Upper Gastrointestinal Haemorrhage

Tania Mathias Excerpts

Monday 11th April 2016 Commons Chamber

[Ben Gummer]

There is variation in mortality, and I hope we will make progress in that area over the next period. We must understand comparisons of mortality across the country, and as the hon. Gentleman knows, the Secretary of State is interested in discovering and understanding that issue. We must also understand variations across the European Union, and in the United Kingdom where there are apparent variations between practice in England and that in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Some of that comes down to data collection, but we must understand where it comes down to practice and consider how we can improve in accordance with our most neighbourly health systems.

[Dr Tania Mathias (Twickenham) (Con)]

I appreciate the Government’s intention, but I do not know whether my local hospital is accredited. I am highly concerned about the current postcode lottery. What is the Minister’s plan right now, tonight, for people who are going to a hospital that does not have an adequate rota system and is not accredited?

[Ben Gummer]

The principles that inform the policy of creating a sustainable seven-day NHS are being announced in stages. The clinical standards to which I referred have been explained in this place and outside several times, and I expect that in the next few weeks and months, further details will be given on the pace at which units around the country will comply. My hon. Friend will know that in the autumn the Prime Minister made it clear that 25% of the population will be covered by 24/7 urgent emergency care services by March 2017, 50% by March 2018, and the entire service by 2020. Precisely how that happens will be made clear in short order, and I hope that my hon. Friend will be satisfied that her hospital will form part of the programme to provide the coverage she expects.

The fact that we are having this discussion is testament to the fact that we are willing to be open about variation and failure, and to do something about it. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for South West Wiltshire for bringing this issue before the House because, just as Lord Grantham popularised it for the nation at large, my hon. Friend has explained in a particular clinical area how the introduction of robust, sustainable 24/7 services will provide the improvements in clinical care that the Government seek. That is why the challenges and difficulties that face us in introducing 24/7 services require attention across the board—not just in hospital estates, but in the configuration of services, the way that services are commissioned and procured, and the contracts that ensure that rotas can be properly manned across the service. We must attack this problem on all fronts and ensure that we provide consistency of care to our constituents. They do not choose when they fall ill, but they should expect the same quality of care whether they go to one unit or another, or on a day not of their choosing.

Question put and agreed to.