Health

Nic Dakin Excerpts

Monday 9th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. It is a pleasure to speak in this debate.

There is unanimity across the House on the importance of the NHS in our lives and the lives of the people we serve. The vast majority of people working in the NHS do fantastic work day in, day out, often in difficult conditions, to deliver a health service that is the envy of most parts of the world. In our desire to make that even better, we sometimes forget the very good things that are there, but when the NHS fails us, it is important that we tackle those failures effectively.

One thing I have noticed when talking to health professionals at whatever level in my constituency in Scunthorpe is that they, to a man and a woman, feel that the reorganisation that was thrust upon them by this Government after promising no top-down reorganisation has distracted attention and added work load, when there is already a challenging work load to tackle without having to deal with that. There is a big enough challenge anyway.

“Healthy Lives, Healthy Futures” is the consultation that North Lincolnshire clinical commissioning group is undertaking to find out whether to take forward health provision locally. That is an important endeavour, but the growth in the number of people turning up at A and E and the ageing population create great challenges for everyone. It is interesting that the financial challenges that are faced compound that. The PCT legacy debts were provided for and CCGs had further money taken out of their budget for that. A further £2 million was taken out of the CCG budget locally, although its budget is about £100 million, to deal with the pressures in specialist commissioning. The challenges involved in specialist commissioning need to be tackled. That might have been included in the Queen’s Speech.

One of the oddities of the Queen’s Speech is how little there is in it about the things that are most important to us—nothing about standard cigarette packaging, despite the Minister saying that she would introduce regulations, nothing on smoking in cars, despite the Minister saying that she would introduce regulations, and nothing to make it easier for people to see their GP. In its consultation with local people, Healthwatch North Lincolnshire identified access to a GP as one of the big issues locally. I had hoped that something would be done on that. I am pleased that the shadow Health Secretary made it very clear that Labour will at the first opportunity repeal the Health and Social Care Act 2012 and by rolling back the costs of competition and marketisation will guarantee an appointment at the GP’s surgery within 48 hours. That is something to be proud of.

Another missed opportunity was to do something to end the abuse of older people. Why not respond to Age UK’s call to make it an offence to neglect a vulnerable adult and to ensure that directors of organisations that provide health or care services can be held accountable for neglect or abuse? Why not do something about that? There is so much that could be in this Queen’s Speech and is not but, as my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Steve McCabe) said, at least we have the 5p plastic bag Bill and we should be grateful for that.

Let me turn to another issue that could have been tackled in the Queen’s speech: the need to up the game on our work on antimicrobial resistance. Take for example tuberculosis, caused by bacterial infection through the air. If left untreated, it becomes deadly and BCG vaccinations are not as effective as they should be. Many people think that TB has been wiped out, yet London has the highest rate of TB of any capital in the western world. An increasing percentage of those cases are resistant to TB drugs and TB has always affected the poor. No new front-line drugs have been developed in 50 years, so why not tackle this disease, which is a real threat and is already here?

TB can be prevented by relatively low levels of investment in proactive diagnosis, outreach and good social and clinical care. It is a complex disease that can be made more complex by our health services, which often fail to diagnose it on first sight. Some doctors unfortunately prescribe antibiotics, which feed the AMR and do nothing to help patients with TB. We need to raise awareness of the disease and make sure that patients get the right support from health services that are properly staffed and equipped. We need comprehensive outreach for TB, with screening, diagnosis and treatment of people before their health deteriorates and before they can pass the disease on to others. In short, we need a preventive approach to TB and other infectious diseases like it.

We need to invest now to save later, and my point about TB is illustrative of the many other things on which we need action. Instead of that action, in this Queen’s Speech we have more of the same inaction and inertia. It is not good enough. I mark this Queen’s Speech low on its approach to health issues, and I look forward to hearing the responses from the shadow Minister and the Minister.

Cancer Treatment and Prevention

Nic Dakin Excerpts

Tuesday 11th March 2014 Westminster Hall

[Eric Ollerenshaw (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Con)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Derbyshire (Pauline Latham) on securing this debate.

