Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Liz McInnes and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 14th May 2019 Commons Chamber

[Liz McInnes (Heywood and Middleton) (Lab)]

Last month we saw the Trump Administration threatening to veto a UN resolution against the use of rape as a weapon of law unless all references to the reproductive rights of women were removed. Even more disgracefully, we saw the UN accept their demands. Can the Secretary of State explain why a President like that deserves the honour of a state visit?

[Mr Hunt]

With the greatest respect to the hon. Lady, who makes excellent contributions to debates in this House, I just wish that Labour got its priorities right. This is a party whose leader says that Hamas and Hezbollah are friends and refuses to go to a state banquet with the President of the United States. The resolution she talked about actually passed. The United Kingdom supported it. We do not agree with America on everything, but we do think we should show respect for its enormous contribution to world peace.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Liz McInnes and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 8th May 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

That is an excellent initiative from Scotland, and it shows why we all benefit from being in the United Kingdom together. Yes, we will look at it very closely.

[Liz McInnes (Heywood and Middleton) (Lab)]

In tackling childhood obesity, will the Health Secretary declare his support for Jamie Oliver’s AdEnough campaign and get rid of pre-watershed television advertising of junk food to our children?

[Mr Hunt]

That is one of a number of measures that we are looking at. We are absolutely determined to do something about this. One in 10 children starts school obese, and by the time they leave primary school the figure is one in five. We cannot wait any longer.

Breast Cancer Screening

Debate between Liz McInnes and Jeremy Hunt

Wednesday 2nd May 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I am very happy to make that commitment.

[Liz McInnes (Heywood and Middleton) (Lab)]

I hope that the independent review will investigate this, but is the Secretary of State aware of any instances of GPs inquiring why patients who should have had a final breast screen were not invited to have one?

[Mr Hunt]

That is a very good question. I am not aware of any such instances, but that is exactly what we want to look at in the review. It does seem strange that people who were expecting to be invited did not come forward, and that their not receiving an invitation did not set any hares running. That is one of the things that we need to look at.

Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review

Debate between Liz McInnes and Jeremy Hunt

Wednesday 21st February 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I wish it was easy to give the hon. Gentleman a straightforward answer, but the truth is that there is much scientific disagreement about whether there is a causal link, which makes it difficult to give clear answers to his constituents and, indeed, to mine. I hope that the review will shed some clarity on the situation, because that is what many people want.

[Liz McInnes (Heywood and Middleton) (Lab)]

What advice has the Secretary of State sought from the Royal College of Midwives, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Royal College of Pathologists? What involvement will those bodies have in the review?

[Mr Hunt]

Baroness Cumberlege has honorary fellowships at the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of Physicians, so she is well connected with all the organisations that the hon. Lady mentioned.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Liz McInnes and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 19th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Liz McInnes (Heywood and Middleton) (Lab)]

What funds are being made available to our mental health services to meet the additional demands placed on them by changes in the Mental Health Act 1983, which came into force on 11 December this year?

[Mr Hunt]

I can reassure the hon. Lady that we are putting a lot of extra funding into mental health— £575 million last year alone—to meet those and other obligations.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Liz McInnes and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 14th November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Liz McInnes (Heywood and Middleton) (Lab)]

What safeguards will the Secretary of State put in place to ensure that NHS trusts do not finance the lifting of the pay cap by making staff cuts, downgrading roles or reducing terms and conditions under the guise of reforms?

[Mr Hunt]

NHS trusts are under pressure to make very ambitious efficiency savings anyway. We have listened carefully to their case that they would not be able to make further efficiency savings to finance an increase in pay beyond the 1% cap.

NHS Shared Business Services

Debate between Liz McInnes and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 27th June 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

We are paying GP surgeries for the extra admin time that this is taking. That is designed to ensure that, where necessary, they can buy in extra resources to deal with the extra admin. The hon. Lady is absolutely right that we have to ensure that GPs’ core work is not compromised by the issue.

[Liz McInnes (Heywood and Middleton) (Lab)]

I used to work as a clinical scientist in the NHS, so I know only too well the harm that can be caused by the non-arrival of a test result. If a diagnostic test is performed and the result goes nowhere and is not seen by a clinician, as in this case, it is the same health outcome as if the test was not done at all. Will the Secretary of State stop trying to downplay the situation and own up to the seriousness of this scandal?

[Mr Hunt]

No one listening objectively could possibly say that I am, or that anyone on this side of the House is, downplaying this very serious situation. Since the issue came to light, we have instituted a review of 709,000 pieces of patient correspondence. We have identified the high-priority ones, of which there are 2,508. Two, and sometimes three, clinical tests have been done on all of them. No patient harm has been identified to date, but we are not complacent. We will continue the process until we have been through every single patient record with that thoroughness.