Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ben Gummer and Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick

Tuesday 10th May 2016 Commons Chamber

[Ms Margaret Ritchie (South Down) (SDLP)]

Considering the importance and the central role of nurses in the medical profession and in helping people when they are ill, how long does the Minister expect it will take on average for a nurse working in the NHS to pay back the total debt that would be accrued under the Government’s proposed replacement for the bursary scheme?

[Ben Gummer]

It depends of course on the career progression of that particular nurse, but the repayment terms will be precisely those for students of other degrees. Newly qualified nurses will not pay any more than they do currently, and the exact rates at which they will pay back—9% above £21,000—are outlined carefully in the consultation document. I recommend that the hon. Lady looks at it and sees the benefits that will come from the reform that, were it to be adopted in Scotland, would provide an enormous benefit to the service north of the border.

Contaminated Blood

Debate between Ben Gummer and Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick

Monday 20th July 2015 Commons Chamber

[Ben Gummer]

I too commend my right hon. Friend the Minister for Community and Social Care, who has done extraordinary work on this subject in the past and brings that experience and expertise to the Department.

I cannot give my hon. Friend an immediate answer on the company he mentions, but I will make sure we write to him with full details.

[Ms Margaret Ritchie (South Down) (SDLP)]

A constituent of mine, Brian Carberry, is a haemophiliac who was infected with contaminated blood products in the 1970s. He has now got hepatitis C. The one thing he wants to hear today is when there will be a full and final settlement and when the drugs will be made available, because there is little point after people get cirrhosis.

[Ben Gummer]

The hon. Lady should know that the two issues are separate. The drugs that she mentions are part of an accelerated access review, which my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Life Sciences launched recently. It will be available to all sufferers of hepatitis C, however they contracted the disease. We hope to move to that as quickly as possible, and I know that NHS England has it in hand.

A full and final settlement is exactly where we are trying to get to. The hon. Lady will be aware that this is an enormously complex area, and we want to ensure that all the concerns of sufferers and victims are taken into account in the consultation that we are going to lead, so that we can come to a final settlement that is equitable to all.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ben Gummer and Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick

Tuesday 2nd June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Ms Margaret Ritchie (South Down) (SDLP)]

6. What recent discussions his Department has had with the Royal College of Emergency Medicine on the recruitment of additional middle-grade doctors for NHS hospitals.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Ben Gummer)]

The Secretary of State meets the Royal College of Emergency Medicine on a regular basis. The number of middle-grade emergency medicine doctors has increased by 24% since May 2010. Health Education England is working with the RCEM further to strengthen the workforce to ensure that patients receive high quality care.

[Ms Ritchie]

I thank the Minister for his response, but I disagree with him. There is a shortage of middle-grade accident and emergency doctors. When will the next recruitment of such doctors take place in the Indian subcontinent and elsewhere and have all the Home Office regulations and impediments been resolved to allow the recruitment to take place?