I apologise in advance because there will be some repetition as I had an Adjournment debate last week on pancreatic cancer and a new drug, which is fundamentally what I will speak about this morning. I think hon. Members will understand that there is a need for repetition, because we are right in the middle of the Cancer Drugs Fund’s making a decision about this drug, so anything extra we can add is useful. I am sure the Minister has heard this before, because she attended that Adjournment debate on Tuesday 4 March.

The Cancer Drugs Fund met on Thursday 6 March and I understand that the process is that it will take a week to consider, then it will inform the applicants and then, in two weeks’ time, its decision about Abraxane will be made public and we will know. Abraxane has been licensed for use in patients in the UK and Ireland with metastatic pancreatic cancer; it has been described as the biggest advance in pancreatic cancer treatment in almost two decades, for a disease where survival rates have barely changed in 40 years.

As Abraxane has not been approved by NICE, it is not yet available on the NHS as a standard treatment. Pancreatic Cancer UK, the biggest charity in this field, together with Pancreatic Cancer Action are both keen to ensure that patients are able to access Abraxane through the Cancer Drugs Fund. We should like to see the drug approved by the CDF then eventually by NICE, so that access to it is more readily available. We know that Abraxane is due to be reviewed by NICE soon, but this process takes a great deal of time, and time is something that most pancreatic cancer patients do not always have.

My comments relate to the treatment of cancer. As I have said, I hope that hon. Members will put up with some repetition, given the importance of these few weeks to the sufferers, survivors and friends and relatives connected to this cancer, because it is a highly charged moment.

[Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Mid Derbyshire (Pauline Latham) on securing this debate. Does the hon. Gentleman agree with her that the key is early intervention and effective treatment? That is the key to getting it right with regard to melanoma, bowel cancer, pancreatic cancer and ovarian cancer, for example. The hon. Gentleman is making powerful points in this respect.

[Eric Ollerenshaw]

As per usual, I agree with the hon. Member for Scunthorpe (Nic Dakin). I pay tribute to his work on the all-party group on pancreatic cancer. He and my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Derbyshire hit the nail on the head. At the moment I am just talking about treatment, but early diagnosis is the key to all of this, particularly pancreatic cancer. More than 50% of people who are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer are diagnosed after emergency admission to hospital: it is that late and, too often, too late to be able to do much in terms of survival beyond a year. Only 4% of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer survive for up to five years, so it is clear how dramatic an improvement in early diagnosis would be.

It is estimated, on average, that Abraxane will allow a further two months’ survival, which, in the great scheme of things, does not seem massive, but it could double the lifetime chances of the average pancreatic cancer sufferer. Pancreatic Cancer UK launched its campaign, “Two More Months”, to highlight that. I quoted examples in my other Adjournment debate, which hon. Members may read, of survivors describing what two more months could have done for them, in their situation. Survivors talk about the possibility of getting married, which was not available because the person died early. There are other heart-rending examples of what that time would have enabled them to do. To underline the point, in terms of pancreatic cancer, as I have said, two more months is a massive improvement on what is available, unfortunately, to far too many.

In my Adjournment debate, I expressed our fears—the all-party group’s, Pancreatic Cancer UK’s and Pancreatic Cancer Action’s—that the call for the drug to be made available would be dismissed by the Cancer Drugs Fund because it gives only two more months. It is interesting that there are no pancreatic specialists in the Cancer Drugs Fund. Our key concern last week was that the two months would not be considered sufficient, because in comparison with other cancers it does not seem a great deal of time. Yet more than 60 specialists treating patients with pancreatic cancer shared their names, via Dr Seb Cummins, supporting this submission and therefore hoping that they would be listened to.

Although I did not attend the meeting, apparently the panel did not acknowledge the unmet need in this disease area and did not allocate points to represent this, given its criteria. Individual panel members did not appear to accept, as we feared, the benefits of an additional two months, although I am told that there was some acceptance that, yes, the drug did prolong life. Obviously, the panel has to take into account—I am not a specialist in medicine, Mr Gray, as you well know—the quality of life in those two months.

