NHS and Social Care Funding

Debate between Jonathan Ashworth and Robert Flello

Wednesday 11th January 2017 Commons Chamber

[Jonathan Ashworth]

My hon. Friend makes her point eloquently and represents her constituents powerfully, as she always does in this place. I hope the Secretary of State will respond to some of those points.

[Robert Flello (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

The Royal Stoke in my city is under intense pressure. No doubt, we will hear shortly from the Secretary of State that that is winter pressure. Winter has not really started. We have not really had a winter, yet we have been under this pressure not for a few weeks but for months. The whole NHS system is broken. That is the problem that we really face.

[Jonathan Ashworth]

My hon. Friend makes an eloquent point about the particular situation that has been facing Stoke for some time, of which many of us are aware. I hope the Secretary of State will touch on the situation in Stoke, because sadly it is one that we have had to raise previously.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jonathan Ashworth]

I will give way in a few moments. If the Secretary of State wants to lead a discussion about the future of the four-hour A&E standard, will he tell us what discussions he has had with the Royal College of Emergency Medicine? It argues that the four-hour standard is a vital measure of performance and safety, and believes the standard should apply to at least 95% of all patients attending emergency departments. If he says he is still committed to that four-hour standard, is he still committed to maintaining it at 95%?

[Robert Flello]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Jonathan Ashworth]

My hon. Friend has had one bite of the cherry, so if he does not mind I shall make a little progress and then I will do my best to get as many people in as possible.

Does the Secretary of State agree—

National Health Service Funding

Debate between Jonathan Ashworth and Robert Flello

Tuesday 22nd November 2016 Commons Chamber

[Jonathan Ashworth (Leicester South) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House notes with concern that the deficit in the budgets of NHS trusts and foundation trusts in England at the end of the 2015-16 financial year was £2.45 billion; further notes that members of the Health Committee wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer about their concerns that Government assertions on NHS funding were incorrect and risked giving a false impression; and calls on the Government to use the Autumn Statement to address the underfunding of the NHS and guarantee sustainable financing of the NHS.

I begin by reminding the House that, six years ago, the then Conservative leader promised to

“cut the deficit and not the NHS.”

The previous Chancellor, the right hon. Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne), told us that he would “properly fund public services” and that

“investment in public services would come before tax cuts.”—[Official Report, 27 November 2006; Vol. 453, c. 837.]

[Robert Flello (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

Will my hon. Friend give way on that point?

[Jonathan Ashworth]

Oh, go on then.

[Robert Flello]

My hon. Friend is most generous. He might have missed something. Did the Chancellor not say that he would wipe out the deficit by 2015?

[Jonathan Ashworth]

My hon. Friend is eagle-eyed, and I congratulate him on reminding us that the Government should have balanced the books by 2015, and that they completely failed on that pledge.

Then the new Prime Minister made this promise:

“We will be looking to ensure that we provide the health service that is right for everyone in this country.”—[Official Report, 7 September 2016; Vol. 614, c. 333.]

Fine words, but it is by their deeds that they shall be known. What did we actually get? An NHS that is going through the largest financial squeeze in its history. Far from protecting the NHS through the years of this Tory Government, NHS spending will represent an average annual increase of just 0.9%—a decade of barely any increase in spending despite an ageing population with increasingly complex needs.