NHS Commissioning Board (Mandate)

Paul Burstow Excerpts

Tuesday 13th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

The approach the reforms take is this: when there are inequalities in treatment, and when one hospital is particularly good at certain operations and another hospital is not as good, the best way to drive up performance is to make that information available in a way that has never happened before. More than anything, peer review drives the NHS. A very important part of the programme will be to roll out plans similar to those we have rolled out for cardiothoracic surgery, for which a performance comparison by consultant team, not just by hospital, has led to a dramatic improvement in survival rates from heart operations. We need to roll that out across many other disciplines. We also need to be able to compare local GP-led group with local GP-led group, and local authority with local authority. That will be a far more effective way of driving change than the old top-down way. That was tried under different Governments many times and in many ways, but it was never as successful as it was meant to be.

[Paul Burstow (Sutton and Cheam) (LD)]

I welcome the statement, and particularly the actions that are being taken to deliver parity of esteem between physical and mental health, and to drive improvements on dementia. Those two things are linked by the common frustration of family carers, who feel that their voices are not always heard or understood within the NHS, and that there is too much variation in this country when it comes to identifying carers and ensuring that they get access to the breaks they so often need. Can the Secretary of State assure us that the mandate will ensure that people who need breaks get them before they have a breakdown?

[Mr Hunt]

I thank my right hon. Friend for the work he did at the Department, which is widely recognised on both sides of the House. He is right to talk about the critical role of carers. We have spoken a lot today about dementia. Dementia puts huge pressure on partners of the people affected. Very often, because we do not give the support we need to give at an early stage, people with dementia end up having to go to residential homes, whereas with that support, they would be able to stay at home happily for much longer. It is a critical issue. I hope he will be pleased to see in the section on long-term conditions explicit mention of the role of carers. We will follow the matter closely as the NHS Board implements at a local level the support he mentions.