I understand that the decision will have been made, but it will not be public until two weeks’ time. So where do we go from here? I have already expressed concern about the Cancer Drugs Fund, because, to my knowledge, last year not one new cancer drug was agreed, plus none, if I understand the system correctly—I admit that my understanding of it is a bit basic—has been passed down to standard NHS clinical use. Nothing has left its funding stream. I am told that it has overspent a certain amount of money, but again I do not know whether it is anecdotal or exactly correct; I hope that the Minister comments on that.

The Cancer Drugs Fund process has had enormous success, which I acknowledge. Thousands of people have benefited from this innovation. There is anecdotal evidence that, because this does not exist in Wales, people there are moving across into England to take advantage of it, and why would they not, if they or somebody in their family is in this situation? The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon), who is present, has commented previously on the situation in Northern Ireland. However, although I acknowledge its massive success, it seems to me, from the outside, that somehow we are stuck in respect of where we go with the Cancer Drugs Fund and its funding in future.

It almost appears as though the Cancer Drugs Fund has become a victim of its own success. We must not let that success become failure now, simply because we are going to get a blockage of applications for new drugs; I thought that dealing with those was the whole purpose of the Cancer Drugs Fund in the long run.

In terms of pancreatic cancer, too many hopes have been raised too many times and for too long it has remained the poor relation in all this. So when hope, such as this new drug, comes along, we want that hope tested, not against other cancers but against a past history of neglect. Pancreatic cancer already has the lowest survival rate of the 21 most common cancers. As I mentioned, five-year survival rates are less than 4%. This figure has barely changed in nearly 40 years. Pancreatic cancer five-year survival rates lag behind many other European Union countries and are almost half of what they are in the United States, Canada and Australia.

Hon. Members might now understand why we want the hope given by this new drug extended to the 7,900 of the soon-to-be diagnosed 8,500 patients this year, because these 7,900 will be diagnosed with cancer too late and will die within the year. They deserve that extra time that so many others were denied in the past because there was nothing like Abraxane available. They deserve some extra consideration, given our past neglect of this, the fifth biggest cancer killer in our country.

Pancreatic Cancer

Nic Dakin Excerpts

Tuesday 4th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Lancaster and Fleetwood (Eric Ollerenshaw) on securing this debate and setting the scene so well. Pancreatic cancer needs all our efforts if we are to make a difference. I pay tribute to pancreatic cancer patients up and down the land, including my good friend Sir John Mason, who is battling the disease, and all the families and friends of those with pancreatic cancer, as well as those working with and supporting them.

As the hon. Gentleman said, survival rates from the disease have not changed for 40 years. Abraxane gives the opportunity not only for two more months, but to bring about change and transform how the disease is dealt with in future. In the United States, there is already innovation in how the disease is being tackled. I hope that the people having to make these difficult decisions listen to this debate and take it into account when making the decisions in a proper and objective way. It is important that our voices echo those of people who are contacting us about the condition, including my constituent Maggie Watts who has assembled a petition of 45,117 names of people who are shouting for something to be done about this disease.

That is all I want to say; I wanted to add my support to that of the hon. Member the Member for Lancaster and Fleetwood with whom I have worked on the all-party parliamentary group on pancreatic cancer.

Oral Answers to Questions

Nic Dakin Excerpts

Tuesday 25th February 2014 Commons Chamber

[Norman Lamb]

I remember the quote from Tony Blair well—he did not want to live in a country where people have to sell their homes to pay for care. However, over 13 years of the last Labour Government nothing happened. There were lots of commitments—manifesto commitments and so on. However, I am proud of the fact that this coalition Government are implementing reform, and it is long overdue.

[Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)]

4. What assessment he has made of the role of dispensing doctors in the NHS.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Jane Ellison)]

Patients can take their prescriptions to any pharmacy where they wish to have their prescriptions dispensed, but we know that in remote and rural areas, where pharmacies may not be viable, NHS England may authorise GPs to dispense to patients, provided that certain criteria set out in regulations are met.

