Oral Answers to Questions

Laurence Robertson Excerpts

Tuesday 19th April 2022 Commons Chamber

[Edward Argar]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman, and had we been going further down the route of privatisation, his question might have had a little more resonance. What we are doing in the NHS in England is investing in our workforce and investing in our national health service, while of course working closely with the independent sector to maximise the use of its capacity in parallel to make sure we bring down waiting lists and waiting times.

[Mr Laurence Robertson (Tewkesbury) (Con)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

[The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Sajid Javid)]

Our healthcare system is standing at a crossroads, and sooner or later we will have to make a choice between endlessly going back to the taxpayer to ask for more money and reforming the way in which we do healthcare in our country. Last month, I unveiled an ambitious new programme of reform, setting out how we are going to prioritise prevention, offer more personalised care, deliver improvements in performance and back the people making the difference in the NHS. The objective of this agenda is simple: to bring about the biggest transfer of power and funding in decades from our ever-expanding state to individuals, their families and their communities.

[Mr Robertson]

In Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, 30% of patients do not medically need to be in hospital; they are waiting for discharge. That figure is twice the national average. Will one of the Ministers contact the relevant people in the health service in Gloucestershire to ask them for ways in which the Government could help them to reduce that figure, because as it stands lives are being put at risk?

[Sajid Javid]

My hon. Friend is right to raise this. We are already in contact with the acute trust in Gloucestershire and some of the other trusts that are finding delayed discharge a particular challenge. My hon. Friend will know that, because of the pandemic, what has been a long-term challenge has become much more acute, not least because of the lost beds due to infection protection control and staff absences both in healthcare and in social care. Our delayed discharge taskforce is making a difference—the numbers are coming down overall—but we will be working with Gloucestershire.