A&E Services

Gareth Johnson Excerpts

Wednesday 24th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Reed]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for that question. If he paid attention to the Francis report, he would learn that it was not the targets themselves that were to blame for the Mid Staffs tragedy, but the way they were applied in that hospital. That is clearly stated in both the first and second Francis inquiries; indeed, it was a point that the Prime Minister made on the Floor of this House when he reported to Members.

In the past 100 weeks, nearly 2.4 million patients have waited more than four hours in hospital accident and emergency units in England.

[Gareth Johnson (Dartford) (Con)]

Why does the hon. Gentleman think that in my constituency A&E targets have been met for 97% of patients, that in his own hospital in his constituency in England they have been met for 93% of patients, but that in Wales they have been met for only 83%?

[Mr Reed]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that question. Had he been in this House longer and paid more attention to these issues, he would know that the datasets comparable between England and Wales are not actually the same. He would know also that the last time we had a Conservative Government people in Wales were waiting two years for operations, and that nobody campaigns more than I do on behalf of hospitals in my area on the waiting times there.

In the past 100 weeks nearly 2.4 million patients have waited more than four hours in hospital accident and emergency units in England; almost half a million people have spent more than four hours on a trolley waiting to be admitted; and more than 1,500 have waited more than 12 hours to be admitted.

Those figures offer a stark analysis of the difficulties facing accident and emergency. Even in this week of the summer solstice, this Government’s A&E winter crisis shows no signs of abating. In a debate in January the Secretary of State for Health said that the NHS had just been through a tough winter, but the evidence from NHS England shows that accident and emergency departments have had two tough winters and are well on their way to a third tough summer. Under this Government accident and emergency is experiencing a permanent winter.

Health and Social Care

Gareth Johnson Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

Absolutely. I had a good visit to my hon. Friend’s county hospital, but I also remember seeing at Airedale hospital how reassuring it was for a vulnerable old lady to be able to press a red button on her armchair, be connected straight through to the local hospital and talk to a nurse within seconds. With that kind of service, that person is less likely to need full-time residential care. That is much better for her and more cost-effective for the NHS.

[Gareth Johnson (Dartford) (Con)]

Much has been made of finances during this debate. I do not know whether my right hon. Friend is aware of this, but Darent Valley hospital in my constituency underspent by some £250,000 last year while providing the best services in Kent. The challenge that it is still dealing with today is the legacy of the private finance initiative that created the hospital in the first place.

[Mr Hunt]

My hon. Friend has an excellent hospital, which I hope to visit at some stage. A third of the hospitals that are in deficit have PFI debts that make it much harder to get back into surplus. That is a persistent problem, and we are doing everything we can to help them deal with it.

The reality is that hard-working NHS staff have made terrific progress in incredibly tough circumstances in recent years. More than a million more operations were performed last year compared with five years ago, yet fewer people are waiting more than 18 weeks for their operation. Seven hundred thousand more people were treated for cancer in the last Parliament than the one before. Despite winter pressures, we have the fastest A&E turnaround times of any country in the world that measures them. There is more focus on safety than anywhere in the world post Mid Staffs, with 21 hospitals in special measures, seven that have exited special measures, and improvements in quality and safety at all of them.

There are more doctors and nurses than ever before in the history of the NHS. Public satisfaction with the NHS was up 5% last year; dissatisfaction is at its lowest ever level. The independent Commonwealth Fund found that under the coalition the NHS became the top performing health system of any major country—better than the US, Australia, France and Germany. That is not to say that there are not huge challenges, including the fact that by the end of this Parliament we will have a million more over-70s, so we need important changes, especially a focus on prevention, not cure. That means much better community care for vulnerable people so that we get help to them before they need expensive hospital treatment. Part of that is the integration of health and social care, which the right hon. Member for Leigh deserves credit for championing. It also means transformed services through GPs, including the recruitment of more GPs to expand primary care capacity, and a new deal that puts GPs back in the driving seat for all NHS care received by their patients.