[Nic Dakin]

Dispensing doctors play an important part in rural areas, as the Minister said, but they face particular challenges at the moment. Will she meet me and representatives of the Dispensing Doctors’ Association to discuss these challenges?

[Jane Ellison]

I am always happy to meet colleagues. I think that Earl Howe leads on the matter in the Department, and I shall draw the hon. Gentleman’s concerns to his attention. It is for NHS England to ensure that everyone has a pharmacy available to them, and I am aware that the CCG allocation formula includes allowances for rurality, but we know that this is a particular challenge.

Dermatology Funding

Nic Dakin Excerpts

Wednesday 4th December 2013 Westminster Hall

[Sir Edward Leigh]

I am not surprised. I found similar figures in Lincolnshire. I should think that the same sort of problem will be found anywhere in the England.

The most common reasons for people visiting their GP are skin infections and eczema. Nearly a fifth of all GP consultations relate to a skin disease. Atopic eczema is the most common form of eczema. All my children have had it, and one of my boys suffered badly. Some children suffer grievously from it. It can affect people of all ages, but is primarily seen in children and affects up to 20% of children by the age of seven. Most people grow out of it, but a number of adults continue to show symptoms at a later age, some having the condition for life.

Eczema is typically characterised by red, sore and itchy patches of skin. For those who have it or those, such as parents, who have to care for a child with it, eczema can be highly debilitating. Sleep deprivation is common in children with eczema and, therefore, of course, in their parents. It causes major disruption to family life, not least because of the application of endless amounts of ointment. I know all about that.

Psoriasis, from which my brother and my mother suffered, has serious effects. It affects only 2% to 3% of the population, but often has devastating consequences for those who have it. Its onset is typically at 15 to 24 years, which is such a crucial stage in a person’s development. It is an immune condition that triggers excess replacement skin cells, which can lead to raised plaques on the skin that can be flaky, sore and itchy. It is a serious problem.

Then there is acne—I know all about that, too—a condition most commonly associated with adolescent teenagers. Although the condition is thought to be linked with hormonal changes during puberty, some 80% of young people above the age of 11 will have a degree of it at some point. It can affect people well into their adult lives, and it can be severe. Acne scarring is permanent. About 5% of women and 1% of men have acne over the age of 25. In a not inconsiderable number of cases, acne is widespread and ever-present, producing feelings of shame, despair and even, I am sorry to say, suicide in some cases. Acne is particularly tricky, psychologically, because it is often at its worst when the young emerging adult is feeling at their most self-conscious.

Other common conditions seen by specialists include vitiligo, urticaria, rosacea, herpes simplex, shingles, vascular lesions, benign skin tumours, benign moles, solar keratosis, viral warts, non-malignant skin cancers—I know all about that, too—and malignant melanomas. The list is almost endless, running as it does to a couple of thousand different conditions, each of which can have profound effects on the lives of those who have them. People who suffer from these diseases often do not want to speak about them. I am attempting, in this small debate, to give these people a voice.

It is worth saying that serious psychological effects are sparked by skin disease. We live in a society where we are subjected daily to images of perfection, selling everything from make-up, fashion and holidays to ice-cream. Skin conditions are sometimes very visible, and some people are highly prejudiced against those who have them, and make little attempt to hide that. That can lead to stress, depression, anxiety, and other related problems.

There is a beautiful picture in the Louvre of a child reaching out to an old man, probably their grandfather. The child is beautiful and the old man, who obviously suffers from rosacea, is deformed and hideous. The point of the painting is that beauty lies inside, not on the skin, but that is not often the view of modern society, so skin conditions lead to psychological stress.

Many of these facts—I could go on, but I will not—are set out in detail in the recent report on the psychological effects of skin disease published by the all-party group on skin. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Mole Valley (Sir Paul Beresford) who chairs that group and does it well.

