NHS Trusts: Finances Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department of Health and Social Care
Helen Whately
Main Page: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)Department Debates - View all Helen Whately's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
NHS Trusts: Finances
Helen Whately Excerpts(8 years, 9 months ago)
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Ben Gummer
To ask about PFIs signed by the previous Government is a brave line of attack. I have held a number of meetings about Barts with the hon. Lady’s colleagues, and I completely understand the difficulty that she and they—and, indeed, the trust—find themselves in. I had a meeting about Barts this morning. I also had two last week, and I shall be having a further two this week and next week, precisely because I want to see the transformation she needs in her area. I am very happy to discuss that in greater detail with her. In fact, I will convene a meeting of local MPs in the near future.
Helen Whately (Faversham and Mid Kent) (Con)
The Government rightly front-loaded the extra money that the NHS called for in the “Five Year Forward View”, but it is vital that that money is used to drive transformation, such as the productivity improvement that is needed and the shift of care out of hospitals. Will my hon. Friend assure me that the money will go not just to plug deficits, but to change the way in which services are delivered?
Ben Gummer
My hon. Friend is entirely right and speaks from experience. That is why, as part of the spending review settlement, £1.8 billion was set aside as a transformation fund. The principle behind the transformation fund is that the money will go to those trusts that are beginning to show transformation in the way they are running not only their finances, but their whole operations. That is for the betterment of patients as a whole. We have to see transformation; otherwise money will be wasted, as it has been in years previously.