General Practitioners

Baroness Kennedy of Cradley Excerpts

Wednesday 17th October 2018 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Kennedy of Cradley]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress they are making in increasing the number of general practitioners in England.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Lord O'Shaughnessy) (Con)]

My Lords, the Government still intend to increase the number of doctors in general practice by 5,000, but we recognise that this will take longer than hoped. Last year we recruited the highest number of doctors into GP speciality training. There is also a broad offer for GPs to stay in the NHS, including a £10 million retention fund. Furthermore, since 2015, more than 3,000 other clinical staff are working in general practice.

[Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Lab)]

My Lords, properly resourced, general practice is key to keeping people well and relieving wider pressures on the NHS, yet the Government’s target of 5,000 more GPs by 2020—or whatever date they are now going to set—is in tatters. Workload pressures, oversubscribed patient lists and funding shortfalls are driving down GP numbers. Statistics published this month show that the number of GPs has fallen by 6% since 2015, with the June 2018 figure 1,400 below the target set. Is there a plan to adjust the recruitment target to account for the year-on-year loss? Can the Minister confirm the actual delivery date for the target?

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

The noble Baroness is correct, unfortunately: she is using accurate figures. We have not achieved the GPs numbers that we wanted but we still intend and need to recruit those other 5,000 GPs. It is worth pointing out that the funding for general practice will have increased by around £2.5 billion over the five years between 2015 and 2020, so I do not accept her point about funding shortfalls. The money is there, but we need to recruit more GPs and keep them in the service.

Dental Care

Baroness Kennedy of Cradley Excerpts

Thursday 1st February 2018 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Kennedy of Cradley]

To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to improve dental care in England.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Lord O'Shaughnessy) (Con)]

My Lords, the Government are committed to increasing access to dentistry and improving oral health outcomes, particularly for disadvantaged children. Across England, access to NHS dentistry is improving. We are also reforming the current dental contract to increase dentists’ focus on preventing, as well as treating, disease and oral ill health. Alongside this, NHS England’s Starting Well scheme will help children in high-need areas to access appropriate dental care.

[Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for that reply, but dental care in England is in crisis. Charities now provide emergency dental care. A quarter of all five year-olds have tooth decay. More than half of dentists plan to leave the NHS within five years and government spending on NHS dentistry has fallen by £170 million since 2010, meaning that patients pay more and more. The NHS dental contract that the Minister mentioned needs urgent reform—something that Labour recognised back in 2009. Why, despite running pilots since 2011, are the Government now saying that they need more time—a couple of years, perhaps—before wider rollout can even be considered? By what date, therefore, do the Government expect to deliver reform to these urgently needed NHS dental contracts?

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

I am afraid I do not recognise the picture that the noble Baroness paints. She is quite right that 25% of five year-olds are not decay-free; obviously, that is not good enough, but that figure has been increasing over the past 10 years. I should also point out that there are more dentists practising in NHS dentistry than ever.

The noble Baroness is quite right that a pilot has been going on in 75 dentists’ surgeries. An evaluation report will be produced by the deputy Chief Dental Officer in the next few months. That will set out the path toward the full reform of the dental contract.

Health: Obstetrics and Gynaecology

Baroness Kennedy of Cradley Excerpts

Monday 17th July 2017 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Kennedy of Cradley]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to address the issues raised by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists programme Each Baby Counts.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord O'Shaughnessy) (Con)]

My Lords, the Government and NHS England are supporting NHS maternity and neonatal services to address the Each Baby Counts recommendations on clinical care, human factors and reviewing cases with poor outcomes. Key initiatives include the Saving Babies’ Lives care bundle, an £8 million maternity safety training fund, which includes multidisciplinary training on team working and communication, a maternal and neonatal health safety collaborative programme, and a national standardised perinatal mortality review tool.

[Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord. This report by the royal college, which I believe is the first of its kind, creates a national measurement and a national picture, and shows that over 500 babies who died or suffered brain injuries during birth could have had different health outcomes if they had received different care—the human cost of a maternity service which is thousands of midwives short, underresourced and under increasing pressure and demand. How are the Government addressing the chronic shortage of midwives in the NHS, when new figures out last week, I believe, showed that more midwives are leaving the service and fewer midwives are joining it? Will he meet me and representatives of the royal college to discuss how training can match the implementation of the recommendations in the report and how best those recommendations can be continued in the work of midwives?

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

The noble Baroness is quite right to highlight the appalling tragedies involved. As she said, over 500 families could have had different outcomes if the care they had received had been different. That is worth dwelling on because every one of these incidents is a human tragedy. She highlights midwives. There are over 2,000 more midwives in the National Health Service and 6,500 in training. There has been a big increase in the number of births in recent years, so the number has had to rise. Of course, I would be delighted to meet her to discuss the training and to make sure that it is the very best available so as to avoid and, as the Secretary of State has said, to reduce the number of maternity incidences in future years.