Oral Answers to Questions

Steve Barclay Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd October 2018 Commons Chamber

[Alan Mak (Havant) (Con)]

7. What steps he is taking to improve value for money and efficiency in the NHS.

[The Minister for Health (Stephen Barclay)]

Having committed an additional £20 billion in real terms, the Government are asking the NHS to deliver a long-term plan that includes continued improvements in productivity and efficiency, and we are reinvesting the savings in improved patient care.

[Damien Moore]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on his drive to recycle more hospital equipment such as zimmer frames, crutches and wheelchairs, but what steps is his Department taking to encourage more hospitals such as Southport Hospital in my constituency to run recycling programmes to reduce waste in our NHS?

[Stephen Barclay]

I am keen to work with my hon. Friend to encourage Southport and other trusts to recycle equipment. I know from my family’s experience that it causes significant frustration when people see hospitals not collecting perfectly good medical equipment that could be recycled. I am keen to work with him and with trusts to ensure that we learn from that.

[Alan Mak]

Digitising patient records and removing outdated technologies such as fax machines can improve productivity and patient care across the NHS. What steps is my hon. Friend taking to prepare the NHS for the fourth industrial revolution?

[Stephen Barclay]

I commend my hon. Friend for his excellent report for the Centre for Policy Studies, which highlights the opportunities provided by technology. I was at a Scan4Safety event last night, looking at how barcodes are being used at six trusts, and at how that could be expanded to deliver 4:1 efficiency savings and improve patient care through the safety it offers.

[Laura Smith (Crewe and Nantwich) (Lab)]

Does the Minister believe that the practice of cutting funding to hospitals that miss A&E targets helps to improve the patient experience at those hospitals? Will he agree to meet me to discuss how this issue has affected Leighton hospital, which serves my constituents?

[Stephen Barclay]

The hon. Lady may have missed our recent announcement of significant additional funding, ahead of winter pressure, to assist hospitals. As the Secretary of State announced, the extra £20.5 billion real-terms increase is part of a wider commitment to support our hospitals.

[Mr David Lammy (Tottenham) (Lab)]

Jack Adcock’s death was a tragedy, but why did the General Medical Council spend £30,000 on getting Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba struck off, even though she had already faced the consequences of her mistakes in court? Does the Minister think that the GMC needs to sort its act out and that Charlie Massey should resign?

[Stephen Barclay]

As the right hon. Gentleman will be aware, Professor Norman Williams looked at the circumstances of this case and produced a report on it for the Government. As a part of that, we are looking at a number of factors.

[David Tredinnick (Bosworth) (Con)]

Is the Minister aware that in terms of value for money and efficiency, the Government of India’s integrated health Ministry has half a million ayurvedic doctors and a quarter of a million homeopathic doctors? At a clinic I visited recently in Karnataka province, four fifths of the patients who would have normally gone to see a western doctor were treated by those local doctors. Will he build links with the Indian Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy?

[Stephen Barclay]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for the longevity and sincerity of his campaigning on these issues. He draws attention to the wider point of how patients presenting with multiple and complex conditions need to be treated in multiple ways, and what he refers to is a part of that wider discussion.

[Dr Philippa Whitford (Central Ayrshire) (SNP)]

NHS England is being ripped off to the tune of £230 million a year as the price of some off-patent drugs and non-standard preparations, or specials, have been hiked up hundreds of times, for example to over £1,000 for a bottle of pain-relieving mouthwash. In Scotland, specials remain in-house to keep the price down, but a year and a half on from the Health Service Medical Supplies (Costs) Act 2017, why have the Government not used its powers to stop this drug racketeering?

[Stephen Barclay]

The hon. Lady, very astutely and correctly, identifies the issue, which is how we ensure value for money from specials. Indeed, I commend The Times for highlighting a number of these issues. We are looking at this area. As we commit an extra £20 billion in funding to the NHS, our commitment is to ensure that we derive value for money from that investment. That applies to specials, too.

[Dr Whitford]

The healthcare market in NHS England is estimated to cost £5 billion to £10 billion a year and involves 2.5 million nursing hours a week being wasted on non-clinical paperwork. Does the Minister not recognise that this is the biggest inefficiency? Will he commit to reversing the disastrous marketisation of NHS England?