Despite the fact that skin disorders are both serious and the most likely reason for someone to go to their GP, training and knowledge of dermatology among primary care health professionals is generally very limited. Perhaps “very” is wrong, but it is certainly limited. Astonishingly, there is no compulsory requirement for dermatology training in undergraduate or postgraduate medical programmes of study. Dermatology is still not included in all undergraduate medical school curriculums; it is optional in some, and untested in others. In five to six years of medical training to become a doctor, the average medical school offers—I found this incredible— less than a fortnight of teaching in dermatology. This is often combined with another so-called minor field of medicine. I am told that many miss this teaching altogether, not regarding it as important, and joke about taking a “dermaholiday”. That is like the NHS employing an army of plumbers who are highly knowledgeable about boilers and blocked drains but who do not know how to trace a leak or mend a pipe. By failing to provide adequate education in dermatology, which is an important field of medicine, we are badly failing to meet the needs of patients.

[Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing this important debate. He is setting out his stall extremely well. According to the consultant dermatologist at Scunthorpe general hospital who contacted me, 15% of patients presenting to GPs have a skin disorder of one kind or another, which underlines the hon. Gentleman’s point on the importance of including dermatology in GP training.

[Sir Edward Leigh]

In a moment, I will address the fact that skin diseases can have fatal consequences. As GPs often do not have adequate training, they are not able to spot conditions that can be very dangerous.

Training is important. In a 2008 survey of final-year medical students, only 52% of 449 respondents said that they felt they had the necessary skills to manage skin conditions. A lack of education and training may lead to fatal errors, and I stress that point because skin disease is not only about psychological damage. Skin lesions mistakenly taken to be benign can lead to cancer. Conversely, inappropriate referrals to secondary care can be costly and are blocking up big parts of secondary care. As awareness of litigation increases in the NHS, GPs are, unsurprisingly, less and less willing to take risks, so they refer more and more patients to secondary care. I understand that the general hospital in Lincolnshire—this echoes the point raised by my right hon. Friend the Member for Chesham and Amersham (Mrs Gillan)—has seen a 26% rise in dermatology referrals for secondary care in the past year, and it is not alone.

The exploding incidence of skin cancer, an ageing population and side effects from new potent drugs are all driving referral rates. It has been guesstimated that there are 100,000 cases of skin cancer a year in the UK, but the number is not known for sure because the NHS does not collect figures for cancers that are not melanomas. Work this year suggests that the number may be nearer to 700,000; that is what dermatologists tell me, because they are dealing with such a volume of cases, day by day.

Studies show that the skill of GPs in diagnosing skin lesions needs improvement, and other studies raise concerns about the standard of skin surgery offered in primary care. In 2012, the Royal College of General Practitioners updated its curriculum statement on the care of people with skin problems. The statement goes a long way towards recognising dermatology as a key component of a GP’s training. The statement sets out a number of expected key competences within the field, but crucially, dermatology remains an optional component. For undergraduates, the British Association of Dermatologists recommends a two-week full-time attachment to a dermatology unit, with a realistic assessment at the end of the course. The association thinks that dermatology should also be taught when undergraduates work with general practitioners in the community. When trainee GPs are undertaking their two-year hospital placement, a six-month post in dermatology alone, in a combined post such as dermatology and general medicine, or in a combined minor specialty rotation would go a long way towards helping trainee GPs to take a special interest in dermatology, which is what we need.

The GP training period is likely to be lengthened by 12 months. I urge all interested parties—Health Education England, the royal colleges, the General Medical Council and the ultimate employer, NHS England—to use half or all of that extra time on a proper dermatology rotation, which would ensure that the GPs of the future are properly equipped to address their future work load. If that is to happen, funding must be made available to ensure that there is adequate consultant time to train budding GPs and to pay their salary while they undergo the hospital training.

Urgent and Emergency Care Review

Nic Dakin Excerpts

Tuesday 12th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

My hon. Friend speaks extremely wisely. He invited me to visit Kettering hospital, and I saw for myself that it was a very, very busy hospital. In the end, if we just stick with the current model we will reach bursting point, which is why we need to look at new models. That is why tomorrow’s review is important, and part of that—in fact, the bulk of the work in tomorrow’s review—is about how we transform out-of-hospital care, which is the big strategic change that we need to make in our NHS, and on which I am afraid the previous Government made so little progress.

[Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)]

Tomorrow’s review is supposed to deal with issues to do with this winter. Will the Secretary of State give the House an assurance that there will be no crisis of A and E on his watch this winter?

[Mr Hunt]

A and E departments are under huge pressure. We are seeing about 1 million more people every year than three years ago, and we have done more this year than has ever been done in NHS history to help to prepare the NHS for winter, including giving £250 million to 53 local health economies where the pressures are greatest. We continue to monitor the situation very, very closely to give more support where we can.

Cancer Patient Experience

Nic Dakin Excerpts

Wednesday 30th October 2013 Westminster Hall

[Mr Clappison]

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point that I am sure the Minister will want to address. The last thing that somebody coping with the treatments and everything else wants is to be bombarded with different pieces of information and requests from central or local government bodies, which could do something much more coherent and easy to understand if they streamlined their services.

I would like to address relational care, which the hon. Member for Upper Bann (David Simpson) raised in his intervention. It covers matters such as communication, trust in nurses and being treated with respect, all of which are important for cancer patients. There is still room for improvement, according to the findings of the most recent survey. For example, 42% of respondents said that not all doctors and nurses asked what name patients preferred to be called by, which can be important to older people. It is a question of finding the right amount of kindness. Our clinicians—nurses and doctors—are marvellous, but that did emerge from the patient survey. Kindness can make a great difference to people in that situation.

Macmillan Cancer Support’s report showed that patient experience across the NHS is still not regarded as having equal importance as clinical effectiveness and patient safety. The Government’s decision to make patient experience one of the five domains against which the health service will be held to account should be warmly welcomed. It is clear, however, that a lot of effort needs to be put into the institutional framework to reinforce that priority.

The NHS mandate and outcomes framework needs a stronger focus on improving relational care. Hospital boards need to take a lead on prioritising patient care; a recent survey showed that its importance to different hospital boards varies considerably, which is clearly wrong, because all hospital boards should take it seriously. Commissioners of cancer services have a vital role to play, as does the chief inspector of hospitals. All such bodies need to reinforce the need for relational care and kindness in dealing with cancer patients.

[Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing the debate, and I apologise for having to leave before the end. Does he think that it is also important that priority be given to communication skills between medical staff and patients? That is the core of what he has outlined.

[Mr Clappison]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. I agree that communication skills are important; the important factor is that kindness should be received by the patient.

I put a point to the Minister on behalf of Macmillan Cancer Support: I hope that the Government will deal with the matters we have discussed and put patient experience at the heart of the inspection process being put in place for our health service. One way of doing that is to use the results of the cancer patient experience survey to inform ratings at a cancer team and service level and to monitor and assess providers of care—for example, as part of the foundation trust assessment process.

In the light of all that, I have four specific questions for the Minister, on behalf of Macmillan Cancer Support and other charities. First, will the Government consider making relational care a priority area in the refreshed 2014-15 mandate to NHS England? Secondly, will the Government support the use of cancer patient experience data in the inspection regime of the Care Quality Commission, which is led by the chief inspector of hospitals?

Thirdly, will the Government work with commissioners and providers to ensure that the results of the national cancer experience survey continue to drive improvements in cancer care? Fourthly, and specifically on breast cancer, can the national cancer patient experience survey include a question asking whether the respondent has secondary breast cancer? The Breast Cancer Campaign specifically asks to have that included.

More generally, I welcome the Government’s ambitious plans to improve cancer care in the United Kingdom, including those they set out in January 2011 in “Improving Outcomes: A Strategy for Cancer”, which promised action on a number of important fronts, such as diagnosing symptomatic cancer earlier; helping people live healthier lives to reduce the incidence of preventable cancers; screening more people; introducing new screening programmes, as recommended by the National Screening Committee; and ensuring that all patients have access to the best possible treatment, care and support.

Those measures should save at least an additional 50,000 lives every year by 2014-15. Many of us will be aware of the efforts being put into those different fields, to encourage people to come forward for screening, to make screening available, to make members of the public more aware of symptoms and to encourage people to lead healthier lives. That has been much more evident than it had been hitherto. In the light of all that, it would be good to hear from the Minister what progress has been made on the ambitions that the Government set out in January 2011.

