Oral Answers to Questions

Alistair Burt Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Phillips (Sleaford and North Hykeham) (Con)]

4. What steps he is taking to reduce the burden of administration on GPs.

[The Minister for Community and Social Care (Alistair Burt)]

Before I respond, I should like to thank my two predecessors, who have covered most of this portfolio: my hon. Friend the Member for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich (Dr Poulter) and the right hon. Member for North Norfolk (Norman Lamb). They have given me a firm foundation on which to build, and I am grateful to them for their work in the Department. Reducing the burden of administration on GPs is important to all of us in the Government. We have already cut the quality and outcomes framework by more than a third to help reduce administration, but we are looking for ways to do more because we recognise that this is a significant problem.

[Stephen Phillips]

Let me take this opportunity to welcome my right hon. Friend back to the Front Bench. I know that he will want to spend a lot of time in GP surgeries, and we look forward to welcoming him to Lincolnshire in due course.

I want to ask him about the use of information technology and computers during consultations with GPs. I am told by a GP in my constituency that so much time is spent collecting data and inputting them into the computer that there is a loss of focus on the patient, with a possible detriment to patient care. Will my right hon. Friend undertake to look into that and to come to the House in due course to say what can be done to ensure that, during every GP consultation, the focus is always on the patient and not on the computer?

[Alistair Burt]

Notwithstanding the importance of recording information collected during a consultation, my hon. and learned Friend’s constituent is absolutely right that it should not get in the way of the relationship between doctor and patient. We have already removed some of the administrative burdens by cutting a third of the quality and outcomes framework indicators that need to be recorded, but plainly more needs to be done. He is right to say that I am looking forward to seeing quite a lot of GP surgeries in the forthcoming months.

[Kevin Barron (Rother Valley) (Lab)]

I welcome the Minister to the Dispatch Box. Does he think that the community pharmacy could help in great ways with the proper integrated care of patients so that the burden on GP surgeries is shared with other health professionals?

[Alistair Burt]

Yes, the whole concept of out-of-hospital care involves an expansion of what is considered to be direct primary care, and it also involves other support services. I am aware of projects in which pharmacies are already connected directly to GP surgeries. We will be expanding some of the pilot work that has already been done. If my Twitter account is anything to go by, pharmacies are very keen to promote themselves and say what they can do for patients, and we will certainly be responding.

[Mark Spencer (Sherwood) (Con)]

Will the Minister pass on my thanks to the Secretary of State for visiting a GP surgery in my constituency in April? Will the Minister assure the House that during his tenure he will continue to visit GPs and to spread examples of good practice to other GPs who may have room for improvement?

[Alistair Burt]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question, and the Secretary of State will have picked up his thanks for the visit. Seeing GPs is really important. I will let the House into something that I am likely to say again, which is that my dad is a GP. I pay tribute to him, as he has just passed his 93rd birthday. I thank him and all other GPs for their devotion to practice and to looking after people so well. They are a vital part of the service. I will be keen and rather soft on GPs. I want to see them enjoy their profession as much as my father has enjoyed his.

[Karin Smyth (Bristol South) (Lab)]

What is the Minister’s plan to make GP premises fit for the 21st century?

[Alistair Burt]

I welcome the hon. Lady to her place. Briefly, there is a £1 billion fund to improve, over the next five years, GP surgeries and premises and access to GP practices. It is an important part of the process of improving access to GPs, which is good not only for patients but for GPs, who can feel fully engaged in their work without being overburdened. This support should certainly help.

[Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) (Con)]

5. What steps he plans to take to improve dementia diagnosis and care.

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[Iain Stewart (Milton Keynes South) (Con)]

9. What proportion of their funding hospices in England receive from the NHS.

[The Minister for Community and Social Care (Alistair Burt)]

Adult voluntary sector hospices in England receive, on average, about a third of their running costs from the NHS. Although this amount varies for individual hospices and it is a locally commissioned service, the level of funding has remained broadly stable.

[Iain Stewart]

I delighted that my right hon. Friend is back on the Front Bench. He will know that hospices up and down the country, such as Willen hospice in Milton Keynes, do a marvellous job in caring for terminally ill patients and their families, yet they have an annual struggle to raise money from local communities to support their work. Will he assure me that he will do all he can to maximise the direct funding that hospices receive from the NHS?

