fit for purpose. Will the Secretary of State agree to carry out a wide-ranging review of NICE’s health technology appraisal process for cancer drugs to ensure that all cancer patients can access the drugs they need?
George Freeman
I am delighted to assure the hon. Lady that as part of the accelerated access review, we are considering how we can ensure that the £1 billion commitment to the cancer drugs fund is used to accelerate through the most effective treatments, and, through the new system that NHS England is putting in place, to make sure that patients get access to better drugs more quickly.
Mr David Davis (Haltemprice and Howden) (Con)
T9. The Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust recently signed an agreement to share 1.6 million patient records with Google’s DeepMind subsidiary. The data include medical history, HIV status, past drug overdoses, abortions, and all pathology, radiology and visit records. It is claimed that the data are anonymised, which is impossible given the nature of the data, and no permission was obtained from patients. It is also claimed that the agreement was made under the Secretary of State’s guidelines. Will he tell the House what he is doing to protect the privacy of such information?
Mr Jeremy Hunt
I am very happy to do so. My right hon. Friend has campaigned long and hard, and rightly so, on such issues. The truth is that the guidelines under which the NHS operates for the sharing of patient-identifiable data are not as clear as they need to be. That is why I asked the Care Quality Commission to undertake an independent investigation into the quality of data protection by NHS organisations and Dame Fiona Caldicott to update her guidelines. I hope that we will have news on that soon and certainly before the summer recess, which will please my right hon. Friend.
Nick Thomas-Symonds (Torfaen) (Lab)
Happy 68th birthday to the NHS and thank you to its creator, Labour’s Aneurin Bevan.
According to research by the British Lung Foundation, the mortality rates for lung disease have not improved over the past 10 years. Will the Secretary of State take a lesson from the Welsh Government, which have put in place a specific strategy and delivery plan to tackle the issue?
George Freeman
The hon. Gentleman will know that the Under-Secretary of State for Health, my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea (Jane Ellison), opened an exhibition on this topic yesterday and that the Chancellor recently put an extra £5 million into mesothelioma research. Through the National Institute for Health Research, the Government are committing to invest in that disease area. We are also committed to ensuring that we drive up both research and better treatment for such diseases.
Dr Sarah Wollaston (Totnes) (Con)
Prevention of ill health has to be given a higher priority if the NHS is to meet the challenges set out in the five year forward view. Central to that will of course be the childhood obesity strategy. Has the Secretary of State had any discussions with the Prime Minister about the strategy’s future? Is he in a position to take over the strategy should No. 10 become distracted?
Mr Jeremy Hunt
I welcome my hon. Friend’s close interest in ensuring that this important agenda does not get swept aside. I can assure her that we have had many discussions inside Government about what to do. There is a strong commitment to take it forward as soon as possible, and I hope that she will get some good news on that front before too long.
Ms Margaret Ritchie (South Down) (SDLP)
Will the Minister responsible for public heath confirm when a statement on contaminated blood will be made to the House, and in particular on the response to the consultation that closed in April?
Jane Ellison
I am not in a position to be specific about when we can make a statement, but I can give the hon. Lady and other interested Members the absolute assurance that we continue to look closely at the issue. We have read every single response that we have received. I was at a well-attended all-party group meeting on 25 May and gave people a sense of the direction of travel of our analysis. I hope to keep the House updated.
Dr James Davies (Vale of Clwyd) (Con)
Will the Minister confirm how he plans to implement the General Practice Forward View? Will he also confirm that sustainability and transformation plans will be returned to for further development if they fail to deliver the investment in general practice mandated by the forward view?
The Minister for Community and Social Care (Alistair Burt)
Yes indeed, we are developing detailed plans to implement the 80-plus commitments set out in the General Practice Forward View, which has been widely welcomed. The development of GP practices will be incorporated into sustainable plans.
