Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Pauline Latham and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 4th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

We are strongly urging restraint on both sides. I recognise what the hon. Gentleman says about the urgency of the situation, but I also think it is encouraging that, for the first time in two years, the participants are coming together this week in Stockholm.

[Mrs Pauline Latham (Mid Derbyshire) (Con)]

Some 85,000 children under the age of five have starved to death in Yemen over the past three years. Does my right hon. Friend agree that a political solution is the way to a lasting peace and that, more urgently, we need to ensure that imports of food can make it through the port of Hodeidah in the light of the Save the Children Fund report?

[Mr Hunt]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Hodeidah opening is crucial; it is also important to get access to the Red sea mills, which have enough wheat to feed 3.6 million people. The fighting has lessened, but it has still not stopped, which is why we need these peace talks to succeed.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Pauline Latham and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 6th February 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

We spend 9.9% of our GDP on health. The European Union spends 15%, and the richer EU countries spend 9.6%—slightly less than us, on average. We are able to spend more because this Government put the economy back on its feet.

[Mrs Pauline Latham (Mid Derbyshire) (Con)]

12. What plans he has to expand the services provided by pharmacies to assist GPs.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Pauline Latham and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 7th February 2017 Commons Chamber

[Pauline Latham (Mid Derbyshire) (Con)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

[The Secretary of State for Health (Mr Jeremy Hunt)]

We know that a strong primary care system is the bedrock of the NHS, which is why I am pleased to announce today that NHS England will publish the new GP contract, agreed by the Government, NHS England and the British Medical Association. It will see almost £240 million extra invested in GP services; require GPs to establish whether overseas visitors are eligible for free care, allowing the NHS to better recoup the costs of that care; and improve access for patients by removing extra funding if GPs regularly close for afternoons during the working week.

[Pauline Latham]

Will the Secretary of State consider putting a GP in every A&E department so that they can additionally triage patients who are not so ill and advise them to go home and see their own GP on another occasion?

[Mr Hunt]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Actually, the policy is that all A&Es, where space is available, should do that. The hospitals that do it have by far the most successful results—not least Luton and Dunstable, which has pioneered that model.

NHS Reform

Debate between Pauline Latham and Jeremy Hunt

Thursday 16th July 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I would be very happy to meet the hon. Lady and clinicians. I am aware of the problems in that health economy and I am aware that they are long-standing. They are a concern to me and I would be delighted to do anything I can to support her in helping to solve them.

[Pauline Latham (Mid Derbyshire) (Con)]

I was shocked to hear the right hon. Member for Leigh (Andy Burnham) running down the NHS yet again. He obviously has not been watching the series on television about the Royal Derby hospital, or looked at its website, where most of the comments are incredibly positive. Also in Mid Derbyshire we have surgeries that wish to take some of the burden away from hospitals. Does the Secretary of State agree that we should be encouraging that, where they can offer services to save people from going to hospital?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Pauline Latham and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 15th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

Of course, I understand the concerns of Cancer Research, and I know that the hon. Gentleman understands the personal tragedy that cancer can cause. The change in the clinical networks is happening because we want them to cover dementia, which we were talking about earlier, mental health services and maternity and paediatric services. It is right that they should do so, but I want to make absolutely sure that as we go through the restructuring the benefits of the cancer clinical networks remain as strong as ever.

[Pauline Latham (Mid Derbyshire) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend look at the east midlands cancer drugs fund? While I welcome the cancer drugs fund enormously, the east midlands will yet again underspend, leaving some of my constituents paying for their own treatment because they have been refused funding. Will my right hon. Friend please get his Department to investigate why?

[Mr Hunt]

My hon. Friend has mentioned the issue to me before, and I am happy to look into it in detail for her.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Pauline Latham and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 27th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Pauline Latham (Mid Derbyshire) (Con)]

6. What recent assessment he has made of the cancer drugs fund.

[The Secretary of State for Health (Mr Jeremy Hunt)]

Since October 2010, more than 23,000 patients in England and more than 1,600 patients in NHS East Midlands have benefited from the additional £650 million funding for cancer drugs that this Government have committed to providing.

[Pauline Latham]

I thank my right hon. Friend for that answer, but I have previously raised in the House a constituency case where the NHS East Midlands cancer drugs fund would not pay for drugs that other CDFs would pay for, such as Avastin for second-line treatment of bowel cancer. Sadly, my constituent has since died because she could not get funding for the drugs she needed, having spent all her own money funding the treatment herself. Will my right hon. Friend meet me and my late constituent’s consultant, Dr Bessell, to discuss how we can end this postcode lottery?

[Mr Hunt]

Proud as we are of the cancer drugs fund, to hear such stories is extremely distressing, and our first thoughts are with the family of my hon. Friend’s constituent. We will of course look into the issue she raises, which is a cause of great concern. I know that the Under-Secretary of State for Health, my hon. Friend the Member for Broxtowe (Anna Soubry), is a neighbouring MP and would be happy to meet her to discuss the matter.