Heart Surgery (Leeds)

Andrew Jones Excerpts

Monday 15th April 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I think that NHS England has taken firm action: it has said that Professor Boyle will not take any further part in Safe and Sustainable. However, the hon. Gentleman will understand that as the review is currently subject to legal proceedings, I cannot comment any further. As the final decision will end up on my desk, I want to wait until the legal proceedings are complete and I have the report of the IRP to consider before I make that decision. I stress what I said to my hon. Friend the Member for Skipton and Ripon (Julian Smith): I would like it to conclude as quickly as possible. I know that is in the best interests of the people of Leeds.

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

I thank my right hon. Friend for his statement. NHS bosses are right to take seriously any concerns regarding patient safety, particularly in the light of the Mid Staffs crisis. There has been significant anger and confusion locally surrounding the chaos of the decision to close the unit. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the use of data, which are incomplete and described by the doctors that produced them as not fit for purpose, has led to precipitate and disproportionate actions that have worried patients and their families? We have, after all, a culture in which NHS managers are extremely familiar with handling data. They must have known that precipitate actions would come from looking at leaked partial data.

[Mr Hunt]

I entirely understand the concern of families, staff and doctors at the LGI. I simply say to my hon. Friend that the reason the data were not complete was because the hospital had failed to supply them. There is, therefore, an important warning to all hospitals to ensure that they supply accurate and timely information on their surgery survival rates.

Immigrants (NHS Treatment)

Andrew Jones Excerpts

Monday 25th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I agree, and nothing we have heard this afternoon will give the British public any comfort at all that the Opposition get this problem.

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

I welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement. Does he agree that the previous Government’s failure to tackle health tourism encouraged overseas visitors to abuse our NHS?

[Mr Hunt]

My hon. Friend is right. One reason why we are tackling this problem is not just the health agenda we have been discussing this afternoon, but that abuse of NHS services fuels broader immigration problems. That is one of the core reasons the previous Government failed to get a grip of net migration in particular.

Thalidomide Trust (Grant)

Andrew Jones Excerpts

Thursday 20th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Norman Lamb]

I appreciate the shadow Minister’s support for today’s announcement and she is right to say that people have waited far too long for an acknowledgment of the tragedy and for practical action. I acknowledge—as I did in my statement—the actions of the previous Government in initiating the pilot scheme, and the expression of regret made by the former Health Minister. One powerful thing about the scheme, as designed in the original pilot, is that it gives maximum power to the individual to determine and respond to their priorities and needs. That means that the money can be used in a host of different ways, as the hon. Lady described.

The hon. Lady raised a fair point about the devolved Administrations, and we must be equally concerned about thalidomiders in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The devolved Administrations did not feel able to commit to the 10-year period here and now, but they are fully committed to continuing that help and we will work closely with them to ensure that individuals in those Administrations are not left behind in any way.

The hon. Lady rightly mentioned the annual review, which is a question of proper accountability. The trust has done a brilliant job and I acknowledge its work. It is a completely responsible organisation that knows better than anyone how best to deploy the available resources, but as it acknowledges, it is right for it to be held to account for how public money is spent. There is no intention at all to question the purpose of the grant, and we want to give the certainty provided by the 10-year period. The fund will be index linked so that the value of money from the pilot scheme is maintained throughout that period. The review is simply to ensure that the scheme still makes sense and that we are using the available resource in the best possible way. I have every confidence that that will be the case and, as the hon. Lady requested, the needs of the thalidomiders who benefit from the money will be put at the heart of the reviews. We will not let those people down in the commitment that we are making today, and the funding will be maintained.

The hon. Lady rightly talked about deteriorating health because the body has been under such extraordinary strain. I spoke to thalidomiders earlier today. It is remarkable what their bodies have been able to do, often in the absence of limbs, but that puts an enormous strain them, and the wear and tear is now having its effect. We do not know what the prognosis is going forward. It is therefore right to take stock and see what their needs are after a 10-year period, but the commitment to those people must remain.

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

On 23 November, the first ever memorial to thalidomide victims was unveiled in Harrogate—a tree was planted and a plaque was unveiled to mark the 50th anniversary of the withdrawal of the drug. Thalidomide victims were present at the unveiling, which was carried out by Mr Guy Tweedy, a Harrogate resident and leading thalidomide campaigner.

The victims have waited a very long time for recognition, including financial recognition. I very much welcome the Minister’s comments, particularly those on the certainty required and the 10-year period, the challenges the victims face as they grow older and the sheer bravery that some have had to show during the course of their lives. I simply urge him to do all he can to support this special group.

[Norman Lamb]

I absolutely commit, on behalf of the Government, to do everything we can to support that group of people. As a society, we owe it to them to support them—they are often in very difficult circumstances. He is right to note the bravery that they have shown—not just the individuals, but their families too—in facing those circumstances.