Derek Twigg (Halton) (Lab)
There is a shortage of GPs across the country, but certain areas, especially deprived areas such as Halton, have a high rate of sickness, in particular respiratory diseases and cancer. Is any action being taken to target those areas? Has the Minister had any discussions about that with NHS England?
Alistair Burt
Although there is a general shortage, to which my right hon. Friend referred when speaking about the work being done to recruit, retain and return GPs, bursaries are available in particularly difficult areas as incentives for people to go to such areas. NHS England concentrates on trying to ensure that under-doctored areas are properly resourced.
Amanda Solloway (Derby North) (Con)
The recently published Mental Health Taskforce report recommended that NHS England should by 2021 support at least 30,000 more women annually with specialist mental healthcare during the perinatal period. Will my right hon. Friend assure me that the Department will be working to reach that target?
Alistair Burt
I thank my hon. Friend for her question. Thanks to the Prime Minister’s excellent initiative in relation to perinatal mental health and the £390 million extra added to that, I can indeed confirm that work is already under way to increase the number of beds in the 15 existing perinatal mental health units. There are plans for three more in the south-west, the east of England and the north-west. This has been an important initiative, and perinatal mental health is very high up among my priorities and those of the NHS.
Several hon. Members rose—
Emma Reynolds (Wolverhampton North East) (Lab)
What is the Health Secretary doing to ensure that the NHS gets the £350 million a week that it was promised during the referendum campaign?
Mr Jeremy Hunt
I am a little stumped, because I was never really sure whether we would see that money. All I can say is that I am committed to successful negotiations with the EU, and I am delighted that a number of people who championed the Brexit vote have said that any extra funding should go to the NHS.
Luciana Berger (Liverpool, Wavertree) (Lab/Co-op)
As we celebrate the 68th birthday of the NHS—one of the Labour party’s proudest achievements—let us not forget the fact that there are thousands of people across our country with mental health conditions who continue to face stigma, discrimination and prejudice. Recent reports tell us that young people are waiting up to a decade to receive the appropriate treatment, and future plans for children and young people’s mental health are not up to scratch. Will the Minister please tell us how many more NHS birthdays will have to pass before real equality for mental health is secured?
Alistair Burt
How I miss the hon. Lady sitting on the Opposition Front Bench with her questions on mental health. I pay tribute to the exceptional work that she has done in this particular area. The £1.25 billion extra that is going into children and young persons’ mental health over the course of this Parliament—I along with other Members in the House have absolutely fought to make sure that it stays in the plans—will help. We have done more work than ever before in relation to combating stigma, but she is right to raise that, as it is essential that we do. It is also essential that the money that is provided centrally goes through clinical commissioning groups into mental health spending, and I am quite sure that she and I will make sure that happens.
Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)
The Secretary of State and others have sought to reassure us that nothing changes immediately with Brexit, but that is not right for the NHS. The impact on the economy is already clear, and that will have a knock-on effect on our health service. That is why I will meet local leaders in Wirral on Friday to try to formulate a Brexit plan for the NHS. Will the Secretary of State receive that plan and take all necessary steps to protect the health service in Wirral?
Mr Jeremy Hunt
Of course, and we will take every step necessary to protect the NHS throughout the country, because it remains our most important public service. I am sure that, economically, the period ahead will be difficult, but now that we have had the argument and the British people have made their decision, it is also important that we talk up the opportunities from the new relationships that we may have in the future, and the extra funding that those could generate for the NHS, and I certainly hope that that is what happens.
Mhairi Black (Paisley and Renfrewshire South) (SNP)
An elderly constituent of mine came to my surgery to explain that, sadly, her husband had passed away as a result of being infected with hepatitis C during the contaminated blood scandal. She has applied to the Skipton Fund four times, and has been turned down because her husband’s medical records have been destroyed since his death. Can the Minister offer any advice on how I can best move forward with this? I am also happy to meet her to give her more background information.
Jane Ellison
I think the latter suggestion might be the better one. I am happy to meet the hon. Lady and talk about the matter in more detail.