Oral Answers to Questions

Paul Burstow Excerpts

Tuesday 10th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mary Macleod (Brentford and Isleworth) (Con)]

1. What his policy is on the use of volunteers in hospitals.

[The Minister of State, Department of Health (Paul Burstow)]

The coalition Government recognise the tremendous contribution that volunteers play in enhancing quality and experience in health and social care, including within hospitals. We are working with partners, including the National Association of Voluntary Service Managers, to strengthen this role during service reform.

[Mary Macleod]

Mr Speaker, may I wish you and the House a very happy and healthy new year?

I thank the Minister for his response. I recently attended the local volunteering awards in the West Middlesex hospital in my constituency. Almost 400 volunteers do great work for patients and the hospital. What financial assistance is available to hospitals to support these volunteering projects?

[Paul Burstow]

I very much agree with the hon. Lady about the need for NHS trusts to consider their stance on volunteering. Indeed, I suspect Members of all parties have visited hospitals and worked with friends organisations over the Christmas period and have seen the good work that volunteers do in our hospitals. Our aim is to make sure that NHS trusts and commissioners of health and social care have the tools and information they need to make good judgments about investing in volunteering. That was the purpose of the volunteering strategy that we published last year.

[Graeme Morrice (Livingston) (Lab)]

We all recognise the huge contribution that volunteers make to the NHS, so will the Minister take this opportunity to recognise the contribution of Clive Peedell, the co-chair of the NHS Consultants Association, who is taking part in Bevan’s run today, highlighting concerns among the medical profession about the impact of the dreadful Health and Social Care Bill?

[Paul Burstow]

I would certainly wish that gentleman well with his run. I am sure that the contribution he makes through that charitable act is one that will stand us all in good stead in due course.

[Sir Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)]

Is there a conflict between the big society, volunteers and localism if major retail stores are brought into hospitals to the detriment of friends organisations?

[Paul Burstow]

My hon. Friend raises an important point. I am aware that it is a matter of concern that over a number of years some hospitals have chosen not to use the WRVS or friends organisations’ services. These decisions have to be made by local NHS trust boards, but the purpose of the strategy we published last year is very much to make sure that when the boards make these decisions they are focused on the benefits—the benefits of volunteering for the volunteer, the organisation and the patients.

[Luciana Berger (Liverpool, Wavertree) (Lab/Co-op)]

What is the Minister’s assessment of the number of unpaid interns working in the NHS?

[Paul Burstow]

As far as I am aware, no assessment has been made to analyse the number of unpaid interns. What is very clear, however, is that when NHS organisations are using people to provide services as volunteers, that is clearly separate from what would be regarded as paid employment. That is clear in the strategy we set out last year and clear in the advice and guidance provided by the Cabinet Office as well.

[Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) (Con)]

2. What recent representations he has received on access by NHS patients to drugs invented and developed in UK laboratories; and if he will make a statement.

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[Mrs Madeleine Moon (Bridgend) (Lab)]

7. What research his Department has undertaken on the prevention of suicide.

[The Minister of State, Department of Health (Paul Burstow)]

The Department of Health funds the national confidential inquiry into suicide and homicide by people with mental illness. The Department is funding an investigation of self-harm, and the National Institute for Health Research is funding a range of further research relevant to suicide prevention.

[Mrs Moon]

The Minister will be aware that core funding for research into the causes, effects and geographical spread of suicide and its frequent precursor, self-harm, is essential. More than 200,000 people present at accident and emergency with self-harm. I am very concerned to hear that the ongoing funding for the multi-centre study of self-harm is potentially at risk. Will he agree to meet me and the research project leads to discuss this and ensure that that research continues?

[Paul Burstow]

The hon. Lady chairs the all-party group on suicide and self-harm prevention. She does a lot of important work in this House in that regard, and I would be only too happy to talk to her about research priorities in this area. The Government are examining the research priorities to support the new strategy, which we plan to publish in the near future.

[Mr James Gray (North Wiltshire) (Con)]

I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Bridgend (Mrs Moon), who has done fantastic work on the prevention of suicide. It is not the Department of Health’s job to regulate the worldwide web, but what work has the Department done on examining the link between the watching of violent websites—and, indeed, looking at websites that promote or facilitate suicide—and the actual carrying out of suicide?

[Paul Burstow]

My hon. Friend makes a very important point, which has been raised by a number of charities, including Papyrus, during the consultation on the draft strategy. It is important to stress that the internet industry has been willing to engage in positive initiatives, not the least of which is Facebook and Google’s work with the Samaritans to make sure that whenever anyone types in “suicide” a link to the Samaritans always appears first. However, more needs to be done and we need the industry to tackle those darker sides of the internet to make sure that they do not prey on vulnerable people and do not peddle suicide.

[Robert Flello (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

Given the crucial role that the chief coroner was to have had in monitoring and advising the Department of Health on the incidence of suicide across the nation, will the Minister liaise with the Lord Chancellor to ensure that a chief coroner is appointed speedily and that powers are put in place quickly to make sure that this work can be done?

[Paul Burstow]

I will certainly pass on the hon. Gentleman’s request.

[Fiona Bruce (Congleton) (Con)]

8. When he expects residents in Congleton constituency to benefit from investment in telehealth and telecare services by the NHS.

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[Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con)]

12. What steps he has taken to implement a flexiscope bowel cancer screening test.

[The Minister of State, Department of Health (Paul Burstow)]

The IT system to support the pilots of flexible sigmoidoscopy screening is under development and local bowel screening programmes will be invited to become pilot sites shortly. We remain determined to deliver our cancer outcomes strategy commitment of 60% coverage across England by March 2015.

[Guy Opperman]

The Government rightly chose two out of the three pathfinder sites to be in the north-east, at South of Tyne and Tees. When will the date be given for local screening centres to be invited to bid to become pilot sites and have patients as a future part of that bowel cancer screening programme?

[Paul Burstow]

We debated these issues before Christmas. I can confirm that advice to local bowel screening programmes on bidding to become pilot sites will be published shortly and the process of recruiting pilots will start this month.

[Mr Frank Field (Birkenhead) (Lab)]

13. What estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of NHS reorganisation in (a) Birkenhead constituency and (b) England.

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[Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con)]

A BBC Essex investigation into Rushcliffe’s Partridge care home in my constituency has uncovered shocking allegations of abuse and neglect. Will the Minister urge the Care Quality Commission to step in now with an inquiry and take whatever legal action is necessary to protect the elderly residents? Will he meet me and my constituent Lesley Minchin who has a relative who has suffered as a result of what has been going on in the care home?

[The Minister of State, Department of Health (Paul Burstow)]

I certainly share my hon. Friend’s concerns. BBC Essex’s reports of abuse and degrading treatment in that care home are cause for concern. The CQC is due to publish a report shortly and I am certainly happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss the matter further. The Government are determined to shine a light on abuse wherever it is found and to root it out of the system to ensure that people are treated with dignity and respect and get the care they need.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

T3. Does the Health Secretary agree with the Prime Minister that our nurses need greater supervision by patients’ groups on the ward to ensure that they are doing their jobs correctly, or does he recognise the tremendous job that they and their professional clinical managers are doing despite the huge cuts that the Health Secretary has forced on their numbers?