Oral Answers to Questions

Simon Burns Excerpts

Tuesday 7th December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Stephenson (Pendle) (Con)]

4. What recent representations he has received on management and administration costs in the NHS; and if he will make a statement.

[The Minister of State, Department of Health (Mr Simon Burns)]

Administration costs across the health sector will reduce by a third in real terms over the spending review period. That is a £1.4 billion cash reduction and a £1.9 billion real-terms reduction, from a baseline of £5.1 billion. Every penny of the savings will be reinvested in front-line services.

[Andrew Stephenson]

I thank my hon. Friend for that answer. Will he give me and my constituents examples of how the billions that are saved will make a difference on the front line when invested in patient care?

[Mr Burns]

I am extremely grateful to my hon. Friend and I will certainly give such examples. Every penny that is saved by cutting excessive management and bureaucracy will be spent on providing health care and drugs for his and other hon. Members’ constituents, and on ensuring that we have proper front-line services that provide the best quality care for all the people of England.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

Due to the snow, many falls and fractures have been reported in my constituency and around the country in the last few days. What plans are there to cope with such winter pressures?

[Mr Burns]

I fully appreciate the hon. Gentleman’s concern, because particularly at this time of the year and throughout the winter months there is both an extra duty on the NHS and an increased problem. I can assure him that for over a month now, as is the custom, the NHS has been meeting regularly to plan for the winter and ensure that we have the services in place to help those who suffer falls or illnesses due to the inclement weather.

[Simon Kirby (Brighton, Kemptown) (Con)]

5. On what date he expects to make an announcement on compensation for those infected by contaminated blood products supplied by the NHS.

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[Paul Goggins (Wythenshawe and Sale East) (Lab)]

6. What steps he is taking to reduce energy consumption in hospitals.

[The Minister of State, Department of Health (Mr Simon Burns)]

The NHS continues to improve its energy efficiency. The Department provides guidance to the NHS and supports the NHS sustainable development unit, which promotes energy awareness and carbon management across health care providers. Hospitals are working with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to engage with suppliers who provide innovative solutions.

[Paul Goggins]

I thank the Minister for his answer and invite him to join me in congratulating all the staff at Wythenshawe hospital in my constituency, which was recently named overall winner this year in The Guardian public services award as the country’s greenest hospital and for reducing energy emissions by 26%. What further pressure is he putting on other hospitals and health service providers to ensure that they follow that fine example?

[Mr Burns]

I am happy to join the right hon. Gentleman in congratulating the university hospital of south Manchester on its fantastic achievement and the award that it has won. As he knows, his local hospital did that by reducing its energy consumption and carbon emissions by 26% over the past three years in ways such as the greater use of biomass fuels. It is a fantastic achievement and the staff should be justifiably proud of it. They are a beacon for other hospitals to follow to reach the same level of sustainability, and I am delighted that a number of hospitals throughout the country are striving to reach the position of the one in his area. I am confident that through greater sharing of information and work, more and more hospitals will make their contribution to reducing carbon levels.

[Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

The Minister will be aware of the extreme weather conditions and extremely low temperatures of minus 17° C in and around Thirsk and in other parts of North Yorkshire where we have community hospitals and trust hospitals. Has he reviewed the impact on their funds of heating costs when low temperatures come so early in the winter and will carry on for such a long period?

[Mr Burns]

I can reassure my hon. Friend. She is absolutely right that the winter period and harsh weather impose extra costs, but I am pleased to tell her that partly through winter planning and partly through the experience of past years, hospitals are aware of that. They take into their planning and financial budgeting the possibility of weeks and perhaps longer—depending on the weather—when their costs will increase, and adjust to meet those demands. I am confident that bad weather will not impact on front-line services because of the work that hospitals do to account for it over the 52 weeks of the year.

[Annette Brooke (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

7. What assessment he has made of the Health Protection Agency’s recent report on the incidence of tuberculosis.

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[Jonathan Lord (Woking) (Con)]

9. What steps he is taking to improve the information provided to patients on their diagnosis and treatment.

[The Minister of State, Department of Health (Mr Simon Burns)]

As part of our White Paper reforms, a wide-ranging review of the information required to empower patients is in progress. Related current initiatives include the information standard scheme, information prescriptions and quality standards produced by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

[Jonathan Lord]

I am grateful to the Minister for his reply. Currently good comparative data on the individual performance of doctors and surgeons are not readily available. How does he envisage compiling that data in a way that does not create too much bureaucracy or use up too much of doctors’ valuable clinical time?

[Mr Burns]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right: if we are to put patients at the heart of an NHS in which it is their care and views that are important and drive the provision of health care, we must empower them by giving them information that is consistently accurate, unbiased and easily understandable. We are currently consulting on our information revolution papers, and we await a chance to study the responses. However, we are determined to empower patients by giving them far more information, so that they can exercise their right of choice to get what they deserve, which is the very best health care.

[Keith Vaz (Leicester East) (Lab)]

I would like to declare an interest and remind the Minister that we currently spend £1 million an hour dealing with diabetes-related illnesses. One key way of helping to reduce that cost is giving patients diabetes tests and ensuring they get as much information as possible so that they can change their lifestyles.

