Caroline Johnson
Main Page: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)Department Debates - View all Caroline Johnson's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
(8 months, 1 week ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Victoria Atkins
As I have said, we hope to expand it to Bristol later in the year, and there will be a further three or four sites across England. However—this is a really important part of the report—this is not just about specialist services but about giving clinicians the necessary confidence to look after children and young people who may well be presenting at their clinics or surgeries with this condition as one of a number of conditions. We want to give them back that confidence, and the comfort of knowing that they need not just go down the narrow pathway of specialist services. Of course that will be appropriate for many, but we want to treat the whole child rather than treating just this particular condition, as has happened in the past.
Dr Caroline Johnson (Sleaford and North Hykeham) (Con)
I must first declare my interest as a practising NHS consultant paediatrician whose practice sometimes involves caring for children with the condition we have been describing.
The Cass Review makes for sobering reading. This is an example of ideology being allowed to trump evidence and safeguarding. Let me give the Secretary of State a specific example. Individuals have thwarted the attempts of those working on the report to conduct research that would give them a better understanding of the outcomes for some children. I am pleased to hear that those people are now co-operating, but we should note the contents of a letter from John Stewart, the national director of specialised commissioning, which is appended to the report. He says that although NHS England wrote to the chief executives and medical directors of all NHS trusts, the research data was not released. One of the duties of doctors that are specified by the General Medical Council is to
“Engage with colleagues to maintain and improve the safety and quality of…care.”
May I ask the Secretary of State who exactly blocked that data, what investigations will be carried out to find out which individuals were responsible, and how they will individually be held accountable for their actions? How was it possible for them to do this in the first place, and what is she doing to ensure that data cannot be blocked in the same way in the future?