Engagements — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Questions: Care workers deliver the most basic support needed to provide a life of dignity to so many—bathing, cleaning, dressing, feeding—yet 300,000 fewer older people are enjoying that dignity now than four years ago. Is that because they do not need it, or because the Prime Minister has cut care budgets by £3.5 billion, while cutting taxes for millionaires?; Last week, the Institute for Fiscal Studies revealed that poorer families had lost most under the Prime Minister’s tax and benefit policies. What happened to his promise that this Government would be the most family-friendly ever?; If the Prime Minister will not apologise for the A and E closures, maybe he will have a go at the following subjects. Why is it that we have a record number of people queuing up at food banks? Will he apologise to them? Will he apologise to those who are on payday loans, struggling to pay them back? Will he apologise to those on zero-hours contracts, another record number? The truth is that this Prime Minister has got a longer record than his mate Andy Coulson.; Britain’s economic success is making it possible for the northern powerhouse to transform the fortunes of an important part of our country. Does my right hon. Friend agree that investment in science, such as in the new institute for advanced materials—the Henry Royce institute—supports our top universities and will promote innovation, which will bring back high quality manufacturing jobs to the north of England?; Absolute poverty up by 300,000, the rise of the working poor and very seriously sick people impoverished while they wait for their benefit—is the Prime Minister proud of this record?; My constituent, Kelly Thomas, has been waiting nearly 15 months for urgent bowel surgery, which, if she lived in England, she could have had in six weeks. NHS Wales refused her treatment on the basis that it is technically available in Wales, although ironically there are no surgeons available to do it. Someone somewhere needs to make a common-sense and humane decision. I hope the Prime Minister can help that happen.; It is now clear that the decision by the last Government to put Hinchingbrooke hospital out to tender, with the last three bids under that Government all being led by the private sector, was deeply flawed and has been a massive failure. Does the Prime Minister accept that this experiment in privatisation has failed and that the future of Hinchingbrooke hospital should be fully within a public NHS?
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): It is important that we make decisions based on what will be best for patients. My view is that there is a role for the independent sector within the NHS, but it has only gone from something like 5% of the total to 6% of the total. [Interruption.] It is no good Opposition Members shouting about privatisation: it was their decision to allow this hospital to be run by the private sector. Frankly, on a day when they are in complete confusion about their health policy, we have the shadow Health Secretary saying he opposes all of this but cannot say what percentage should be in the private sector; we have his deputy saying that they want to see more of the NHS in the private sector; we have the Leader of the Opposition refusing to confirm that his shadow Secretary of State has his full confidence—yet this is meant to be Labour’s great big election-winning idea. What a complete shambles!