Oral Answers to Questions

David Rutley Excerpts

Tuesday 10th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Dr Poulter]

We have had this discussion. A payments system that is almost 20 years out of date and is not funding patients according to clinical need or is not per head of population will not deliver good care. The payments system needs to be changed and NHS England is working with practices that are facing challenges to address those challenges and ensure that high-quality patient care can still be delivered locally.

[David Rutley (Macclesfield) (Con)]

T8. Following the recent speech by the new NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens about the important role of local hospitals, can my right hon. Friend confirm that district general hospitals such as Macclesfield will continue to play a vital role in delivering local health services in the years to come?

[Mr Jeremy Hunt]

I can confirm that. What my hon. Friend said was profoundly important. There is not an automatic link between size and quality. We know that for certain types of treatment, there is huge benefit in centralising services, as has happened for stroke services in London, but other services can be delivered extremely well at smaller units, and we will continue to support those.