Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nigel Huddleston and Matt Hancock

Tuesday 18th June 2019 Commons Chamber

[Nigel Huddleston (Mid Worcestershire) (Con)]

4. What steps he is taking to ensure that the NHS has sufficient staff to meet its long-term needs.

[The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Matt Hancock)]

The interim people plan that we published this month puts the workforce at the heart of the future of the NHS and will ensure that we have the staff needed to deliver high-quality care.

[Nigel Huddleston]

The Secretary of State will be aware that recruitment and retention is particularly difficult for hospitals in special measures, such as the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which he recently visited. Such hospitals have to rely heavily on agency staff, which puts pressure on their finances. What specific steps is he taking to help those hospitals with their financial and recruiting pressures?

[Matt Hancock]

We are working closely with that trust, and it was good to visit and see just how hard working the staff are. They are dedicated to the cause and well supported by their MPs. My hon. Friend is quite right to make that case, and we have a direct package of support for the Worcestershire Royal Hospital and the trust more broadly because it faces unique challenges, some of which are not at all of its own making. The staff at Worcester are working incredibly hard to deliver for their local citizens.

Listeria: Contaminated Sandwiches

Debate between Nigel Huddleston and Matt Hancock

Monday 17th June 2019 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

Making sure that there are enough nurses on wards is incredibly important for delivering good patient care not just in relation to food, but more broadly. My hon. Friend raises the question of price per meal. It is interesting that the hospitals that have brought food production in-house and source not necessarily locally distributed food but locally produced food, have often found that that reduces costs rather than raises them. This is a question not of resources, but of good practice.

[Nigel Huddleston (Mid Worcestershire) (Con)]

I welcome the announcement of the root-and-branch review and I know that patient safety continues to be a top priority for the Secretary of State, but can he reassure me and my constituents that the overall risk of listeriosis remains low?

[Matt Hancock]

Yes, of course. Millions of meals are served in NHS hospitals each year. While we regret any death, especially a death that could have been avoided, the overall food in hospitals absolutely is safe.

Gosport Independent Panel

Debate between Nigel Huddleston and Matt Hancock

Wednesday 21st November 2018 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

My hon. Friend is right on both points, and I am very happy to work with her on them. On the latter point, there is still much more work to do to have a system that is fully interoperable between secondary and primary care. As she says, many patients’ GPs might have picked up on the unusual patterns if they had had access to hospital notes. That now does happen in a small number of hospitals, but it is central to improving the technological capability of the NHS.

[Nigel Huddleston (Mid Worcestershire) (Con)]

I welcome the Secretary of State’s statement and his overall approach on patient safety. We have talked a lot about the need to change the culture from one of blame to one of accountability and transparency. That is easy to say, but difficult to implement so, as well as the changes to the annual report and procedures and process changes, will there be additional training and practical support that can help embed this new culture?

[Matt Hancock]

Training has improved over the last couple of decades. The training programmes are independently devised for doctors by the royal colleges and are developed and implemented with the General Medical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Council. There is still much to do to drive through the modern culture of inclusivity and bringing in ideas from all places and to remove some of the unnecessary hierarchies in the world of medicine, both within the NHS and without. I look forward to working with my hon. Friend on that.

Finally, may I end by saying that there is still work to do, not least on the judicial element, and all of us should thank Bishop James Jones for how he has handled this process and made sure that people feel that justice can be done and that the learnings can be taken?

Bill Presented

Palestinian Statehood (Recognition) Bill

Presentation and First Reading (Standing Order No. 57)

Layla Moran, supported by Richard Burden, Sir Vince Cable, Mr Alistair Carmichael, Tim Farron, Wera Hobhouse, Ben Lake, Norman Lamb, Stephen Lloyd, Caroline Lucas, Jess Phillips and Dr Philippa Whitford, presented a Bill to make provision in connection with the recognition of the State of Palestine.

Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 8 February 2019, and to be printed (Bill 295).

Prevention of Ill Health: Government Vision

Debate between Nigel Huddleston and Matt Hancock

Monday 5th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

That sort of work is absolutely brilliant. At one level, it is common sense, but it also needs to be a bigger part of the system. I congratulate my hon. Friend on bringing this to the House’s attention. Perhaps he should be the first recipient of one of the NHS’s 40th birthday cards.

[Nigel Huddleston (Mid Worcestershire) (Con)]

Are there any other international models inspiring the Secretary of State—in relation to prevention, of course?

[Matt Hancock]

Yes. [Laughter.]

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nigel Huddleston and Matt Hancock

Tuesday 24th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Matt Hancock)]

We published the second chapter of our world-leading childhood obesity plan on 25 June. It builds on the progress we made since the publication of chapter 1 in 2016, particularly on the reformulation of products that our children eat and drink most. We will continue to take an approach that is based on evidence and we are determined to act.

[Nigel Huddleston]

I warmly welcome the Secretary of State to his post. I am sure that he was as alarmed as I was to learn that the proportion of 11-year-old children who are obese is now greater in the UK than the US. What more can we do to educate children and their parents about the benefit of a balanced diet and healthy life start?

[Matt Hancock]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend’s work at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on this matter. It is critical that we have a cross-Government approach. The obesity plan is led by the Department of Health and Social Care, but it is a cross-Government plan. There is a whole range of actions we need to take—from education through to culture and broadcasting—to make sure we get it right.