Stafford Hospital

William Cash Excerpts

Thursday 4th July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr William Cash (Stone) (Con)]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford (Jeremy Lefroy) for his tireless work in relation to Stafford hospital. I myself campaigned vigorously and successfully for a public inquiry, and was able to give evidence to it. However, the Government have still not arranged a debate on the Francis report, although it was published many months ago, in February. That is completely unacceptable. I know that the Secretary of State for Health wants a debate, so, for heavens sake, will the Government get on with it? Will they have their discussions, so that we can debate the matter and establish the root causes of what went wrong?

If the discussions do not produce the results which, as my hon. Friend said, are absolutely necessary, the national health service itself will not be able to live up to what people have claimed that it can produce. It could stand or fall on the basis of the results of those discussions. As we know from the media, many people are questioning the workings of the national health service, and with some justification. If the Government get this right, the health service as a whole will benefit enormously. I urge them to act.

Let me also say that the Prime Minister himself has expressed his concern about the treatment given to Julie Bailey, and we are following that up with the police.

Finally, I ask the Government and the Minister to make certain that Stafford hospital is given an opportunity not only to prove itself, but to prove that the national health service can work properly.