NHS Services (Access)

Chloe Smith Excerpts

Wednesday 15th October 2014 Commons Chamber

[Chloe Smith (Norwich North) (Con)]

I want to put on the record my view, which is shared by many in this House, that the NHS is an extraordinary, valuable, historic British institution. I pay tribute to its staff, who work particularly hard in the face of pressures. I also pay tribute to its many patients, who include my constituents and those of everybody else in this House. My substantive comments fall into two halves: those on the national pressures on the management of the NHS and those on the local issues that I wish to raise.

It is important to acknowledge that the NHS, however valuable, precious and emotive a subject it is, does not spring from nowhere. It springs from people’s money, which we collect in taxes to spend on their behalf. One of the most important decisions that the Government have taken was the decision at the beginning of the Parliament to ring-fence NHS spending. That has enabled me to communicate to my constituents the importance that we place on the NHS. I want that point to ring out from my contribution.

The other crucial thing that the Government have done is put the economy on a more secure footing at the same time. It is a strong economy that creates the means to have plans for any public services. I think that is a truth that we all acknowledge. By the way, I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Morecambe and Lunesdale (David Morris) for his very honourable speech in both tone and content about the honesty with which we should aspire to treat the NHS.

Of course, volumes are increasing in the NHS. The Secretary of State was honest in his opening speech in saying that there are pressures. Again, I applaud the staff on dealing with those pressures. Let me give a few examples of the increasing volumes in the NHS. Some 850,000 more operations are being delivered each year than in 2010; there are now 6.4 million more out-patient cases and 1.1 million more in-patient admissions; and more than 77,000 more people each year are being diagnosed with, and treated for, dementia. No wonder the NHS is under pressure when we see the demographic changes behind those figures, and the changes in demand. I applaud NHS staff for what they do, and note that the other key number this Government have delivered on is by having more than 13,500 more clinical staff, including more than 6,500 more doctors and 3,700 more nurses. That is something to praise.

My constituents know the value of a plan and the need to deal with pressures, and they know what they want out of a future NHS that stays within the budget available to it. Let me draw on three local points. The first is Norfolk and Norwich university hospital, and I am glad the Minister has agreed to visit Norwich and meet patients and staff, and to look at a few of the challenges we face. It has already been widely reported in our local press—it will not be strange news to him, a fellow East Anglian—that the Norfolk and Norwich university hospital faces pressures and a lack of beds. The point has been well made today that systemic pressures feed into the number of beds available at any one time, and I would like the Minister to support the NHS in Norwich, as I do as its local MP, and find a way through those pressures. The hospital did that last winter, and I am confident it can do so again.

Secondly, I wish to mention GP access—this is a debate about NHS services and access—and urge Norwich GPs to apply to the second access fund from next April. I understand that there were no applications from Norwich or Norfolk to the first access fund, and it is incredibly important to take every opportunity available in the system within which GPs work to make services more accessible to their patients. I regularly discuss with constituents the challenges they face in making an appointment with their GP, and one of the solutions to that problem is the access fund from this Government, which I applaud.

Thirdly, the Norwich walk-in centre is currently located in a shopping mall in the city centre. The landlord of those premises has terminated that contract which has, of course, created a need to change location. I have sought to be at the heart of those negotiations on behalf of my constituents because we need a quick solution to the problem. It is not acceptable for the NHS to fail to plan for what is needed for Norwich’s primary and urgent care, and I would welcome the Minister’s support for Norwich staff and patients.

Finally, I endorse the Conservatives’ proposed plan to continue to ring-fence and increase spending on the NHS in real terms. That will allow us to move to a 21st-century NHS, where, yes, there will be pressure, but we should fix that through a stronger economy, not through more borrowing and more debt.