[Alistair Burt]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising this subject. He is absolutely right: Willen hospice in his constituency, next door to mine, has an excellent reputation, as does St John’s hospice in Moggerhanger in my constituency. We are all indebted to hospices for the invaluable work they do. I am sure that he and the House will be interested to hear that, from April, there will be pilot projects working on a new funding formula for palliative care, with the aim of providing a fair and transparent process and improvements. I expect that there will be a report to the House in due course.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

Does the Minister agree that there is a deeper ongoing problem in the financing of hospices? Kirkwood hospice in my constituency faces it all the time. Is it not about time we tackled long term the roots of the problem of funding hospices?

[Alistair Burt]

That is probably tied into the whole issue of end-of-life care. A review of that is going on, as the hon. Gentleman may be aware. End-of-life care is important. Choices for people about where they wish to end their days is very important, and the Choice review which reported recently, whose recommendations the Government are considering, will make further progress. Hospice funding is part of that, but we expect local commissioners to take notice of what hospices can provide for those in their area.

[Suella Fernandes (Fareham) (Con)]

10. What steps he plans to take to improve the treatment of diabetes.

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[Derek Thomas (St Ives) (Con)]

T2. Bringing health and social care together in meaningful integration is a priority for me and my constituents in St Ives. What can the Secretary of State do to help achieve this for the good people of west Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly? Will he accept an invitation to come to west Cornwall to discuss this challenge and see some of the good work that is already being done?

[The Minister for Community and Social Care (Alistair Burt)]

May I welcome my hon. Friend to his place? Among the many good reasons to go to Cornwall over the next few months will be to visit the Cornwall better care fund, which is part of the Government’s £5.3 billion better care fund, and get the opportunity to see the work of the Cornwall pioneer. Integration of social care and healthcare is extremely important, and it will be great to see it in Cornwall.

[Heidi Alexander (Lewisham East) (Lab)]

T3. For the first time in recent history, many of London’s more prestigious teaching hospitals—King’s College, University College London, Guys and St Thomas’s, and the Royal Free—are all forecasting deficit budgets. Apart from crossing his fingers and hoping the economy picks up to fund investment, what exactly is the Secretary of State going to do to tackle this problem?

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[Tulip Siddiq (Hampstead and Kilburn) (Lab)]

The planned closure of a GP surgery in my constituency means that more than 1,000 patients will have to go elsewhere to seek basic primary care needs. Local doctors are particularly concerned about the impact this will have on the A&E department at the Royal Free hospital. Will the Minister agree to meet me and local doctors to address those concerns and to ensure that the future of GP surgeries in my constituency is protected?

[Alistair Burt]

I welcome the hon. Lady to her place. As has already been covered, the closure of GP surgeries is an issue. They happen from time to time. As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State said, there will be an opportunity to meet inner-London MPs to discuss this matter.

[Mr John Baron (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)]

The all-party group on cancer has long campaigned on the importance of holding clinical commissioning groups accountable for their one-year cancer survival rates as a means of promoting earlier diagnosis. That will be part of the delivery dashboard from April onwards. What steps will the Government take to ensure that underperforming CCGs take corrective action?

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[Pauline Latham (Mid Derbyshire) (Con)]

May I invite the new Minister with responsibility for GPs to meet me and a couple of excellent GP surgeries that want to expand their services for the local community but are being prevented by the local clinical commissioning group?

[Alistair Burt]

Of course I welcome my hon. Friend’s invitation. The innovative work being done by a number of GP practices around the country to expand services is welcomed by all; there is an opportunity to take good practice from one GP practice to another. In addition to my visit to Cornwall, I am clearly on the way to Derbyshire.

[Jack Dromey (Birmingham, Erdington) (Lab)]

With the accident and emergency crisis, over which the Secretary of State has presided, more and more police officers are queuing outside fewer A&E departments in ever-lengthening queues. Last year, there were 1,000 incidents in the Metropolitan police alone. In Liverpool, Patrick McIntosh died after waiting for an ambulance for an hour. Does the Secretary of State accept that after 17,000 police officers have been cut by his Government, this is the worst possible time to ask the police service to do the job of the ambulance service, and that he is guilty of wasting police time?