Sugary Drinks Tax

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Monday 30th November 2015 Westminster Hall

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

I am a late contributor to a long debate, so some of what I say will have been touched on, but I hope it is not all déjà vu.

Apparently today is the first day of Sugar Awareness Week, after “black Friday” and “cyber weekend”, or whatever—it is all good to know. According to Mick Armstrong, chair of the British Dental Association:

“Britain is addicted to sugar, and inaction can no longer be justified, either morally or financially.”

The debate, which to some extent reflects Britain’s love affair with sugar, is not the result of an intellectual curiosity, as subjects discussed in this Chamber often are, but arises from a petition. We have heard the figures —150,000 people have signed it—and we see it reflected in the number of people in the Public Gallery today.

One in four children leave primary school clinically obese—the hon. Member for Totnes (Dr Wollaston) said it is one in three—so we have to do something about the ticking health time bomb. The cost to the NHS runs into billions—my hon. Friend the Member for Warrington North (Helen Jones) mentioned £6 billion. Some people argue that the state should not interfere in such things, but it would not be the first time, because it is something that Governments of both complexions have done before, and as a result we have seen a reduction in the number of adult smokers in this country.

The clamour for action on sugary drinks and the arguments in favour of the funds raised going to tackle public health problems have received not inconsiderable public attention, at a time when health budgets are being squeezed. There is also the weight of expert opinion, not only the much mentioned one-time “naked chef” Jamie Oliver, but the Health Committee, chaired by the hon. Member for Totnes, who spoke movingly and powerfully earlier—she was a doctor first and an MP second—the British Medical Association, the British Heart Foundation, Diabetes UK and the British Dental Association. Hitherto, however, all appeals have fallen on deaf ears in the Government. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health conducted a poll that revealed that 53% of the public support a tax measure.

Public Health England, in its sugar reduction action plan, states that the recommended proportion of added sugar in people’s diets should be 5%, but at the moment it is more like 12% for adults in this country. Added sugar accounts for 14.7% of calorie intake for children and 15.6% for teenagers. I am a mum myself and understand pester power and the attraction of sugary drinks. For under-threes, 27% of added sugar intake comes from soft drinks; for 11 to 18-year-olds, the category that I am a mum of, that figure rises to 40%. Furthermore, it is the 11 to 18-year-olds with the least amount of money who are attracted by cheaper alternatives to drinks such as water. Why is it that in any sweet shop water is more expensive than fizzy drinks?

Sugary drinks give a short fix of energy and have no nutritional value, while at the other end of the process the NHS is treating people for preventable illness. We have heard how most children in this country who go under general anaesthetic are doing so for tooth decay. Many hon. Members have also mentioned the figures for type 2 diabetes; 22,000 people in my constituency live with it, and it is responsible for a death every seven seconds in the G20 member states, which is a higher rate than HIV and malaria combined. At a meeting of the all-party group on diabetes, chaired by my right hon. Friend the Member for Leicester East (Keith Vaz), who is no longer in his place, we heard an impassioned speech from “St Jamie”, as one of my constituents called him at the weekend. I believe that in Jamie Oliver’s own restaurants there is a 10p levy on fizzy drinks.

On the one hand we have campaign groups and medical professionals, but on the other hand there is the argument about the nanny state. Many hon. Members have said that the solution is severalfold. The food and drink industries need to act more responsibly—they are the main lobbyists against the sugar tax—instead of arguing that any tax would be passed on to consumers and end up being a tax on the poor. They have also warned of sinister factory inspections and claimed that the tax would be unworkable, but they are acting in their own interests and not with the NHS health bill at heart. In Mexico, as we have discussed, a reduction in sales took place when a tax was introduced. I am almost reminded of that television programme set in the 1950s or ’60s, “Mad Men”, which is about the advertising industry. The advertisers in it say, “It’s not bad for you”, when they know it is.

