Previous SectionIndexHome Page


Angiogram Services

10. Tony Wright (Cannock Chase): If he will make a statement on waiting times for angiogram services. [109810]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Ms Hazel Blears): The national service framework for coronary heart disease goal is for a maximum three-month wait for angiography. NHS and

29 Apr 2003 : Column 147

New Opportunities Fund capital investment totalling £125 million is now putting in place more than 80 new or replacement angiography suites to support faster diagnosis. Ensuring rapid reductions in angiography waiting times is a priority for the three-year local delivery plans.

Tony Wright : I am grateful for that answer, but could I just tell my hon. Friend about the case of one of my constituents? He was in hospital recovering from a heart attack and was due to have an angiogram a day later. He was then discharged, however, and returned home. He subsequently received a letter saying that it would be more than a year before the angiogram would be carried out. I have taken the matter up with the health authority and it tells me that one of the reasons that it is not going to be able to meet its heart surgery waiting time targets is because of this huge blockage in getting diagnoses through angiograms. Will my hon. Friend do all that she can to ensure that our commitment to better and faster treatment is matched by a commitment to better and faster diagnosis?

Ms Blears: My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The whole of the patient journey has to be improved in terms of access to services, whether that involves diagnostics or treatment. I know that there has been a particular problem in his area. It lost one of its cardiologists last year, but that vacancy has now been filled and it has funding for a third consultant in that field, which should mean that the angiography should be able to proceed much more quickly. I would say to my hon. Friend, however, that in 1997, only 52,000 angiograms were carried out in this country, compared with the 80,000 carried out in 2001. There is, therefore, clearly more capacity in the system, but we have to build on that even more to ensure that patients get treated as quickly as possible.

Dr. Evan Harris (Oxford, West and Abingdon): Does the Minister agree that, when dealing with patients with heart disease, the sickest must be treated quickest? Does she at least acknowledge that there is a danger that, in meeting elective angiography waiting time targets for the least urgent patients, critical patients could be made to wait longer? Does she think it sensible or ethical, for example, that a patient with critical ischaemia who is at risk of heart attack or sudden death should wait at home for weeks for a day-case slot for angioplasty, or occupy a hospital bed for days or even weeks, running the same risk, while waiting for an angioplasty? What is the Minister going to do about that distortion of clinical priorities?

Ms Blears: The hon. Gentleman knows well that clinical priority is always the most important issue in the national health service. He will also know that, because we set targets for heart surgery, this year there will be a maximum six-month wait for such surgery. We have now set targets for angiography. Those targets, together with performance monitoring, shows that we are determined to bear down just as hard on the diagnostic part of the patient journey as on the surgery part. The hon. Gentleman says that targets are not the right way to proceed in the NHS. He will know as well as I do that without targets thousands of people who need heart surgery would not be seen. He knows fine well that

29 Apr 2003 : Column 148

clinical priority is always the most important issue for the NHS, but we need to ensure that we make progress at every stage of the patient journey.

Bio-defence

11. Mr. David Cameron (Witney): What resources the Health Protection Agency will devote to bio-defence issues; and if he will make a statement. [109811]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Ms Hazel Blears): The Health Protection Agency brings together for the first time the combined resources of the key organisations to fight potential threats to human health. The level of activity and resource deployed against biological threats will vary depending on the nature and scale of the threat.

Mr. Cameron : I am grateful to the Minister for that answer, but does she recognise the concern that, because the Health Protection Agency deals with all infectious diseases, including AIDS and tuberculosis, bio-defence is only a small part of its responsibilities? Is it right to have separate responsibilities for bio-defence for our armed forces and for the civilian population? What reassurance can the Minister give that bio-defence, which is vital at this difficult time, will get real attention from the Government? Would it not provide more reassurance if we had a specific Minister with responsibility for homeland security, including bio-defence issues?

Ms Blears: This is an extremely important issue, and I am delighted to give the reassurance that the hon. Gentleman seeks. We are bringing together in one agency all the different agencies that have been responsible for chemical and biological issues, including the Public Health Laboratory Service and the Centre for Applied Microbiology and Research, as recommended by the chief medical officer in his strategy "Getting Ahead of the Curve". That brings together the skills, expertise, knowledge, facilities and resources, so that our services for health protection can be much more effective than they would be if they were spread out over a number of different agencies, as in the past. Whether the threat is naturally occurring, such as SARS, or a deliberate release of a biological agent, the same good, robust public health systems must be in place for notification, surveillance, reporting and treatment. Thanks to the NHS and the new Health Protection Agency, services in this country are some of the best in the world.

Dr. Brian Iddon (Bolton, South-East): When highly contagious diseases were much more common in Britain than they are now, the national health service had the capacity to cope. We even had isolation hospitals, which are now closed. Given the pressure on capacity throughout the national health service, can my hon. Friend assure me that we could provide the beds to cope with a serious outbreak of a disease such as SARS without resorting to the measures that China is having to adopt by building extra capacity?

Ms Blears: I am happy to give my hon. Friend that assurance. We have 25 centres with specialist cross-infection facilities. So far, the strategy that we have

29 Apr 2003 : Column 149

adopted in this country is proving extremely effective. We ensure that the whole of the NHS has proper information, is on alert and is in touch daily, and we provide the public with information about what they can do. That enables us to contain cases. We give people suspected of SARS appropriate treatment and ensure that they are isolated, so as to minimise the contacts that they make.

Primary Care Targets

12. Mr. Stephen O'Brien (Eddisbury): What proportion of targets in the NHS plan relating to primary care he expects will not be met. [109813]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Mr. David Lammy): None.

