argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
NHS Major Incidents — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (Conservative, Centre-right): In the right hon. Gentleman’s desperate desire to weaponise the NHS, I am afraid that Labour has sunk to new depths today. He said in the media this morning that the Government had put news management over patient safety. That is ironic coming from him, given that so many officials testified to Francis about the pressure they were put under not to come out with bad news when he was Health Secretary. Even the head of the Care Quality Commission was roasted because she wanted to publish details of the problems that were happening in the NHS under Labour and he did not want that to happen when he was Health Secretary. That news management stopped the moment he walked out the door, and those days are over. As confirmed by NHS England this morning, this was an operational decision; it was nothing to do with Ministers. This was the local NHS doing its best to get good guidelines out in a tough winter. [Interruption.] It is a local decision. The right hon. Gentleman is the man who talks—he did not deliver this in office—a lot about integration. It is absolutely right that a local hospital should talk to the rest of the local NHS to check about the impact of any decision it makes on major incidents, to make sure that patients are treated safely—is he now saying to this House that local hospitals should not talk to the rest of the NHS? That is what these guidelines say. This was a period when we had 16 major incidents, but that number has gone right down because performance on accident and emergency is significantly—[Interruption.] This is the underlying point, because the reason we have fewer major incidents is that A and E performance has got better. This is the week when we discovered that public satisfaction with the NHS jumped five points last year. This is the week when NHS unions have put patients first by suspending their strike, and Labour focuses not on patients, but on politics. On patients, he did not want to talk about the Welsh ambulance service publishing its worst ever figures, although the Labour leader says that we should be looking at what is going on in Wales Let us be clear: where Labour runs the NHS we have double the number of people waiting at A and E; double the number of people waiting too long for ambulances; and 10 times the number of people waiting for their operations. We have seen Labour today in Wales and Labour before covering up around Mid Staffs, ignoring patients and weaponising the NHS for political advantage—has the right hon. Gentleman not proved today that Labour is still not fit to run the NHS?
NHS Major Incidents — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Sarah James (Wollaston) (Conservative, Centre-right): Our hard-working NHS staff and, more importantly, patients need to have absolute confidence that the Secretary of State will never lean on operational decision making in these circumstances and will always allow that decision making to take place at the appropriate local level, backed, if necessary, by national guidance.
NHS Major Incidents — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right to say that. It is why many people in the NHS will be so astonished to hear the shadow Secretary of State, who presided over a culture where precisely that kind of leaning from on high happened, making it difficult for people to make those local operational decisions in the interests of patients, now trying to make a political point. This was a local decision and it was confirmed today that Ministers had no involvement in it, and Labour should stop trying to score political points.
NHS Major Incidents — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I have spoken to the chief executive of Northamptonshire county council and I have heard about the excellent integration of services that is now starting to happen between the local authority and the local hospital. That is the way forward. The guidance simply says that trusts must pay attention to the impact on the local health economy before they make a local decision. It is time that Labour stopped playing politics with something that they know is a disgrace.
NHS Major Incidents — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (Conservative, Centre-right): Declaring a major incident is the decision of the local hospital trusts, and that is right. But it is important that, before they make that decision, they should take proper account of the impact on the rest of the local health economy. That is what every responsible hospital wants to happen, and that applies to the hon. Gentleman’s area as well as everywhere else.
NHS Major Incidents — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Bernard Christison Jenkin (Conservative, Centre-right): Following the declaration of a major incident at the accident and emergency unit of Colchester hospital, we now await the Care Quality Commission report into that incident, which will be published very shortly. We want the report to tell the truth, but it is harder to tell the truth in a political atmosphere where there are people who want to gloat over these challenges to get votes.
NHS Major Incidents — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I have spoken to the chief executive of the hospital, and I must say that she and her staff are doing a good job in turning around a very difficult situation. What they want is support. We have issued sensible guidance that tells hospitals that if they declare a major incident, they must take account of the impact on the rest of their local health economy. A responsible Opposition would support such guidance, and not to try to turn it into a political football.