There are good commercial operators. In my constituency is the UK headquarters of the French dairy company, Danone, which has its “Eat Like a Champ” programme, which 35 children will go through this year. It is unbranded, so no one knows it is a Danone programme, but it introduces healthy eating, diet and so on throughout the London boroughs. The programme has been developed with the British Nutrition Foundation. Such initiatives should be encouraged. The programme is also supported by Diversity—the pop group, not the concept—as its ambassadors. Danone is doing that as part of its corporate social responsibility. The hon. Member for Britvic—the hon. Member for Rugby (Mark Pawsey)—has gone now, but—

[Barbara Keeley (Worsley and Eccles South) (Lab)]

Says the hon. Member for Danone.

[Dr Huq]

Yes, sorry. I am a secret lemonade drinker—no, I’m not.

I want to be brief, but we are discussing something important. Voluntary agreements do not seem to be moving fast enough. As everyone has said, we need a range of different approaches, and hiking up sugary drink prices by pennies is part of that. As for the industry’s worry that the cost would have to be passed on to consumers, the industry itself could absorb or partly absorb the cost.

Eleven to 18-year-olds will choose drinks based on price, because they are short on cash, although other factors could come into play—peer pressure, habit, availability and so on. We need to think smartly about things such as advertising bans, which have been mentioned, encouraging physical activity, curbing “buy one, get one free” types of promotions, discounting fruit and veg, and considering portion sizes. In New York the authorities have banned the largest size of soda cups.

I want to ask the Minister what happened to the ban on fried chicken shops at school gates, because I still seem to have them in my constituency. Such a ban was talked about, and it would be good if its implementation could be accelerated. Also, what about minimum unit prices for alcohol? If sugary drink prices go up but alcohol prices are low, there could be some awful, cataclysmic thing going on as a result, possibly—

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Jane Ellison)]

Hopefully not at primary schools.

[Dr Huq]

No, but alcopops and such things have always been popular with young people, because they look harmless, but some of them have a high alcohol content. We have a golden opportunity, because the Government are working on a childhood obesity strategy, and we must not waste that opportunity We must think long-term and heed the BDA chief’s words:

“Public health policy must be guided by evidence, not by personal prejudice or commercial interests.”

So happy Sugar Awareness Week, one and all. I will be interested to hear the summing-up speeches.

[Steve McCabe (in the Chair)]

We have just over an hour, but I remind Members that we do not have to fill the entire time. I would, however, like enough time to be left for Helen Jones to reply to the debate. I call Philippa Whiteford.

Off-patent Drugs Bill

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Friday 6th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Nick Thomas-Symonds]

On the second part of the hon. Lady’s intervention, I entirely agree that it would assist the Alzheimer’s Society. On the first part, I am sure the whole House wishes her best friend a speedy recovery.

Given the time restraints, I will touch on just one benefit that the Bill would have. zoledronic acid, a type of bisphosphonate, was originally used to treat bone fractures in advanced cancer and osteoporosis, but it can also reduce by 28% the risk of breast cancer spreading to the bone in post-menopausal women. If it were routinely available to 34,000 women, it could save 1,000 lives a year, at the cost of about 5p per day per patient. That is precisely the kind of benefit the Bill could bring.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend talked about cost. Does he agree with my constituent, Elena, of west Ealing, who wrote to me on this subject to say that it would help MS sufferers in particular and that

“it is crucial that affordable treatments are used to their full potential particularly at a time when NHS resources are stretched. The Bill will tackle this issue head on and stand to benefit hundreds of thousands of people in Ealing and beyond.”?

[Nick Thomas-Symonds]

I agree entirely with my hon. Friend. It is precisely that kind of benefit that the Bill would bring.

Hospital Parking Charges (Exemption for Carers) Bill

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Friday 30th October 2015 Commons Chamber

[Philip Davies]

My hon. Friend has made a very good point, and I hope that he will expand on it in his own speech. I do not want to steal his thunder.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

Did the hon. Gentleman not hear the compelling cost-benefits analysis presented by my hon. Friend the Member for Burnley (Julie Cooper)? It is the Conservatives who go on about a long-term economic plan. The proposed exemption for the carers who prop up the NHS in so many ways will save the NHS billions upon billions of pounds, so it will be good value in the long term.

