Human Fertilisation and Embryology

Brian H. Donohoe Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd February 2015 Commons Chamber

[Jane Ellison]

The clinical trials directive applies only to medicines. It does not apply to embryology, so it is not relevant in this case.

[Mr Brian H. Donohoe (Central Ayrshire) (Lab)]

rose—

[Dr William McCrea (South Antrim) (DUP)]

rose—

--- Later in debate ---

[Luciana Berger]

I shall be dealing with the expert panel reviews that have been conducted since the date to which my hon. Friend has referred.

It is right that we have had a chance to hear all the arguments and to give them full and proper consideration, but it is critical to the integrity of the decision that is eventually reached for the debate to be based on the facts. When debating matters such as this, we will naturally hear a number of contradictory assertions. I am sure that the Minister will reassure the House about any further issues that are raised during the debate.

[Mr Donohoe]

May I ask the shadow Minister a simple question? Is this a case of DNA being genetically modified?

[Luciana Berger]

I do not believe that that is what is being proposed, but I shall deal with my hon. Friend’s very specific point later in my speech.

National Health Service (Amended Duties and Powers) Bill

Brian H. Donohoe Excerpts

Friday 21st November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Sir Tony Baldry]

I would hope, with an organisation like the NHS, that it would not become a political football—that there would be considerable continuity. The fact that the person now in post worked with a Labour Government on NHS proposals is a strong point rather than a weak one.

[Mr Brian H. Donohoe (Central Ayrshire) (Lab)]

I am wondering whether the right hon. Gentleman supports or opposes the Bill, because he has been speaking for some time and has not made that clear.

[Sir Tony Baldry]

The point I am making, which I shall develop, is that the Bill is completely unnecessary. I also want to make the point that all Opposition Members seem to wish to deny that there has been any involvement of the NHS with the private sector. It is important to remind the House of the fact that it was the Labour party, and a Labour Government, who introduced the private sector into the NHS, and the 2012 legislation in no way significantly changed that relationship.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Anderson]

rose—

[Mr Donohoe]

rose—

[Mark Reckless]

I will continue for a bit, if I may.

Let me explain how I view the issue from a local perspective. As far as I can see, Darent Valley hospital, which is near my constituency, was privatised under Labour in one of the most disastrous private finance initiatives experienced by the NHS. Medway NHS Foundation Trust became a foundation trust on the basis of what was largely a box-ticking exercise, which focused on finances and appeared to ignore the fact that by that stage the hospital’s standardised mortality rate was some 10% above the norm: one in 10 more patients were dying that should have been expected.

[Mr Donohoe]

I know that the hon. Gentleman had a late night, but can he tell us what is his party’s view of the health service in Scotland?

--- Later in debate ---

[Mark Reckless]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his congratulations; that is very decent of him. I am not a fan of quasi-autonomous bodies, of great amounts of regulators or of overlapping layers of bureaucracy; they rarely work. Given the degree of complexity that has now been brought into the NHS, I think it is possible—although I am not certain—that the centralisation of power in a single Secretary of State who is at least accountable to the House might be better than the current diffusion and fragmentation of powers, which does not seem to be working effectively. My party would like to replace the alphabet soup of regulators and the overlapping layers of bureaucracy with a single, elected health board for each county area. That would give a degree of clarity to the oversight and management of the NHS.

[Mr Donohoe]

Why does the hon. Gentleman not think that health boards should be taken back into local authority control, where a democratic ticket is already involved, rather than creating a separate vote for stand-alone health boards?

[Mark Reckless]

There is an argument for doing that, and a judgment has to be made. It might be possible, depending on the different areas of the countries—particularly in the devolved Administrations—that the solution to that question might be different. My general view is that it is much better to have democratic accountability than not to have it, and in many areas I would prefer that to be local. My party wants to see health boards elected on a county basis.

My party also wants European competition law to be taken out of the NHS, and the Bill is exemplary in that regard. I strongly support that provision.

I have signed a pledge on TTIP, along with most other candidates in the by-election, except for the Conservative—[Interruption.] No, not the Liberal one—that was not a good one to sign—although I did vote against tuition fees, along with most Opposition Members. I would like to see the NHS excluded from TTIP. There are arguments as to whether it will be or not, but those arguments should be settled in the House as per this Bill, rather than being left to the unpredictability of future legal actions.

Health

Brian H. Donohoe Excerpts

Monday 9th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

This might not be something the Opposition agree with, but they should listen. I need to tell the House that we have put 10% of all acute trusts into special measures, and that in each and every one of them the warning signs were there under the last Government. The George Eliot hospital, for example, had one of the worst mortality rates in the country back in 2005. Tameside had to pay £9 million compensation for mistakes in just two years, and at the Queen’s hospital in Romford in 2006, a lady gave birth in a toilet, leading to the tragic death of her child.

