Junior Doctors Contract

Craig Whittaker Excerpts

Monday 30th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I am afraid that I do not agree with the hon. Lady’s characterisation of the situation as a “fiasco”. We are making really important changes that will save patients’ lives by eliminating the weekend effect that we have seen in the NHS for some time, which I think any responsible Government need to deal with. The way to improve morale in the NHS is by making it easier for doctors to give their patients the care they want to give, and at the moment that is very difficult in many places at the weekend. We want to put that right.

[Craig Whittaker (Calder Valley) (Con)]

We have heard about the 20,000 cancelled operations and the inconvenience caused to patients by the planned strikes, but I wonder whether my right hon. Friend could report to the House how serving the needs of patients features in the negotiations with junior doctors so that patients can get the same level of care seven days a week?

[Mr Hunt]

That is the reason we have had this whole dispute with the BMA, and it is disappointing that, rather than it negotiating with us on something that I think every doctor understands we need to address, it has come to the eleventh hour like this. In the end, my hon. Friend is absolutely right that doing the right thing for patients is also doing the right thing for doctors, because doctors go into medicine because they want to look after patients.

Junior Doctors Contract

Craig Whittaker Excerpts

Friday 20th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Alistair Burt]

I think it is of primary importance for the Secretary of State to work on contingency plans this morning to make sure that we are all safe should there be a strike. That is the task he has been given by the action that has been taken. At the same time, he has repeated that he is open to negotiations to deal with the dispute. Rather than expressing anger, the hon. Gentleman should be expressing concern that a contract that makes an unsafe situation for doctors safer is not being backed more readily by those on the Opposition Front Bench, who should also be rejecting strike action.

[Craig Whittaker (Calder Valley) (Con)]

One group that has not been mentioned by the shadow Secretary of State is, of course, the patients. They receive a poor level of service at weekends, sometimes, sadly, with dire consequences. Will the Minister and the Secretary of State pledge to stand resolute in their commitment to improve weekend care, which, as Sir Bruce Keogh has said, is both a moral and clinical cause?

Health Services (Halifax)

Craig Whittaker Excerpts

Thursday 20th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Linda Riordan (Halifax) (Lab/Co-op)]

I am delighted to have secured this debate on health services in Halifax, and I will focus particularly on the proposal to close the accident and emergency department, which is the most important issue that has faced Halifax since the banking crisis of 2008. The axe hanging over Calderdale Royal hospital has been handled in the most underhand way. People have been left in the dark over the future of the services they need and value the most. That is simply not acceptable.

I hope that today’s debate will shed some light on what is taking place. I also place on record the excellent health care staff that we have in Halifax, and the nurses, doctors, consultants, clinicians and everyone in the NHS wider health family who do a superb job in difficult circumstances. That is why, as Healthwatch Calderdale has found, although it is sometimes difficult for patients to get an appointment with their GP, the clinical treatment administered by GPs in the district is good and makes a positive contribution to residents’ health in the area. It is, however, the future of A and E that has caused most worry and concern in the town, and the Government, the clinical commissioning group, and the trust’s approach to the whole debate has been lacking in openness and transparency.

I will focus on three key areas in my speech: the funding of health services in Halifax; the so-called consultation and engagement process; and the future of A and E. Those factors tie the whole debate together and I hope that today, the Government can at least provide me and my constituents with some answers in those important areas.

Let me set out briefly the background to the case. Calderdale Royal hospital opened in 2000 thanks to investment from the then Labour Government. It was a new, modern hospital to serve communities across Halifax and Calderdale. There were concerns at the time that the new hospital might not have enough capacity—it did, although that is rather ironic when we consider the arguments and debates that are used to justify the closure of A and E in Halifax. Any problems back then have been overcome, and the hospital has proved a real success story.

The hospital serves communities across Calderdale, and right across to the Lancashire border to the west. It is estimated to have a catchment area of nearly 200,000 people—some as many as 30 miles away. We are talking not about a small, rural hospital, but a major health centre in the heart of an urban area. Why does that matter? It matters simply because it underlines the importance of the hospital services, including A and E, to thousands and thousands of my constituents. The hospital is at the heart of local health services and needs. That is a reason to invest in health services in Halifax, not to cut them; to keep wards open, not close them; to protect A and E, not put it on a life support machine, its future clouded in doubt, with Ministers and the clinical commissioning group playing for time to deal with the issue post the general election in 2015. Questions are dodged, not discussed. Information is wrapped in secrecy and the people of Halifax and Calderdale are, it would appear, treated with contempt on this issue. This is their hospital. These are their health services. They deserve some answers.

That is the brief history. Where are things at today? Well, frankly, it is all a bit of a mess. At its heart are the inherent contradictions in the Government’s approach to health policy across the country generally, and in Halifax specifically. Let us take a look at some of them. The Government say the funding of hospitals is not a problem. Why then is there a funding shortfall in Halifax of potentially £50 million? I noticed this week that Monitor is to investigate the trust to understand why its finances have deteriorated so much. This is an extraordinary amount of money by which to be in deficit.

We all know that the Government’s desire to cut A and Es like the one in Halifax is to save money. It has nothing to do with improving patient care.

[Craig Whittaker (Calder Valley) (Con)]

At a recent debate in the Calder Valley with my Labour opponent, I asked him eight times whether he had been out to see the doctors, nurses and decision makers about the strategic review. His answer was no, he had not been out to see them and he had not read the strategic review. He said, instead, that he was following the hon. Lady’s lead and the lead of the candidates in Halifax. Will the hon. Lady tell me how many times she has been out to see the decision makers and whether she has read the review?

[Mrs Riordan]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. Talking about confusion—that is what the whole debate is about today—let me remind him of his article in the Halifax Courier last week, in which he said:

“There are no proposals to close our A and E”.

Then we have the Conservative candidate’s website for Halifax:

“On the frontline defending the A&E cut in Halifax”.

