NHS Care of Older People

Andrea Leadsom Excerpts

Thursday 27th October 2011 Westminster Hall

[Margot James]

I thank my hon. Friend for his observation, and I certainly agreed with the first point he made. I shall conclude in a minute as I am aware that many Members wish to speak.

The CQC should be resourced to ensure that its inspections include weekend visits. All the observations it makes in its recently published report were based on visits it paid during the week—for cost reasons, I imagine—but I was delighted to hear the Secretary of State announce yesterday that there will be more inspections. I hope, however, that the Minister will discuss with the CQC the possibility of visits being paid at weekends, when—I hear—care can sometimes deteriorate rapidly.

Some complaints are very serious, and I am not commenting on serious medical negligence, but with many complaints the system comes over as a sledgehammer to crack a nut. A patient or family member should be able to make an informal, non-legalistic and reasonable complaint and receive a sensitive hearing from a senior member of staff, rather than be instantly given a form that starts a three-week process of churning and often ends in Members’ surgeries. I ask the Minister to discuss with the Justice Department how we enable that but avoid opening the hospital to legal challenge, which is one of the motivators to the heavy-handed system we have at present.

We must be able to distinguish between the training needs of nurses and health care assistants.

[Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire) (Con)]

It seems that the nursing profession lacks some accountability. What does my hon. Friend think about the idea of bringing back matrons, who are visible on the ward and who manage nurses?

[Margot James]

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention, and I am attracted to that good idea. Somebody must be in charge of the ward—a nurse manager or a matron. Although that happens in the best wards, it is not universal.

We must look at the training of health care assistants, who increasingly perform sensitive, caring roles; the system cannot be left as informal as it is at present. There must be minimum standards and training. We know that there is pressure to register health care assistants. I am not sure that that is necessary, but training and minimum standards certainly are.

I challenge where Project 2000 has got us. Nurse training could remain at degree level but follow a more apprenticeship-based model. I ask the Minister to meet the Nursing and Midwifery Council to discuss how the nursing degree can learn from the apprenticeship model so that far more time is spent on the ward, alongside the academic study that has brought such benefits.

There is much more to be said, and I look forward to hearing from other hon. Members and learning from their contributions. I thank the many organisations that have been in touch with me and helped with my research since I secured the debate last week.