[Mr Burns]

The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. We have to supply all patients, including those suffering from diabetes as well as other conditions, with as much information that they can understand as possible, so that they can make the choices about the health care they need. They also need to be backed up with advice from their GPs, community pharmacists and others in the health sector, because that will empower them to take decisions in their best interests to manage their medical condition.

[Mr John Baron (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)]

The Government have rightly announced, in the consultation document on patient choice, that all patients with long-term conditions will be offered a care plan. May I urge the Minister to ensure that that will apply also to cancer patients?

[Mr Burns]

As my hon. Friend is aware, we are still consulting on that document and will consider the results of the consultation process before making any final decisions. On his specific point, however, my understanding is that that will be case.

[Mr David Blunkett (Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough) (Lab)]

10. What decisions he has reached in respect of additional funding for the purpose of the tariff applying to specialist children’s hospitals.

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[Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con)]

17. What recent representations he has received on the management and administration costs of the NHS; and if he will make a statement.

[The Minister of State, Department of Health (Mr Simon Burns)]

As I said to my hon. Friend the Member for Pendle (Andrew Stephenson) earlier, administration costs across the whole health sector will reduce by a third in real terms over the spending review period. This is a £1.4 billion cash reduction and a £1.9 billion real-terms reduction, from a baseline of £5.1 billion. Every penny of the savings will be reinvested in front-line services.

[Richard Graham]

I am grateful to the Minister for his reply. Can he reassure my constituents in Gloucester that this is broadly the degree of savings that we should expect from NHS Gloucestershire’s expenditure on management, and that those savings will be spent on the rising demand for front-line services, including in the new, soon-to-be-opened women’s centre?

[Mr Burns]

Yes, I can give my hon. Friend the assurance that he seeks. We have made it quite clear that we will reduce management costs throughout the NHS by more than 45% over the next four years, and establishing GP consortiums will allow us to strip out the costly top-down bureaucracy that now exists. All the money that will be saved through these initiatives will be reinvested in front-line services, which will benefit the constituents of my hon. Friend and those of every other right hon. and hon. Member throughout England.

[Rushanara Ali (Bethnal Green and Bow) (Lab)]

I am concerned about the quality of services that patients and their families receive. In my constituency, 100 jobs are already going, and I am worried that the cuts in staffing will have an effect on the services that are available. Can the Minister guarantee that front-line services will be protected, because the reality is that, in constituencies such as mine, staffing is crucial to ensuring that decent services are available?

[Mr Burns]

I have to tell the hon. Lady that, in this very difficult financial situation, which we inherited from her Government, it is only by making efficiency savings and getting rid of excess bureaucracy that we can generate the income to reinvest to save front-line services—[Interruption.] She and the Greek chorus in front of her must understand that, if we had not been left in this mess in which £43 billion a year is being spent on the interest on the debt that we inherited, we would not have the problems that we now have—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I think we understand what the Minister is trying to get at.

[Mr Speaker]

Let us have the answer.

[Mr Burns]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Although the last Government significantly increased health spending —I do not dispute that; it is a self-evident fact—the trouble is that we did not see increases in productivity pro rata. That is the challenge that we face; that is what we are addressing; that is what we are going to achieve through QIPP—quality, innovation, productivity and prevention—by cutting out inefficiency, cutting out excess management and administration so that every single penny can be reinvested in improving front-line services and giving our constituents the finest health they—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The Minister will resume his seat. His answers have been excessively long-winded and repetitive—and it must not happen again. I have made the position clear and I hope that the Minister will learn from that.

[Mr Russell Brown (Dumfries and Galloway) (Lab)]

18. What estimate he has made of the change in average waiting times for patients waiting for diagnostic tests since May 2010.

[The Minister of State, Department of Health (Mr Simon Burns)]

Patients are continuing to receive timely access to diagnostic tests. In September 2010, the median waiting time for 15 key diagnostic tests was 1.7 weeks, compared with 1.8 weeks in May.

[Mr Brown]

I thank the Minister. Does he expect waiting times to stay down now that they have been scrapped or will they simply be ignored by no longer being performance-managed?

[Mr Burns]

I suggest that the hon. Gentleman studies the response given earlier by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to the right hon. Member for Exeter (Mr Bradshaw). By concentrating resources and reforming the system to improve outcomes, we will provide enhanced health care for all our constituents in England.

[Jonathan Reynolds (Stalybridge and Hyde) (Lab/Co-op)]

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

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[Mr Speaker]

Just as the answers from the Minister of State, the hon. Member for West Chelmsford, were too long, those questions were too long as well.

[Mr Burns]

Chelmsford.

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I do not require any assistance from the hon. Gentleman. We must speed up from now on. That is the situation.

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[Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con)]

T8. Can Ministers reassure me that, given the relative health deprivation in Gloucester, the ring-fenced funding promised in the White Paper on public health will in fact benefit people there?

[Mr Burns]

Yes, I can certainly give my hon. Friend that assurance. The money will be ring-fenced to ensure that local communities can enhance the quality of public health for all constituents both in Gloucestershire and throughout the country.

[Mrs Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) (Lab)]

T4. The north of England cancer network has been working since 2007 to improve cancer commissioning across primary and secondary care and to improve standards of cancer care for my constituents. Can the Secretary of State confirm that it will continue to play that role after the introduction of GP commissioning?