Medical Cannabis under Prescription

Debate between John Howell and Michael Fabricant

Monday 20th May 2019 Commons Chamber

[John Howell]

My right hon. Friend makes a valid point. The question is: why have so few—as he says, only two—actually received their medicine? Why has nobody else received them?

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

I have discussed this matter with Helen Stokes-Lampard, the chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, and she makes the point that there is not training available for GPs to feel confident enough to prescribe this medicine themselves.

[John Howell]

I will come to the point about training in a moment, if my hon. Friend will be patient, but he makes a valid point.

I appreciate that we have to go carefully, in view of the harm that the unrestricted use of cannabis might do, but the number of people who have received their drugs is a mere pinprick on the surface of those who need them. I am not surprised people go abroad to get their drugs, because it is the only source.

GP Services

Debate between John Howell and Michael Fabricant

Thursday 5th February 2015 Commons Chamber

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

It is a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Halton (Derek Twigg). I congratulate him on securing this debate, which highlights a very important subject.

Over the past few months, I have had discussions with GP practices across my constituency. I have had a number of meetings with GPs, usually during their lunch hour, and we have covered a wide range of topics, some relating to the new hospital being built in Henley as a re-provision of the old one, and some relating to the individual situation of GPs. These discussions arose out of my speaking to a conference of GP practice managers. It is important to stress the crucial role of managers in running GPs’ practices. There was a lot of agreement between myself and the right hon. Member for Oxford East (Mr Smith) about how the health service is organised. My meetings with GPs have also come about as a result of talking to patient groups.

GPs are excited at the possibility of providing a range of services, through new methods, in the hospital in Henley, and are very much part of the discussion with the CCG on this. There is a real possibility of an emergency multidisciplinary unit there.

When talking to GPs, I have raised the subject of access to GPs and services. In my constituency, access is not an issue. If people need urgent appointments, GPs will make themselves available. People can ring for an appointment and be given one very quickly. I have found that to be the case with my own surgery, for example, and I applaud the dedication and the willingness to work in co-operation that have been shown by GPs in these circumstances. Sometimes, though, if people ask to see a specific GP urgently, that may not be possible, but these are small practices where there is good communication and discussion of medical issues between the limited number of doctors there. Access does become a problem when practices are essentially outposts of another practice. This occurs in the north of my constituency in a village called Chinnor, where the practices are outposts of practices across the border in Princes Risborough. Managing that can create certain problems for GPs.

The major problem put to me by GPs is patient expectations. I would not want to limit patients’ genuine expectation of good service provided in a timely manner, but we expect things without a wait, so the issue is the expectation, rather than the GP’s availability.

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that another problem facing GPs and the NHS in general is patients who make appointments with GPs and consultants and do not turn up?

[John Howell]

If my hon. Friend will give me a chance, I will come to that very point, which is one that I discussed with GPs and patient groups.

There is also the expectation of what a GP can do. The number of visits per patient may be up, which is increasing demand, but the causes, according to GPs, are, first, the desire for an instant cure. People are not giving minor ailments time to heal themselves, but expect medicine on tap for everything. Thus going to a GP as soon as symptoms occur is part of the expectation. Secondly, people are motivated to see their GP by advertisements listing symptoms and encouraging people to go to a GP if they have them.