Tuesday Volume 508 30 March 2010 No. 66 HOUSE OF COMMONS OFFICIAL REPORT PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) Tuesday 30 March 2010 £5·00 © Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2010 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Parliamentary Click-Use Licence, available online through the Office of Public Sector Information website at www.opsi.gov.uk/click-use/ Enquiries to the Office of Public Sector Information, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU; e-mail: [email protected] 617 30 MARCH 2010 618 protect them, and what more can we put in place in the House of Commons form of people and security measures? We should not tolerate this situation; we should be doing more about Tuesday 30 March 2010 it. I look forward to my hon. Friend’s answer. Ann Keen: Absolutely; I totally agree with my hon. The House met at half-past Two o’clock Friend. Each trust and primary care trust has responsibility as an employer for its employees, and different areas of PRAYERS work will require different measures. Security guards are employed in some areas, and police officers have a function in hospitals. We have also introduced new [MR.SPEAKER in the Chair] powers to remove from hospital premises anyone—including those who have accompanied patients—who is causing BUSINESS BEFORE QUESTIONS a nuisance or disturbance and diverting staff from carrying out their duties. This new offence could lead to a fine of up to £1,000. We want to give the strongest ALLHALLOWS STAINING CHURCH BILL [LORDS] message that our NHS staff must be protected at all Bill read a Second time and committed.. times. Mike Penning (Hemel Hempstead) (Con): The whole House will agree that any assault on NHS staff is Oral Answers to Questions abhorrent, and that the full force of the law should come down on the perpetrators. The fact that 54,000-plus assaults on staff took place in 2008-09 is fundamentally HEALTH wrong. However, the Minister’s warm words about prosecution fall flat when we consider that only 1.3 per cent. of assaults on NHS staff result in any form of The Secretary of State was asked— criminal sanctions. Why are so many people getting away with assaulting our NHS staff? Why is the full NHS Staff (Assaults) force of the law not coming down on them? Ann Keen: The hon. Gentleman is right to show his 1. Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con): How many concern, but it is not for us to prosecute such cases; it is assaults on NHS staff on duty were reported in 2009; a matter for the Crown Prosecution Service. We do and if he will make a statement. [324904] everything in our power to encourage such prosecutions to be brought, however—for example, we do everything The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health we can to encourage evidence to be produced. We also (Ann Keen): Between 1 April 2008 and 31 March 2009, want to prevent such assaults, and train people to there were 54,758 reported physical assaults against prevent them. NHS staff in England. That figure is for all reported assaults and includes any linked to NHS employment Medicines (Parallel Exports) including those that occurred while staff were off duty. 2. Christopher Fraser (South-West Norfolk) (Con): Michael Fabricant: I think that the whole House What steps he is taking to reduce parallel exports of would agree that 54,758 assaults are 54,758 too many. medicines. [324905] What training is given to NHS staff to help them to avoid those situations? The Minister of State, Department of Health (Mr. Mike O’Brien): In November, the Government and medicines Ann Keen: Any violence against NHS staff is totally supply chain stakeholders published joint guidance to unacceptable. The NHS constitution pledges a safe manufacturers and wholesalers on their existing legal working environment, free from violence, for staff. responsibilities. On 2 March, the Government hosted a Historically, we worked in a culture in which we were summit at which we agreed a further package of actions not encouraged to report violence. We are pleased that to ensure that patients continue to get the medicines our culture is now much more open, and that staff are that they need. now encouraged to report such incidents. Training is a matter for individual trusts, and training is given. That Christopher Fraser: What estimate has been made of is important, but we also need to send a clear message the amount of potential research and development to anyone who tries to assault our staff that we will seek money that is lost to British firms as a result of parallel to prosecute them. From April, we shall record the trading? figures in such a way as to give the trusts access to them more quickly and more easily, so that we can monitor Mr. O’Brien: Research and development money is the trusts and assist in any training that is required. only part of the issue. The key issue is that patients are sometimes not getting the medicines that they need. Mr. Lindsay Hoyle (Chorley) (Lab): Of course, anything That is what parallel exporting is all about; it is not so that can be done, and any way of improving the collecting much about the research and development that takes of information, is important. The reality is, however, place in a number of centres. When patients go to the that it is totally unacceptable for the hard-working staff chemist, they want to know that the medicines they of the NHS to have to suffer attacks. What can we do to need will be there. 619 Oral Answers30 MARCH 2010 Oral Answers 620 Mark Simmonds (Boston and Skegness) (Con): I Sir Nicholas Winterton (Macclesfield) (Con): I declare acknowledge that this is a complex issue, and that it has an interest as an honorary vice-president of the Royal been exacerbated by the weak pound and the Government’s College of Midwives. renegotiation of the prescription pricing regulation scheme. However, parallel exporting has resulted in a shortage Sir Patrick Cormack (South Staffordshire) (Con): of nearly 50 medicines in the UK, including those Deliver. Deliver. needed for the treatment of cancer and transplant patients. The issue first arose in 2008, and the number of export Sir Nicholas Winterton: I am going to deliver. licences has grown exponentially since then. Why has it Does the Secretary of State accept that a safe, successful taken the Government so long to begin to address this and enjoyable birth is what every woman craves? Does serious issue, and why does the Minister not insist that he further accept that midwives are absolutely critical to patients must come first and introduce tighter controls the care given to a pregnant woman, not just before on access to medicine export licences? pregnancy, but during delivery and post-natally? Will he ensure that there are sufficient midwives to provide Mr. O’Brien: It is certainly the case that we dealt with that quality of service? this issue during the course of last year and we also published the guidance, to which I have referred, in the Andy Burnham: I thank the hon. Gentleman for his same period. Furthermore, at the summit we held with question and I pay tribute to him in his honorary role stakeholders at the start of this month, a package of with the Royal College of Midwives. I agree wholeheartedly proposals was agreed, including a more explicit duty on with the way in which he has presented his question. It manufacturers and wholesalers to provide medicine to is crucial to give mothers the best possible support NHS patients, target inspections by the Medicines and during childbirth. Eighty-nine per cent. of women say Healthcare products Regulatory Authority, tougher that the care they receive during pregnancy and childbirth standards for licensing medical wholesalers and best is good quality, but there is more to do to ensure that practice guidance on how to deal with supply difficulties. that 89 per cent. becomes higher. We are recruiting We need to consult on some of those issues. Those more midwives. We have had 4,000 more since 1997; we consultations are already taking place; indeed, there are need to recruit more to ensure that this one-to-one meetings going on today. support is there. I pay tribute to the hon. Gentleman for the work that he has done. Maternity Services Mr. David Crausby (Bolton, North-East) (Lab): The £20 million investment available for the new super-maternity 3. Hazel Blears (Salford) (Lab): What steps he is centre in the Royal Bolton hospital is very welcome taking to ensure that maternity services provide a full indeed, but is it not threatened by those who support range of high-quality birth choices for women. [324906] proposals to abandon the Making it Better scheme that covers Greater Manchester? The Secretary of State for Health (Andy Burnham): Almost all NHS trusts are delivering the national guarantee Andy Burnham: My constituents will also benefit for women to have a choice about place of birth as set from that investment to the Bolton Royal, which is out in “Maternity Matters”. This supports our aim to much welcomed. I am disappointed that candidates are give all mothers easy access to supportive, high-quality going around Greater Manchester undermining the maternity services, designed around their individual clinically-led process that we went through with Making needs, their families and those of their baby. it Better. We took difficult decisions because we wanted to improve the safety of services for mothers and children.