[Philip Davies]

I was prepared to hear lots of arguments in favour of this Bill and some of them I was going to find quite compelling. The idea that this provision is going to save the NHS millions of pounds is an argument I was not prepared for, I must admit, because it is quite clearly a load of old nonsense. If that really is the economic thinking of the Opposition that we can look forward to over the next five years, then Lord help the lot of us, because the Opposition clearly have no economic credibility whatever if that is the case the hon. Lady is making. This clearly incurs a cost—

[Dr Huq]

rose—

[Philip Davies]

I will let the hon. Lady have another go.

[Dr Huq]

The briefing all MPs were sent based on research by Leeds University and Carers UK puts the figure at £119 billion, because these are people who take stress off the NHS. As my hon. Friend the Member for Burnley clearly described in her speech, they are people who change incontinence pads and do the feeding; they keep people out of hospital in the long run. This proposal will cost less than bed-blocking in the NHS. Furthermore, of all the representations all of us on both sides of the House have received, it is only the parking industry that wants to keep things as they are.

[Philip Davies]

The hon. Lady is approaching this Bill as if nobody at the moment does any caring and if we have this Bill everyone will start caring and save the NHS billions of pounds. The point is the people—

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[Julian Knight]

My hon. Friend makes a good point. During my election campaign in the course of canvassing and door-knocking, we mentioned the hospital parking campaign and the response was mainly positive. Obviously, as soon as people are asked whether they want free hospital parking, they say, “Yes, absolutely”, but the other question was what this means for nurses and doctors and for the bottom line of our local hospital’s finances.

[Dr Huq]

Is not the point that the Bill does not propose a free-for-all for everyone, but free hospital parking just for those on carer’s allowance, which is a paltry £62 a week? These are not carers who come through an agency and indirectly through the local authority and who add to the mounting social care bill. These people keep the social care bill down. We pay them carer’s allowance, and if all their money goes on parking charges, they will be deterred from coming into hospital to do the job that they do.

[Julian Knight]

I agree that we must value carers. However, the Bill is very narrow in its focus, whereas a much greater number of people could be covered by the guidelines and the NHS patient, visitor and staff car parking principles. There are opportunities to engage in our localities with our local hospitals and local hospital trusts in order to encourage them to expand existing provision. There is the possibility of working on a case-by-case basis, rather than by means of a rather blunt instrument. I take the hon. Lady’s point, but we should look at hospital car parking charges in the round, not just as they affect carers. [Interruption.] The Bill is about carers. The subject matter, though, is a much greater variety of people who use hospital car parks, including many vulnerable people, as we know.

I suggest that other hon. Members follow what has been done by my right hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon), the Minister without Portfolio, and my hon. Friend the Member for Wellingborough (Mr Bone) and engage with the local hospital trust, put pressure on the trust and get it to reduce the complexity of charges and to ensure that when it puts charges in place, they reflect the local area. For example, I made a case to my hospital trust that we have three hours’ free parking at council car parks in Solihull, so why do people have to pay £2.75 for just one hour at the local hospital? Why is that not in tune with the local economy and the local environment?

More widely, on the people who are not covered by the Bill, I have mentioned those who may be covered by the NHS patient, visitor and staff car parking principles, but what about people who do not have a car? What about carers who travel by public transport? I was involved in a campaign in Solihull to help save the No. 73 bus service, which was a lifeline to Heartlands hospital. If it had been cancelled, people in Shirley in the west of my constituency would have had to travel by three buses in order to attend hospital appointments. If there is any extra money, surely it would be better for it to be directed at them as they are more likely to be on a lower income and potentially in a more vulnerable position than those driving and using the car park.

In conclusion, I welcome the sentiments of the Bill and I applaud the hon. Member for Burnley for introducing it. We have had a vigorous debate. There is a patchwork of provision and it is up to us as individual Members of Parliament, as well as local councils and bodies such as chambers of commerce, to come together in order to try to get the best possible deal for our area. That, in some instances, may include many more people than are the subject of the Bill.

