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Mr. Burstow: In relation to the Secretary of State's reference to strokes, why did it take the Department and the Committee on Safety of Medicines two years, from notification of the relevant authorities in Canada that prescribing anti-psychotic drugs to elderly people in care homes results in a threefold increase in strokes, to withdraw those drugs from being prescribed to older people in this country, thus causing many additional strokes in this country? [Interruption.]
Dr. Reid: No, I will hesitate to blame my predecessor—[Interruption.] No, it is because it is always more accurate and efficacious to blame the preceding Government than my predecessor. In this case, the hon. Gentleman has asked a serious question. If I understood it correctly, the information to which he referred was finally decided only relatively recently—in the past few weeks, I think—and brought to my notice. Within about seven days of its being brought to our notice, as a final conclusion of the relevant committee, we released that information into the public domain. I think that that is what he was addressing. If he was asking about another topic, I will certainly write to him. I assure him, however, that we acted as speedily as possible on receipt of that information, although I know that there was a dispute involving one expert in particular.
I was making the simple proposition that research saves the lives of the public, and research that saves the lives of the public means investment. It costs money. It cannot be done without the Government, who are committed to such research, providing the resources.
That investment is as much an integral part of the NHS as paying the wages of a front-line doctor or a front-line nurse. It provides those front-line staff with the tools with which to do their essential work. Investment in medical research, therefore, is an inherent, integral and vital part of the contribution that the national health service makes to the people of this
country. I wait with interest to learn what commitments will be made by the Conservatives in terms of resources for this vital area.In general, we have funded investment in the NHS during the past few years at an unprecedented level, over an unprecedented and sustained period, to produce an unprecedented increase in capacity which in itself improves the accessibility, quality and degree of power, information and choice for all beneficiaries of the NHS. Let us contrast that with the Conservatives' plans. Let us contrast our ambition and vision for this national health service of ours with a miserable lack of either vision or ambition. That was evident even before the Budget statement: we knew of their plans to divert some £2 billion of taxpayers' money away from the national health service, which benefits everyone, to passports for the few who are privileged and rich enough to buy half the private operations in the private sector. Now, in the face of the Government's belief in the NHS, their plans are even more exposed: we see them in their threadbare entirety.
We will invest in the front-line staff of the NHS. The hon. Member for Mid-Worcestershire (Mr. Luff) laughs. He would not laugh if, like me, he had to meet every week of the year people who have been waiting scandalous amounts of time for operations in the NHS because of 20 years of chronic underfunding by the Conservative party. It is no laughing matter when loved ones must wait in pain for cataract operations or hip replacements. We will take no sneering cynicism from the Conservatives when it comes to running down the health service.
We will invest in front-line staff, but we will also invest in the scientific and research base of the NHS. To us, science and research constitute a front-line service, as they, too, reduce distress and pain and save lives. Members should contrast the Conservatives' ambivalence with our commitment. We believe in the national health service, and just as we have always taken pride in its past, we have faith in its future. We back that confidence with commitment and with investment on behalf of the country. What a pity that the Conservative party cannot bring itself to provide either.
5.8 pm
Mr. Tim Yeo (South Suffolk) (Con): I begin by drawing attention to my entry in the Register of Members' Interests.
The Secretary of State spoke for 42 minutes. I think that Members in all parts of the House, as well as observers outside Parliament, will conclude that his having spent so little of that 42 minutes explaining what is going on in the NHS and what is happening to the nation's health suggests that he realises that the Government's record contains a great deal of which he should be ashamed.
This is a Budget debate, and I am sure that many Members will wish to range widely over all the issues raised in the Budget—including, in particular, the inevitable third-term tax rises that the British people will have to pay if Labour continues in power. I, however, will focus primarily on health.
Let me start with a statement of principle. Like all my colleagues in the shadow health team and like the Conservative party as a whole, I am utterly committed to the national health service and to its founding principle.
Dr. Reid: Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Mr. Yeo: The Secretary of State had 42 minutes. I have had less than one minute.
We are utterly committed to that founding principle—that care should be available to patients on the basis of need, not on the basis of ability to pay. So there should be equal access for all, free at the point of delivery. That principle has been reiterated by my right hon. and learned Friend the Leader of the Opposition, by my right hon. Friend the Member for West Dorset (Mr. Letwin), the shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, and by me on many occasions. It lies at the heart of all our health policies.
Dr. Reid: Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Mr. Yeo: I will in a moment. The Secretary of State must contain himself. He had 42 minutes; when I have had a minute or two to develop this point, I will give way.
Every part of the Conservative party's health policy will reinforce that founding principle. Although the Chancellor of the Exchequer referred in his Budget speech to increases in spending on health, there was no change, either up or down, in the spending plans that he had already announced.
Following the speech by my right hon. Friend the Member for West Dorset last month, I can confirm that, in the first two years of the next Parliament, the newly elected Conservative Government will match the present Government's spending plans for the national health service. That means that we no longer need to waste time arguing about how much money will be spent because, regardless of the outcome of the election, spending on the national health service will increase by broadly the same amount. Instead, we can get on to the more crucial subject of how that money is spent. For the avoidance of doubt, let me make it clear that the aim of extra spending under the Conservative Government will be to benefit national health service users, including patients who are on national health service waiting lists. I can announce that it will not be the policy of the next Conservative Government to offer tax relief to people who take out private medical insurance.
Dr. Reid: Since the hon. Gentleman is so committed to equality of access being granted through public money, will he confirm today that someone who does not have the £9,000 to pay towards a private sector heart bypass operation will nevertheless have equal access to that private sector heart bypass operation, costing £18,000, compared with someone who does have £9,000 in their bank account? Does the hon. Gentleman understand that? I am explaining to him the terms of his own policy—the patients passport. Will he confirm that someone who cannot afford to pay £9,000 to meet half the cost of a heart bypass operation performed in the
private sector will nevertheless be entitled, the same as everyone else, to that heart operation in the private sector?
Mr. Yeo: My understanding is that that is exactly what the Secretary of State proposes. If people have been waiting long enough, they will be allowed access to the independent sector. [Interruption.] Is he not allowing that?
Dr. Reid: The Secretary of State—i.e. me—is proposing that anyone who has an operation in the private sector will pay nothing towards it. Therefore, everyone, irrespective of how much money they have, will enjoy equal access to treatment. According to the patients passport, a person has to meet half the cost of a private operation in order for the NHS to pay the other half, so can the hon. Gentleman explain how anyone who does not have that money could possibly have equal access compared with those people who have, say, £9,000 for a heart bypass?
Mr. Yeo: I am interested in the Secretary of State's clarification of the Government's policy. He appears to be proposing that, even if people are willing to pay £9,000 towards the cost, he will pay the whole £18,000. No wonder the Government are in such a spending mess. If they intend to turn down contributions from people who may be willing to pay, their policy will involve an enormous amount of extravagance.
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