There is his answer.

I use the health service regularly: I am a patient and I visit my GP regularly. The Government say that funding for hospitals is not a problem but we all know they want to cut the A and E. I know the Minister will get up in a moment and tell me that Halifax has not suffered health cutbacks in the past four years. Well I can tell him that I use Halifax hospital regularly. Recently, there have been staffing cuts, ward closures and fewer and fewer beds available on the wards. Sadly, I fear that Halifax is suffering cuts, cuts and more cuts. If there is not a funding problem, why are these reductions taking place? Is it a lack of demand for services?

If there is a funding problem, why do the Government claim to have protected health spending? Both cannot be correct. I say today that what Health Ministers are being told in Whitehall offices and what is happening on the ground in places like Halifax are miles apart. Ministers urgently need a reality check if they think that closing Halifax’s A and E will not put lives at risk.

[Craig Whittaker]

On that point, will the hon. Lady give way?

[Mrs Riordan]

No. I am sorry, but I must make progress now.

I would be grateful if the Minister explained to me the reality of the funding situation in Halifax. What has the clinical commissioning group been required to do? What front-line services will be a cut as a result of this financial black hole? My constituents want some answers today—they do not want fobbing off until next May. This issue is too important to be kicked into the post-general election long grass.

The issue has never gone away in the town, despite the best efforts of the powers that be. Now, more than ever, is the time to set out why the A and E is important and needed in Halifax and Calderdale. I am not here today to discuss Huddersfield hospital or play the two off against each other. For the record, I want both to stay open, serving their communities as they have done for many years. Both cater for diverse and distant communities. To outlying communities, the local A and E is, quite literally, their lifeline, their reassuring presence should tragedy strike. In that sense, I have to say that the issue of engagement, consultation and information over Halifax A and E has been handled pretty woefully.

[Craig Whittaker]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Mrs Riordan]

No.

There has been buck passing, misinformation and a lack of honesty and clarity. Neither the CCG, the trust nor the Government have stood up and accepted responsibility for what has taken place. Just because things have gone a bit quiet does not mean that this is not the biggest issue in town.

It is difficult to know where to start. First, there is the closure by stealth that seems to be taking place. I have here articles from the Halifax Courier about people being driven regularly across to Huddersfield for treatment. I could talk about the staff cuts or the stealth cuts that could easily render the A and E a glorified walk-in centre. It is just not good enough, and people across Halifax are right to be angry and dismayed, especially when they read contradictory stories such as those I have read out. If the plan is to close the A and E, why do the decision makers not say so? Let us stop this nonsense that an A and E will stay in some form or another. That is rubbish.

[Craig Whittaker]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Mrs Riordan]

No.

If the existing 24-hour access with full A and E services is axed, it will not be an A and E. It is as simple as that. It is time to stop the spin and give us some substance.

[Craig Whittaker]

On the spin, will the hon. Lady give way?

[Mrs Riordan]

No.

The Government and the CCG know that they cannot do this. They know that there will be a public backlash; they have read the newspapers, seen the rallies, heard the debates and studied the letters. There is not one person in my constituency saying this is a good idea, or, if there is, I have yet to come across them. This is closure by stealth, by secrecy and by drawing out the whole sorry process over months. I and thousands of other people are not going to walk on by and let this happen.

The facts speak for themselves. This a hospital that only opened in 2000. It is an A and E unit that treats thousands of people every year and a hospital that serves people within a 30-mile-plus radius. We are already reading about a winter crisis in A and E—there was a major one last weekend—and what is the Government’s answer? To close them down. We cannot deal with one crisis by causing another. The way to deal with the A and E issue is to invest in the service, reassure people about its future and not put lives at risk.

I say not to the Minister but to the people making these decisions: do not take people for fools. If they strip away A and E services, stop 24-hour care, create an appointment system and move services to Huddersfield, we will not have an A and E service; we will have a glorified walk-in centre or an extended GP service. Will the Minister outline the case for closing Calderdale A and E? I have not heard one decent argument so far, so I would be grateful if he put the Government’s position on the record.

[Craig Whittaker]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Mrs Riordan]

No.

So what do I propose now? There is now a window of opportunity. The “Hands off our A and E” campaign has worked so far: we have delayed the closure, put the issue at the front of the debate and kept the issue at the top of the agenda. However, there is a lot more to do. The issue might have gone quiet, but it has not gone away. The so-called engagement process over the summer months was pathetic. A few afternoon meetings to hear people’s opinions is not good enough. I expect better, and more importantly, my constituents expect better.

Three things need to happen. First, there needs to be proper engagement. What are the plans? What is the impact likely to be? So far, we have had none of these, which has left people in the dark. Secondly, there needs to be proper consultation. Not one-way but proper two-way consultation that actually listens to people and takes notice of their views, and this needs to be done properly, not in the half-baked way we have seen so far. Thirdly, there needs to be a full reassessment of the hospital services offered in Halifax. It is beginning to get treated as a branch hospital, not one at the heart of health services. I have said that I use that hospital regularly, which I do. I have had a few appointments recently, and I have been referred to Calderdale Royal, but when I get the appointment through the post, it is always at Huddersfield hospital. That is what patients are experiencing across Halifax.

People need to be told straight what is taking place. The lack of information over the last few weeks and months has been almost as bad as the decision to axe the A and E in the first place. Let us not pretend that an A and E will exist in some form or another post-2015. There either is an A and E or there is not. The time has come for the Government to come clean on their plans; they should set them out, so we can have a proper consultation and a proper debate. This time, however, the people of Halifax need listening to.

The time has come to say “enough is enough”. The facts are clear that without an A and E in Halifax lives will be put at risk. These unnecessary cuts to front-line services will be a body blow to all ages and all sections of the local community. That is why people have been taking to the streets to protest at these proposals. That is why across the whole spectrum of community opinion, there has been a united voice of, “Save our A and E”.