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[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Burnley (Julie Cooper) on her important private Member’s Bill from which, thanks to Conservative Members’ contributions, a somewhat epic debate has ensued. I am pleased to speak in favour of the Bill. I have broken my usual rule of Fridays in Ealing Action and Bedford Park to be here since 9.30 am. The Bill is an important piece of legislation, which we need. I shall be brief.

It is important to point out that we are talking about carers who are in receipt of carer’s allowance of £62.10 a week. To receive this, they have to do at least 35 hours of caring for an older or disabled person, and they are not allowed any extra income above £110 a week. The state is paying these people in recognition of their caring duties, which take a burden off the health service. If all that is going on car parking fees, then it is a false economy. Waiving their car parking fees alone would pay dividends for the future.

I have elderly parents; in fact, I lost my father a year ago.

[Mr Nuttall]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Dr Huq]

I need to do a TV interview that I am late for, so I wish to make progress; I will not be giving way.

My parents have had all sorts of ailments. We lost my dad a year ago last September so I have been in and out of Ealing hospital as a visitor, and I have grumbled that it seems to cost no less than £4 for an in-and-out visit. People on carer’s allowance can be there for days on end, or hours on end, and the cost for them can rack up into the hundreds. This is even more punitive given that they are on £62.10 a week and bear a heavy burden as it is.

For these carers, the stress of parking is at best, the last thing they need, as my hon. Friend the Member for Burnley said, and at worst, on a more generous interpretation, bordering on a slap in the face. They are people who negotiate difficult situations. My own mother has dementia, and people with such conditions can fly off the handle and be quite erratic. If someone is negotiating that, or, say, dealing with someone’s incontinence pads, they do not want to be fumbling about for the correct change, as my hon. Friend so graphically described. This is the least we can do, as a decent society, in recognition of the enormous contribution that carers make. They are almost the social glue of the NHS; it would fall apart without them.

Yesterday in this Chamber we discussed benefit changes and how the safety net is tightening. It is important to consider these parking charges, which are sky-high in any case. In 2008, my hon. Friend the Member for Ealing, Southall (Mr Sharma) said to the local press that they are a stealth tax on the poor. They are already steep, but disproportionately so for carers. We heard research quoted earlier. Leeds University and Carers UK have estimated that £119 billion a year is saved on the adult social care bill through having these unpaid carers who just receive an allowance.

Conservative Members have said that it is fine to exercise discretion. At Ealing hospital, that amounts to a handful of spaces, and there are quite strict criteria. Often, a situation that would result in an unpaid carer taking the person they care for into hospital would arise from sudden things that cannot be predicted, and the four spaces, or whatever, that some London North West Healthcare NHS Trust hospitals reserve as part of their discretionary allocation may be gone.

Members on both sides of the House are lobbied all the time from powerful groups with identical emails that clog up our in-boxes, but this is about people who are the unsung heroes of our system. It should not be those who shout the loudest—the powerful lobby groups—who get their way. According to the figure I got from the House of Commons Library last night, there are 944,000 of these unsung heroes, but I have heard different figures here today. Anyway, on the basis of a cost-benefit analysis, a substantial number of people are saving the NHS money in this way. It is a matter of respect that as a country we should be saying thank you to these carers and we should appreciate their vital contribution. We have the power to change all this today and to deal with the fact that they are being penalised.

We would not want carers to be put off going to hospital because of these charges. That is the logical extension of the 81% rise in NHS West London CCG’s car parking charges. When I lobbied it and said that this is a constant issue in my postbag and my in-box, I was told, “It’s the commercial car parking providers you should take this up with.” Does the House want to be seen to be siding with commercial car parking providers or with carers in our society?

Campaign groups such as Contact a Family, the Alzheimer’s Society and the Multiple Sclerosis Society are all supporting this Bill. Even The Sun, which is not usually a newspaper that supports Labour, is backing the Park the Charges campaign.