Mr. O'Brien : Given that the Minister and his Department are now more than half way through their four-year period to deliver the Government's health

29 Apr 2003 : Column 150

targets set in 2000, none of which has yet been assessed, surely he cannot dispute that it is proof of the Government's incompetence that he will not say which of those targets he expects not to meet. What confidence can the tax-paying public have that the Government will meet any of these targets when the Department's own figures show that it missed a whopping 31 per cent. of the 1998 targets, scandalously failed to give any information on a further 27 per cent. of those targets, thus missing a staggering total of 58 per cent., which is more than half the Department's 1998 targets?

Mr. Lammy: The hon. Gentleman seems to think I said things that I did not say. I said "None".

We have a number of targets in the NHS plan, some of which have already been met. Many are challenging, but we are on course to meet them. What is certain is that they are conditional on extra investment in the NHS, which is partly funded by the 1 per cent. national insurance contribution. As the hon. Gentleman voted against that, he is not really in a position to talk about targets in the NHS.

29 Apr 2003 : Column 151

National Community Service

12.30 pm

Mr. Tony Banks (West Ham): I beg to move,


My Bill would introduce a mandatory one-year national community service scheme for all in that age group.

First, let me make a few related remarks. I realise that there are those who regard the ten-minute rule as a device for parliamentary followers of St. Jude, who, as everyone knows, is the patron saint of lost causes. Personally, I find it an excellent way of exploring the more radical and exotic areas of political policy.

During my 20 years in the House, I have proposed a range of ten-minute rule Bills designed, inter alia, to ban fox hunting, fur farming and animal experimentation; to end quarantine for pets; to ban war toys; to promote vegetarianism; to protect badger setts; and to end employment discrimination based on size. On the constitution, I have proposed a Bill to establish a directly elected mayor for London, another to make voting compulsory and yet another to establish fixed-term Parliaments.

The more perceptive Members present may recognise that a number of those proposed measures are now legislative reality, and I like to flatter myself into believing that I played a small part in helping them on their way.

My proposal for a system of national community service is a response to what many regard as a gradual decline in community values in our country. Such a decline is by no means universal, but in many urban and rural areas the emergence of what is known as a yob culture has given rise to considerable concern. The Government's current Anti-Social Behaviour Bill acknowledges the situation, but like most reactive legislation it seeks to deal with symptoms. I support that Bill enthusiastically—I spoke on Second Reading—but I think that to deal with causes, we must go beyond penalties and punishment.

It is obviously not possible to trace all the causes of the yob culture in a short speech, for they are many and varied; but I believe that they include the way in which our society seems obsessed with material goods and the primacy of what is fashionable rather than what is of abiding value. I have no desire to sound like an apoplectic reader of The Daily Telegraph—[Hon. Members: "Go on!"] No, I decline the invitation. There has, however, been a marked decline in respect in our society—[Hon. Members: "Hear, hear."] Thank you. Support from the Opposition for things said on the Labour Benches is quite commonplace nowadays.

That lack of respect has, I believe, arisen from a lack of consensus on an accepted system of values. In other words, we are finding it difficult to establish common ground. Obviously diversity can enrich a society, but beyond a certain point it weakens rather than reinforces.

The debilitating absence of a commonly adopted values system is evident in all social and economic groups, cutting across class and ethnic backgrounds. From the greed and venality in the boardrooms to the

29 Apr 2003 : Column 152

crime in the streets, there is a depressing continuum that we should try to break. In the House, we talk a great deal about building civic pride and a sense of community, but our measures to do so are largely piecemeal and disconnected. We need something imaginative and large-scale that will link us all in a common purpose. A national community service scheme might just give us the means to unite our young people at a significant time in their lives, and by doing so might foster a sense of community purpose and involvement.

The idea is straightforward. All 16-year-olds—some 750,000 reach that age each year—would be required to undertake a 12-month period of community service. The widest possible range of projects would be established through the Government, local authorities, non-governmental organisation, private sector organisations, voluntary bodies, the armed forces, the police, the national health service and so on. All projects would involve residency away from home and could be based abroad. Subsistence would be paid, together with accommodation and provision for holiday breaks during the year.

Some 72 per cent. of 16-year-olds are currently in post-compulsory education, and those who resume education at the end of their community service would be eligible for educational credits. During community service, participants would be required to attend classes in civic responsibility and social skills. The scheme would be compulsory, but a high degree of personal selection within the project range would be available, together with advice on the best available schemes for each individual.

Hopefully, the scheme would offer a worthwhile transition between full-time education and further education or employment. The overall objective would be to help to establish a core sense of sound values, based on practical experience in socially useful projects. Although a compulsory national scheme might seem somewhat alien, the concept already exists in the form of compulsory education to age 16. In addition, the notion of a gap year is much applauded, but in reality it is largely the prerogative of the already enlightened or privileged in our society. My proposal is merely the logical extension of the gap year—taken somewhat earlier—with its advantages and benefits made available to all young people, rather than to the few.

Having advocated such a scheme in this House for some years now, I was delighted to see the announcement in the Chancellor's pre-Budget report of the creation of a gap year volunteer corps, supporting low-income school leavers. The trouble with a volunteer corps, however, is that it tends to attract those who are already well on the way to becoming good citizens. It is because we recognise the value of such schemes in the development of both the individual and the wider social good that we should, I believe, extend the principle to all young people through a compulsory national scheme, which is what my Bill would seek to achieve.


Next Section

IndexHome Page