I hope that the Minister can shed some light today on what exactly is going on. The people of my constituency, who need and deserve the best possible health services in Halifax expect nothing less. It is time to come clean and spell things out. In the run-up to the general election, people expect to know what is going to happen to their local A and E unit. I say today, loud and clear, that the fight to save the A & E goes on, and deserves to be a successful one.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (George Freeman)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Halifax (Mrs Riordan) on securing this debate. I know that this is an issue of concern to her and to my hon. Friend the Member for Calder Valley (Craig Whittaker), as well as to a number of other Members locally. The issues around proposed changes to health services in Calderdale and Huddersfield have been debated in this House before.

Of course, the configuration of health services is an important issue for many Members and their constituents. We all agree that patients should receive the best and safest care possible. I know these issues are of keen interest locally, with Members from across the political parties taking a close interest in the changes. People always worry about any change in the NHS, because it is such a loved and respected institution. However, it is not right to play on these anxieties. Change is necessary to ensure that the NHS can offer modern, high-quality care fit for the 21st century.

It is slightly disappointing that the hon. Lady has adopted such a partisan approach. In the period running up to an election, NHS reform is not well served by party politics, and I note the hon. Lady’s refusal to accept interventions from my hon. Friend the Member for Calder Valley. I think we need to hear from people on both sides of the House. I have taken the trouble this week to talk to staff and doctors at the front line locally who are leading the work on this issue, to hear from them what they are planning and what they hope to achieve. I hope that hon. Members, including the hon. Lady, take the time to do the same; I know they would appreciate it.

Let me say a few words about our general approach to reconfiguration before touching on the specifics of the case. The Government are clear that the design of front-line health services, including A and E, must be a matter for the local NHS. It is local clinicians—not me or anyone in Whitehall—who will make decisions about health care in Halifax. That is how it should be. The NHS has a responsibility to ensure that people have access to the best and safest health care possible, and to plan for the future to ensure that safe and sustainable services are available to all patients now and in generations to come.

Reconfiguration is about modernising the delivery of care and facilities to improve patient outcomes, to develop services closer to home and, most importantly, to save lives and improve patient safety. That is why we must allow the local NHS continually to challenge the status quo and look for the best way of serving patients. All these service changes are being led by clinicians and are based on a clear, robust clinical case for change that delivers better outcomes for patients.

The health economy across Calderdale and Huddersfield is working to develop a shared vision for the future provision of high-quality, sustainable services. This work is necessary to respond to the challenges facing the local health economy. As in many areas, the NHS in Calderdale and Huddersfield needs to adapt to an ageing population, increased prevalence of long-term and lifestyle-related illnesses, the needs and aspirations of patients and increased pressure on our public finances. The truth is that local services are currently fragmented, with some duplication and inconsistency of outcomes. There is a need to reduce preventable hospital admissions and enable and support people to live in their own homes for as long as possible. I welcome the fact that the local NHS is looking into how community and in-hospital services can be provided to deliver the best outcomes for local patients.

[Craig Whittaker]

The Minister will recall that the hon. Member for Halifax (Mrs Riordan) did not say whether she had read the strategic review of our area’s health authority, but if she had, she would have seen that it contains no proposals to close the Halifax A and E. Can the Minister confirm that?

[George Freeman]

My hon. Friend has made an excellent point. I think it important to be guided by what the local professionals—clinicians and NHS staff—are saying. I have spoken to them this week, and I can indeed confirm that there are no plans to close the A and E at present. A clinically led consultation is taking place, quite properly, and before the local NHS leadership recommends any decisions, they will be the subject of public consultation with local people.

[George Freeman]

As I have said, the local NHS leadership is looking at all the issues on behalf of the patients whom they are there to serve. My point is merely that playing party politics is not helpful. We need to be guided by the local clinical experts. It is important for the NHS to engage widely on the future provision of health services, and it has done that over the last three years. Thousands of local people have given their views on what matters most to them, and that feedback is shaping thinking locally.

Local clinical commissioning groups are focusing on the phased delivery of improvements in community services ahead of any changes in hospital services. Our health system is evolving to adapt to the new landscape of modern medicine, and I think it is in the interests of our patients to encourage that, provided that it is led by clinical decision making. Local commissioners recognise the need for change in hospital services, and I suspect that, as a user, the hon. Lady would recognise that as well. The local NHS believes that the way in which services are currently organised in Halifax does not deliver the safest, most effective and most efficient support to meet patients’ needs. Patients rightly expect that when they see the initials “NHS”, they can expect the very best service that is available, and when they do not receive that service, it is incumbent on the system to adapt so that they do.

The trust is affected by shortages in middle-grade doctors and the high use of locums in A and E, which has an impact on the safety of patient care, and difficulties are involved in providing senior consultant cover overnight and seven days a week. Those are classic problems, which often affect smaller hospitals. We need to ensure that we are delivering the very best care to our patients.

There is often a need for inter-hospital transfers owing to the lack of co-location of first-class services on both sites. The co-location of emergency and acute medical and surgical expertise can result in significant improvements in survival and recovery outcomes, most notably for stroke and cardiac patients. Those who are most seriously ill, with life-threatening conditions, have a much greater chance of survival if they are treated by an experienced medical team that is available 24/7.

It is right for the local NHS to address those challenges to ensure that it can continue to deliver safe, sustainable, high-quality services. Heaven forbid that the hon. Lady should fall ill and require any of those services, but I am sure that, were that to happen, she would want to receive the very best care, and that if that were available in Huddersfield, she would want to be treated in the best possible place. To that end, Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust has considered a number of options for the future delivery of services, one of which involves one hospital delivering planned care and the other delivering unplanned care. At this stage, no proposals have been ruled in or out. Preferences have been expressed in regard to how services can best be delivered, but no decisions have been made, and I can confirm that there are no formal proposals for changes in hospital services.