[Mr Nuttall]

It has supported Labour.

[Dr Huq]

Not in recent times. It has not supported the Labour party in any recent general election. Historically, Rupert Murdoch’s politics are not aligned with ours.

I urge Members in all parts of this House to do the decent thing and support this Bill in the strongest possible terms. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Burnley on leading this extraordinary debate. I suppose I should also congratulate some Conservative Members on the show of stamina to which they have subjected us.

Junior Doctors’ Contracts

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Wednesday 28th October 2015 Commons Chamber

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

My constituent Dr Amy Di Marco, specialist registrar in general surgery, says that the term “junior doctors” is pretty misleading. She says

“in fact it applies to all those who are not GPs or Consultants and therefore includes many doctors who, like me, are nearing 40 (or over), with several years of experience and with responsibilities for patients as well as their own families.”

These are not work experience kids making the tea; they are serious professionals. They are highly qualified individuals who need commensurate remuneration and conditions that recognise that fact. In the areas of general practice, nuclear medicine, chemical pathology, emergency medicine, psychiatry, learning disabilities— the list goes on—we have a recruitment and retention crisis in any case, so these changes to contracts are not going to make the situation any better and risk exacerbating it. Junior doctors face the removal of the obligation on hospital trusts to safeguard the hours worked and the hiking up of plain time from 60 to 90 hours a week.

On 5 November there will be the ballot to strike. The BMA states that this is not a decision taken lightly. Indeed, being forced to work at weekends tending to patients on the brink of death after staying up all night cannot be good for anyone. There are also serious concerns that this proposal would disadvantage those on maternity pay or sick leave, employees working reduced hours or those doing research, yet this work pays dividends for the future and pioneering research on incurable diseases might save the NHS. All those people would be disadvantaged because their safeguards are being removed at a stroke.

This summer, we all saw the “#I’m in work, Jeremy” campaign on the promise for a seven-day NHS. It is happening already. I know this; I was born in Queen Charlotte’s hospital on a Sunday in 1972. Bolstered weekend care is obviously a good thing, but not if it means already stretched personnel being spread even more thinly, and not if it is unilaterally steamrollered through without adequate staffing and resources.

My constituent, Dr William Stern, neurology registrar— he has been in the Public Gallery since 4 o’clock—told me that he was not optimistic because of

“the current funding crisis…increasing deficits in most hospitals…targets being missed”

and junior doctors “threatening to strike”—something he does not want to do. I urge the Government to think again and end this stalemate. I urge all MPs to back the motion.

NHS (Contracts and Conditions)

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Monday 14th September 2015 Westminster Hall

[Helen Jones]

No, I need to make some progress.

What, exactly, is the Secretary of State trying to do? If he is trying to bring about a seven-day fully elective service, he needs to say so. As far as I am aware, no major health system in the world has managed to do that. If he is not trying to do that, he needs to tell us clearly—perhaps the Minister will do so when he winds up—which services he thinks should operate at the weekend.

The Secretary of State also needs to recognise that, to have the service he proposes, he needs not only more doctors, consultants and nurses on the wards, but back-up staff. Doctors operate by leading teams. If they do not have the ancillary staff—the people to do the MRI scans, the radiology and the lab tests—they cannot operate properly. We need to hear how the Secretary of State will implement his proposals. Will he recruit more staff, or will he worsen the terms and conditions of staff who are already not well paid, to introduce weekend working?

It might help to improve morale in the NHS if the Secretary of State refrained from attacking staff for not working at weekends, when they do, and actually negotiated with them sensibly. Staff know what is happening at the frontline, and they can best suggest the changes that need to be made.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

We are discussing contracts and conditions. Does my hon. Friend agree that whistleblowing is another issue over which there tends to be silence? The last time there was a full debate on it in this place was 2009. It came up tangentially in 2013, in a debate on accountability and transparency, and it has appeared in statements—I think there was one last July and one earlier this year—but is it not time that we had a full and proper debate?

