Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)
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Tuesday Volume 571 26 November 2013 No. 82 HOUSE OF COMMONS OFFICIAL REPORT PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) Tuesday 26 November 2013 £5·00 © Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2013 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Open Parliament licence, which is published at www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/. 139 26 NOVEMBER 2013 140 Norman Lamb: First, I pay tribute to the work of House of Commons Macmillan. It does brilliant work, and this is a really important campaign because it will raise awareness. I do not think I am missing the point, because raising Tuesday 26 November 2013 awareness among front-line professionals is critical, and local authorities will also have a duty through the Care The House met at half-past Eleven o’clock Bill to co-operate with the health service and, of course, to integrate or join up care, all of which is in the interests of carers. PRAYERS Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab): Carers—and, I hope, the Minister—local authorities and GPs will be [MR SPEAKER in the Chair] distressed by this week’s report of care companies being investigated by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, almost half of which were found not to be paying the minimum wage. How does tackling that problem at the Oral Answers to Questions heart of our care system fit into the Minister’s plans to help support carers? Norman Lamb: I completely share the hon. Lady’s HEALTH concern about care companies that do not pay the minimum wage. All care companies should meet their obligations in law to pay the minimum wage. HMRC The Secretary of State was asked— has done a lot of work, focusing on the care sector, and Support for Carers I have been absolutely clear that there is an obligation for those care companies to meet their requirements 1. Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD): What steps under the national minimum wage legislation. We cannot he is taking to improve signposting to support and get good care on the back of exploiting low-paid workers. information for carers by health bodies and local Compassionate Care (NHS) authorities. [901258] 2. Alec Shelbrooke (Elmet and Rothwell) (Con): What The Minister of State, Department of Health (Norman steps he is taking to ensure that compassionate care is Lamb): The Care Bill will require local authorities to at the heart of the NHS. [901259] ensure that information and advice is available to their local populations, including carers, and to co-operate The Secretary of State for Health (Mr Jeremy Hunt): with health bodies in fulfilling this function. The Bill Last week, we published a full response to the Mid-Staffs will extend carers’ rights to an assessment of their needs public inquiry and set out our ambition to transform so that carers receive appropriate support and signposting the quality of compassionate care in the NHS. We have to local services. already put in place a robust new inspection regime and measures to make it easier for doctors and nurses to Duncan Hames: I welcome those measures in the speak out when they are concerned about standards of Care Bill to support carers, but for them to benefit from care or safety. that support, they first need to be identified. It is estimated that only one in 20 carers of people with Alec Shelbrooke: Compassionate care goes right through cancer, for example, receives a carer’s assessment. How from surgeons to GPs. Will my right hon. Friend comment does the Minister propose to get local authorities to on evidence that epileptic women of child-bearing age work with the NHS and other health bodies to identify are not being shown the compassion necessary during carers and ensure that their needs do not go unnoticed? pregnancy from their GPs or neurologists and are not having the risks of taking their epilepsy medication Norman Lamb: The Care Bill will introduce a right to outlined to them? To date, such medication has caused an assessment for all carers, which I think is an incredibly more than 20,000 birth defects. important advance for them. We are also giving money— £1.5 million—to the Royal College of General Practitioners Mr Hunt: I thank my hon. Friend for highlighting and other bodies, including nursing bodies, to raise this important issue. The Medicines and Healthcare awareness of the vital role of carers in working with products Regulatory Agency regularly reviews the evidence GPs to improve the care of those who need it. relating to anti-epileptic drug use, particularly sodium valproate products, and we check what information is Barbara Keeley (Worsley and Eccles South) (Lab): I available to doctors so that it can be passed on to think the Minister is missing the point, though, in that patients. I am concerned about the issue my hon. Friend carers of people with cancer do not have contact with raises, so I have asked NHS England’s national director local authorities. Macmillan Cancer Support found that of patient safety, Dr Mike Durkin, to look into it half of those carers are not getting any support at all carefully and get back to me. and do not know where to go for it. They do have contact, however, with GPs and hospital doctors, so Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab): New York has what is the Minister going to do to make sure that GPs raised the age for buying tobacco products to 21. As a and hospital doctors identify carers and make sure that public health care policy, has the Department considered they get that support and advice? that matter? 141 Oral Answers26 NOVEMBER 2013 Oral Answers 142 Mr Hunt: As the hon. Gentleman will know, we are Mr Hunt: The hon. Gentleman has raised some constantly reviewing all policies that could reduce tobacco important issues. We do face big challenges. We have use among young people. Smoking is the No. 1 killer, increased the number of doctors in the NHS by 6,600 so dealing with it would be the best way of reducing over the last three years, but it is still very difficult to this country’s premature mortality rates, which are far attract as many people as we need to disciplines such as too high. A and E. I know that Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS 23. [901280] Jonathan Lord (Woking) (Con): Does Foundation Trust is especially concerned about A and E the Secretary of State agree that transparency is critical staffing. I had a very good meeting with representatives in improving hospital standards and that, following of the College of Emergency Medicine last week to the Government’s latest measures in response to the discuss A and E consultants’ terms and conditions and, Francis report, the health cover-ups by the previous in particular, their antisocial working hours. We are Government will never be allowed to happen again? giving the matter close consideration, but I agree with the hon. Gentleman that we need to do better in this Mr Hunt: The Labour party does not like to hear this, regard. but the reality is that micro-managing the NHS through top-down targets failed to deal with the problems of Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con): While it is compassionate care. My hon. Friend is absolutely right important to recruit and retain more A and E specialists, that the best way to deal with this is through total part of the problem is that a third of the patients who transparency, so that when we are sure there is a problem, are dealt with in A and E departments could receive the public find out about it quickly and it is dealt with better treatment closer to their homes. What can the quickly. Secretary of State do to encourage that? Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP): Compassionate Mr Hunt: My hon. Friend is absolutely right. One of care must be central to the NHS. The Health Minister the biggest mistakes made in health care over the past in Northern Ireland has launched “Quality 2020”, a decade was the introduction of the disastrous changes strategy that is intended to improve care in Northern in the GP contract in 2004, which broke the personal Ireland. What discussions has the Secretary of State link between GPs and their patients. Hard-pressed A and E had with the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Health departments, including the one at Kettering hospital, Minister about this issue? say that one of the things that will make the biggest difference to them is the provision of a named GP for Mr Hunt: We are in close touch with all the devolved the over-75s, so that they know that someone is responsible Administrations about the changes that we are making for those people when they are not in hospital. in the NHS in England, and, interestingly, we are experiencing different levels of engagement. We have Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab): Is it not the chaotic had very good discussions with the Northern Ireland and overstretched nature of many A and E departments Health Minister about some of the changes, but those that makes A and E an unattractive discipline for people in Wales are still refusing to commission a Keogh report to work in? Ever since the closure of the A and E on excess deaths, which I think shows that Labour in department at Wycombe general hospital in my Wales has not learnt the lessons of transparency. constituency, Wexham Park hospital has been unable to cope. What will the Secretary of State do about that? Accident and Emergency Health Specialists Mr Hunt: We have gained more than 600 additional 3.