Palliative Care
Debate between Caroline Nokes and Peter Prinsley(4 days, 20 hours ago)
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Peter Prinsley (Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket) (Lab)
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for York Central (Rachael Maskell) for this important debate. I pay tribute to her political expertise in this area and for everything she has done.
Dame Cicely Saunders—much quoted in this debate—was the founder of the hospice movement in this country. She understood that medicine is not only about curing illnesses; it is about dignity and ensuring that people are supported compassionately at the most vulnerable moment of their lives. It was her work that transformed how we think about care at the end of life, and today hospices all over the country continue that legacy. In my own work as an ear, nose and throat surgeon dealing with patients with advanced cancers in the head and neck, I am well aware of the importance of hospices.
I also pay tribute to Dr Eric Wilkes, who was a brilliant general practitioner and founder of the hospice movement in Sheffield. He was one of my teachers and one of the first people to understand the importance of integrating end-of-life care into community and hospital settings at St Luke’s hospice. The term “palliative care” was invented only in 1990—some 20 years or so after I first met Dr Wilkes—and the Sheffield model has been completely crucial to this development.
I would like to talk about palliative care in my constituency of Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket, and in particular the remarkable work of St Nicholas hospice, its wonderful chief executive Linda McEnhill and all her staff. The hospice provides essential support for those approaching end of life and for their families and loved ones. What makes that hospice a little unusual is that it sits right on the campus of West Suffolk hospital, an arrangement that facilitates help for the patients in the hospice from all the services within the hospital. If, for example, a patient falls and fractures a leg, or needs an ear surgeon, support is available rapidly and nearby. Most hospices simply do not have access to that level of clinical support, and that is a real advantage for the Bury St Edmunds hospice.
St Nicholas hospice also illustrates a wider challenge facing palliative care across the country. As we know, demand for hospice services is increasing. St Nicholas lately increased its capacity by about 33% to meet the needs of patients and families in the local community. To expand, more staff need to be recruited, so we must do something to increase training capacity across the hospice service, particularly because we must ensure that we have a seven-day service. If we need to increase the service from a five-day service to a seven-day service, we need two sevenths more people.
Palliative care is a crucial part of a healthcare system. The problem, as we have heard on many occasions, is that hospices rely on charity and legacies. That is obviously admirable, but it raises an important question—one that I think was first asked by Baroness Finlay in the other place. We do not expect a maternity service to require charitable funding. If we needed a new maternity service, we would expect the NHS to put it up. Yet for some reason, if we need a hospice, we expect a charity to raise the funds for it and to run it. Being born and coming to the end of life are just inevitable parts of life, so I think we need a paradigm shift—a philosophical change—in the way we think about palliative care, which must be regarded as a core part of our national health service. If we genuinely believe that dignity at the end of life matters, let us make palliative care core.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)
That brings us to the Front-Bench contributions. I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.
Road Safety
Debate between Caroline Nokes and Peter Prinsley(1 year, 2 months ago)
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Peter Prinsley (Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket) (Lab)
A constituent of mine lost her son, Alan, in a dreadful accident on the A14 in September 2023. He died in a collision with a lorry that was stationary on a live lane. The lorry driver was disqualified from driving, and had no MOT on his trailer and no insurance. Despite the driver committing road safety offences, the Crown Prosecution Service determined that the driver did not cause the death under current legislation, and he was only charged with disqualified driving. Will the Minister commit to examining the Road Traffic Act 1988 with a view to introducing an offence focused on presence, rather than causing? I would suggest this wording: “A person being disqualified from driving—”
Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)
Order. I am just going to make the point to Members that interventions are getting very long. We have some hours to conclude this debate, so if Members wish to make a full contribution, they will be able to do so, rather than simply making an intervention.