Special Measures Regime

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Wednesday 16th July 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

If the hon. Gentleman is worried about cuts, perhaps he might talk to the shadow Secretary of State and ask him why he said it was irresponsible for us to increase the NHS budget as we did.

On the particular issue the hon. Gentleman raises, I actually agree with the shadow Secretary of State. It is not always possible to solve these problems simply by reference to the institution. Sometimes we have to look at the broader health economy. That is particularly true of A and E, but it is true for many other parts of the NHS too. Where there is a broader health economy issue we must look at that as well, but this process means that Ministers are held to account for finding a solution, whatever that solution is.

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

I join my right hon. Friend in his tribute to the front-line and managerial staff at North Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust. My constituents will particularly welcome the increase in staffing levels and the improvements in the stroke unit, which has been a particular concern. He will be aware of recent public criticism of the hospital trust by North Lincolnshire clinical commissioning group. Can he assure my constituents that the continuing help and support will focus on the aspects of its criticism?

[Mr Hunt]

That certainly needs to happen. I visited my hon. Friend’s trust and saw a knee operation. I talked to the staff about the special measures regime, and they said that they thought important changes were happening, so I was delighted too when they came out of special measures. We will certainly give all the support they need, and I thank him for the support he is giving his local hospital.

Patient Safety

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Tuesday 24th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I shall be happy to raise that issue with the Justice Secretary, and I thank my hon. Friend for raising it. I think it reminds us that whatever changes we may make in the House, it will take time for them to filter through. I am afraid that, even now, some terrible things are happening. One of the things that worries me most is that abuse of this kind often involves people who have dementia and cannot speak up for themselves. That is why it is so important for us to raise the profile of dementia, and to improve the training of those who care for people with the condition.

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

May I take up what was said by my hon. Friend the Member for Brigg and Goole (Andrew Percy)? My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will appreciate the concern felt by my constituents at a time when the local media are full of a dispute between the clinical commissioning group and the hospital trust about an ongoing investigation of patient safety. Can he assure patients that every support will be given to the CCG and the trust when the recommendations following the inquiry become known?

[Mr Hunt]

Yes, I can. My hon. Friend’s local trust is in special measures, and the decision on whether a trust should come out of special measures is no longer one for the Secretary of State; it is made independently by the chief inspector of hospitals. I hope that we have created incentives for system leaders to solve these problems, because if they do not, the chief inspector will simply not decide that the trust can be taken out of special measures.

Care Homes

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Thursday 1st May 2014 Commons Chamber

[Norman Lamb]

I will investigate the figures that the hon. Lady mentions. She is right to suggest that it is important that if employers—both in the social care and health sectors—dismiss a worker for abuse of patients or residents, they refer the case to the barring scheme. If employers are not doing that, they are failing in their responsibilities. We have to protect people in such cases and I will look into the point she raises.

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

The CQC has recently published a critical report on some care homes in north-east Lincolnshire that care for people suffering from mental health difficulties. I welcome what the Minister said earlier about the need for better training. Dealing with mental health patients is particularly challenging, so can he give an absolute assurance that more work will be done to ensure that training meets the standards required?

[Norman Lamb]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for highlighting the fact that it is just as important to protect and provide great care for younger adults who have other needs, be those mental health issues, learning disabilities or autism, as it is for frail older people. All the requirements on compulsory training will apply equally in the former settings as they will in the latter. We have to drive up standards there as well.

Oral Answers to Questions

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Dr Poulter]

The hon. Lady is being economical with the figures. I indicated earlier that 70% of trusts and 89% of foundation trusts are predicted either to break even or end the year with a financial surplus. That is hardly a difficult position. Those trusts that have deficits are often a direct legacy of the PFI deals negotiated by the previous Government and the right hon. Member for Leigh (Andy Burnham) when he was Secretary of State. The sector as a whole is predicting £109 million of surplus. That is hardly a deficit. I know that the Labour party is not very good with figures and cannot add up, which is why this country is in such an economic mess, but the figures speak for themselves: £109 million of surplus is predicted for trusts and foundation trusts.

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

5. What recent progress he has made on improving the performance of hospital trusts placed in special measures.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

8. What recent progress he has made on improving the performance of hospital trusts placed in special measures.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Secretary of State for Health (Mr Jeremy Hunt)]

Significant progress has been made at all 11 trusts placed in special measures in July, including changing the chair or chief executive officer and recruiting more nurses in every single one them and partnering each of them with a high-performing hospital so that they can make rapid progress in turning things around.

[Martin Vickers]

I thank the Secretary of State for his reply. He will be aware of my constituents’ concerns about services at Diana, Princess of Wales hospital in Grimsby. There are doubts about the future of the stroke unit and high mortality rates, and there are also problems with the East Midlands ambulance service. Will the Secretary of State give an assurance that he is satisfied that progress is being made at the hospital?

[Mr Hunt]

I think good progress is being made and I commend my hon. Friend for his campaigning on the issue. The trust concerned has introduced better privacy for patients, hired 154 nurses since the Keogh report and introduced electronic vital signs reporting at the bedside—all because we are being transparent and open about problems in the NHS and not sweeping them under the carpet.