In August, the local CCGs decided to delay public consultation on hospital services. While they are signed up to the need for change, they have chosen first to focus on the delivery of improvements in community services in order to build confidence in the changes and demonstrate to local people the benefits they are confident they will deliver. That seems to me entirely appropriate. The CCGs are following a process of change. They understand the need to take people with them, and to build confidence in the changes that they propose. It is incumbent on all Members to encourage and support our NHS leadership locally in building that public confidence in the services.

Change can be difficult to explain to patients, particularly the most vulnerable and elderly patients whose focus is, rightly, on the immediate availability of care. Patients’ reasonable anxieties are often exacerbated by speculation in the media about potential changes and their possible local impact. Services are sometimes described as closing when in fact they are simply being provided in a neighbouring facility or changing for the better in response to advances in treatment.

I know that local people care deeply about the future of their local health services and will want to be involved in decisions about the future of their local hospitals. This is, and should be, a locally led process. Local people should continue to make their views known to those developing proposals for the future of local services, as they have done throughout the engagement process. I also want to encourage them to listen to the reasoning behind any proposals from local NHS clinicians and management for any service changes. I encourage the hon. Lady to work with the local NHS as it further develops its proposals. I know that the CCGs have met hon. Members and are happy to continue to do so.

When talking about potential changes to hospital services, it is important to remember that it is the services, the people and the co-ordination—not the bricks and mortar—that really matter in getting people the right care at the right time. The flexibility and co-ordination of services are just as important as how they are geographically configured. In supporting our local NHS we often end up supporting the current institution—the building in its present location and configuration—but we need to allow the service to evolve and allow our local clinicians and NHS leadership to develop the best possible provision for the people it is designed to serve.

The NHS is one of the great institutions in the world; it is one of this country’s great legacies. Ensuring that it is sustainable and that it serves the best interests of patients sometimes means taking tough decisions. Freezing a service in aspic out of love for it will not allow the NHS to develop and maintain its leadership in the provision of 21st century health care. These decisions are made only when representatives of the local NHS, working in collaboration with local people and local authorities, are convinced that what they are proposing is absolutely in the best interests of their patients.

I make no apology for the fact that it is this Government who have taken these decisions out of the hands of the politicians and the mandarins in Whitehall and put them into the hands of local clinicians and local NHS managers who have the interests of local patients at heart and who are driving those decisions in their interests. It is important that the NHS in Calderdale and Huddersfield develops solutions that will allow it to provide high quality, safe, effective and sustainable services to local people for generations to come.

[Craig Whittaker]

I recall when the Labour Government took the acute services from Halifax and sent them to Kirklees in 2005. I campaigned strongly against that at the time, but I was wrong because it appears that we now have a greater life-saving institution locally. Can the Minister tell me whether there is any evidence around the country that having specialists in one place, rather than having them split between several sites, does in fact save lives?

[George Freeman]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. There is a huge amount of evidence—which the Department is keen to publish and disseminate in order to inform the debate—that in many areas, particularly in relation to respiratory and cardiac conditions and to diabetes, the centralisation of services in specialist centres drives up clinical outcomes, improves patient safety and prevents avoidable death. Patients have a right to expect us to put in place a framework that allows the NHS to evolve. We need to find ways of ensuring that those services that are best provided locally—community-based services—are provided in that way, and that those requiring increased specialisation in centres of excellence and expertise that operate 24/7 are also available. That is what the local NHS leadership is endeavouring to do, and we should support them in that because it is in the interests of the patients, whose NHS this is.

Question put and agreed to.

Calderdale Royal Hospital

Craig Whittaker Excerpts

Thursday 12th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Linda Riordan (Halifax) (Lab/Co-op)]

I am delighted to have secured this Adjournment debate on such an important issue for my constituents and for the Halifax and Calderdale area. This goes to the very heart—the very essence—of what people should be able to expect from their national health service, what services they should get from their local hospital, and how they should have confidence that well-run, popular and accessible services like Calderdale Royal hospital accident and emergency department will not be cut back or closed. However, for some time now Calderdale Royal hospital’s accident and emergency department has been under threat. It is an issue that has been simmering away in my constituency and recently the rumours have turned to reality as the Government and local health bosses, much to the anger of local people, have refused to guarantee that Calderdale’s A and E department is safe.

I shall briefly set out some of the background to this issue. In 2001 Halifax’s general and royal infirmaries merged with Northowram hospital to become Calderdale Royal. Over the last decade it has served the area extremely well. It has excellent, dedicated and well-qualified staff who provide a first-class health service to people across the district. It serves many diverse communities in Halifax and Calderdale, and its reach extends to the Lancashire border and to communities bordering Bradford. Therefore, a wide geographical area needs, and relies on, Calderdale Royal, and in particular its A and E department.

In recent months, as speculation has risen that the axe could fall on the town’s A and E, so has the sense of public outrage that such a short-sighted, unnecessary and unwanted decision is even under consideration, let alone that there is the possibility of it being implemented. United against that are hospital users, health campaigners, trade unions and Calderdale council. I have yet to find anyone who would be in favour of such a decision.

I know the Minister will say that nothing has yet been proposed, but nothing has been denied either. Indeed, I have asked in this House whether Calderdale’s A and E is safe and no one has confirmed that it is.

[Craig Whittaker (Calder Valley) (Con)]

I dare say that the hon. Lady, coming from the Calderdale area, has, like myself, had briefings both from the chief executive officer of the NHS trust and the chairman of the Calderdale clinical commissioning group, and I must say that at no time have either of those two people mentioned to me that Calderdale Royal is under threat of closure. I just wonder whether she could elaborate on where this information has come from.

[Mrs Riordan]

I have met the Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Trust CEO and doctors and other clinicians. They say—and they gave out a document for me to read—that changes are afoot. That is coming from inside the hospital and the council, and from the general public. So, again, I ask the Minister to rule out the possible closure or even any cuts.