[Helen Jones]

Whistleblowing in the NHS, as in other areas, is an important issue. It is important to protect staff who blow the whistle to protect their patients, which is their duty. Perhaps my hon. Friend will initiate a debate on that; I am sure we would welcome that.

When the Secretary of State talks about NHS staff and doctors, let us remember that the starting salary for a junior hospital doctor is £22,636. It is not a huge amount when someone has spent years in medical school and works many hours, and often has to deal with seriously ill patients. However, the Secretary of State proposes to change their contracts to take away the extra payments for weekend working, which will effectively mean a huge pay cut. The Scottish Executive will not do that, and that will lead to the ridiculous situation in which two doctors doing exactly the same jobs in different hospitals either side of the border will be on two rates of pay.

As for consultants, I have heard complaints from the Government that Labour raised their pay rates. Yes, we did, and I am proud that we did. I will give the Minister the reason, which was set out very clearly by Frank Dobson, who was formerly my right hon. Friend the Member for Holborn and St. Pancras. In the City there are people who probably messed about for most of their time at school and played noughts and crosses at the back of the class, and who can make millions. Across the road there will be someone who was probably the cleverest kid in their class and has worked for years in training—often someone who is at the cutting edge of medical development. Yes, those people deserve a decent rate of pay for their skills, training and responsibility.

The Government also forget that consultants’ time is allocated in two blocks: direct clinical care and supporting professional activities. Those two together make up the 40-hour week. SPA time is for such things as mentoring, quality improvement and teaching. Some consultants go on to do more teaching and research, perhaps, but they are doing extra work on top of the 40-hour week, which increases their pay. Consultants’ basic pay ranges from £70,249 to £101,451, so the Secretary of State needs to explain how he can tell us that consultants are paid £118,000 a year. How does he calculate that figure, and what is included in it?

If the Government really want more consultant time on the ward, they could look at some of the things that do not need to be done by doctors, but which doctors currently do because of lack of back-up staff. The Government always talk as if non-clinical staff in hospitals are somehow superfluous and an extravagance. That is not correct. Without the right staff, doctors and nurses are forced to take time from clinical care to do some of their jobs. For example, many doctors whom I have spoken to now collect their own data for audit and input it themselves. That is a job that a competent clerk should be doing—not a consultant. I found one hospital where there is one secretary to a group of 25 consultants. Writing letters takes consultants away from clinical care.

I found one place where the IT equipment is so old that it takes six minutes to boot up, and often collapses, with the loss of the data. If the Government really want more doctor time on the wards they should consider those issues as well, and think about the other staff. As an example, if an operating theatre does not have a full complement of staff, there is no one to send out with the patient who is in recovery, and a doctor must go with them. That slows the turnaround time for theatres, and staff are told that their turnaround time is not good enough.

I say again that it takes a team of people to run the NHS, not just doctors. Let us also remember that the NHS depends on many staff who earn very low salaries. As doctors would be the first to say, those people are an essential part of the team. The NHS Pay Review Body could see a case for some adjustments to unsocial hours pay—and I have not met any staff who do not see a case for that; but it noted that both the Department of Health and NHS employers said that the cost of unsocial hours premiums makes the delivery of seven-day services prohibitive. The Minister must tell us whether the Government will try to deliver seven-day services by cutting the pay of staff again. The review body said that that could risk the morale and motivation of staff.

Recently we have had a few soundbites from the Government, but no clear mechanism showing how they will set out to do what they say they will do. They have pledged an £8 billion increase in NHS funding by 2020. Even taking them at their word—and some of us are rather sceptical—that is the bare minimum to keep existing services going. [Interruption.] If the Minister’s Parliamentary Private Secretary, the hon. Member for Winchester (Steve Brine), will stop chuntering from behind the Minister, I will wind up my remarks. [Interruption.] PPSs, as I told someone once before, are meant to be seen, not heard.

