National Health Service (Amended Duties and Powers) Bill

Debate between Andy Slaughter and Dan Poulter

Friday 21st November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Dr Poulter]

I am happy to confirm and to put on the record the points that my hon. Friend has made. It is important that the NHS is not used as a political football, and that services are always designed and delivered in the right way for patients. There is often too much scaremongering in these debates. I reiterate that what she said about the local A and Es is absolutely correct.

[Mr Slaughter]

Will the Minister give way on that point?

[Dr Poulter]

I have just dealt with it, and I am going to make a little progress.

I want to deal with the contribution made by the hon. Member for Rochester and Strood (Mark Reckless). He failed to address the issues that I had raised earlier about the support that the hon. Member for Clacton (Douglas Carswell), his party colleague, gave to the Health and Social Bill—now the Health and Social Care Act. In fact, as the right hon. Member for Leigh (Andy Burnham) said, the hon. Member for Clacton thought that the reforms did not go far enough. Indeed, the leader of his party is on record as talking about the need, in effect, to privatise our NHS. I would like to reaffirm the commitment that that will absolutely never happen under this Government or any Conservative Government.

Another important point needs to be made. Earlier this week, the hon. Member for Rochester and Strood expressed frankly unacceptable and distasteful views on repatriation. We must of course bear in mind that 40% of staff in our NHS come from very diverse, multicultural backgrounds. We very much value the contribution that doctors, nurses and health care staff from all over the world make to our NHS. I do not want to see those people repatriated; I want to see them continuing to deliver high-quality care for patients in our NHS—something that UKIP clearly opposes.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Andy Slaughter and Dan Poulter

Tuesday 10th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Dr Poulter]

Yes, I would be delighted to meet my hon. Friend. It is important to see, where possible, collaboration between GP practices on back-office services and other savings that could be made—something the public sector needs to do more generally so that more money can be invested in patients. The Government are training more GPs; in future, we will see 50% of postgraduate medical training taking place in general practice, leading to a big increase in the number of GPs.

[Mr Andy Slaughter (Hammersmith) (Lab)]

Will the Minister look at the decision by clinical commissioning groups in north-west London to move funding away—contrary to what NHS England has proposed—from GP practices and primary care in deprived areas such as Hammersmith to areas that have much better health outcomes?

[Dr Poulter]

I do not believe that that is the case. In looking at the changes, we need to factor in the point that the minimum practice income guarantee, which was a historical payment and not based on patient need or patient demand, is being phased out in order to achieve a more equitable solution. As a result, we can see that the global sum payments to GPs have risen from £66.25 per patient in 2013-14 to £73.56 per patient in 2014-15. Clearly, the global sum payment to GPs per patient has increased, which is a good thing for patients and the equitability of services.