All I have been told is that a strategic document is available on the future of local services. Frankly, my constituents do not need to read jargon-filled paragraphs about clinical decisions. They know when something is right or wrong, and they know that what matters in Halifax is the continuation of our good local health service, with an accident and emergency department free at the point of need. They do not want that service to be in Huddersfield, Dewsbury or Bradford. They want it where it is, in Halifax, serving the communities that I represent and those of Calderdale.

I have read and heard a lot in recent weeks about how A and E departments need reforming. I have heard that too many of the people using them could be seen elsewhere. I am afraid that that is a weak argument. The whole point of the service is to deal with accidents as well as emergencies. People cannot be told to use alternative services if their walk-in centres are closing, or if their doctor’s surgery has closed for the night or, when it is open, they cannot get an urgent appointment.

[Craig Whittaker]

The hon. Lady will know that we recently had a campaign to keep the walk-in centre in Todmorden open. The reality is, however, that the walk-in centres in Halifax and Todmorden are both under-utilised. Would it not be far better if those carrying out the review came up with a proposal for a low-level accident and emergency-type service in Halifax and in Todmorden? Surely that would be better than the current arrangements.

[Mrs Riordan]

I am not sure whether the hon. Gentleman is suggesting that the A and E should be closed down and replaced by a low-level service in Halifax and Calderdale—

[Craig Whittaker]

indicated dissent.

[Mrs Riordan]

We need the full A and E. Walk-in centres were designed to take the pressure off A and E departments and if they are used correctly, in conjunction with educating people on how they should be used, that is exactly what they will do.

My constituents certainly do not want to make a 25-minute journey across town to access health services that they rightly want to see in their own community. Let me be clear: the Government could and should have an important role to play in this decision. The buck should not be passed solely to local clinicians so that the Government can wash their hands of the matter. I was hoping that the hon. Member for Calder Valley (Craig Whittaker) would make it clear that he intended to put pressure on his Government to protect local health services.

[Craig Whittaker]

I am in total agreement with the hon. Lady: I would not accept the closure of A and E at Calderdale Royal. I am very much hoping that, following the review that is due in January, we will see an enhanced service not only in Calder Valley but in Halifax and the whole of Calderdale. I am looking forward to seeing those proposals.

[Mrs Riordan]

I am very much hoping that the Minister is going to tell us that Calderdale Royal hospital’s accident and emergency department is guaranteed to stay open.

The Government set the policies, and they must also take responsibility for any decisions that will affect the A and E in Calderdale. Also, there should be no hiding behind a public consultation. The question is quite simple: do the Government support the retention of the accident and emergency department in Calderdale? If they do, there is no need for any consultation. If they do not, they should come clean and set out their position. This lack of clarity is causing a lot of worry, anguish and anger in my constituency and across Calderdale.

Last week I organised a round-table meeting with interested parties at a local level to discuss a way forward. The town is united in the need to ensure that Calderdale’s A and E stays put. Let us imagine what would happen if the department were cut back or closed. I presume that the services would transfer to Huddersfield. For many of my constituents that would mean at best a 20-minute journey, but probably journeys of 25, 30, 35 or even 40 minutes along busy roads, past a motorway interchange, and into Huddersfield. At the risk of using emotive language, such a move really could be a matter of life and death. Do health bosses think that people would stop using the other A and Es if they closed the one in Calderdale? I do not think they would. I also want to place on the record that this is not about Halifax versus Huddersfield; it is not about pitting one A and E against the other. This is about ensuring that people across west Yorkshire have access to good quality health care that is rooted in their local communities.

Let us just examine for a moment why this position might have come about. Since 2010, the Government have been systematically dismantling alternatives to A and E: a quarter of walk-in centres have been closed since the election; NHS Direct has been scrapped; the guarantee of a GP appointment within 48 hours has been scrapped; and fewer and fewer GP practices are open at evenings and weekends. People in Halifax and Calderdale will have fewer alternatives, not more, if the A and E closes. If patients are waiting more than four hours for treatment, is the answer to close A and Es? I do not think it is. This crisis is not due to a lack of education or people going to A and E with minor problems; it is more to do with cuts to social care budgets, meaning that more older people are ending up in hospital because there is no one else to take care of them.

If the Government’s answer to an A and E crisis is to close A and E departments, we really are in trouble in Halifax. Cutting back on services does not solve the problem; it just transfers it elsewhere. I am determined to fight for better services at Calderdale Royal, not to see them cut. I want to see our A and E department saved, not sacrificed. I want to see the excellent staff supported, not under-resourced, and to ensure we have the best possible NHS serving Halifax and its wider communities.

The reaction of the public in my constituency has been an overwhelming “Hands off our A and E department.” We need it to stay open, to continue the excellent service it provides and to ensure it serves the people of Halifax today and for years to come. Anything else would be a tragic mistake of short-term thinking, and a failure to provide my constituents with a local hospital and a national health service fit for the 21st century.

Health Transition Risk Register

Craig Whittaker Excerpts

Thursday 10th May 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

The hon. Gentleman knows perfectly well that the reason we refused that support is that his local trust is a foundation trust. It was never contemplated that foundation trusts undertaking major capital projects in excess of £400 million should simply expect the Department to supply a capital grant for that purpose. Without commenting on the merits of the proposal, I think that his trust has since developed new and improved proposals. I am not sure that they have come to me in any sense at this stage, but when they do I will certainly be willing to look at them very carefully with the Minister of State, my right hon. Friend the Member for Chelmsford (Mr Burns).

[Craig Whittaker (Calder Valley) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend tell the House how many times, under the previous Government’s many reforms of the NHS, risk registers were routinely published as a matter of course?

[Mr Lansley]

rose—

Manufacturing

Craig Whittaker Excerpts

Thursday 24th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Craig Whittaker (Calder Valley) (Con)]

As more than 19% of the people who live in the Calder Valley work in manufacturing, it is no wonder that I spend so much of my constituency time visiting fantastic manufacturers and local businesses. If the hon. Member for Huddersfield (Mr Sheerman) classes Huddersfield as the cradle of manufacturing, without question Calder Valley is its family home.