Leeds Children’s Heart Surgery Unit

Andrew Jones Excerpts

Tuesday 30th October 2012 Westminster Hall

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Hollobone. I add my congratulations to my hon. Friend the Member for Pudsey (Stuart Andrew) on securing this debate and providing very effective team leadership that has crossed parties and brought us all together in support of this unit. Teams need leaders, and he has been a very effective one.

I am aware of the time, but I want to say a few words. I welcome the decision to have an independent review of the Safe and Sustainable process. I do not think it was wrong; it was right in principle, and none of us would want a repeat of the Bristol scandal, but the highly unexpected decision surprised and disappointed me. I did not expect the Leeds unit to be rejected in favour of Newcastle.

Colleagues have explored some of the arguments, and my hon. Friend the Member for Pudsey detailed the excellent clinical standards in Leeds, and compared them with those of Newcastle. This is not a Leeds versus Newcastle fight. We must focus on the process and recognise that both units have merit, and both have patients with heart-rending stories. We need to look at how we take this forward to deliver the best for patients. In Leeds, we have a unit that offers excellence. The question in the review is about location, and in my opinion, that is where the Leeds unit should have scored particularly highly. It is also where the independent review needs to focus.

Colleagues have mentioned the 5.5 million people in our area, and compared that number with the numbers in the north-east, but transport links are also an issue. Leeds has good transport links, not only from north to south, but from east to west, and the key point is that the review proposed that 100% of people in the Harrogate postcode should now travel north to Newcastle. It assumes that everybody will do that, but I want to share with colleagues that the feedback from those in the Harrogate and Knaresborough postcodes—I acknowledge that that area stretches beyond the Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency—is that that is nonsense. It is absolutely ridiculous; they simply will not do it. Bear in mind that the geography suggests that if anybody is going to do it, it should be those in the Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency, because we are already 15 to 20 miles north of Leeds, and therefore 15 to 20 miles nearer Newcastle.

The impact of population numbers, and travel times and patterns, simply needs far more weight in the review. I want to see the Leeds unit continue its excellent work, serving the people of Yorkshire and beyond, but as we take the review forward, correct weighting needs to be given to the important factors of travel time and population numbers. I hope that the Minister hears that point today, and that we do not start viewing this as a Leeds versus Newcastle contest. We should explore the opportunities for co-location and for a child-driven service.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Jones Excerpts

Tuesday 12th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

If I may say so, I think that the hon. Gentleman wrote his question before he had listened to my earlier answer. I am not proposing to reduce anybody’s pay. It is very simple. The NHS Pay Review Body will have the opportunity to make recommendations. I gave evidence to it on the basis that we should retain a national framework for pay through the “Agenda for Change” framework. However, it is transparently the case that the “Agenda for Change” framework has not thus far enabled NHS organisations, as they say themselves, to adopt a pay structure locally which better reflects the market in which they are employing.

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

8. What steps he is taking to improve the sustainability of NHS trusts.

[The Secretary of State for Health (Mr Andrew Lansley)]

We are working directly with all NHS trusts to enable them to achieve foundation trust status—for the great majority, by April 2014. Achieving foundation trust status means that NHS trusts have achieved high and sustainable levels of clinical quality and financial governance.

[Andrew Jones]

It is possible that North Yorkshire and York primary care trust will this year declare a deficit based on inherited debt from the merger of PCTs several years ago. I am concerned that the new clinical commissioning groups might have to pick up that deficit. Will my right hon. Friend look at all the options to ensure that clinical commissioning groups can be given the best possible start by having a clear balance sheet?

[Mr Lansley]

No primary care trust should plan for a deficit in 2012-13. Primary care trusts carrying legacy debt into 2012-13 must clear it in accordance with the 2012-13 NHS operating framework. As at the end of 2011-12, the primary care trust my hon. Friend mentions had legacy debt that has been managed and absorbed locally by the strategic health authority. As at the end of 2011-12, the PCT is not forecasting any legacy debt.

Mental Health Care

Andrew Jones Excerpts

Monday 21st November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Broxbourne (Mr Walker) for so generously allowing me time in the Adjournment debate that he has secured. He and I have spoken about mental health provision several times before, although not, I believe, in the Chamber. We have spoken particularly about our concern that mental health provision is a Cinderella service in the NHS.

I wish to highlight an issue of access in my constituency, which is the closure of the Hawthorn day unit in Harrogate. When that happened, I had a meeting with the users of the unit and their carers. It was emotional and powerful meeting—one of the most powerful that I have attended since starting as an MP. The users, who had no obligation to attend, spoke openly and powerfully of their experiences and the struggles they were facing, and they were brave to do so.

