Junior Doctors: Industrial Action

Debate between Ben Gummer and Jeremy Lefroy

Thursday 24th March 2016 Commons Chamber

[Ben Gummer]

Sir David Dalton wrote to the BMA with precisely that list. The BMA refused to reply to him. He made the judgment that there was no point in continuing negotiations because it was refusing to discuss, in any event, the remaining matters. The Government have to move ahead. We have been on this for three and a half years and it is better that we move ahead.

[Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford) (Con)]

It was with great sadness that I learned of the BMA’s decision, which is not in the interests of patients and not in the interests of its members. I urge it to withdraw the threat of action. At the same time, will the Minister consider pausing the imposition of the contract, so there can be meaningful discussions? Those discussions have to take place in the context of a withdrawal of strike action.

[Ben Gummer]

I say gently to my hon. Friend that meaningful discussions require both good faith and a will to talk from both sides. That is consistently the case on the Government side, but it has not been consistently the case for the junior doctors committee of the BMA. The fact is that this contract is better for patients, the patients he seeks to represent. It is better for doctors, the same doctors he seeks to represent. Therefore, any further delay would be bad for patients and bad for doctors. That is why we must move ahead with the implementation of this contract.

NHS Trusts: Finances

Debate between Ben Gummer and Jeremy Lefroy

Monday 1st February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Ben Gummer]

I thank the hon. Lady, who asked some salient questions that I will address. She asked about the deficits across the system. It is true that there are some particularly challenged providers where the heaviest deficits fall, and they account for the larger part of the accumulated deficit, but it has been a very challenging time across the system, not only because of the demographic challenges facing the NHS that have got worse in every year of this and the previous Parliaments, but because of the effect of the excessive charges of agencies levied after the increase in staffing levels in the wake of Mid Staffs. To seek to address that area, which makes up the majority of the cost of the deficit, we have brought in the controls not only on agency spend—on locums—but on very high salaries and on consultancy spend. Taken together, that will make a significant difference to hospital trust finances.

The hon. Lady talked about public health. We accept that that is a very important part of achieving “Five Year Forward View”. That is why, over the course of this Parliament, we will invest £16 billion in public health across England, to ensure that we can achieve the kind of transformation that she wishes to see.

On GP recruitment, we intend to have 5,000 additional GPs by the end of this Parliament. I am glad to say that Health Education England is so far meeting its targets in filling those training places. I congratulate its chief executive, Professor Ian Cumming, on the work he has done in that regard.

The hon. Lady mentioned safe staffing and the NICE guidelines. During the process of NICE looking at safe staffing levels, it became clear, as the chief nurse identified, that we need to look more broadly at team staffing levels, not just at individual positions on wards. I think that the hon. Lady in particular will understand that. That is why the chief nurse and Dr Mike Durkin were commissioned together to look at and build on the advice of NICE. The safe staffing guidance, which will be released in the next few months, will show a broader and more complex understanding of staffing levels, which I know the hon. Lady will appreciate from her time on the wards.

I want to be clear that that staffing guidance will be signed off only once it has the approval of NICE, Professor Sir Mike Richards, the Care Quality Commission and Dr Mike Durkin, the head of safety and quality at NHS England. It will require their imprimatur.

[Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford) (Con)]

Our experience in Staffordshire is that it takes a medium to long-term plan to put things right. I pay tribute to the work of the staff at the Stafford County hospital and the Royal Stoke University hospital. Will the Minister assure me that any measures put in place, both in Staffordshire and across the country, will take a long-term view and not be driven by the need to cut costs within a financial year? A five-year plan, at the very least, is vital.

[Ben Gummer]

I could not agree more with my hon. Friend. It is important to take a long-term view. That is something that has bedevilled the NHS under all kinds of Administrations since its creation. For the first time, it has a five-year forward view, which means that it can begin to transform properly. The very best trusts in the country, such as that in Northumbria, previously run by Jim Mackey, have been able to do that. We want to bring that kind of excellence to hospitals across England, to ensure that they provide the sustainable staffing and quality levels that my hon. Friend is beginning to see at Mid Staffs after the long-term view taken by that hospital.

NHS Success Regime

Debate between Ben Gummer and Jeremy Lefroy

Thursday 4th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Ben Gummer]

I welcome my hon. Friend to her seat. I hope to make a whole series of visits soon and I will certainly talk to her about her hospital. She will have noted that the very first speech given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister was about the NHS. That reaffirms our commitment to the NHS. We were the only major party to commit to the NHS’s own plan for success over the next five years. That is why the Conservative party, to be frank, is the only one that can now be called the party of the NHS—[Interruption.]

[Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford) (Con)]

Will my hon. Friend confirm—[Interruption.]

