Oral Answers to Questions

Heidi Alexander Excerpts

Tuesday 13th October 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I thank my right hon. Friend for his question, and for the interest that he showed in these issues when he was a Minister.

The reality is that about we have about 200 avoidable deaths every week in our hospitals. It is the same in other countries—this is not just an NHS issue—but it is a global scandal in healthcare, and I want England and our NHS to be the first to put it right. I think that that is consistent with NHS values, and consistent with what doctors and nurses all want.

[Heidi Alexander (Lewisham East) (Lab)]

It is good of the Secretary of State to join us today. If he had been here yesterday to discuss the small issue of the £2 billion NHS deficit, he would have heard me say that I hoped we could have a mature and constructive relationship.

As has already been said, junior doctors are key to the delivery of a seven-day NHS. The Secretary of State said recently:

“I don’t want to see any junior doctor have their pay cut.”

Can he now guarantee that no junior doctor will be paid less as a result of his proposed new contract? Yes or no?

[Mr Hunt]

I welcome the hon. Lady to her post. I hope that, just occasionally, we might agree on some things, although I suspect that today may not be one of those occasions.

Let me be absolutely clear about the commitment that we have made to junior doctors. We will not cut the junior doctor pay bill, but what we do need to change are the excessive overtime rates that are paid at weekends. They give hospitals a disincentive to roster as many doctors as they need at weekends, and that leads to those 11,000 excessive deaths. Let me gently say that that was a change to the doctors’ contracts made in 2003, so for members of the Labour party to say that this is nothing to do with them is not accurate, and they should help us to sort out the problem.

[Heidi Alexander]

I think it is fair to say that junior doctors will make up their own minds about that response.

Last week I received an e-mail about a seriously ill woman who had needed to be admitted to hospital over the weekend, but had stayed at home for two days because of recent interviews given by the Department of Health that had made her think

“that the NHS was not staffed at weekends.”

Her doctor went on to say:

“This delayed her operation, put her life in danger and ultimately will have cost the NHS more”.

Does the Secretary of State feel any responsibility for that?

[Mr Hunt]

Let me give the hon. Lady the facts. According to an independent study conducted by The BMJ, there are 11,000 excess deaths because we do not staff our hospitals properly at weekends. I think it is my job, and the Government’s job, to deal with that, and to stand up for patients.

The hon. Lady talked about being constructive. There is something constructive that she can do, which is to join the Royal College of Surgeons, the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Nursing, and urge members of the British Medical Association not to strike but to negotiate, which is the sensible, constructive thing to do. Will the hon. Lady tell them to do that?