We have not only many small niche and high-end manufacturers who supply locally and internationally but many world-leading firms that fly the flag for Britain. They include companies such as Heights, which supplies graphic arts equipment to major photographic companies, such as Kodak and Fuji, and Calrec, which supplies high-quality audio consoles to television studios all around the world, even to Japan. Hon. Members will all be pleased to know that the consoles that allow the nation to watch “The X Factor” every week come from Calrec in Hebden Bridge. We also supply 40% of the European market’s caravan industry with caravan looms made in Elland by BCA Leisure. They are Great British companies, flying the Great British flag. The fantastic thing that I am hearing from our local manufacturers is that we really are starting to fly, especially those who manufacture to export.

The absolute evidence of that is the huge investment we are seeing in new machinery, jobs and factories in the local area. No fewer than four brand-new factories are about to open. Boxford Ltd, which manufactures computer-aided design—or CAD—based lathes for education is about to move into its purpose-built £6 million new factory next week. That was delayed by a month because of a huge order received from Argentina, which was not following the lead of America or Europe in the way that the hon. Member for Hartlepool (Mr Wright) suggested earlier.

Decorative Panels is in the process of building its £8.5 million factory to incorporate two new factories for production and it will be up and running in April. KT Hydraulics should also be fully operational by February with its £2.5 million factory and Heights, which I mentioned earlier, has just got planning permission to double the size of its current factory up in Wainstalls. That is all evidence that when companies are stable and low geared, they make a difference to our economy.

There is a but, however. Although the companies are doing well and investing in our future, this really is a tale of two halves. At the business breakfast forums I hold every eight weeks—I have done so for the past three years—there has been a unanimous chorus about the banks. Many Members have mentioned the banks and how they are doing business. The banks would have us believe that they are lending money to businesses and I have no reason to doubt them, but the only problem is the conditions that they are imposing on our businesses, normally at huge cost.

I recently visited a local manufacturer that is a subsidiary of a larger world player in electronics. It supplies a large proportion of the Korean market and 20% of the Japanese market and recently got a fantastic deal from a bank that perfectly met its business needs. The bank was the Silicon Valley Bank in California. Why? Because in the words of the managing director of that company, it totally understood the business and its business needs.

I was also asked recently to attend a meeting with another local manufacturer and its bank manager. The company borrowed £100,000 several years ago to buy a building and a further £50,000 more recently to expand the business. Business is up by 20% this year. After sitting through the meeting for two hours listening to the bank manager sing the company’s praises and even saying he wished all his customers were like it, I left for another meeting only to learn later on in the day that the bank manager had said after I had left that the bank would like to take a debenture over its fixed and floating assets and have a joint and several guarantees from the directors. It was explained to them that that was all to the benefit of the directors as it would move them down the queue when the bank came asking for its money back. That is the type of thing that I hear week in and week out from my manufacturers.

Calder Valley manufacturers are among the world’s best. Indeed, in many cases, they are the very best at what they do. They do not want a hand up or handouts—just a plain, old-fashioned level playing field. They tell me week in and week out that they will do their best to get on and play their part. We need the Government to put pressure on our banks to look at their practices and to get to know intimately what their local customers do. For far too long, business account managers in banks liaise with customers but then decisions about financial transactions are made by faceless people who are often miles away and have no idea or clue about what the businesses that are asking for the loans do. That needs to change. If it does not, the manufacturers that are still in business will turn more and more to banks such as the Silicon Valley bank, which, in the words of a Calder Valley managing director,

“totally understood our business and our business needs.”

The current situation cannot be good for manufacturers, business or the country as a whole.

We accept the need to charge full business rates on empty buildings. That was mentioned earlier and would have been my third example had I more time. Some businesses might need to benefit from an extension or a deferment plan; otherwise some of the businesses that are really struggling are going to fold. It is clear that our manufacturers in Calder Valley are a beacon for our economy. Let us make sure that we can facilitate greater growth by listening to our manufacturers, by putting pressure on the banks and by helping manufacturers when they need support.

--- Later in debate ---

[Richard Harrington (Watford) (Con)]

I, too, congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Hexham (Guy Opperman) on bringing about this debate. I also congratulate the Minister on his comments so far and, in particular, the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Hartlepool (Mr Wright), not only on his contribution, but on the resilience of his bladder, which has enabled him to stay in his place for such a long time. It is always a pleasure to see him. On these occasions, it is difficult to think of something to say that is different from the contributions that other Members have been making for what seems like 25 hours. But I shall do my best.

I was born into a family with a modest factory, and I saw the decline of British manufacturing through my own experiences and my own eyes, because my father was similar to most small manufacturers of clothing in Leeds, near to the constituency of the hon. Member for Bradford East (Mr Ward), and he had a similar business to those in Bradford. He was put out of business by imports, but we have to look beyond that and ask, “Why has manufacturing failed?” [Interruption.] The shadow Minister shakes his head, but it has failed, and I will explain why.

Manufacturing has failed as a type of business for entrepreneurs to go into as a start-up. We all know that in Britain most large businesses started off not with big foreign investment, which has been very successful, but with people deciding to start businesses in a small way and to build them up to medium-sized businesses and then into some of the great businesses, such as those that the hon. Gentleman mentioned in Hartlepool.

Manufacturing has failed for three reasons. First, there has been a failure of capitalism in this particular field. Members might think it strange to hear a Conservative Member using Marxist terminology—[Laughter]—particularly for the amusement of the hon. Member for Huddersfield (Mr Sheerman)—but I mean that although a lot of capital has been employed in businesses in this country, comparatively little has been used by manufacturing. That is because capital is invested to obtain a return, and in my generation manufacturing enterprise has not generally led to significant returns.

