Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2016-01-05
Topic: Health
Questions: Following the assisted dying debate, will the Department set out what steps it is taking to improve end-of-life care, and will Ministers join me in praising local hospices such as Forest Holme hospice in Poole, which serves my constituents; In Boston in my constituency, as many as one in four children are classified as obese. Will the Minister reassure me that in the forthcoming obesity strategy, the Government will acknowledge that they are allowing families and, indeed, children the opportunity to take the control of their own lifestyles that will fix this problem, rather than seeking to do it for them?; The Health Secretary just tried to tell us why we have 8,500 more nurses in the NHS. Let me tell him why it is. It is because we have record recruitment from abroad. Since the Chancellor announced the scrapping of bursaries for trainee nurses and midwives, there has been a worrying reduction in the number of applications for next year’s training, compared with what we would expect to see at this time of year. That can only have a negative impact on the number of trained nurses from this country and on net migration. Was there any discussion between the Department of Health, the Home Office and the Chancellor before this idiocy was introduced?; Will my right hon. Friend join me in paying tribute to the first responders in Rossendale, who support the ambulance service by attending 999 calls to very serious cases, including one involving a friend of mine over Christmas? Will he in particular pay tribute to Brian Pickup, who is stepping down as team leader of the first responders after 11 years of unpaid public service?; On too many occasions, children in my constituency who need to be admitted to a psychiatric in-patient bed have to wait for more than a day in accident and emergency before a tier 4 bed is found. Too often, available beds are outside London, and sometimes as far away as Nottingham, Glasgow or Southampton. How long does the Minister believe it is acceptable for a child to wait in A&E for a tier 4 child and adolescent mental health services in-patient bed to become available? Does he consider it acceptable for very unwell children to be sent such a long way from home for the treatment and care that they need?; The Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust now finds itself in special measures, and today its chairman has resigned, largely as a result of an over-extensive and highly complex review of clinical services in the county that has so far failed to reach an agreed conclusion. Given the complexity of the review process, and the apparent impossibility of it reaching an agreed conclusion, what steps can the Government take to untie the Gordian knot that created that situation and help the trust to get back on a stable footing?; The management at James Cook university hospital in Middlesbrough is seeking to increase nurses’ current 30-minute meal break, which they struggle to take, to a compulsory unpaid 60-minute break that will result in nurses effectively working one shift a month unpaid. In their judgment that will do nothing to address the real issues of staff shortages and patient safety, but will merely disadvantage patients and nurses alike. Will the Secretary of State investigate the matter and write to me?; Before Christmas the Chancellor pledged to match the charitable fundraising of Great Ormond Street hospital to a maximum of £1.5 million, using money from outside the health budget. The Secretary of State will know that Great Ormond Street is one of only four specialist children’s hospital trusts in the UK, and one of the other three is in my constituency. Does he agree that the Government’s matched funding should be extended to all four trusts, and will he join me in making that case to the Chancellor?; Yesterday, the Minister’s offer to junior doctors had still not dealt with the important issue of weekend working and appropriate compensation. As a result, doctors in England will be forced to strike and the Minister will have damaged the patient safety he claims to value. Instead of attacking consultants and junior doctors, will he follow the example of the Scottish Government and work with the medical profession to help the NHS face the challenges of increased demands and private finance initiative-induced deficits?
Robin Caspar Walker (Conservative, Centre-right): May I thank the Minister for his helpful answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Wyre Forest (Mark Garnier)? Further to that question, having recently met the clinical leadership at Worcester Royal hospital, they are adamant that they want permanent management in place at the hospital. The Care Quality Commission report said that the number of interim directors was one reason why it was put into special measures. Can the Minister reassure me that he will be doing everything he can to put in place permanent long-term management at the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust as quickly as possible?