NHS Major Incidents Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department of Health and Social Care
Steve McCabe
Main Page: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)Department Debates - View all Steve McCabe's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
(9 years, 10 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
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Mr Hunt
That is absolutely right, but Members on the two sides of the House hold different views. We believe in devolving power locally and we want local decision-making. We accept that that might mean that sometimes services are slightly different in one part of the country compared with another, but the benefit is that we do get that local knowledge. In the past few weeks, I have spoken to South Western ambulance service, which had particular pressures over Christmas, to ask whether there is anything we can do from the centre. What I want to ensure is that the decisions that keep my hon. Friend’s constituents safe are made locally, because they are likely to be better than any that I could make in Whitehall.
Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)
The Secretary of State is very reassuring when he says that, under him, the NHS is free from political news management. If that is the case, why does he not free it from the constraints of election purdah, and allow these officials to get on with their jobs without having to second-guess the consequences of some of the decisions?
Mr Hunt
We are not in election purdah. The point is that during election purdah we will continue to publish the weekly A and E performances and other figures from the Office for National Statistics, and that has always been the system. But there is a difference between what is happening in the run-up to this election and what happened in the run-up to the previous election. This time, the CQC is free to speak up, without fear or favour, about the quality of care in every single hospital in this country, and it will continue to do so.