Oral Answers to Questions

Henry Smith Excerpts

Tuesday 7th December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Paul Burstow]

Of course the money will be accountable to Parliament, as it is now. The hon. Lady’s comments reflect an interesting campaign that the Labour party has dreamed up, which is very much to ally itself with the interests of primary care trusts rather than those of patients and ensuring that we improve public services. This Government’s proposals will improve the way in which services are commissioned, deliver better outcomes for patients up and down the country, and deliver the integration across health and social care that the previous Government failed to deliver.

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

3. What recent progress he has made on the introduction of GP-led commissioning consortiums.

[Mark Lancaster (Milton Keynes North) (Con)]

13. What recent progress he has made on the introduction of GP-led commissioning consortiums.

[The Secretary of State for Health (Mr Andrew Lansley)]

On 21 October, I invited general practice-led commissioning consortiums to put themselves forward as pathfinders, and I have been absolutely delighted by the response. The pathfinder consortiums will be announced shortly. They have formed in response to the needs of local communities, and there is, sensibly, variation around the country to take account of those differing needs. Some consortiums map on to local authority boundaries; others organise themselves around catchments for hospitals or smaller populations. This bottom-up, locally determined approach is exactly in line with what we envisaged in the policy framework.

[Henry Smith]

Under the previous Government, Crawley hospital saw the removal of services such as accident and emergency and maternity. Can my right hon. Friend explain how, under the new GP-led consortiums, doctors will have the freedom and the flexibility to be able to refer their patients to local services if they so choose, as well as to new services?

[Mr Lansley]

That is exactly what our reforms will allow. We are putting not only the freedom to refer in the hands of general practices but choice in the hands of patients, and allying that to the power on the part of commissioners to commission services that meet the needs of their local community. That is precisely the change that will empower front-line clinicians and patients.