Points of Order

Daisy Cooper Excerpts

Wednesday 7th February 2024 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his point of order. Of course, it is not for the occupant of the Chair to adjudicate on what is accurate and what is not accurate, but he has made a very serious point. I remind hon. Members that they ought to be very careful in what they say in this House because of the wide-reaching ramifications of any description they make of local events.

[Daisy Cooper (St Albans) (LD)]

Further to that point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am grateful for the opportunity to respond to the hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton). He will be acutely aware that I am the health and social care spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, and that I have raised questions about hospitals across the country 16, 17 or possibly even 18 times. My concern is about the NHS and hospital services more broadly.

I am sure the hon. Gentleman will also be aware that, at a hearing of the relevant county council’s health overview and scrutiny committee in December, the local trust was quoted as saying:

“We are substituting a consultant for an Advanced Nurse Practitioner. It might be that the ANP takes a more cautious approach and sends more children over to Hastings than a senior consultant.”

If there were no reason for concern, why did the cross-party health overview and scrutiny committee vote unanimously for a pause? If there were nothing to worry about, why has the hon. Member for Eastbourne (Caroline Ansell) followed the lead of campaigners by also calling for a call-in? It seems to me that local residents have concerns, and they want those concerns to be heard in this Chamber.

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

I thank the hon. Lady for responding to the point of order of the hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton). As I said earlier, it is not for the occupant of the Chair to adjudicate between different interpretations of fact. I am grateful to the hon. Lady for taking the opportunity to put her point to the House, and I quite understand the point made by the hon. Gentleman. I am sure there will be further opportunities, hopefully in the near future, for them to discuss this matter reasonably on the Floor of the House. I reiterate that it is very important that facts presented in the Chamber are accurate.