NHS Major Incidents — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (Conservative, Centre-right): I can reassure the hon. Lady that we have provided a huge amount of extra money to deal with the problems in the wake of what happened at the former Mid Staffs Trust. We are continuing to give every support we can to Walsall and Stoke and other trusts. We have more doctors and more nurses and major changes are happening. The problem in Mid Staffs went on for four long years, and we do not want to wait that time before sorting out the problems.
NHS Major Incidents — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (Conservative, Centre-right): I totally agree with the right hon. Gentleman. I am sure, too, that he will agree with me that the best way to give the NHS certainty over funding in the future and the increase in funding that it needs to implement the five-year forward view is a strong economy, and it is only this Government who are able to deliver that.
NHS Major Incidents — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Sarah Louise Newton (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is really important to let NHS England’s local teams—in our case the Devon and Cornwall area team—make decisions with local leaders of hospitals? So many people in the north of Cornwall live closer to Derriford in Devon than they do to Treliske in my constituency. It is only right that NHS England staff closest to the clinicians make those decisions.
NHS Major Incidents — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (Conservative, Centre-right): 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.
NHS Major Incidents — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (Conservative, Centre-right): I entirely agree with the hon. Gentleman. He should be reassured that because of those real pressures, which I would never seek to minimise, we put in an extra £4.5 million of funding to his local area, paying for more doctors, more nurses, more community staff and more beds. As he says, we should congratulate the staff in that hospital on their work, and also recognise that, despite those pressures, they have made real progress in improving the quality of compassionate care for the patients in that hospital. They have been very well led by the chief executive, whom I have also met.
NHS Major Incidents — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Robert Henry Halfon (Conservative, Centre-right): Last week, the hon. Member for Leicester West (Liz Kendall) came to Harlow and attempted to weaponise the local NHS and scare local residents. A day later an interview was published in which she said that she supported privatisation in the NHS. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the best way to help the Princess Alexandra hospital in Harlow deal with major incidents is to do what the Government are doing, with £5 million extra last year for our A and E, and £4 million extra to help the NHS this year?
NHS Major Incidents — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (Conservative, Centre-right): Indeed, across the country we have put in £700 million, which has paid for 6,400 additional beds in the system. All that is possible because we have a strong economy and we can put extra funding into the NHS. What those people in my hon. Friend’s hospital want most of all is support from Members in all parts of the House, and not to see their efforts turned into a political football.
NHS Major Incidents — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (Conservative, Centre-right): I am afraid that the trouble is that there are just too many people on the Labour side who think exactly like that. I suggest that the hon. Gentleman go and talk to people working in Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust and ask them whether they want him to use the NHS as a political weapon in that way. They have improved their performance over the past few years and are seeing more people within four hours—every year, 4,000 more people within four hours than when Labour was in office—and MRSA cases are down. There are 79 fewer clostridium difficile cases; 525 more people are treated for cancer every year; and there are 6,200 more operations every year. Those are real improvements making a real difference to his constituents. He should celebrate them, not try to run them down.
NHS Major Incidents — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Henry Edward Millar Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): East Surrey hospital, which is the A and E department that covers my constituency, not least because Labour closed Crawley hospital’s A and E in 2005, has not had a major incident. Can my right hon. Friend confirm that major incidents have decreased because of the extra investment that he has put into the NHS, in stark contrast to Labour-controlled Wales, which has cut the budget?
NHS Major Incidents — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (Conservative, Centre-right): I have been to East Surrey hospital, which is a good example. It, too, has had its share of problems with care, but it has addressed them head on. Standards in the hospital are getting better, and it is encouraging to see that refreshing openness and honesty. We have put more investment into the NHS. Welsh patients are angry, because they can see that openness and transparency about results, combined with strong financial support, not cuts from central Government, lead to better service. Rather than try to create a political weapon in England, Labour should act where they can do something about it—in Wales.
NHS Major Incidents — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (Conservative, Centre-right): If executives did not declare a major incident because they were worried about the political consequences, they were wrong, but I would have to be persuaded that they would do that, because every NHS executive I speak to wants to put patients first, with patient safety paramount. On the practical things that we are doing, there are 60 more doctors, and 41 more nurses since 2010, and £4.5 million to help them through this winter. We are doing a lot of practical things to help the NHS in the hon. Lady’s area through the winter.
