NHS: Sustainability and Transformation Plans

Lord Blunkett Excerpts

Monday 20th March 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord O’Shaughnessy]

I am sorry to hear the noble Baroness say that about the STPs, which have received support from the King’s Fund and NHS clinical commissioners. I hope that she is also aware that in the Budget the Chancellor announced £325 million of capital spending to support the strongest STPs, those which are capable of providing the kind of integration she has talked about and are delivering the highest levels of performance.

[Lord Blunkett (Lab)]

My Lords, will the Minister share with us whether the department has provided advice or best practice in the localities on the first test of the service reconfiguration? A great deal of disquiet has emerged about a lack of engagement of key partners, never mind mobilising the support of the wider community.

[Lord O’Shaughnessy]

The noble Lord is quite right to bring up the issue of engagement. Those STPs which have been completed and published in draft form are now going through the engagement process. They are also being stress tested by NHS England and NHS Improvement to provide exactly the kind of scrutiny that he has talked about. Finally, in addition to the tests I have mentioned, there can be no significant service reconfigurations or bed closures without passing those tests and without public consultation to provide precisely the reassurance that these changes are about delivering national standards—they are not about trying to find a way around them.

Pregnancy: Neural Tube Defects

Lord Blunkett Excerpts

Monday 21st December 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My Lords, I am certainly not going to argue on clinical grounds with the noble Lord, who knows far more about this than I do. However, the issues are not purely clinical; they are to do with the mass medication of the whole population to reach a very small minority of women of child-bearing age. There are also some administrative issues to do with making sure that people do not take too much folic acid, as some cereals have folic acid added to them. However, I understand exactly what the noble Lord is saying, and can only repeat that the Minister for Public Health is reviewing this now.

[Lord Blunkett (Lab)]

Can I surprise the Minister and not necessarily upset my noble friend Lord Rooker, but put down a word of caution? I agree with what the Minister has just said about having great caution when we involve ourselves in any mass medication—I have a history of being awkward on these issues, including mass medication through the water supply. I have no doubt whatsoever that this is an effective way of tackling the problem, but I have every concern that it is a slippery slope that we go down with great care.

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My Lords, I think they were helpful and wise words from the noble Lord, Lord Blunkett. This is a difficult issue, and it is not as black and white as is sometimes portrayed. As I said, my honourable friend in the other House is taking all these matters into consideration.