Horton General Hospital

Steve Baker Excerpts

Wednesday 16th June 2010 Commons Chamber

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

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Banbury (Tony Baldry) on securing this debate on the future of Horton general hospital. I know that he has campaigned vigorously in support of the hospital for several years, and I am sure that his constituents appreciate both his hard work and his dedication to protect good local health services in his constituency. I also pay tribute to the NHS staff across the whole of Oxfordshire, who provide such first-class care for his constituents.

As my hon. Friend will know, the Secretary of State has visited his constituency a number of times, and has seen for himself the excellent work carried out daily at Horton general hospital. I would be delighted to accept my hon. Friend’s offer to visit Horton myself, so that I, too, can benefit from knowledge of the experience that his constituents enjoy.

[Steve Baker (Wycombe) (Con)]

I, too, congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Banbury (Tony Baldry) on securing this debate, and I note the Minister’s diligent concern for Horton hospital. Will he consider the case of Wycombe hospital, which is somewhat further down the route upon which the Horton had embarked, and our local services?

[Mr Burns]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for drawing that to my attention. Given the constraints of time in this debate, if he were to be kind enough to write or to come and see me, I would be more than happy to discuss the situation with him.

My hon. Friend the Member for Banbury referred to the decision made by the board of Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust on Monday this week to maintain 24-hour paediatric services and a full obstetrics service at Horton general hospital. That is good news, and thanks in no small part to the strong opposition mounted by local GPs, clinicians and the public to the trust’s original plans that were proposed in 2007. In addition, my hon. Friend and my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister—in his constituency role—my former hon. Friends Tim Boswell and John Maples, and my new hon. Friends the Members for Stratford-on-Avon (Nadhim Zahawi) and for South Northamptonshire (Andrea Leadsom), should be congratulated on the determined way in which they have fought for their constituents in seeking to stop the original proposals, which would have meant paediatric in-patient services moving from the Horton to the John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford, with the problems that that would cause for their constituents.

Following the rejection of the original plans in 2008 by the independent reconfiguration board, Oxfordshire PCT set up the better healthcare programme to develop proposals on how safe, long-term services at Horton might be delivered. It established a community partnership forum to ensure wide engagement with the local community, which included representation from local GPs, patients, the public, Horton general hospital staff, councillors and Members of the House. I am aware that my hon. Friend the Member for Banbury played a long and active role in those deliberations.

I am pleased to note that local engagement has been such a key part of the better healthcare programme. I understand that the community partnership forum has been involved throughout, and that frequent briefings were held with GPs and the practice-based commissioning consortia. Clinical staff at Horton general and John Radcliffe hospitals have also been involved, to ensure wide clinical engagement.

The model of care that emerged from the better healthcare programme was for consultant-delivered paediatrics and obstetrics services to remain at Horton general. That will mean less reliance on middle-grade doctors, and result in Horton continuing to provide local, high-quality paediatric and maternity services. The Oxfordshire health overview and scrutiny committee agreed with that model.

In March, the proposals developed to implement that model were presented to a clinical review panel. The panel consisted of local GPs, representatives from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the Royal College of Anaesthetists, Cherwell district council and a PCT board member. Although I understand that the panel had some concerns, it concluded that the proposals were clinically safe and deliverable. Now that the PCT and trust boards have decided to go ahead with these proposals, the next step is for the trust to develop an implementation plan. That will involve recruiting the required number of additional consultants.

I am pleased that Oxfordshire PCT and South Central SHA have both assured me that the better healthcare programme has passed the four tests set out by the Secretary of State, which have been a strong feature of the way the programme has been organised. As my hon. Friend will appreciate, the four tests to which I refer are the new tests that the Secretary of State has laid down to ensure that when reconfiguration proposals are made, local GPs and clinicians—and local communities—are fully consulted before any decisions are made, so that they can have a say in the health care that they need.

My hon. Friend asked a number of questions that I will seek to answer now as far as I can. He asked about the timetable for the transition to GP commissioning and the future role of primary care trusts. As he knows, we have only been in government a matter of weeks and a tremendous amount of work needs to be done to begin to realise our vision for an NHS based on putting patients first so that quality of care is the priority in the service. In that context, we will set out our vision for the national health service shortly. Until we do, I am not in a position to respond in detail to those two specific questions.

My hon. Friend asked about the independent NHS Board. The board will set outcome objectives, allocate resources and provide commissioning guidelines free from political interference. Again, I beg my hon. Friend’s patience as we will set out further details of the NHS Board shortly. I am sure that he appreciates that I cannot go into detail at this stage and while we are putting together our proposals to bring before the House and the nation.

My hon. Friend also raised the idea of an initiative to bring together an alliance of general hospitals to help provide the best integrated primary, community and hospital care. Like him, I believe that it is vital to have first-class integrated health and community services, and I assure him that we are looking at how we might best achieve that.

I applaud the determination that my hon. Friend, and my other hon. Friends—I am pleased to see them in their places tonight—have shown in their championing of local services in Banbury and in other areas affected by these proposals. His constituents, like those of all hon. Members, deserve good local health services that have the full support of local GPs, clinicians and the local community and provide the highest standards of quality and care. By seeking the support of GPs and local people for any changes made, by basing any changes on clear evidence, and by ensuring that all changes improve patient choice, the enhanced services in Oxfordshire will inevitably lead to better care for my hon. Friends’ constituents, not only in that area but in those parts of south Northamptonshire and Warwickshire that form part of this hospital area.

In conclusion, I am pleased that the plans that have finally been devised through local involvement and commitment have solved a potential problem. It shows that, by consulting with local stakeholders and the local community, one can achieve the sort of configuration that meets the needs of local people as well as the needs of a local national health service. In particular, I congratulate my hon. Friend on his tremendous work and the leadership that he has provided in ensuring that the local community, working together, achieved the successful outcome determined last Monday. I wish him and the local health service in Banbury and the surrounding area every success in ensuring that these proposals work, and work well, for the benefit of the local community.

Question put and agreed to.