Hospital Mortality Rates

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Tuesday 16th July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

I welcome the robust and determined approach that my right hon. Friend is taking. It is right that the mistakes of the past should be thoroughly investigated, but my constituents—some of whom are waiting to go into Grimsby and Scunthorpe hospitals—need an assurance that action will be taken to remedy the situation immediately. There are many dedicated staff in our area, but recruitment has always been a problem in northern Lincolnshire. Will my right hon. Friend assure me that if additional support is needed to recruit the best clinicians and managers, it will be made available?

[Mr Hunt]

We will quite simply do what it takes to ensure that we implement the recommendations of the Keogh review for north Lincolnshire hospitals. We owe my hon. Friend’s constituents nothing less. The first step is to be honest about the problems. The big difference between the two sides of the House is illustrated by the fact that we will restore morale not by pretending that the problems do not exist but by being honest about them and confronting them. That is what we will do in my hon. Friend’s constituency.

Children’s Heart Surgery

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Wednesday 12th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I can confirm that. One of the recommendations of the review was that the ECMO decision be linked to what is decided under Safe and Sustainable, and I know that NHS England will want to consider that carefully. I hope to be able to come back to the House to report what it decides as soon as possible.

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

My Cleethorpes constituency is on the very edge of the area served by the Leeds unit, and I particularly welcome the acknowledgement that future investigations will consider geography, but as well as feeling isolated geographically, many of my constituents felt somewhat isolated from the whole process. We do not want to prolong the process unnecessarily, but will the Secretary of State assure me that there will be some mechanism allowing input from individual constituents?

Oral Answers to Questions

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Tuesday 11th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Dr Poulter]

My hon. Friend can be reassured that the trust development authority and the local chief commissioner for Erewash CCGs are closely monitoring the situation. Today, the Marsh review into the east of England ambulance service has been published, and lessons from that review about how management processes can improve front-line care for patients can be learned and applied across other ambulance services.

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

My constituency is also served by EMAS and it is evident that my constituents have cause for concern. Coupled with uncertainty about the future of the Leeds children’s heart unit and higher than average mortality rates in local hospitals, the situation is causing considerable concern. Will the Minister agree to meet me and neighbouring MPs to discuss those problems?

[Dr Poulter]

I would be delighted to do so.

Heart Surgery (Leeds)

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Monday 15th April 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

What I say to the hon. Gentleman is that it is a fine hospital and a safe hospital, but data were presented to the NHS medical director that said that mortality rates there for children’s heart surgery were two and three quarter times higher than should be expected. In that situation, there is of course a great deal of inconvenience and worry caused by a decision to suspend surgery, but I would rather have that inconvenience and worry than continue with surgery when we have not got to the bottom of whether there is any truth in those data. That must be the right thing to do for the people who are due to have operations at that hospital.

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

Parents whose children face major surgery are already particularly anxious and distressed, and that is before an unseemly public dispute breaks out between the medical experts that they rely on. This also highlights the fact that the investigation has been going on for far too long. The uncertainty is unacceptable. May I urge my right hon. Friend to do everything possible to bring the matter to a speedy conclusion?

[Mr Hunt]

I completely agree with my hon. Friend. I want this to be resolved as quickly as possible. We have to operate within legal due process, but the sooner we can resolve the uncertainty, the better.

Social Care Funding

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Monday 11th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

What the shadow Secretary of State said this morning would have cost the country an extra £2.4 billion on top of the proposals that we are outlining today. Labour Members need to say whether they would pay for that by increasing taxes or by reducing spending, but perhaps they are thinking of adding to the deficit.

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

I, too, welcome my right hon. Friend’s announcement and the progress he has made. However, he will be aware that in a constituency such as Cleethorpes, which I represent and where a terraced house can cost less than £75,000, vulnerable and elderly people will still be concerned about the figures that are being tossed around. Will my right hon. Friend ensure that his Department passes the information to local authorities and local organisations that advise such people, in the hope that they can clearly understand the commitments?

[Mr Hunt]

We will be happy to do that. I think that my hon. Friend’s constituents will value the fact that the horrifically low threshold of £23,000, beyond which they get no help at all, will be raised significantly to the £100,000 threshold, in 2010-11 prices, that Andrew Dilnot recommended. Under the draft Care and Support Bill, all local authorities will be obliged to give a care assessment and access to financial advice to everyone in their area in order to make sure that constituents such as those of my hon. Friend are given the information they need.

Oral Answers to Questions

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Tuesday 15th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I will make my decision when I have the IRP’s final recommendation. Obviously I cannot speculate on what the final decision will be, but let me reassure the right hon. Gentleman, as I did with my hon. Friend the Member for Brigg and Goole (Andrew Percy), that my decision will be taken on the basis of clinical need—in other words, what will save the most lives.

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

I note my right hon. Friend’s comments about his final decision being based on clinical advice, but will he also give consideration to patients and families in areas that are more remote from the centre, such as my constituency? This decision causes extra strain and cost to families and will also mean that they will not go to Newcastle, and therefore Newcastle will not achieve its target number of operations.

[Mr Hunt]

I am aware of those arguments. There is always the difficult issue of access versus the benefits of clinical specialisation, but I need to wait for the IRP to report before I can give a view on how it applies in this instance.