National Health Service (Mandate Requirements) Regulations 2017

Baroness Redfern Excerpts

Wednesday 6th September 2017 Lords Chamber

The Minister could reverse that tonight by giving us a little help and announcing that he will make absolutely sure that, whatever the other pressures, the time that people in this country who desperately need an operation have to wait for it will be maintained at an outer limit of 18 weeks. That is not ideal and it is not what I would have wanted during my time as Secretary of State, but in a civilised society it is the maximum time that people should wait to be relieved of the pain, the disturbance and, above all, the fear and insecurity that comes with prolonged waiting for a necessary operation.

[Baroness Redfern (Con)]

My Lords, I rise to speak on this regret Motion tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, who I am sure, like me, together with all users of the NHS, will acknowledge that the NHS has a unique place at the heart of our society and is by some distance the institution that makes us most proud to be British. However, it is regrettable that the NHS has become a bit of a political football year-in, year-out.

I would like to talk about the many positive areas in the NHS and about how people are working very hard to move towards these targets. Yes, pressures, including seasonal pressures, are all in the mix, yet despite these pressures the NHS approaches its 70th year delivering outstanding care, and it is important today to acknowledge and thank all staff who work in the health service, as well as encourage and support a healthy morale for our future workforce. As we all know, the NHS depends on a strong economy. A strong NHS can contribute to the growth of that strong economy, especially in health and life sciences, not just now but in the future.

We see plenty of pluses. We are getting healthier but we are using the NHS more, with life expectancy rising by five hours a day, as the noble Lord, Lord Reid, alluded to. The need for care in a modern NHS continues to grow apace. The number of people aged over 85 has increased by 40%, and the number of patients receiving elective treatment grew from around 14.2 million in 2012-13 to 15.7 million in 2016-17—an increase of 11%. That is a fantastic result. Calculations indicate that over the next 20 years we shall see the percentage of people over the age of 85 double. I note also that the total number of people on the elective waiting list in April 2012 was 2.5 million. By March 2017 this had increased to 3.7 million—an increase of 51% and another fantastic result. I note also that when Labour left office, including Members on the Benches opposite, more than 18,000 people were waiting more than 52 weeks to start treatment. Now, the figure is under 1,700.

Only last year, the CQC in-patient survey showed continuous improvement over the past five years, with 62% of respondents saying that they were satisfied with the running of the NHS. NHS funding is being increased and we will see over £0.5 trillion being injected from 2015 to 2020, but with more cash injection the NHS must show that it can spend that cash wisely and efficiently. Therefore, I look forward to a strong and sustainable NHS fit for purpose and fit for the future, where all parties can work together, so that we have a safe, patient-focused health service that is the best in the world.

[Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab)]

My Lords, the noble Baroness is absolutely right to sing the praises of the National Health Service, and she is quite right to point out that we are undertaking more operations than we have in the past. She is also right to say that, as we grow older, more of us will need the health service. That is a fact that we have to face and accept and about which we have to persuade people—who do not need much persuading—that something has to be done. My noble friend Lord Reid and I served in the Blair Cabinet and we spent hours trying to bring about the political will to make sure that waiting times, which caused so much grief and pain in the 1990s, were cut. So we are talking about political will.

There is an interesting public opinion poll produced by YouGov and published today on behalf of the Royal College of Nursing. It shows that 72% of the general public believe that the NHS lacks sufficient staff to enable them to do their job properly. When we talk about altering waiting times, it is worth remembering that healthcare is a labour-intensive industry in all its aspects. We all know that, and we all know that the NHS achieves what it does only through the dedication and commitment of the staff and the hours that they work, from the consultants through to the nurses, the healthcare assistants, the porters and everyone. We have to try to assist them because they are getting towards breaking point. The Royal College of Nursing has balloted its members and is talking about taking industrial action. Therefore, we look to the Government to have the political will to act.

I accept that there is no magic wand. This Government bear a lot of responsibility because they were the key partner in the coalition that cut the number of nurses in training after 2010. The onus is now on them, and they are beginning to increase the numbers, but they must do more. However, it obviously takes a long time to train consultants, doctors and GPs. There are shortages everywhere, including a shortage of 40,000 nurses. I do not know the figure, but there is a shortage of GPs running into the tens of thousands. There is a shortage of hospital consultants and shortages everywhere.

So what do we do? It is not easy, because more nurses are leaving than entering the profession. We cannot do anything about the training, as that will take a number of years, but we can do something about retaining people in post, by persuading GPs to carry on a bit longer and persuading nurses to stay in post as it is worth while doing what they do. That is what we should be doing. It would be a great help if the 1% cap on wages could be lifted, because that has meant that the average nurse is probably 12% worse off than they were a few years ago. That would be one way of making it easier to retain people.

Then there is the other point that was made by my noble friend who introduced the debate, whom I thank, about the number of nurses and doctors who have worked in the health service who are from the European Union. Can we offer them something to persuade them that we want them to stay in our country? For example, as the Minister knows, anyone from the European Union who has spent five years working in this country, which includes people in the health service, can apply for the right of permanent residency. But we cannot get the Government to say what that means. Does permanent residency mean that they can stay here, or will they be sent back to Europe? That increases the uncertainty and anxiety. I urge the Minister to go back to his colleagues and say, “All right, if we can’t or won’t make a commitment to the European Union citizens to stay in the health service, let us say that at least those who have gained permanent residency can stay”. That would help the issue.

I return to my basic point. This now requires political will. I do not doubt the Minister’s commitment. I know where the Minister stands and how much he believes in the health service. He has made that quite plain in a number of debates that we have taken part in. But we need political will and we are looking to the Minister to try to argue his corner and punch above his weight and give every support that he can to try to make health staff in the health service more satisfied so that they stay in their jobs and help us to reduce waiting times.