Capital that belonged to families has grown in other ways. My father is a classic example of a person who, having found that his business was worthless, sold a small site to property developers and probably made more money than he could have in years of business. That is the story of many family manufacturing businesses in this country.

Secondly, there has been a failure of management. The hon. Member for Huddersfield, in an excellent contribution, mentioned being shown around Magdalen college, Oxford, where he was told that the bright undergraduates were going into the City. When he made that point, he was looking at my right hon. Friend the Minister, who I remember from my time was in fact at Christ Church rather than Magdalen, but I am sure he accepts that in our generation exactly the same thing happened.

Why did people go into the City? First, those people who were business-minded went, perfectly reasonably, into businesses where they felt they could make a lot of money. Secondly, and to draw another a Marxist analogy, for more than 100 years the class system in Britain looked down on manufacturing industry, so all that people such as my father, who was in manufacturing, wanted was for their sons not to have to put up with what they had put up with. These days people would say that manufacturing is not “cool” or “culturally acceptable”, but for many years has fallen, let us say, out of fashion.

[Craig Whittaker]

I have a lot of empathy for what my hon. Friend is saying. I mentioned in my speech the companies Boxford, Heights, BCA Leisure and Decorative Panels, all from the Calder Valley. They started from very small premises indeed and have built up. Does he agree that the biggest problem at the moment is that the banks just are not investing in research and development?

[Richard Harrington]

I very much agree with my hon. Friend’s intervention, but that issue has been covered in other hon. Members’ speeches, and in the remaining time I am trying not to mention it for that reason—valid though it is.

The reality is that for bright young people, manufacturing is not, by and large, something for them to go into. For some reason it is different in the United States. Very bright graduates—the brightest that Harvard and other places have—could always join firms such as Ford, General Motors and IBM. At those companies, they could expect to make as much money—if it is, indeed, money they are interested in—as the people who joined Goldman Sachs or such firms in Wall street or the City. We have not had that here so, in my experience—and that of the hon. Member for Huddersfield at Magdalen college and of the Minister at Christ Church college—people who were interested in making a lot of money from our generation did not go into manufacturing.

I have mentioned capital and management. The third issue is labour. I am not falling into the ridiculous trap of saying, “It’s the fault of the unions and the workers that we don’t have manufacturing.” Nevertheless, the issue of labour is a contributory factor. In Watford, where we have a few very good manufacturing companies, notwithstanding that there are 3,000 people on jobseeker’s allowance in the constituency, manufacturers have a problem getting unskilled labour because they cannot get people who will do night shifts and consistently do the kind of work that is expected. It is not dangerous work, but it is fairly mundane. Consequently, they have to import labour from Poland.

It is not right in the remaining nanosecond I have left to go into detail about the benefit culture, but we have to accept that if manufacturing is going to return, we must have people who believe it is a perfectly respectable and proper occupation to work in a factory. We want them to, and they should be properly rewarded for doing so. However, we cannot have a situation in which people feel it is not the right thing to do.

Manufacturing has been the victim of imperfections in capital and in management, its status in society and the attitude of labour towards it. Such a situation needs to be corrected, but that should be done on the true basis of entrepreneurship, which relates to people who may be called greedy by some. They want to make money, but they will pay their taxes and employ people as a by-product. It is a great thing to employ people but, for somebody going into business, it is a by-product rather than the reason they are doing it. When manufacturing becomes easier than property development, easier than the City, easier than management consultancy, easier than the law or, indeed, politics, it will come back—but only then.

Health and Social Care (Re-committed) Bill

Craig Whittaker Excerpts

Wednesday 7th September 2011 Commons Chamber

[Nadine Dorries]

I hope that my hon. Friend is talking about the Crisis pregnancy centre in Dunstable, which I have visited along with many others. It does amazing work with young women.

[Craig Whittaker (Calder Valley) (Con)]

Marie Stopes International said in the briefing that it sent to all MPs that only 2% to 2.5% of women who go through the abortion counselling process opt to keep the child. Does my hon. Friend agree that that may indicate an incredibly poor success rate among counselling services?

[Nadine Dorries]

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention, because I am coming to another interesting statistic that I have not yet included in my speech.

Congenital Cardiac Services for Children

Craig Whittaker Excerpts

Thursday 23rd June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Craig Whittaker (Calder Valley) (Con)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Pudsey (Stuart Andrew) for his incredible hard work on this issue, not just this week but over many months.

Yesterday many MPs received an e-mail from the chief executive of the Children’s Heart Federation, who is also a member of the Safe and Sustainable programme steering group. She wrote:

“'Clinicians have led these changes and we believe it is wrong that some politicians are now trying to block the process that will lead to the vital improvements in children’s care.”

I do not agree with that assessment because I agree absolutely with the aims of the review, as do many of my hon. Friends. However, I have an issue with the process of the review and what it has missed out. In the case of Leeds, there has been no formal opportunity to correct factual inaccuracies in Sir Ian Kennedy’s pre-consultation assessment report, and no impact assessment was undertaken before the four options were announced in the consultation

As my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds North West (Greg Mulholland) said, Leeds delivers what is considered a gold standard of service, and is one of only two hospitals that offer this gold standard. However, the weighting in the criteria did not take account of that at all. It would be fair to say, therefore, that I, my fellow Yorkshire, Humber and Lincolnshire MPs and the more than 500,000 fellow Yorkshiremen who handed in a petition to the Prime Minister this week have little faith in an open and transparent process that is fair for the people in the current Leeds catchment area.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

And women.

[Craig Whittaker]

I apologise if I left out women.

[Greg Mulholland]

Let me too say that it is a pleasure working with my hon. Friend, but can we debunk this myth that we are talking about a review without flaws that is based on clinical guidelines? Option B, which he mentioned, does not even get us to 400 operations for some centres. In too many places the review does not even follow its own logic.

