House of Commons
Tuesday 28 April 1998
The House met at half-past Two o'clock
PRAYERS
[Madam Speaker in the Chair]
Oral Answers to Questions
HEALTH
The Secretary of State was asked--
Health Authority Allocations
1. Mrs. Louise Ellman (Liverpool, Riverside): When he will announce the additional individual health authority allocations as outlined in the Budget. [38671]
The Secretary of State for Health (Mr. Frank Dobson): I have announced today each health authority's share of the first £288 million of the extra funds that we have provided to reduce hospital waiting lists this year. Liverpool will get an extra £3,193,000. There is more to come.
Mrs. Ellman: I very much welcome my right hon. Friend's statement about additional funding for Liverpool. Will he confirm that that is in addition to the £11.4 million extra already announced for Liverpool health authority? What steps does he intend to take to ensure that the money provided by the Government is used for the purpose for which it is intended--reducing waiting lists?
Mr. Dobson: I can confirm my hon. and numerate Friend's arithmetic. I am taking steps to ensure that every penny that is earmarked for reducing waiting lists will be spent on that alone.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley (South-West Surrey): Every health authority will welcome any additional money, particularly as the Secretary of State has signally failed to use the Red Book figure as the basis for negotiation to deliver an adequate return for the health service. Why does he not support NHS research and development? Why has he reduced the percentage of NHS money going to research and development--reversing the Culyer commitment--when he is proclaiming the importance of evidence-based medicine?
Mr. Dobson: The right hon. Lady will know from the figures that we have published today that my initiative, using the money provided by the Chancellor in the Budget, will give her health authority an extra
£3.4 million to reduce waiting lists in her constituency. Our principal target for the moment is to reduce waiting lists. The waiting lists that we inherited were too high.
Mr. Owen Paterson (North Shropshire): They are higher now.
Mr. Dobson: They are higher still now, but they will come down. The reduction will be greater than any seen in the history of the national health service, because the money will be spent on what it is intended for.
Mr. Bob Blizzard (Waveney): I greatly welcome the additional £3.5 million being allocated to Suffolk health authority, from which my constituents will benefit. I also welcome the announcement that the money will be used to cut waiting lists. How does my right hon. Friend expect the health authority to distribute the money? Will it take into account the length of waiting lists in different parts of the area?
Mr. Dobson: Provided that they reduce waiting lists, I want to leave matters as much as possible to the initiative of those responsible locally. Their targets will be spelled out to them and made public in due course.
Mr. John Maples (Stratford-on-Avon): Will the new allocation to Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham health authority remedy the situation of an elderly diabetic and cardiac patient who has contacted me? Last September he was given an appointment to see a diabetes consultant in April. That appointment has been cancelled, and he has been given a new appointment for June. In January he was given an appointment with a cardiac consultant for June--a five-month wait. That has been cancelled and he has been given a new appointment for October. Why should he have any confidence in the Secretary of State's stewardship of the NHS?
Mr. Dobson: If the hon. Gentleman wants to raise individual cases with me, I am prepared to take them up and pursue them. If he is asking what Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham is getting of the new money allocated to reduce waiting lists, I can tell him that it is £5.6 million. I think that that is a substantial sum. If the hon. Gentleman is going for specific cases, I can tell him that his health authority, Warwickshire, will be getting £2.8 million from the new allocation.
Dr. George Turner (North-West Norfolk): I know that the more than £2.2 million allocated to my constituency will be particularly welcome. Given that my right hon. Friend has said that we will be told the targets, and given that he has, I believe, said that money that is being held back will in due course be distributed, will he say on what grounds extra funding will be provided? I would certainly like to get on to my health authority to ensure that it meets the targets.
Mr. Dobson: The initial share is simply intended directly to increase the number of operations. Some of the remaining money--more than £100 million--will be held back so that it can be used to make improvements in primary care, mental health or community services that would indirectly lead to a reduction in waiting lists.
Various health authorities and trusts will be invited to say how much of that money they would like and how they intend to spend it.Homeopathy
2. Mr. Desmond Swayne (New Forest, West): If he will make a statement about the licensing of homoeopathic medicines. [38672]
The Minister for Public Health (Ms Tessa Jowell): Homoeopathic medicines marketed in the United Kingdom must either have a registration certificate under the homoeopathic registration scheme or a marketing authorisation issued by the licensing authority.
