NHS

Debate between Jeremy Hunt and Lord Evans of Rainow

Wednesday 5th February 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

With great respect to the hon. Lady, it was under her Government that we had the horrific tragedy of ambulances circling round hospitals because hospitals did not want to admit them in case they missed their four-hour A and E target. There is a lot of pressure in the system, but the fact is that 3,000 more people every day are being seen within four hours than when her Government were in power. That is something that A and E departments up and down the country can be rightly proud of.

[Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) (Con)]

I have had reason to visit my accident and emergency four times with my young son, who is 10 years old and an enthusiastic rugby and football player. On those four occasions—for a broken nose, a damaged knee, damaged ankles and damaged elbows—we were seen within minutes for pain relief and were out of A and E within two hours.

[Mr Hunt]

That is exactly what is happening in so much of the country. Despite a lot of pressure, our A and E departments are holding up extremely well. I wonder how the staff in that hospital would feel about the constant running down of the NHS that we get from the Opposition.

Let us look at the figures that the right hon. Member for Leigh quoted in more detail. How does he get the number he quoted for the worst winter for a decade?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jeremy Hunt and Lord Evans of Rainow

Tuesday 26th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I have to pay tribute to my right hon. Friend, because he has been talking about the integration of health and social care for a lot longer than I have, and he is absolutely right. I would add to his list one other really important thing we are doing: we are making sure that whatever part of the system someone is in, doctors can access their GP medical record—with their permission—because that information is vital in showing their allergies, medical history and previous admissions. Breaking down the barriers that prevent that from happening is one of the things that has not been picked up but is in the GP contract.

[Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) (Con)]

7. What steps his Department has taken to ease the short and long-term impact of winter pressures on NHS services.

[The Secretary of State for Health (Mr Jeremy Hunt)]

In the short term, a record £400 million has been assigned to help the NHS cope with winter pressures this winter, with £250 million announced in August—much earlier than before. For the long term, we will provide better out-of-hospital care for the frail elderly, by restoring the link between GPs and older patients, and looking to integrate the health and social care systems.

[Graham Evans]

Will my right hon. Friend join me in praising the outstanding work of Age UK and, in particular, Age UK Cheshire, which serves my constituency? It is raising older people’s awareness of seasonal impacts on health and offering support to prevent unnecessary pressures on the health service.

[Mr Hunt]

I am delighted to do that. As these are the last Health questions before Christmas, all of us would want to pay tribute to the voluntary organisations that do an extraordinary job of making sure that vulnerable older people do not get lonely over the Christmas period. It is heroic what they do—when we are with our families, they are looking after other people—and we should salute them all.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jeremy Hunt and Lord Evans of Rainow

Monday 25th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Graham Evans]

When does my right hon. Friend expect the results from the rural broadband pilots to be gathered?

[Mr Hunt]

I hope the rural broadband pilots will start in the middle of next year and that, by the end of that year, we will be in a position to see how successful they have been. The broader issue with these pilots is that we have managed to secure nearly £1 billion of investment for this project—a lot more than the Opposition ever did—but it is going to take a lot more money than that, so we need to use this money to catalyse private sector investment. The point of the pilots is to understand the best way to achieve that, so that we can roll it out to the whole country at minimum cost to the taxpayer.