Child Health (Nottingham)

Debate between Paul Burstow and Graham Allen

Tuesday 6th July 2010 Westminster Hall

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

It is a delight to serve under your chairmanship today, Mr Amess; I know you have taken an interest in health debates over the years. I congratulate the hon. Member for Nottingham East (Chris Leslie) on securing this debate. He is right to say that he has brought a serious range of issues to the attention of the House. I applaud him for ensuring that the concern that he and his hon. Friends share about improving children’s health in Nottingham is kept on the agenda both here in the House and in Nottingham.

I am delighted to have the opportunity to respond to this debate and to acknowledge some of the work that has already been done by hon. Members in Nottingham. In particular, the hon. Member for Nottingham North (Mr Allen) has been a staunch advocate on the subject, and has a good track record both in the House and in the local area. The hon. Member for Nottingham East should pay tribute to his leadership, particularly in respect of the teenage pregnancy taskforce, which has done important pioneering work on early intervention that has started to make a significant difference. The Government are determined to do everything they can to ensure that the lessons learned from the taskforce are embedded and sustained as we go forward.

I also want to thank the hon. Member for Nottingham East for his positive remarks about the work of local NHS staff. They are keen to build on the equally strong relationship they have with him and other hon. Members in the area by extending to me an invitation to have discussions with them. A lot of what the hon. Gentleman has said today was concerned with how we ensure that local services are better aligned with each other and collaborating effectively, and that the culture is right to promote effective joint working. Members have a key part to play in that process as local community leaders, and we already have an exemplar in that regard: the hon. Member for Nottingham North.

The hon. Member for Nottingham East cited a lot of statistics on this subject that are compelling and in some ways quite depressing. He pointed out that there is a significant concentration of deprivation and poverty indicators in parts of his constituency, and across the city of Nottingham more generally. Sadly, the map of poor child health aligns all too readily with the wider issues of social and economic deprivation. Clearly, there are challenges to be faced in that regard.

The local NHS should be congratulated on the progress it has made, because significant improvements have been made in some areas during the last decade. Those areas show that strong, well integrated, well resourced and well targeted mainstream services can indeed make all the difference.

We know that there is much more to do in Nottingham—a point that the primary care trust emphasised when I spoke to its representatives yesterday, ahead of this debate. For example, it reassured me that children’s health, particularly in the poorest communities, will remain a strong priority for the future and that it will continue to invest in local health services as well as contributing strongly to the children and young people’s plan, which is important. I understand that that plan, which is very important in driving delivery on the ground, will go to the city council in a few weeks’ time.

That culture of strong partnership working is particularly important: we need much more in the way of joined-up planning, commissioning and delivery in the future. The PCT has reassured me that its priority is continuity, and I hope that that reassures the hon. Members for Nottingham North and for Nottingham East. We want to ensure that we are pushing ahead in areas where progress has been made—there has been progress—and quickening the pace of improvement elsewhere. The Government intend to support such efforts and to ensure that the work that has been started on early intervention and prevention is not lost or thrown aside, but is seen as an essential investment. In truth, that work is not a waste of resources but unlocks resources; to stop it would indeed be a false economy. Therefore, we want to ensure that the poorest communities can get the well targeted services, run by confident and assertive staff, that they need.

Reference has been made to spending pressures. Those pressures existed before this Government came into office; indeed, the last Government acknowledged that the deficit presented a significant challenge to the public sector, including the health service. Indeed, they mapped out the challenge that would have to be faced. Through our first, emergency Budget, the new Government have recognised that not to act promptly would be to fail to deal with the difficulties and the legacy we inherited. In failing to reduce the deficit, we would not only endanger the whole economy but some of the most vulnerable people in our communities, through an inability to secure sustainable public investment in key services. So the decisions we have made, some of which have undoubtedly been painful, are absolutely essential if we are to deliver the sustainable economy and growth that we all need, and the support that is essential to ensure that services continue to develop.

However, as part of making those tough choices, the Government took the decision to protect the NHS and to secure real-terms increases each year for the duration of this Parliament. The hon. Member for Nottingham East was right to say that that does not mean it will all be plain sailing from now on; there will be difficulties and challenges ahead, and there are real pressures on the NHS budget. However, we do not believe that the sick should pay the price for the debt crisis, and this funding will enable the NHS in Nottingham to continue improving services.

That does not necessarily mean “more of the same”. One of the lessons that I took from last week’s National Audit Office report on health inequalities is that success is not all about spending more money. In many cases, it is about spending money more wisely, and the type of schemes the hon. Member for Nottingham North has led in Nottingham are a case in point. In that way, big differences can be made with relatively small amounts of investment.