NHS Major Incidents — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Andrew George Stephenson (Conservative, Centre-right): Many major incidents have their roots in things that happened some time ago. Blackburn’s A and E department has been struggling to cope with demand since Burnley’s A and E department was downgraded under Labour in 2007—a decision that the right hon. Member for Leigh (Andy Burnham) defended several times in the House, including on 19 November 2009, when he said: "‘This is saving lives; I will stand by it’".—[Official Report, 19 November 2009; Vol. 501, c. 236.] On behalf of the residents of Pendle, I urge the Secretary of State to take no lessons from Labour on the management of our NHS.
NHS Major Incidents — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (Conservative, Centre-right): I can confirm that there is no difference in any guidelines issued for hospitals in special measures and for hospitals not in special measures. This is a good example of a trust with deep, pronounced problems over many years. There was a terrible tragedy in 2007, I think, when someone gave birth sitting on a toilet seat. This Government have said that we are going to tackle those problems and put the trust into special measures. It has more doctors and nurses: 230 more hospital nurses in the past four years in that trust. We are making a real difference—we have a new management team—and I think that things are beginning to get better in that trust in a way that has not been the case for many years. I hope that the hon. Gentleman would welcome that.
NHS Major Incidents — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Stephen Mosley (Conservative, Centre-right): The shadow Secretary of State called on the Secretary of State to intervene to stop political interference in the NHS. May I ask my right hon. Friend to ignore such siren voices and rely instead on local doctors and local health professionals to make the best choices for our local NHS?
NHS Major Incidents — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend eloquently points out the great irony in what we have heard from the Opposition Front Bench. We do not want an NHS in which every single operational decision is made from behind the Secretary of State’s desk. We want to trust people on the ground. Why do we want to do that?
NHS Major Incidents — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, we have other measures in place. At every stage, trusts should do what is right for patients. Sometimes they declare an internal major incident, sometimes it is an external major incident, but what is important is that they take account of the impact on the rest of the local health economy. At Medway hospital, which the hon. Gentleman mentioned, things are getting better. It has been through a difficult period. We have been honest about the problems, we have given it a lot of external support, and I hope that the news will continue to get better.
NHS Major Incidents — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (Conservative, Centre-right): Let me make two points to the hon. Lady. When I talk to the House about the number of major incidents, we make no distinction between internal and external incidents. We talk about them all as major incidents. There is no benefit, if one looks at it in that way, to Ministers from it being either an internal or an external incident. What matters is the right thing for patients. Rather than trying to politicise the issue and turning it into a political football, the Opposition should listen to Dame Barbara Hakin, chief operating officer of the NHS, who said clearly today that the decision was nothing to do with Ministers, they did not know about it and it was not taken at the request of Ministers. Labour should concentrate on supporting the NHS where it could do with its help—in Wales today.
NHS Major Incidents — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman has quoted selectively; he has not quoted the whole guidance. If he looks at the whole guidance, he will see that it clearly states that a responsible trust, before it declares a major incident, which is its decision, must make sure that there is not going to be a negative impact on the rest of the economy, because patients must always come first. He is also not saying what Dame Barbara Hakin said this morning —that none of this guidance was anything to do with Ministers.
NHS (Government Spending) — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Simon Hugh McGuigan Burns (Conservative, Centre-right): I read the motion carefully. It is about the NHS and spending on it, as the hon. Gentleman has illustrated in his remarks so far. Will he explain something that puzzles me? I know that the shadow Secretary of State’s interview with Kirsty Wark on "Newsnight" last night was a car crash, but why is he not opening this debate? He has never been reticent in the past in coming forward to try to weaponise the NHS. Is it because his leader has wrapped him up in cotton wool to keep him away from the public gaze?
NHS (Government Spending) — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Daniel Leonard James Poulter (Conservative, Centre-right): Such drivel, frankly, is beneath the hon. Lady. We have made considerable additional investment in the NHS. Comparisons between an NHS run by a coalition Government in England and the NHS in Wales bear up very well for the NHS in England.
