Ockenden Review

Robert Halfon Excerpts

Thursday 10th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Ms Dorries]

The hon. Lady is right: there is a theme. Whether it is Paterson, the Cumberlege review or Morecambe Bay, central to all this is women, and so much of this report is familiar in that women are not listened to. The way some of those mothers were spoken to when they were delivering their babies or during the most tragic hours and days afterwards is just appalling. It is about women being downgraded almost, as though their complaints, their voices or their concerns, and the awful circumstances in which they find themselves are not worthy of the same consideration as patients in other hospitals in other situations.

The hon. Lady is absolutely right. We already have national guardians—they immediately spring to mind. We have 600 national guardians in hospitals. NHS workers wear lanyards and, when people want to highlight something that they have seen going wrong in terms of patient safety, they may speak to that person, who will assist them and raise their concerns. It is quite something when we need that, when patients need such assistance. It is also for staff to raise patient concerns. She is absolutely right—it is about listening and treating the complaints and issues of women seriously.

[Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con) [V]]

My heart goes out to the families. I pay tribute to the Minister for her work on this. Although these tragic things go wrong in our national health service, does my hon. Friend note that many good things also happen across our hospitals? Our maternity ward in the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow has been described as “outstanding” by the Care Quality Commission, and is one of the most successful and important parts of our hospital. Will she pay tribute to and thank staff across the NHS, as well as in Harlow, who do so much? Will she also look at best practice around the country, in places like the Princess Alexandra Hospital for maternity, to see what can be done to learn from that best practice to ensure that such tragedies never happen again?

[Ms Dorries]

My right hon. Friend adds such a hopeful note. I thank him. He is absolutely right. We stand here to talk about reports, patient safety issues and where things have gone wrong, and yet so much of the NHS so much of the time goes absolutely right. The Princess Alexandra Hospital in his constituency is a shining light and an example of the best practice in maternity services. Of course, we use examples such as Harlow to inform us of how things go right and how well maternity units work. He is absolutely right, and we will of course look at Harlow, as we do at other examples of good service across the NHS, which is—I thank him for reminding us all of this today—in most hospitals most of the time. Our job is to reassure women. The UK is among the safest countries in the world in which to give birth, and most of the time it goes right.