The Minister needs to make it clear what services the Government will run and what staffing arrangements they will put in place. They can put more doctors on the ward, but that will be useless without the back-up staff. It is not surprising that one surgeon in the #iminworkJeremy campaign posted a picture of himself mopping out his operating theatre at the end of the day. That was very good of him, but is it the best use of a consultant surgeon’s time? Above all, the Secretary of State and his Ministers need to stop attacking the people who work in the NHS, and to try to work with them in a climate of mutual respect. It is not hospital doctors, GPs, nurses, lab technicians or cleaners who have caused staff shortages in the NHS; it is the Government. Those staff members did not introduce the disastrous Health and Social Care Act 2012. They are not the people requiring huge cuts in our hospitals and other services. Unless the Government are prepared to recruit more nurses, doctors and ancillary staff, more and more pressure will be put on existing staff, who will suffer burnout. It will be a downward spiral.

When I worked in teaching, a wise old head teacher said to me, “People say that the first thing you have to do in a school is ensure that the children are happy; but no—the first thing you should do is ensure the staff are happy. If the staff are happy the children will be well taught.” That is something that can be applied in many areas. I tell the Minister honestly that he needs to take note of the anger among staff that generated the petition, take it on board, stop denigrating them, and deal with them properly and sensibly, to achieve what the Government have set out to achieve.

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[Helen Whately]

I believe that the Secretary of State has done a good job of driving the NHS in the right direction, and I know that a large proportion of the workforce have been very supportive of him.

We are all in this room because we value the NHS, but we must not be complacent. We have to recognise when it lets people down. It is intolerable that if someone has the misfortune to get ill and be admitted to hospital at the weekend, they may be more likely to die. I am not going to repeat the statistics on that, because my hon. Friend the Member for Totnes (Dr Wollaston) helpfully updated us, and I suspect that my figures are not as recent as hers. She made a strong case, as have others, for why the NHS needs to have proper seven-day care, which must include the support services mentioned by the hon. Member for Warrington North.

The Royal College of Surgeons strongly supports seven-day care. It has said that one reason why outcomes are worse at weekends is that patients are less likely to be seen by the right mix of junior and senior staff; that such patients experience reduced access to diagnostics; and that earlier senior consultant involvement is crucial. Research from the NHS National Health Research Institute shows that 3.6 more specialists attend acutely ill patients on Wednesdays than on Sundays. More senior doctors need to be available at weekends—not just on call, as many consultants are at the moment, but present in hospitals.

The changes should not be about getting doctors to work intolerable hours, and that is not what is being proposed. As has been mentioned, only a small proportion of consultants exercise their opt-out. One could argue that the changes to the workforce, and to the consultant contract in particular, are about bringing the contract into line with what is actually happening. Looking at the terms of the workforce gives us an opportunity to ensure that there is an appropriate package for doctors in A&E, where there are large numbers of vacancies. That is the case in hospitals in and around my constituency in Kent, which is an area with a high proportion of out-of-hours work. It also gives us an opportunity to ensure that clinicians are recognised and rewarded for taking on management and leadership responsibilities. We really need clinicians to step up and take on those responsibilities. It gives us an opportunity to make sure that consultants are treated as professionals who take responsibility for their patients, their team and the whole service that they provide.

The NHS faces an incredibly tough time over the next five years. It faces rising demand for its services and rising expectations, and even with an extra £8 billion on its way, things will have to change. Senior doctors, along with senior nurses and other health professionals, will have to lead those changes. When I worked in hospitals grappling with the challenges of transformation, ideas came from everyone: junior doctors, senior doctors and patients. When it comes down to it, consultants, matrons and senior staff have to lead from the front and make things happen. They often face opposition from colleagues, so they need to be courageous and put in extra hours.

To ensure that that happens, and to get the NHS from where it is now to where we want it to be in five years’ time, there has to be a sense that we are all in it together. We cannot have a situation in which doctors blame managers and politicians, while politicians and managers point fingers at doctors. We absolutely have to move on and focus on doing what is best for patients, and what will achieve the best clinical outcomes. We have to build trust among all who are involved in healthcare and work out how we can have, and how we can afford, excellent care seven days a week, day and night. We have to support the healthcare professionals—consultants, nurses, managers and everyone else who is going to make that happen.