[Mr Brian H. Donohoe (Central Ayrshire) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State will be aware of a problem that is affecting thousands of women. It relates to medical implant devices that a court in America has banned. What is he prepared to do to deal with the situation in this country that is affecting thousands of women, both north and south of the border?

[Mr Hunt]

The hon. Gentleman mentioned to me earlier that he was going to raise that point. I will look closely at the issue, as it sounds like an extremely important one.

I want to look at what has changed under this Government. One of the trusts that has been in special measures is the Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. When the right hon. Member for Leigh was in office, inspectors at the hospital found blood stains on floors and curtains, blood spattered on trays used to carry equipment, and badly soiled mattresses. When the Care Quality Commission published those findings, it was allegedly leant on to tone down its press release. This Government put Basildon into special measures, and it now has 183 more nursing staff. I asked one of those nurses what the difference was. She said:

“It’s very simple. When we raised a concern before, they weren’t interested. Now, they listen to us.”

It gives me great pleasure to inform the House that the chief inspector of hospitals has today recommended that Basildon should be the first trust to exit special measures, and that Monitor has ratified that decision. The hospital has received an overall rating of “good” and has been praised for its excellent leadership. The chief inspector found that the trust had made significant improvements in a number of areas, including maternity services, which were rated as “outstanding”—[Interruption.] The Opposition might not care about what is happening at a trust in special measures, but we on this side of the House do.

Care Bill [Lords]

Brian H. Donohoe Excerpts

Tuesday 11th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Andy Burnham]

I am not sure there is much I can add to that. Why are management consultants better placed—my right hon. Friend makes the point that they are not—to make sweeping changes to hospitals in our constituencies than experts and clinicians?

[Mr Brian H. Donohoe (Central Ayrshire) (Lab)]

It is always dangerous to wander into territory that is not necessarily our own, but what happens—or is likely to happen—here today, has an awful habit of happening up in Scotland tomorrow. As a consequence of the fact that the Scottish Government are perhaps the most centralist and draw in all their powers, what representations, if any, has my right hon. Friend made to his equivalent in the Scottish Parliament to find out exactly how they would go about the same business?

[Andy Burnham]

I speak to my counterpart in the Scottish Parliament on a regular basis, and we are clear that this proposal is not the way to take people with us or build support for change in the NHS. This is a way to alienate people and damage public confidence, and that is why it is so dangerous.

Southern Cross Care Homes

Brian H. Donohoe Excerpts

Tuesday 12th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Paul Burstow]

The hon. Lady is right. As we move forward and achieve a successful conclusion to this process, we must put in place the necessary measures to ensure that this cannot happen again. We must take a critical look at the regulatory environment in which this particular business model was allowed to grow—a business model that thrived during a boom, but that was predicated on the assumption that there would never again be a bust. There was a bust however, and that is why the company is in this mess.

[Mr Brian H. Donohoe (Central Ayrshire) (Lab)]

The great majority of these homes were given landlords, but the one in my constituency was owned by Southern Cross and the title deeds have been passed to the bank. I have no confidence in the banks doing anything else but selling such deeds for the maximum profit. Does the Minister agree?

[Paul Burstow]

I would reassure the hon. Gentleman on that point by repeating that we are engaged with not only the landlords, but the lenders too, about all their responsibilities on the fundamental issue of the welfare of the residents of these care homes. We continue to make that point. That is the legal obligation that local authorities have to honour, and we are working with all those parties to make sure that that is what happens.

Private Finance Initiative Hospitals

Brian H. Donohoe Excerpts

Wednesday 4th May 2011 Westminster Hall

[Mr Burns]

First, of course, the hon. Gentleman has seen the first draft document—it was leaked to him and I think that he held it up during his remarks this afternoon—so it is slightly stretching the point to say that local MPs have not seen it. I have no doubt that he has shown it to his hon. Friend the shadow Minister for Health, the hon. Member for Halton, and I would be rather surprised if the right hon. Member for Knowsley has not seen it too.

[Mr Brian H. Donohoe (Central Ayrshire) (Lab)]

I have not seen it.

[Mr Burns]

Of course the hon. Gentleman, who has just come into Westminster Hall, has not seen it. He is a Scottish MP, and it may have escaped his notice but the English Department of Health has no responsibility for the day-to-day running of the Scottish health service.

[Mr Donohoe]

Thank God.

[Mr Burns]

And there we are.