[Craig Whittaker]

I agree with my hon. Friend, who is absolutely right. This comes back to my basic premise, because all we are asking for is an open, honest and transparent process that will produce the desired outcomes.

Last year, one of my constituents, Miss Libby Carstairs, spent many months in Leeds hospital and underwent heart surgery several times over several months. As we know, the aims of the consultation clearly show that parents would take their child anywhere to get the best treatment when they are as poorly as Libby is and was. Under the proposals, Libby would have gone backwards and forwards several times, probably between Newcastle for surgery and Leeds for her convalescence. Currently, her care and surgery all happen in one place. As with all families at such a stressful time, it was hugely beneficial that the family could visit regularly and help in the convalescence period. Libby’s mum spent her life in that unit with her, and her grandparents played a huge role with relief and support. Libby’s being in Leeds even allowed her head teacher, from Carr Green primary school, the opportunity to visit and take messages of support from her classmates and friends. I saw first hand not only how that cheered Libby up, but how it helped to fast-track the recovery of this poorly little girl. It also without question helped Libby eventually to go home, albeit with high levels of support. Such support from family and friends would not have been possible had Libby been up and down to, say, Newcastle or Liverpool, which are many miles away.

Although the main principle of parents taking their child wherever they need to go to get the best treatment is absolutely correct, it does not take into account the loss of income to the family through not being in work, the huge cost of travelling much further distances, and the incredibly important network of support from family and friends at what is an awfully frustrating and stressful time for everyone involved—the big society at its best, as it were. I cannot imagine what it is like not to know whether one’s child is going to live or die, so I cannot begin to comprehend the full extent of the support needed and appreciated by families.

Contrary to the e-mail received yesterday, MPs do understand the process, as do the 500,000 people who have signed the petition. However, it is scandalous that Leeds fits into only one of the four options, particularly as vital information has been missed out of Sir Ian Kennedy’s assessment. To sum up, if the Government are big enough to listen to the people and amend their proposals on issues such as the NHS and jail, surely clinicians at the JCPCT should be big enough to review their plans, by listening to what 500,000 people from Yorkshire, Humberside and Lincolnshire are telling them to do.

Children's Heart Surgery (Leeds)

Craig Whittaker Excerpts

Thursday 3rd March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Stuart Andrew]

I am beginning to think that some Members have already seen my speech. I am getting ahead of myself. We have the M1, the A1, the M62 and excellent rail links, which make Leeds very accessible. The Leeds Hospitals NHS Trust has centralised children’s services, which I think meets the requirements of the Department of Health’s critical interdependency report. On 18 February the British Congenital Cardiac Association, which is a leading support organisation of the safe and sustainable review, released a statement saying:

“For these services at each centre to remain sustainable in the long term, co-location of key clinical services on one site is essential.”

Leeds General Infirmary is at the forefront of work on inherited cardiac conditions, and has an excellent record of providing safe, high-quality children’s heart surgery. The Yorkshire region has significantly higher birth rates than other parts of the country, particularly the north-east, and there is no doubt that demand will increase.

The review is informed by the overall opinion that a reduction in the number of centres is the best way in which to secure a safe and sustainable future service. It is guided by four principles, and I believe Leeds more than meets their requirements. The first is quality. The paediatric cardiac service at Leeds General Infirmary extends from pre-natal diagnosis to the treatment of congenital heart disease in adults, with excellent clinical outcomes. It has high standards and a personal service, and, as I have said, is located very centrally.

During the assessment process, Sir Ian Kennedy and his assessment panel visited every children’s heart surgery unit in England. They produced individual assessment reports on each of the units two weeks before the presentation meeting at the joint committee of primary care trusts on 16 February. At the meeting, the four reconfiguration options were presented. They were based on a number of factors contained in the panel’s assessment reports. However, I understand that there are significant factual inaccuracies in Sir Ian Kennedy’s report on the Leeds unit, and that its representatives were given no opportunity during the process to comment or request amendments of the factual inaccuracies before decisions were made about the configuration of the options for consultation.

At a meeting of the all-party parliamentary group on heart disease on 9 February, when asked when units would be able to challenge and amend inaccuracies in their reports, Jeremy Glyde, the programme director of the safe and sustainable review, said that that could be done during the consultation process.

The reports that the reconfigurations were based on contain fundamental inaccuracies, but they can be challenged only during the consultation period to decide which option is preferred. For Leeds, these inaccuracies include the following. Sir Ian Kennedy’s report documented that Leeds has no transition nurse and separate paediatric intensive care unit; neither point is factually accurate, to the extent that his assessment panel actually met, and talked to, one of the unit’s three transition nurses. The joint committee of primary care trusts advised at its meeting on 16 February that Leeds had stated that it could not do more than 600 operations. Again, that is factually incorrect— Leeds was never asked—but it was stated as the reason why two of the 14 options that were considered were discounted. The commissioners have acknowledged that this was an assumption and not based on what Leeds had said. In the pre-consultation business case for Leeds, start-up costs were reported as £2 million. That figure was not provided by Leeds, and is not representative of the accurate costs provided to the safe and sustainable review panel.

[Craig Whittaker (Calder Valley) (Con)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing the debate. A young constituent of mine, Libby Carstairs, was in a poorly state and spent more than six months in the Leeds heart unit. The beauty of her being in Leeds was that her parents, her grandparents, and sometimes even some of her friends, could come over to aid her recovery process. Also, her head teacher from Carr Green school had the privilege of being able to go there with cards from her friends. Does my hon. Friend agree that the value of that to young Libby’s recovery process far outweighs any monetary value?

[Stuart Andrew]

I completely agree. When I worked at Martin house, we found that one of the big problems was the travelling distances—some people lived on the coast in Scarborough, for instance. It is very important that families are able to get to a centre quickly, because when a child is sick they want their mum and dad there—and we want that when we are a bit more than a child too. These facilities must be accessible, therefore.