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Mr. Ted Rowlands (Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney): As a very proud former student of King's--although not of the departments with which the Bill is concerned--I should like to confirm whether every member of staff and student supports the merger. If so, I shall vote for the Bill.
Mr. Brooke: I do not know whether I can say that support is unanimous, but there is overwhelming support in the bodies that are coming together for the scheme.I thank the hon. Gentleman for being present as a graduate of the college.
The proposed merger has been seen as the way forward for a long time. The two institutions began discussions about coming together as early as 1989. Indeed, before the Tomlinson report was published, they had already signed a memorandum of agreement to merge. So the development was pre-Tomlinson. Practical planning for the proposed merger is well advanced, not only administratively but academically.
For example, from 1998, King's and UMDS will have a common curriculum for third-year study--the first year of the clinical focus of the five-year undergraduate medical programme. By 2000, King's and UMDS will offer a joint curriculum. That advanced stage of academic planning is one of the main reasons why UMDS and King's want the merger to go ahead with all speed within a unified management structure. Delay at this stage would not only frustrate the introduction of the joint curriculum to which I referred, but, more important, reduce the morale of staff who have so enthusiastically been planning a joint future. Uncertainty would also result, with consequent adverse effects on staff, students and research teams.
UMDS and King's believe that their merger will provide unparalleled opportunities for the further development of their unified medical and dental schools as a centre of national and international distinction in teaching and research. It will improve significantly the opportunities for interdisciplinary and intradisciplinary integration in pursuit of both teaching and research excellence. Resulting economies of scale will ensure that the merged college is a cost-effective institution, both in terms of space utilisation and recurrent and capital expenditure.
The proposed consolidation of biomedical sciences, currently taught on six sites, on the Guy's medical school and hospital site will be of great advantage not only academically but in terms of cost-effectiveness. The consolidation of biomedical sciences will require new build. That can be done at Guy's without any effect on present or future hospital services. The new build will replace Hunt's house, which the NHS planned to demolish in any case when phase III of the Guy's site development opens next year. The new build project could not be realised without the merger. King's and UMDS staff could not come together in the new building on any other basis. Moreover, the merger will enable the teaching of future doctors, dentists, nurses and other health care professionals to be undertaken together.
The merger will facilitate the important linkage between the education of medical and dental students and the clinical work of a hospital site, thus ensuring vertical integration of the curriculum. It will have the further advantage of concentrating medically related research groups alongside medical teaching and hospital services for patients, thus increasing opportunities for effective collaboration and cross-fertilisation of ideas. The present first-class academic facilities at Guy's hospital site will secure for the future King's medical student a unique educational environment.
The juxtaposition of academic and clinical facilities in one place will allow integrated teaching of basic science and clinical practice--the best possible educational experience, everyone agrees, for the teaching of medicine. Taken together with the first-class facilities at King's College hospital, Denmark hill, and St Thomas's hospital, that will guarantee the prospective medical student a rich and varied education.
Concerns may be raised this evening bearing on issues of health care provision, particularly at Guy's hospital, rather more than on the proposed merger of UMDS and King's. As far as Guy's is concerned, the present proposal from the NHS is that Guy's should continue to provide hospital and health services focusing on the needs of the
local community. I should make it clear that UMDS is a separate legal, financial and administrative entity from the Guy's and St Thomas's hospital trust.
UMDS and King's plans for the academic development of the Guy's site have no effect on available hospital space at Guy's and do not constrain either the national health service's present plans for the future of Guy's as a hospital, or, for that matter, any future plan for the development of that hospital. A strong academic base at Guy's will support the health services there, in providing a critical mass of patient work and a range of skills and expertise in clinical terms so as to ensure continuing high-quality treatment for patients at Guy's, as well as at the competing centres of excellence elsewhere in the capital.
The medical school merger plans will have a beneficial effect on health care provision at all three hospitals--Guy's, King's and St Thomas's. The various projects, including the massive academic development at Guy's in biomedical sciences and the enhanced academic provision at King's College hospital and St Thomas's, will support the health services in providing a level of work, a range of skills and expertise in clinical teams and high-quality treatment to enhance patient care, as well as teaching and research.
King's and UMDS's vision is that, by merging, they will be able to maximise the potential of two very successful university institutions. Principally, the merger will secure the academic critical mass, both to strengthen a number of areas of academic endeavour already of an international standard of excellence and to develop new initiatives. Thus the two institutions will be able to secure a place at the forefront of health education, clinical care and research, which they do not believe to be as achievable if they were separate institutions.
Before I finally commend the Bill to the House, I allude to a happy parliamentary coincidence this evening. The hon. Member for Southwark and Bermondsey(Mr. Hughes), who is present, will know of a previous reference that I have made in the House to the year 1808, when there were six Members of Parliament for my constituency, three representing Southwark and two for the rest of Middlesex. The debate this evening is surrounded by a major constitutional debate, redolent of the days of Wilkes, who was a Member of Parliament for Middlesex and subsequently lord mayor of London. It is a happy coincidence that this debate should be surrounded by a debate on a great constitutional development while the hon. Member for Southwark and Bermondsey and I demonstrate the longevity of both our constituencies.
I commend the Bill to the House.
The Minister for Health (Mr. Gerald Malone):
I am glad to have been able to catch your eye early in the debate, Mr. Deputy Speaker, to set out briefly the Government's support for the measure. I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for City of London and Westminster, South (Mr. Brooke)--as is customary when I follow him in a debate--on setting matters in their important historical context. I shall venture no suggestion that the rest of the House is somewhat relieved that the number of hon. Members has changed somewhat in the intervening 188 years. I shall leave that to the judgment of others.
My right hon. Friend set out the history of this much needed and welcome change which those involved wish to put forward. I welcome the Bill, which will take
forward the agenda of all those involved. My right hon. Friend was right to point to the consensus among academics, clinicians, students and all those concerned with providing a high quality of medical education and research in this part of London, who have worked so hard to make the change possible.
As my right hon. Friend said, the plans have been the policy of the university of London for many years. He rightly pointed out that they continue independently of any health care provision changes that may be debated at present. The move towards uniting the medical schools with multi-faculty colleges will provide a broader base for teaching and improved links with basic sciences. But although they are independent of the changes now being implemented in the health service in south-east London, there are close working partnerships between the university and the NHS, and it is important for the provision of health care that those partnerships be reinforced in a number of ways.
It is sensible for the NHS and the medical colleges to work together constructively on all the changes, which will bring benefits to patients, and also support important teaching and research interests. It is in the interests of Londoners that they should have access to the full range of health services that they need, and it is also important that London's role as a centre of high-quality medical education and research be sustained and fostered. The latter ambition is at the root of the Bill.
My right hon. Friend rightly referred to the three reasons for or principles behind the change--quality in research and education; the fact that research nowadays needs to be on a supportable scale; and the principle of support from the institutions involved. Those are very important and underpin the Government's welcome and support for the Bill. We are pleased to work with the university of London and the Higher Education Funding Council for England in ensuring that service, teaching and research interests are balanced and that plans proceed in parallel to achieve coherent, consistent and managed change.
7.15 pm
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