[Dr Huq]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Helen Whately]

I was just finishing.

[Dr Huq]

I just wanted to ask where the hon. Lady would place management consultants in that. The NHS in north-west London has spent, I think, £13 million this year alone on Saatchi and Saatchi, and various other groups. I just wondered where she would place that in that trajectory. Hopefully, it will be something we can all agree on.

A&E Services

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Wednesday 24th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

First, I place on record my condolences to the friends and family of the two people who tragically lost their life at Ealing Broadway station yesterday. I am sure that all Members of the House will join me in that.

Who was it who said,

“I think of the emergency nurse practitioner in Surrey, still in his overalls, telling me that closing A&E means an hour long drive to hospital for some people, and potentially lives lost”?

Does anyone know? It was the right hon. Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) in 2007. In my constituency, that possibility is becoming a reality. Four of our A&E units have either been closed or are closing. Charing Cross hospital has numerous specialisms, but 55% of the site has been earmarked for luxury housing—you couldn’t make it up. Both Hammersmith and Central Middlesex hospitals’ A&Es have already shut their doors, although Central Middlesex’s was a brand-new, well-rated facility. People are being diverted to Northwick Park, over 7 miles away from those two, which the Government’s own Care Quality Commission has rated as a failing hospital.

The Government claim that these units have been saved, but their replacement—urgent care centres—cannot be used for emergencies, are staffed by general practitioners rather than consultants, and do not take ambulances. In short, they are not A&Es. Ealing hospital—my hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) has gone now—loses its maternity services this month. The last projected birth is today, 24 June. People see that as a precursor of things to come, given what is happening to A&E.

Ealing hospital is where I lost my dad in September, so it is a place I know well. I remember the building going up in 1979. My dad was nearly 80 and had been ill for a long time, but we hear of cases such as that of the two-year-old in north London who was taken to what people thought was an A&E, but it had closed down, and he died. These cases are dismissed as anomalies, but they will become more and more frequent, if not the norm.

In my constituency, Mrs Khorsandi lives in the next road to Central Middlesex hospital. In November, after its closure, she had a seizure and was taken to Northwick Park. Her daughter Shappi Khorsandi told me that the hospital discharged her, even though she was not well enough. It was clear that there was no room for her. Her daughter said, “As I don’t drive, she came home in a taxi. She has no recollection of that.” The mother had another fit at her daughter’s house, hit her head on the sink, was taken to hospital again, and had a third seizure in front of the doctors. The daughter told me that they were amazing. Out of nowhere, five people appeared, and they were excellent; however, they had no time to breathe, let alone answer questions. NHS staff are doing the best they can, but they are operating in incredibly uphill circumstances.

[Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that while her urban constituency contrasts dramatically with my rural constituency, Government Front-Benchers should recognise the challenging geographical differences between our constituencies? The reason why the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust may run a £26.3 million deficit is our challenging rural area.

[Dr Huq]

Yes. My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. Another constituent of mine, Mr Anand, lives near Hammersmith hospital and its now closed A&E. He wrote to me describing what he called “near third-world conditions”, and a queue of 10 ambulances. NHS North West London has had the worst waiting times in the country. We have witnessed cutting corners in a process that adds up to its fragmentation and selling off.

The Tory promise, “No top-down reorganisation of the NHS”, did not come to pass for my constituents. As my hon. Friend the Member for Hammersmith (Andy Slaughter) described, NHS North West London has spent £33 million in two years on consultants. It spent £13.2 million this year alone, including on Saatchi and Saatchi and McKinsey, through its programme “Shaping a healthier future”, which the locals see as trying to justify the closure of hospitals. Do not get me started on the famously airbrushed poster from 2010 that proclaimed, “I’ll cut the deficit, not the NHS”. In west London, that does not ring true. Ealing used to be known for comedy, but what has happened to our NHS locally has gone beyond a joke.