[Stephen Barclay]

Again, the hon. Lady draws attention to my work on driving productivity improvements within the system, which looks at a range of efficiencies such as sending texts and emails, dealing with missed appointments and the use of green energy. We can implement a whole range of initiatives as a part of that agenda.

[Steve Double (St Austell and Newquay) (Con)]

As the first port of call for patients with often minor ailments, community pharmacists can really help to improve the efficiency of the NHS by taking pressure off GPs. What plans do the Government have to support and enhance the role of community pharmacists?

[Stephen Barclay]

My hon. Friend is right to draw attention to the valuable role played by pharmacies. This is part of a wider education campaign within the NHS and increased access to clinicians, such as through 111, is another component of that. We want to ensure that rather than people’s first port of call being a GP, they access the NHS and pharmacies at the appropriate time.

[Justin Madders (Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Lab)]

At the end of the last financial year, trusts owed the Department a staggering £11 billion. NHS providers say that this is locking some trusts into

“a vicious circle of inevitable failure”,

and the King’s Fund says that there is no prospect of them ever repaying. Trusts with the biggest debts are forced to pay the highest levels of interest. How can the Minister expect trusts to be efficient when they are paying an interest rate of 6% on debts to his Department?

[Stephen Barclay]

As it happens, I will be at an event with NHS providers—chief execs—this evening, when I am sure that this will be one of a number of issues that we will discuss. The hon. Gentleman is right to draw attention to the very high private finance initiative costs that many trusts face due to contracts signed under the previous Labour Government. That is a real pressure faced by many trusts.

[Richard Benyon (Newbury) (Con)]

4. What the outcomes were of the October 2018 London global ministerial mental health summit.

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[The Minister for Health (Stephen Barclay)]

The planned temporary overnight closure of the Princess Royal Hospital’s A&E in Telford is necessary to ensure that patients continue to receive safe care. The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust is working closely with colleagues in neighbouring provider trusts and the ambulance service to develop plans for key clinical pathways to minimise the impact.

[Emma Reynolds]

The proposed closure of Telford A&E would pile even more pressure on New Cross Hospital in my constituency. If the Government will not step in to stop the closure, as it sounds is the case from the Minister’s answer, will they give New Cross the resources it needs to recruit upfront the nurses, doctors and other staff they need so that patients do not have to suffer longer delays?

[Stephen Barclay]

The current modelling suggests that about 11 ambulances will be diverted from the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust between the hours of 10 pm and 8 am during closure. Of the patients who go to Wolverhampton, any admitted as in-patients will return to Shrewsbury and Telford and any who are discharged will be discharged from Wolverhampton.

[Lucy Allan (Telford) (Con)]

The chief executive of Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust says that the closure at Telford is the result of bad planning and could have been prevented. Does the Minister agree it is wholly unacceptable that my constituents’ safety should be put at risk by a preventable closure that is the result of bad planning by management, and will he do all he can to ensure that the hospital management have the help they need to properly run our hospital and properly plan for the needs of our community?

[Stephen Barclay]

First, may I pay tribute to my hon. Friend, who has campaigned assiduously on behalf of her constituents? She has lobbied me and the Secretary of State and made her case very powerfully to NHS leaders. There has been progress: three additional consultants have been hired and attempts made to recruit middle-ranking doctors to the trust, including from neighbouring trusts. We are making a significant capital investment in the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, and these changes must be seen in the light of that.

[Yvette Cooper (Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford) (Lab)]

rose—

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[Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con)]

T2. A constituent has just written to me saying that his diabetic care has been moved from John Coupland Hospital to Lincoln Hospital under the mistaken bureaucratic belief that bigger is better. United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, which covers Lincoln Hospital, is struggling. It is treating only 69% of people in A&E within four hours, when the figure should be 95%. What is the Minister going to do to ensure that large rural areas get the best and the same healthcare as large cities?

[The Minister for Health (Stephen Barclay)]

My hon. Friend is right to highlight this. The Secretary of State was at the trust last week, and I visited earlier in the year. There is a specific range of actions, including partnership with Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; advanced clinical practitioner courses, which started in June; £1.8 million of capital to support improvements to patient flow; and a frailty pilot at Lincoln. There is an intensive programme of work with this trust, because we recognise my hon. Friend’s concerns.

[Liz McInnes (Heywood and Middleton) (Lab)]

T8. North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust spent £30 million in the past three years on private ambulances. Does the Minister agree that that money would have been far better spent on the recruitment and retention of NHS ambulance staff?

