King’s College Hospital Foundation Trust Debate

Full Debate: Read Full Debate
Department: Department of Health and Social Care

King’s College Hospital Foundation Trust

Marie Rimmer Excerpts
Tuesday 12th December 2017

(7 years ago)

Commons Chamber
Read Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts

Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.

Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.

This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record

Philip Dunne Portrait Mr Dunne
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

My hon. Friend is quite right. There are financial pressures across the NHS in England. We have been very clear and very open about that. Some trusts are managing within those financial challenges and other trusts are not. That is in large part down to the rigour and leadership given to those trusts. Unfortunately, in this trust there has not been sufficient of either.

Marie Rimmer Portrait Ms Marie Rimmer (St Helens South and Whiston) (Lab)
- Hansard - -

Given the financial incapacity problems currently affecting the NHS, is it right or fair that individual acute trust leaders should be removed from their post when surely their perceived failures are part of wider systems issues and funding pressures?

Philip Dunne Portrait Mr Dunne
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

The hon. Lady is right to identify pressures across the system, but it is also the case that when leaders change their position in a very short period of time and oversee a period of significant deterioration, the regulator has to take a view on whether those individuals are the right people to continue to lead that organisation. I think that that is what has happened in this case.