We need a fresh approach, with a health service that is more preventive, more integrated, more answerable to local communities and more responsive to local needs. We will say more about that approach in the health service White Paper that will be published in the near future, and which will clearly have an impact on the way that health and social care services are delivered in the Nottingham area.

[Mr Allen]

My hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham East pointed out that one way we can make small amounts of money go a long way is through inventive use of the working neighbourhoods fund or its predecessor, the neighbourhood renewal fund, for example. Sadly, however, as my hon. Friend pointed out, those funds are the first things to go when an organisation starts looking at its core operation and contracting inside its own silo, rather than reaching out in partnership with others. That is a problem and the Minister really must address it.

[Mr Burstow]

It is a challenge, and one that both the Government and local organisations understand. When we publish the White Paper, I hope the hon. Gentleman will see that we are addressing that challenge in a very direct way, to ensure that every pound the taxpayer invests in our health service really delivers the maximum possible benefit for the communities it is meant to serve.

The hon. Member for Nottingham East raised a number of specific points and I want to address as many as possible in the time remaining. On child and adolescent mental health services, he said that up to one in 10 young people in Nottingham are diagnosed with mental health problems. Clearly, deprivation, isolation and exclusion are often the harbingers of poor mental health, and children living in poverty are frequently the worst hit. That carries a cost of the sort the hon. Gentleman talked about—one borne not only by those children personally but by the wider community. The hon. Gentleman was therefore right to talk about the vital role that children’s mental health services play. The children and young people’s plan is focused, rightly, on greater prevention and earlier intervention. I can therefore assure him that this Government attach a very high priority to early intervention, preventive mental health services and public mental health services; they are very important to us.

The children and young people’s plan also aims to stop young people experiencing behavioural problems, mental illness, substance misuse and low educational achievement. Again, that requires a confident and well equipped work force who bring together skills across the statutory and third sectors. I understand that the local NHS and the local council plan to improve the training and development of staff in dealing with such behavioural problems.

The hon. Gentleman asked about smoking, which I acknowledge is an important issue that we need to keep a clear focus on. I understand that work is progressing in that field that is targeted at reducing smoking during pregnancy. He also talked about the work that has been done on teenage pregnancy in Nottingham. He is right to say that we should applaud the fact that the teenage pregnancy rate in Nottingham has fallen for eight consecutive quarters. The rate in Nottingham was among the highest not only in the UK but in Europe. Clearly, the rate is now going in a different direction—one secured by the integration of services and effective leadership on the ground. However, the figures remain stubbornly high, and we need to ensure that there is more effort and focus on reducing them. The local PCT has reassured me that a number of schemes it is taking forward, such as the C-card scheme and various other initiatives involving sexual health services, are being maintained. By way of reinforcement, reducing teenage pregnancy will be a feature of the joined-up working produced by the children and young people’s plan.

The hon. Gentleman cited statistics on dental health that were even more stark than those I was presented with by my officials, including on schools that reported having pupils with six teeth that were either missing, decayed or filled. In fact, the latest figures show a slightly different and hopefully better picture. They suggest that five-year-olds in the Nottingham city area have, on average, 1.73 decayed, missing or filled teeth. That places the city’s PCT as the 31st worst performer on that indicator, whereas it was the second worst the last time such figures were published. That figure of 1.73 compares with an average figure of 1.11 for five-year-olds for the whole country. The hon. Gentleman is therefore right to say that more needs to be done about oral health and hygiene in Nottingham. The City Smiles programme will certainly continue to play an important part in that work. On the direct provision of dental health services in Nottingham, the hon. Gentleman will be pleased to know that two new dental practices will open in October, in Bulwell and Bilborough, which will obviously improve access to such services. He also talked about fluoridation. Clearly, such matters are to be decided upon locally, but I will pass his comments on to my ministerial colleagues.

The hon. Gentleman also spoke about funding for speech and language therapy. When I talked to representatives of the local PCT yesterday, they certainly gave no indication of any intention or plan to cut those services. I can assure him that I asked the PCT a lot of questions in preparation for this debate. However, if I am misinformed on this subject, I will certainly write to him to give him further details.

You, Mr Amess, will know about the importance of the issue of obesity, as we both served on the Health Committee when it produced a report on obesity some years ago. Again, the local PCT has told me that it will continue its work on the active schools programme, which encourages more children to take up sporting activities.

I am afraid I will probably run out of time shortly, but the hon. Gentleman has certainly given us a run-around the important issues that this Government will continue to maintain a clear focus on. We see delivery on those issues being provided by effective local leadership, effective integration of commissioning and provision, and good leadership from politicians nationally and locally. By doing that, we believe we can improve the nation’s health.