[Jeremy Lefroy]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Will my hon. Friend confirm that at the heart of the success regime will be the provisions of the Health and Social Care (Safety and Quality) Act 2015 on integration and quality?

[Ben Gummer]

It must have been a great pleasure for my hon. Friend to have taken personal possession of the 2015 Act, which he helped steer through Parliament and piloted himself. It is a significant contribution to the cause of patient safety, which lies at the heart of the Government’s vision for the NHS.

Health Services in Staffordshire

Debate between Ben Gummer and Jeremy Lefroy

Wednesday 3rd June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Ben Gummer]

That is precisely the point that I made to the clinical commissioning groups when I spoke to them yesterday. I appreciate its importance, and not just on the basis of my own experience of representing an urban seat in a largely rural county.

My hon. Friend the Member for Stafford raised the issue of community beds. I need not advise him to exercise caution when it comes to believing everything that he reads in the press. However, there will be consultation about any changes that do take place, and I know that the Trust Development Authority and the commissioners will work together to ensure that they take place in a coherent fashion. Following my forthcoming meeting with chief executives and the TDA commissioners, I shall be happy to meet my hon. Friend and others to discuss changes in services if that will help to allay his concerns.

I have had detailed discussions with commissioners and NHS England about haematology and oncology services. Although there was a thought that they had been mentioned in original documents, I must say that I, too, found such mentions to be lacking. I am afraid problems of that kind are often encountered in the NHS, and that, in the past, consultations have not been as full or as pertinent as they should have been. I have asked the NHS again to consult specifically on those services, and also to engage in a full and proper consultation with patients and local groups. The same will apply to any other services that may come into question. I take my hon. Friend’s point about the need for a list of services, and I will pass it on to the CCGs, because I think it is important.

[Jeremy Lefroy]

I am most grateful to the Minister. It is very good news that there will be proper, extra consultation. As I said earlier, last week I visited a patient whom I know, and saw the excellent service that is currently being provided. It would be a real loss—more than that, a tragedy—were that service to be moved.

[Ben Gummer]

I stress that it is not for me to design the outcome of that consultation, because the whole point of what we are trying to do is to allow clinicians to make that decision, but they must consult properly. The same pertains for A&E. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has said that round-the-clock A&E services—I know he has made this point specifically to my hon. Friend—could return to Stafford if clinically safe to do so.

There is a need for quality services to be delivered immediately, however, and that is why I am concerned also about the situation at Stoke, where issues clearly need to be addressed in the immediate term. I wrote yesterday to the chief executive of the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust to arrange a meeting with him, local commissioners and the TDA to see what can be done immediately to help improve the emergency services at Stoke. I will of course speak to my hon. Friend following that meeting to bring him up to date on the conclusions of that discussion.

I also understand from the local NHS that the plans are resilient and will deliver better services, and that the work is being led by CCGs and local authority commissioners. They are redesigning the Staffordshire health and social care economy to ensure that patients enjoy the benefits of a safe, high-quality and financially sound service in the long term. That is their assurance to me. My job, and my hon. Friend’s, is to ensure that they fulfil their promise.

My hon. Friend brought up two separate issues more generally about agency nurses and consultants, and he will have seen the announcements made by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State yesterday and today about them. Both go to the heart of the matter my hon. Friend raised and demonstrate how we in this Government are prepared to move rapidly on the matters facing the NHS in the early days of this Parliament to ensure that we can deliver the excellence in healthcare that we know our constituents deserve and wish for.

The Minister for Community and Social Care, sitting beside me, has heard my hon. Friend’s comments on GP numbers. That is a challenge throughout England and in my constituency, and one that we hope to address in part by the 5,000 additional general practitioners whom we hope to recruit in the next five years. We will, however, bring forward a range of measures to ensure that general practice not only survives but flourishes in the years to come.

In conclusion, I thank once again my hon. Friend for bringing so carefully and diligently these important matters to the House’s attention. It has allowed us to explore some of the wider issues facing the national health service. I hope I have provided him with a few points of consolation and also reassurance on how the Government and local health commissioners will proceed with the matters that he has raised. If he has any further complaints, problems, wishes or desires about his local health service, he should come to me. That invitation extends to his colleagues in the county of Staffordshire as well.

Question put and agreed to.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ben Gummer and Jeremy Lefroy

Tuesday 2nd June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Ben Gummer]

I am sorry to hear that the hon. Gentleman has had that experience with NHS England. My hon. Friend the Minister for Life Sciences will want to speak to him about that; if it is the case, it is clearly unacceptable. As the hon. Gentleman will have heard from my previous answer, we are hoping to get quick decisions from NHS England on the interim commissioning guidance this month, and I am pushing hard for a decision from NICE as soon as possible this year, so that we can get interim guidance from it.

[Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford) (Con)]

3. What progress he has made on the implementation of the trust special administrators’ proposals following the dissolution of Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.