Christmas Adjournment

Paul Burstow Excerpts

Thursday 18th December 2014 Commons Chamber

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

I echo the last point made by the hon. Member for Hendon (Dr Offord). It is right that that sort of investment is made because it provides a saving and makes a huge difference to people’s ability to live with the consequences of their eye problem. I commend him for what he said.

Before the House rises for Christmas, I wish to raise several issues. The first concerns my constituent Lauren Dobbe, who is 14 years old. On Tuesday, I presented a petition to this House on her behalf to draw attention to her case. She has gastroparesis, and it took a lot of time and a lot of tests to get that diagnosis. The condition means that she is constantly nauseous, finds it hard to eat and is in pain for 24 hours every day of the week. Because of her condition, she now has to be fed by a tube. Her teenage years are being marred by this.

The good news is that a procedure is available that involves fitting a gastric stimulator. It is not a cure, but it does manage the symptoms. The procedure has been recommended to Lauren by no fewer than four specialists. The bad news is that, despite the specialist opinions, NHS England, which is responsible for funding the procedure, is playing a game of pass the parcel with Lauren and her family. It sought a second opinion, but that endorsed the four specialist opinions that had been offered. It then tried to refer the matter to a hospital in London, but it turned out that the hospital could not provide the procedure.

NHS England is now saying that the family must reapply because the procedure can be provided only in a different region. However, NHS England is one legal entity. It does not have separate legal bodies from one region to another. Its decision to sub-divide itself for administrative convenience should not become a barrier to people getting treatments. My request is simple: NHS England needs to take a common-sense view of the case and ensure that the procedure is provided, because it will make a huge difference to the life of a young lady in my constituency and give her back her teenage years.

I turn to another matter, relating to the care sector. Over the past year I have had the privilege of chairing two commissions, one with Demos looking at the future of residential care and the other with the Local Government Information Unit looking at home care. Both commissions have independent experts with a wide range of talents, and on the subject of care workers both have come to broadly similar conclusions: that the low pay, low skill and low status of workers in the sector undermines care and the continuity of care. As a result of the low pay, the sector has among the highest turnover rates of any sector of our economy. As our society ages and more and more families are having to juggle work with both raising children and looking after parents, a failure to address those weaknesses in our care system will simply hold back growth in our economy.

Both commissions have made some proposals to make care a career of esteem. They say that there need to be better and clearer training standards and a licence to practise. It is unacceptable that we recognise the need for bouncers and hairdressers to be licensed, but when someone comes into our own homes to administer the most intimate of care, we do not think they need a licence to practise.

I hope that the Deputy Leader of the House will feed it back to the Treasury and particularly to HMRC that they must redouble their efforts to pursue and prosecute cowboy care agencies that exploit their staff by paying less than the national minimum wage. I hope that he will also urge his colleagues in the Department for Communities and Local Government to lift their ban on the Care Quality Commission conducting themed inspections of councils’ commissioning practices, which sometimes condone that.

The hon. Member for Southend West (Mr Amess) referred to mental health, and I want to raise a concern about the current international negotiations on the UN sustainable development goals, which make good references to the importance of physical health but do not give the same prominence to mental health. I hope that the Minister might enter some discussions with Ministers in the Department for International Development to ensure that the Government’s policy of parity of esteem as between physical and mental health is reflected in our international stance on global health goals.

I turn now to several constituency points. I start with a 1960s office block in North Cheam, which is empty and has become increasingly derelict over many years and is an eyesore that many of my constituents would love to see demolished. There have been many delays to its redevelopment, despite the best efforts of councillors and local planning officers. One of the current causes of delay is that one unit is still occupied, by the bookies Ladbrokes. There is growing frustration in the neighbourhood that the company is holding up progress on the much needed demolition and replacement of the building. There is a perception that it is gambling on the prospect of getting a better pay-off to quit the building and give over its lease. I hope that Ladbrokes understands that that is bad for its reputation and for the economic development of North Cheam.

Then there is Thameslink. One has only to look at Twitter, or indeed at my mailbag, to understand that every day commuters from my constituency suffer real misery because of the uncertainty about trains running on time and about their reliability. As a fellow south-west London MP, I hope the Minister will join me in asking Transport Ministers to take a hard look at the performance of the Thameslink franchise.

Finally, I want to raise the issue of consultations. The consultation on renal services in south-west London is running over the Christmas period and will end on 9 January, and many people tell me that they were unaware that it was taking place. I hope that the Minister will raise with NHS England the need to extend the consultation period.

I hope that at this time of year we can recognise the amazing work done by staff in this place, whether they work directly for us or for others, and the amazing work that people do in our constituencies. I thank the right hon. Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Sir John Randall) for paying tribute to his wife and family—he spoke for many of us who appreciate the support that family gives us. I wish you, Mr Deputy Speaker, and all other hon. Members, a happy Christmas.