[Stephen Barclay]

As the hon. Lady will know, since 2010, the number of paramedics has increased by more than 30% and the pay band has been increased from band 5 to band 6. She will also know from the excellent work of Lord Carter that there was significant variation between ambulance services and a significant opportunity to make savings that can be reinvested in ambulances by addressing differences in sickness rates, “hear and treat” and “see and treat” rates and other variables. We have also committed additional funding for new ambulances, including in the north-west, which will be in place by this winter.

[Boris Johnson (Uxbridge and South Ruislip) (Con)]

T3. I can personally testify to the passion, the care and the professionalism of staff at Hillingdon Hospital. They do a fantastic job, but, sadly, too much of the physical environment in which they work is no longer fit for purpose. I invite my right hon. Friend to visit and see it for himself and to commit to providing the medical facilities that my constituents will need for the long term.

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[Mike Amesbury (Weaver Vale) (Lab)]

T10. Will the Minister provide an update on the revised capital bid by Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to provide Halton General Hospital with a secure future?

[Stephen Barclay]

I am not aware of the specific details of that, but I am happy to meet the hon. Gentleman to discuss it if he has particular concerns he wishes to raise.

[Mr Marcus Fysh (Yeovil) (Con)]

T5. Spina bifida is one of the most prevalent causes of infant mortality and disability, and a campaign has been running for quite a long time to try to fortify flour to prevent it. Successive Governments have ducked the issue, so will we now please seize it?

[Toby Perkins (Chesterfield) (Lab)]

The service from the East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust has been a considerable disappointment for many of my constituents in recent months. When I met them about the service, they told me that on a huge number of occasions they have ambulances sat waiting outside accident and emergency departments, rather than getting to the next call. What more can the Government do to make sure we get these A&Es cleared?

[Stephen Barclay]

The hon. Gentleman is right to say that we need to improve those handovers. We have improvement programmes in place at 11 hospital sites in the east midlands, alongside which we are making a £4.9 million investment in 37 new ambulances. Part of this is also about the length of stay and addressing the pathway.

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[Yvette Cooper (Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford) (Lab)]

The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust is proposing to close our midwife-led maternity unit, telling me that, while it is safe, unless it has 500 births a year, it is not value for money. Is that a new national standard for midwife maternity units, because if so it would close 90% of free-standing units? Will a Minister meet me on this matter, because it is unfair on local parents, and, frankly, we are sick and tired of losing services from our towns?

[Stephen Barclay]

I am happy to meet the right hon. Lady and to discuss the matter further.

[Tom Pursglove (Corby) (Con)]

I am extremely concerned about the case of Logan, a young boy in my constituency who requires round-the-clock care and the handling of his case by Corby clinical commissioning group. I have written to the Minister raising concerns about this case, but is he willing to meet me and Logan’s parents, Darren and Wendy, to talk about how this could perhaps be resolved and to apply any pressure that he can, because, as a family, they should be making memories at the moment, not battling local NHS bureaucracy?

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[Stephanie Peacock (Barnsley East) (Lab)]

Will the Government write off the debts of Yorkshire hospitals so that extra money invested can go into patient care?

[Stephen Barclay]

As the Secretary of State set out, we are making a significant funding commitment to the NHS—the extra £20 billion—but that is not conditional on writing off debt.

[Robert Courts (Witney) (Con)]

Will the Minister please provide an update to the House on work to ensure that we train more GPs for England, particularly for west Oxfordshire?

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[Rachel Maclean (Redditch) (Con)]

I am hearing deeply concerning reports about ambulance waits outside Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, and the Minister is aware of these concerns. We welcome the capital funding that is going into this trust, but will he meet me to discuss what more can be done to improve patient handover, which is concerning for my constituents?

[Stephen Barclay]

As my hon. Friend says, there is significant capital investment into Worcestershire, as well as a major programme of improvements addressing variation in ambulances, but of course I am also happy to meet her to discuss the matter.

[Daniel Zeichner (Cambridge) (Lab)]

Last week, the chief executive of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry warned that even associate membership of the European Medicines Agency would not do for our life sciences sector, so can the Secretary of State tell us how much longer we will have to wait and how much more we will have to pay for new medicines if we are outside the European medicines market?