Junior Doctors Contracts

Debate between Jeremy Hunt and Christopher Pincher

Monday 25th April 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

Because on that one issue—Saturday pay—the BMA said in writing last November that it would negotiate, but it tore up that agreement and said that it was not prepared to negotiate even one iota. That was why the agreement fell apart. The BMA could easily, had it stuck to its word, have negotiated an agreement and we would not have a strike today. The Government have been totally reasonable and fair throughout. The BMA has not. It is the BMA’s choice to call these strikes. It should think again, because this is the wrong thing for patients and the wrong thing for the NHS.

[Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)]

Many of our constituents will be concerned, and indeed angry, at the thought that some of the most vulnerable people in our society—the old, the young and the sick—are being put at risk by what they will see as some of the most advantaged people in our society. Does my right hon. Friend agree that this could do tremendous reputational harm to the medical profession, and that that will do more to damage the morale of the medical profession than any bluster from the Opposition or the BMA?

[Mr Hunt]

I totally agree with my hon. Friend. Medicine is a profession. It has very important values attached to it, the most famous of which are the Hippocratic oath and “do no harm”. It is a step too far to say that in pursuance of a pay dispute and more pay on a Saturday, you are prepared to withdraw emergency care from vulnerable patients. That is the wrong call for the medical profession, when the alternative on the table is to sit down and talk with a Government who want to work with the medical profession to provide safer NHS care.

Junior Doctors Contracts

Debate between Jeremy Hunt and Christopher Pincher

Monday 18th April 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I am not sure what the hon. Gentleman’s definition of “ideological” is. If “ideological” is giving safer care to patients, it is an ideology that we can all share, but I will tell him exactly the answer to his question, which he can relay to his constituents. What we want to do is reduce the difference between the mortality rates for people admitted in the week and at weekends. We have identified four key clinical standards that we believe are necessary to do that. It is by making sure that we can deliver those four clinical standards across the NHS that we will deliver this strategy.

[Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)]

Can my right hon. Friend imagine the distress and the anxiety felt by constituents who have come to see me over the past six years because they are concerned about the treatment of their relatives admitted at the weekend, when they see the BMA and the Labour party appearing to use them and other patients as hostages in a long-running dispute that must come to an end?

[Mr Hunt]

My hon. Friend is right. What patients want is a safe NHS where it does not matter on which day of the week they are admitted if something goes badly wrong. The big surprise here is that this is not something that the whole House can unite behind. It is something that people who believe in the NHS, as I think we all do, should strongly support. We are standing up for those patients, and I hope Labour, the party that founded the NHS, might do the same.

NHS Reform

Debate between Jeremy Hunt and Christopher Pincher

Thursday 16th July 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

As I said to my hon. Friend the Member for Altrincham and Sale West (Mr Brady), I will look into the decision made by Healthier Together. The assurance that I can give to the constituents of the hon. Member for Wythenshawe and Sale East (Mike Kane), and indeed to all people in the Greater Manchester area, is that with some of the most exciting changes, such as the integration of health and social care and the transformation of out-of-hospital care—it has just been announced that there will be seven-day GP services across Greater Manchester—they are blazing a trail. It will be exciting for his constituents; none the less, I understand their concerns about their local hospital and I am happy to look into that.

[Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)]

We in Staffordshire know better than most what the denial machine that the Secretary of State referred to meant to local people, so I congratulate him on his commitment to transparency and consistency. Will he encourage the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust and the Burton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to work much more collaboratively, so that that commitment to transparency and better service is delivered to my constituents in Tamworth and Fazeley?

[Mr Hunt]

I will absolutely encourage that. The Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust is one of the biggest in the country and has had significant challenges. The Burton foundation trust has been through the special measures process, and patient care has improved as a result. Collaborative working will be the way forward. We need to break down the silos that have cursed so much of the NHS, and I will happily pass on that message.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jeremy Hunt and Christopher Pincher

Tuesday 2nd June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I would not expect the hon. Lady to want to listen to me on the “Today” programme, but I have been talking a lot today about the measures, including in my topical statement. I will tell her exactly what we are doing: this week we are announcing measures to restrict the use of agency staff, which was an important, necessary short-term measure in response to what happened at Mid Staffs. We need to move beyond that. Later in the week we will be helping trusts reduce their procurement costs and taking a number of measures, so a lot is happening. There are a lot of challenges, but I know that NHS trusts can deliver.

[Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)]

T5. Burton hospital trust and the Heart of England foundation trust are discussing how they can make better use of the facilities at the Sir Robert Peel hospital. Will colleagues on the Treasury Bench encourage both trusts to make better use of the facilities, provide new facilities and services at the hospital, and make sure that local people are properly consulted?