NHS (Charitable Trusts Etc.) Bill

Keir Starmer Excerpts

Friday 6th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Keir Starmer (Holborn and St Pancras) (Lab)]

I support the Bill and I am grateful to the hon. Member for Aldridge-Brownhills (Wendy Morton) for the discussions she has had with me about its background and the reasons she is putting it forward in the way she does. I shall confine my comments to the second main subject matter in the Bill, Great Ormond Street hospital, which I have the great privilege of having in my constituency.

As has been said, the hospital was set up in 1852 with just 10 beds. It is now one of the leading hospitals in the world. I had the privilege of working in the next street for 20 years as a lawyer, and the little daughter of close family friends of ours is currently being treated at the hospital, so I know almost first-hand the great work of the hospital. I, too, have visited the hospital as the MP for Holborn and St Pancras.

Like the hon. Member for Aldridge-Brownhills, I was very taken by the work that was going on there. On the afternoon I went to the hospital, I left here fed up and a bit glum for various reasons, and when I was shown round the hospital and saw babies one day old fighting for their lives and receiving the most professional care, it was a most uplifting experience for me and a reminder of what goes on out there in the real world, in hospitals such as Great Ormond Street.

In 1929, the hospital received from J.M. Barrie the copyright to “Peter Pan”, which has provided significant funding for many years since then.

[Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con)]

Does the hon. and learned Gentleman know why J.M. Barrie picked Great Ormond Street hospital, as opposed to any other?

[Keir Starmer]

I am grateful for that intervention. I do not know, but I assume that J.M. Barrie picked that hospital because it was the first in the country dedicated only to children. If I can find out more, I will write to the hon. Gentleman and tell him.

Since 1929 the hospital has pioneered the medical treatment of children and there has been breakthrough after breakthrough, underpinned by a very deep commitment to professionalism among all the staff at every level in the hospital and those who run the hospital. Only yesterday came the news that a baby girl with incurable leukaemia was saved by Great Ormond Street hospital, with surgeons performing what was described as a miracle operation, the first of its kind in the world. She is just the latest in a long line of children who literally owe their lives to Great Ormond Street hospital and its staff.

The hospital has lost none of its ambition. In 2002 it commenced a redevelopment programme to expand capacity, deliver an ever-improving trip service and reduce unnecessary in-patient admissions. I think that everybody in the House was very proud when the hospital featured in the opening ceremony of the London Olympics in 2012 as a symbol of everything that we in this country are proud of.

[Simon Hoare]

Due to your indulgence, Mr Speaker, Members can now Google while listening to a debate. In answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Bury North (Mr Nuttall), the Barries were childless, but in 1929 J. M. Barrie was approached to sit on a committee to help buy some land so that the hospital could be built. Those are his links to the hospital.

[Keir Starmer]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that intervention, which saves me from having to look it up later and write to the hon. Member for Bury North (Mr Nuttall).

The second part of the Bill is needed to ensure that Great Ormond Street hospital can continue to benefit from the copyright to “Peter Pan” and to continue the close relationship between the hospital for children and the boy who never grew up. I urge Members to support the Bill.