Tuesday Volume 576 25 February 2014 No. 125 HOUSE OF COMMONS OFFICIAL REPORT PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) Tuesday 25 February 2014 £5·00 © Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2014 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Open Parliament licence, which is published at www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/. 141 25 FEBRUARY 2014 142 dementia strategy will be renewed? I understand that we House of Commons have the Prime Minister’s dementia challenge, but, like many of us, Prime Ministers come and go. We need a Tuesday 25 February 2014 strategy and not simply the Prime Minister’s challenge. Mr Hunt: I can assure the right hon. Lady that this The House met at half-past Eleven o’clock Prime Minister is here to stay. Indeed, I can also reassure her that the national dementia strategy is here to stay. PRAYERS As she has announced that she is stepping down at the end of this Parliament, may I thank her for her campaigning on dementia, which, I think, came from a family connection [MR SPEAKER in the Chair] with the issue? She has attended many of my dementia meetings and the G8 dementia summit. She has made a really important contribution, and I thank her for that. Oral Answers to Questions Paul Burstow (Sutton and Cheam) (LD): May I follow up on the question that the right hon. Lady has just asked? The Secretary of State has said that the national strategy is here to stay and that is very welcome, but the HEALTH national strategy was drafted with the intention that it would expire this year. It would be useful if he now The Secretary of State was asked— indicated the intention to refresh and update it so that we have a clear road map for at least the next decade. Out-of-hospital Care Mr Hunt: I know that my right hon. Friend showed 1. David Rutley (Macclesfield) (Con): What progress great interest in this issue when he was in my Department. he has made on improving out-of-hospital care for the When I say that the strategy is here to stay, I mean that frail and elderly. [902623] it is here to be refreshed and updated. We are subscribing to some big new ambitions, including that by the time The Secretary of State for Health (Mr Jeremy Hunt): of the next election two thirds of people with dementia We will ensure that everyone over the age of 75 has a will be diagnosed and have a proper care plan and named GP, responsible for delivering proactive care for support for them and their families. That is a big our most vulnerable older people in the best traditions improvement on the 39% of people who were diagnosed of family doctors. Through our £3.8 billion better care when we came to office. There is much work to do, but I fund, we are also merging the health and social care assure him that we are absolutely committed to delivering. systems to provide more joined-up health and social care. Lyn Brown (West Ham) (Lab): Some hospitals are making a virtue out of quick discharge for their stroke David Rutley: I welcome the steps that my right hon. victims. Is the Secretary of State convinced that elderly Friend is taking to improve and enhance the quality of stroke victims, perhaps those without people to advocate care for the elderly. Given that east Cheshire has one of on their behalf, are getting appropriate care and that the fastest-growing ageing populations in the UK, will their care and rehabilitation are not being scrimped or he tell the House what specific steps he is taking to rationed? improve out-of-hospital care in and around Macclesfield? Furthermore, does he agree that it is vital that appropriate funding is in place to take care of the elderly and most Mr Hunt: No, I am not convinced. We need to do vulnerable patients? much better when it comes to the discharge of vulnerable older people, especially when they leave hospital not Mr Hunt: May I congratulate my hon. Friend on the cured and still with a long-term condition. They may be campaigning work he does in his constituency on health recovering from a stroke or dementia or any other matters? I commend the Eastern Cheshire clinical condition. We need to have much better links between commissioning group for its “Caring Together”programme hospitals and GPs and to have named accountable GPs and for the fact that Cheshire was selected as one of the in the communities looking after those very people. 14 integrated care pioneers. I hope that it will blaze a trail in joining up the barriers that have bedevilled our Dr Thérèse Coffey (Suffolk Coastal) (Con): I was health and social care system for too long, with the disappointed with the allocation of funding by NHS result that his constituents are not pushed from pillar to England for care around the country because it did not post because of arguments about budgets and people reflect the demands of the elderly population. People in not being able to be discharged on time. I think his area my constituency have to do a 200-mile round trip to is blazing a trail. receive support such as cardiac care. Will the Secretary of State ask it to think again for future years? Hazel Blears (Salford and Eccles) (Lab): The national dementia strategy has been fundamental in improving Mr Hunt: My hon. Friend is right to campaign hard care for many frail and elderly people with dementia on that issue. I agree that the funding formula does not living in the community. The strategy is due to expire in always do justice to people, especially those in sparsely April—in two months’ time. Will the Secretary of State populated rural areas. I know that NHS England is give a commitment to the House now that the national trying to do what it can to move to a more equitable 143 Oral Answers25 FEBRUARY 2014 Oral Answers 144 funding formula, but it is not something that can be for women in labour. Just before Christmas, Public done overnight. I encourage her to keep pressing on Health England announced that the testing would not that issue. go ahead from 1 January. Can the Minister say why not and when the test will be introduced? Mr Jamie Reed (Copeland) (Lab): Welcome back, Mr Speaker. Easy access to GPs is a key part of out-of- Dr Poulter: Group B strep is an important issue. I hospital care for elderly and frail people. Days after the have seen in my clinical practice the devastating effect election, the Prime Minister scrapped Labour’s guarantee that the disease can have on newborn babies and on that gave patients a GP appointment within two working families, so we are doing all that we can to support work days, and took away funding that kept thousands of on it and ultimately to develop a vaccine to prevent the surgeries open in the evenings and at weekends. Now condition. I would like to correct the hon. Lady on the the Royal College of General Practitioners is warning record. I met Group B Strep Support with the Chief that 34 million patients will fail to get an appointment. Medical Officer and we undertook to investigate the Will the Secretary of State listen to the Patients Association, applicability of the test. The clinical evidence unfortunately bring back the 48-hour appointment guarantee and does not support its introduction, and we have to be help older people to see their doctor when needed? guided by clinical evidence. Mr Hunt: The reason that we got rid of that guarantee was that the number of people who were able to see a 17. [902640] Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con): My hon. GP within 48 hours was falling in the last year in which Friend has visited the Hexham midwife-led maternity the target was in place. It was not working, and that is unit, which provides exemplary care. Can he update the why the British Medical Association and the Royal House on what steps the Department of Health is College of General Practitioners were against it. In the taking to prevent excessive screening of pregnant same survey that the hon. Gentleman quoted, the RCGP women away from midwife-led units? Surely health care said it estimated that there had been a 10% increase in is about choice, not diktat. the number of GP appointments compared with when his Government were in office. Dr Poulter: My hon. Friend is right. It was a pleasure to come and visit and open the new facilities at his local Maternity Care birthing unit. He has been a tremendous champion for the midwifery-led unit in his constituency, and I pay 2. Steve Brine (Winchester) (Con): What recent steps tribute to him for that. He is right that it is important he has taken to improve maternity care. [902624] that women have choice. These are local decisions by The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health local health care commissioners, but I hope that it will (Dr Daniel Poulter): We have made improving maternity give him some reassurance that the number of midwifery-led services—so that women have a named midwife responsible units has increased from 87 in 2007 to 152 in 2013 for ensuring personalised care—a key objective in our precisely because of the investment that the Government mandate to NHS England. Since May 2010, the number are making.