South West Water: Brixham Contamination
Debate between Steve Barclay and Lloyd Russell-Moyle(1 week, 6 days ago)
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Steve Barclay
My hon. Friend talks about the huge importance of the quality of drinking water. That is why we have the Drinking Water Inspectorate there, and it will be fully investigating, and it is why a precautionary approach was taken with Alston. As I have said, on the information that I have, the tests suggest it was upstream of any problem, but a precautionary approach was taken. That indicates how seriously we take these issues. It is important we get to the bottom of exactly what has happened and what has caused this incident, and the DWI is working actively to do that.
Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Brighton, Kemptown) (Lab/Co-op)
In 2022, the Drinking Water Inspectorate found South West Water guilty, saying that the company
“did not follow best practice”
to avoid and shorten events where customers report problems about the taste and quality of their drinking water. It was fined a quarter of a million pounds. It was found guilty the year after for a six-year period of illegal discharges of sewage. The CEO awarded themselves almost £2 million in bonuses and awarded £112 million in dividends. Is it not time that all bonuses, all dividends and all bill rises are suspended until our water companies sort themselves out? If they do not, they need special administration.
Urgent and Emergency Care
Debate between Steve Barclay and Lloyd Russell-Moyle(1 year, 9 months ago)
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Steve Barclay
On the hon. Gentleman’s second point, I will ensure that that particular letter to the Department is highlighted following this statement. On his first point, as I said in my statement, I agree that the greater risk is the unmet need if an ambulance does not arrive, rather than a patient who is in hospital. That is why Professor Stephen Powis and chief nurse Ruth May wrote to the system when there was pressure during the heatwave, flagging that as a specific issue. We have been working with trust leaders, including leading figures such as Anthony Marsh, on pre-cohorting and post-cohorting, capacity in emergency departments, and where risk sits in the system. I recognise the hon. Gentleman’s point.
Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Brighton, Kemptown) (Lab/Co-op)
This is about a lack of planning. I could say the same about the monkeypox response, because we still do not have the vaccines; they are now being watered down to half strength, because we have run out, they have not been delivered and we still have 100,000 to order. The ambulance situation is also about a lack of planning. My grandmother was admitted to the Royal Cornwall over the summer via A&E. The person before her waited 24 hours in an ambulance to be discharged. The person behind had been in a car crash, but the ambulance did not turn up for five hours and they had to make their own way to the hospital with a damaged lung. In Brighton, the Royal Sussex’s A&E has been given a very poor Care Quality Commission report. All of these cases are because of the lack of move on beds in social care. In Brighton, a senior care worker can receive less than £10 per hour to work. People get more working in shops on the high street. This needs to be addressed urgently. Is it not time for a national pay, and terms and conditions, for care workers? It would cost the Department nothing, but would stop the loss of many of our workforce.
Steve Barclay
Far from there being a lack of planning, the very essence of integration between social care and the NHS through the ICSs is that we recognise the importance of both aspects working much more closely together. That is why we are bringing forward initiatives such as the federated data platform.
Monkeypox is outside the scope of today’s statement, but I know the issue is of particular interest to the hon. Gentleman. He will know that, fortunately, we have not yet had any fatal cases in the UK and the rate of infection has been falling. We purchased the maximum number of vaccines that we could; I wrote to the relevant charities with the details. Although smaller doses are being delivered compared with the initial 50,000, we still have doses in the system. We expect a further 20,000 very shortly and a further 80,000 later this month. We have procured doses, we are getting them out and it is fortuitous that cases are falling, but we are obviously keeping the situation under close watch.