Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust

Debate between Jeremy Hunt and Mark Durkan

Tuesday 26th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

My hon. Friend knows that I have a different view of the level of responsibility of Sir David Nicholson, but I agree that everyone working in the system at that time shares some responsibility for what happened. We must make sure that it can never happen again. The accountability that we are introducing, including criminal sanctions for boards that fail in their statutory duties, will be a significant change. The body that was responsible for what went wrong at Mid Staffs, according to Francis, was the board of the hospital, so that is where our focus must be. Today is also about getting the right structures outside the hospital to make sure there is accountability there too.

[Mark Durkan (Foyle) (SDLP)]

The Secretary of State has referred to the fact the chief inspector will inspect hospital performance at specialty or department level. How will that be done? If records, paperwork and bureaucracy are being reduced in hospitals, will hospitals’ own records be used to make those assessments or will the inspector use other information?

[Mr Hunt]

Of course we need to rely on good information being supplied by hospitals, and that is why we have said today that it will be a criminal offence for hospitals knowingly to supply wrong information. This goes back to an earlier question, and we will work closely with outside bodies, such as the royal colleges, to ensure that we establish the best way to judge, for example, cancer survival rates. One of the lessons of the success of measuring heart surgery survival rates is the importance of having a good risk-adjustment process in place. We will do that across the other 10 specialties that I announced today.

NHS Commissioning Board (Mandate)

Debate between Jeremy Hunt and Mark Durkan

Tuesday 13th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

There is an element of postcode lottery now—there is a huge and unacceptable variation in treatment throughout the country—but the structures we are putting in place have a much better chance of reducing that variation than what went before, which failed to reduce it.

[Mark Durkan (Foyle) (SDLP)]

I think we can all welcome the four stated priorities of the new mandate, not least in respect of cancer, mental health and dementia, and I recognise that the statement will have predictive implications for devolved policy making as well. Is the Secretary of State confident that the means and methodology are there to fulfil this mandate? Are resources sufficient and responsibilities sufficiently clear? Will this be workable in practice, or just a worthy presentation from a Minister?

[Mr Hunt]

The mandate sets some very high ambitions in challenging times, but those ambitions can help to reduce costs and make the NHS more sustainable. Embracing the technology revolution should mean that we give people better care, as should allowing clinicians more time to spend with patients and allowing nurses to spend more time with the people they are responsible for, but those things should also save the system money. There is not an either/or, but I accept the hon. Gentleman’s point that this is very ambitious.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jeremy Hunt and Mark Durkan

Tuesday 23rd October 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

The hon. Lady is right to highlight this growing issue. One million people will have dementia by 2020, so we have to take it very seriously. It is not an either/or situation, though, because about 25% of patients in hospitals have dementia, and hospitals would like them placed in the community or at home, where they can be better looked after. This is one of those examples where, under the new reforms, we need much greater integration of services to ensure that those people are treated in the way they need to be.

[Mark Durkan (Foyle) (SDLP)]

10. What recent progress he has made on improving early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.