The unit that closed provided a safe haven for those who really needed somewhere secure, because those facing mental health issues still face some stigma and discrimination in this country. It also helped by providing users with support to ensure that they took their medication, and it offered them the compassion and respect that my hon. Friend talked about. I have been in regular contact with the users since the unit closed, and I am very pleased that this week, we have secured a meeting between the users and the chief executive of the NHS foundation trust, which will take place in my office in about three weeks. I am hopeful that we will see the unit reopened.

I close by congratulating my hon. Friend on all he does in highlighting mental health issues around the country, and on speaking so passionately and with such determination and eloquence this evening. I also say to the Minister that I read the publication “No health without mental health”, which was published in February, and was very encouraged by it. I thought it represented great progress.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Jones Excerpts

Tuesday 18th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

I welcome the hon. Gentleman to his position. The Government are rebuilding his hospital, so it is slightly ironic that he attacks us on that point.

The answer to the hon. Gentleman’s question is that the Government are pursuing no plan for hospital closures. We are doing precisely what I said we are doing: we are working with hospital trusts across the country to ensure that before they reconfigure their services, they must meet key tests on patient access and choice, local authority support, commissioners’ views, and the clinical safety and evidence base. We are working with many of the NHS trusts that the previous Government left in a serious position to ensure that they reach quality and financial sustainability.

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

8. When he expects to make a final decision on the safe and sustainable review into children’s heart surgery units in England.

[The Secretary of State for Health (Mr Andrew Lansley)]

This is a clinically led, independent review, within the NHS. The joint committee of primary care trusts, on behalf of NHS commissioners, will make decisions on the future pattern of children’s heart surgery services in England. The review is expected to report before the end of the year.

[Andrew Jones]

I am sure that the Secretary of State recognises the huge and spirited campaign by local people to retain the children’s heart unit at Leeds general infirmary. Will he confirm that option E, which would retain the Leeds unit, will receive full and equal consideration by the joint committee of primary care trusts?

[Mr Lansley]

The review will develop the recommendations to ensure that children’s heart surgery services deliver the very highest standard of care for children and their families. The joint committee of primary care trusts will consider all the relevant evidence before making a decision on the future configuration of children’s heart surgery services, and I hope that that will reassure my hon. Friend.

I should emphasise that no aspect of this review is driven by money: it is entirely about how to ensure sustainable high-quality surgery. The issue is in how many and which centres surgical teams should be based in order to maintain that high-quality care.

Children's Heart Surgery (Leeds)

Andrew Jones Excerpts

Thursday 3rd March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Burns]

My hon. Friend is pushing me and tempting me, but I shall be up front and straightforward: I am unaware of that situation, and it would be unwise of me to start commenting on something that I do not know the background to or—if the conversation was had or the statement made—the circumstances of it. I hope he will forgive me if I do not go down that path.

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

I thank the Minister for giving way, because I know that he wants to make progress.

As part of the process, may I ask that the support facilities for families will be considered, because, at a time when one is dealing with sick children, families are under very great pressure? There is a new facility at LGI, Eckersley house, which has been in existence for a while, but it has moved to a new location and opened only last year. It provides 22 rooms for families to stay in while visiting sick children, it is a key part of the broader provision of support that is necessary and I know that it will be a very welcome development for families.

[Mr Burns]

I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for mentioning that facility, which I have no doubt is not only welcome but extremely helpful to families, particularly at a very difficult time in their lives. Again, it would be inappropriate for a Minister, in a top-down way, to start decreeing what should or should not happen; I believe that decisions about such services and facilities must be taken locally. I am sure, however, that the relevant authorities will not only learn of my hon. Friend’s contribution, but no doubt benefit from his expertise in lobbying them to ensure that the service continues.

Health Care (North Yorkshire and York)

Andrew Jones Excerpts

Wednesday 1st December 2010 Westminster Hall

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for York Outer (Julian Sturdy) on securing this important debate, and I add my support to his recognition of the excellent work that the health care professionals do in our area. He has highlighted that our health grant in North Yorkshire is low, which impacts on the services that we receive.

When facing the challenge of low funding, the PCT has to look hard at its priorities, particularly with regard to mental health services. I am always concerned about mental health provision, because I think that for far too long in our country it has been a bit of a Cinderella service. In my constituency, the community mental service has closed the Hawthorn day unit, which was extremely popular with its service users and well respected across the community. It is claimed that the closure is temporary, but the reasons for its closure run on and on, and it seems endless.

While the excuses mount up, some of the most vulnerable people in my constituency—many of whom I have met—have seen their contact time with counsellors, or their time in respite care, decrease from three or four days a week to half an hour a fortnight. I am worried about the impact of the change on some of the most vulnerable members of the community. In some cases, those constituents have severe mental health problems and can periodically be a danger to themselves. I hope that our PCT will consider that and, even at this late stage, find a way to reopen the Hawthorn day unit at the earliest opportunity.