Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust

Robert Flello Excerpts

Tuesday 19th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

That is a very good point. I will take it away and look at whether that will be possible, because there is a powerful logic behind making that happen. As my hon. Friend has mentioned health care assistants, I would like to highlight the brilliant work they do, along with so many NHS staff. It has been a very challenging year for them to read about these examples of poor care, which are as shocking to them as they are to us. I agree that now is the time to get behind the people on the front line, who really want to change the culture for the better.

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

I, too, welcome the Secretary of State’s statement and the observations made by my right hon. Friend the shadow Secretary of State, but my constituents will be concerned about the impact of whatever the trust special administrator decides is right for Mid Staffordshire on the university hospital and the care they will receive there. Whether as a result of pressures from Cannock Chase or other areas, there is the risk that work will go to the university hospital but that it will not be fully recompensed for what is needed and that—this is a terrible thing to talk about in these terms—the profitable work that would otherwise cross-subsidise that might well go to other areas. Will the Secretary of State look carefully at ensuring that the university hospital is not penalised as a result?

[Mr Hunt]

We want to ensure that no hospitals are penalised and that we end up with a solution for the whole local health economy that is sustainable for the long term. The comfort that I think the hon. Gentleman can draw from today’s announcement is that, as a result of the openness and transparency and the rigorous independent inspections that will be happening at all the hospitals his constituents use, poor care, where it exists, will come to the surface and be dealt with much more quickly.