Furthermore, what progress has been made in tackling inappropriate regional variations in cancer outcomes? Many advances have been made in cancer treatment in the UK, of course, but historically there has been a disparity on cancer survival rates between the UK and other comparable western nations. That has been the case for many years, under Governments of all parties, but it was underlined most recently by a 2009 Eurocare study, which revealed a disparity between UK cancer survival rates and those achieved in countries with the best outcomes.

England rated 16th in the survey for both men and women. Wales was ranked just in front, and Scotland and Northern Ireland were just behind. Apart from Ireland, every other major western European nation performed better than the UK, and some of them much better. Sweden was the best performing country.

The 2009 analysis was a little old, because it was based on patients diagnosed between 1995 and 1999, although that had to be the case to detect survival rates. More recent surveys have also seen the same pattern, such as one comparing the USA with the United Kingdom. With older patients, there is an even more marked gap between the UK and other comparable nations and economies. I have seen figures from the British Journal of Cancer that show that for women over 70 with breast cancer, the three-year survival rate in the UK is 79%, but in Sweden, it is 91%.

Accident and Emergency Departments

Nic Dakin Excerpts

Tuesday 10th September 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I always try to support the ideas that come up from different parts of the NHS because people on the ground usually have the best ideas about what needs to be done, but when decisions cross my desk it is important that I consider the knock-on effect on other areas, and I get independent advice on that as well. I shall follow closely the proposal that my hon. Friend mentions.

[Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)]

Does the Secretary of State believe that he has done enough to avoid a crisis in A and E this winter?

[Mr Hunt]

I think we have done everything we can, and we have tried to listen hard to the suggestions for what can help in the short term and what can address the underlying problems. I believe it is possible for the NHS to meet its targets this winter, but I do not want to say that it is going to be easy. It will be a very tough winter and we need to get behind the doctors and nurses on the front line who are doing their very best to deliver a great service to the public.

Hospital Mortality Rates

Nic Dakin Excerpts

Tuesday 16th July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

My hon. Friend makes a very important point. The simple way we can change that culture, which will not be easy and will not happen immediately, is by making sure that where there is failure, there is someone who is independent and able to speak up about that failure without fear or favour—someone to be the nation’s whistleblower-in-chief. That is what we must have with the new chief inspector of hospitals, modelled on the chief inspector of schools and how well the whole Ofsted regulation system has worked. That has to be the first step; there must be no hiding place when there is failure. From there, we will have the pressure on the whole system, right the way up to Ministers, to make sure that failure is sorted out.

[Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)]

Sir Bruce Keogh warns us in his report about the very reaction we have seen today, which is in danger of shaming this House by focusing on politics instead of people. He wrote in his first few paragraphs that

“this is not a time for hasty reactions and recriminations”.

I read those words at five past 8 this morning when the Department of Health finally opened up to allow Members of Parliament to read what was there. Will the Secretary of State assure me and my constituents, who use Scunthorpe general hospital, that he will work to support people and put people before politics, because this afternoon he has put politics before people?

[Mr Hunt]

That is exactly what I am doing; the best hope we can give to the hon. Gentleman’s constituents is to say that we are putting them first by being honest about the problems and by tackling the mediocrity that has been a feature of too many hospitals for too long.

Children’s Heart Surgery

Nic Dakin Excerpts

Wednesday 12th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I do not want to pluck a number out of the air; I want to listen to the clinical evidence on that. However, it is important to say that as a result of the excess mortality identified at Bristol the Kennedy report said that up to 170 lives could have been saved over a 10-year period in just one location. That is why it is so important that we get this decision right.

[Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State is right to say that, sadly, the process did not have the confidence of the public. I very much welcome his statement. In moving forward, will he ensure that any data used are independent, transparent and credible, and that patient experience and access are given the right priority in the decision making?

[Mr Hunt]

Those are all things that the IRP talked about in its review, and I very much accept its recommendations in those areas.