NHS (Government Spending) — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Daniel Leonard James Poulter (Conservative, Centre-right): I am familiar with the hon. Lady’s constituency, having worked as a doctor at a hospital in the area. Her question is very disingenuous when we have increased the number of front-line clinical staff working in our NHS, investing in more staff to treat patients. We have also recently agreed with the unions a pay deal that will see the majority of NHS staff receiving a substantial increase in pay, thanks largely to their increments. Other staff will receive 1%.
NHS (Government Spending) — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Daniel Leonard James Poulter (Conservative, Centre-right): I am going to make some progress. I will give way to the right hon. Gentleman later. I have been very generous and I need to make some progress. I remind him that under the previous Labour Government, as my hon. Friend the Member for St Austell and Newquay (Stephen Gilbert) highlighted quite rightly, NHS providers were paid less than private sector providers. The right hon. Gentleman and the previous Labour Government paid the private sector 11% more than the NHS for performing the same NHS operations—something we have clearly outlawed under our legislation If we needed a further reminder of what Labour does when it runs the health service we need only look at Wales today, where almost every indicator of NHS performance shows that the Welsh NHS, run by Labour, is performing poorly when compared with the NHS in England. While we protected and increased our NHS budget in England, Labour in Wales has cut the NHS budget and patients are paying the price. Thanks to Labour in Wales, people have to wait about 100 days longer than patients in England for knee and hip operations. On finances and on care, Labour has let down our hard-working NHS staff and patients in Wales by its lack of investment in front-line services.
NHS (Government Spending) — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Daniel Leonard James Poulter (Conservative, Centre-right): If the right hon. Gentleman wanted to contribute to the debate in such a meaningful way, why did he not have the courage to stand here and speak in this debate? I have been very generous in giving way. I know he does not like to be reminded of his record in office. Frankly, on NHS finances his record is abysmal, just like the previous Labour Government’s record of running our economy. If he wants to contribute he should speak in the debate. I will give way generously again later, but I want to make some progress On the Government Benches, we know that we cannot have a strong NHS without a strong economy. In spite of the profoundly challenging financial position we inherited from Labour, I am proud that this Government have increased NHS funding in each year of this Parliament. As a result of the additional funding announced in the autumn statement for 2015-16, funding will be £16 billion higher in cash terms in 2015-16 than it was in 2010-11. That equates to an increase of £6.8 billion in real terms for our national health service under this Government. Our NHS is also on track to deliver up to £20 billion of efficiency savings this Parliament, having reported about £15 billion of efficiencies in the first three years. All of that has, or will be, reinvested into front-line patient care. Our commitment to our NHS has meant that, since the last election in 2010, there are now more than 17,200 more professionally qualified clinical staff, including over 9,000 more doctors, enabling 850,000 more people to have operations than in 2010, and over 3,300 more nurses, midwives and health visitors. Fewer patients are waiting to start treatment, and hospital infections have virtually halved. Mixed-sex wards, a great scandal of the previous Government, have largely become a thing of the past. I could, and will, go on in a moment.
NHS (Government Spending) — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Daniel Leonard James Poulter (Conservative, Centre-right): Through the "Agenda for Change" settlement, many nurses will receive an incremental pay rise worth an average, I think, of between 3.2% and 3.4%. On top of that, we have come to an agreement with the unions to give a 1% rise, particularly to the lower paid NHS staff. That is something I hope the hon. Lady welcomes. It is worth highlighting that one of the biggest things that supports front-line staff is increasing numbers. In Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust, the number of hospital doctors since 2010 has increased by 25 and the number of nurses by 62. That shows that the investment we are making at national level is paying dividends at local level in her trust.
NHS (Government Spending) — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Health
Daniel Leonard James Poulter (Conservative, Centre-right): I am going to make some progress and I am sure I will give way to the hon. Lady later on The investment we are making in the NHS also means that our NHS is caring for more patients than it has ever done before. Last year, compared with Labour’s last year in office, there were 1.2 million more episodes of in-patient care, including 850,000 more operations, 6.1 million more out-patient appointments, 3.6 million more diagnostic tests and almost 460,000 more GP referrals seen by a specialist for suspected cancer, meaning that under this Government more patients are receiving early referral for important care. We have also reduced the number of administrators in our NHS by 20,000. That is freeing up more cash to be reinvested in the front line of patient care.