Mr. Swayne: What will the hon. Lady do to ensure that the licensing system does not become an enormous economy of scale which will be used by large drug companies to exclude smaller firms which currently serve the market very well?
Ms Jowell: As the hon. Gentleman will be aware, the homeopathic medicine industry is regulated by European directive. There are some quite disturbing inconsistencies in the marketing requirements for products, depending on when they were licensed. Our concern is to ensure that no homeopathic product is marketed in such a way that unproven medicinal claims are inadvertently made about its effectiveness that would be misleading to the public.
Mr. Alan Simpson (Nottingham, South): I am grateful for the Minister's supplementary answer. Does she accept that it is absurd that, if I buy arnica for my football bruising from a company that has the original product licence of right from the 1960s, the packaging tells me that the product is for bruising, whereas the packaging of arnica produced by a newer company cannot tell me that? Is it possible for the United Kingdom to seek a dispensation simply to allow companies to be able to offer the same information about homeopathic products?
Ms Jowell: My hon. Friend makes an important point. The European directive provides for member states to take action in relation to efficacy of products. Only France has so far drawn up guidelines, but, given the growing public interest in homeopathic medicine and complementary medicine more generally, I shall certainly want to study the issue closely.
Primary Care (Leicestershire)
3. Mr. Andrew Robathan (Blaby): If he will make a statement on primary care in Leicestershire. [38673]
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Mr. Alan Milburn): In December, we published our White Paper "The New NHS", which sets out our proposals to develop a modern health service. In February, Leicestershire health authority issued a discussion document setting out the primary care locality arrangements in the county and suggested proposals for how those arrangements may evolve towards primary care groups.
Mr. Robathan: The Minister must be aware that the Government are underfunding the NHS in
Leicestershire--as compared with other areas--this year by about 3 per cent., or £13.4 million. In primary care, that is leading to disputes among general practitioners over scarce resources. As a direct result of the capitation-based approach to resource allocation, GP services in south Leicestershire will deteriorate. What would the Minister say to my constituents in Countesthorpe and elsewhere, where hospital waiting lists are higher this year than they were last, and where GP services are worsening owing to his Government's policies?
Mr. Milburn: Frankly, I am surprised that the hon. Gentleman has raised that issue. This morning, I inquired about the position with the health authority, and I can tell him that GPs in his area are set to gain from the changes, just as the health authority has gained today following my right hon. Friend's announcement of an extra £4.8 million to tackle waiting lists.
Mr. Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield): Is not Leicestershire--like so many other parts of the country--doing extremely well under the new Government? Is it not important that Leicestershire and other health authorities should use the 50th anniversary year of the NHS not only to look back to their achievements but to look forward to what a dynamic and innovative health service can do for the citizens of Leicestershire--and do it better than ever before?
Mr. Milburn: My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We have a heaven-sent opportunity in this, the 50th anniversary year, to look to the future and to produce a modern and dependable health service which is properly resourced and engages all family doctors, community nurses and all staff in providing an excellent service day in, day out. That is a sentiment we ought to hear from Opposition as well as Labour Members.
Mr. Edward Garnier (Harborough): May I cautiously invite the Minister not to spend too much time or Government money on celebrating the anniversary of the NHS, but to make sure that there is sufficient provision within it to assist those who need it? As we are talking about Leicestershire, will he assure me that the new dispensation under his glorious Government will provide sufficient funds for physiotherapy services for my constituency? We are satisfied with our GP provision--we have a number of excellent practices--but, in Harborough, we are short of physiotherapists. Will the Minister assure me on that matter?
Mr. Milburn: I am not sure whether the hon. and learned Gentleman has seen the light or not, but I will take his remark as a compliment. Physiotherapists, and therapists generally, provide an important service to the NHS. It is important to acknowledge that, in some parts of the country, there are problems in recruiting physiotherapists and occupational therapists. Unlike the previous Government, we will not sweep the problems under the carpet. We are doing what we can to tackle them--particularly by providing more training facilities and grants for those who want to take up that profession inside the NHS.
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