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Mike Penning: It is all well and good saying that new units are opening here and there, but the Government are closing units to fund them. They talk about opening a cardiac unit, but they are closing the cardiac unit in Hemel Hempstead. The brand new stroke unit will close to fund the developments to which the Minister refers. So you are not giving anything new to the people of Hertfordshire; you are taking it away and handing it out somewhere else.
Mr. Speaker: Order. The Speaker never takes funds away from anyone.
Caroline Flint:
We have given many new opportunities to the people of Hertfordshire, which is why waiting lists are down. People used to wait years for operations; now, waiting lists are at record low levels, and there are more doctors and nurses in the county. Discussions have taken place as part of examining future health; indeed, there was a huge consultation on how hospitals could be redeveloped. I understand that there was widespread support for the proposals. They were supported by cross-party representatives, local people and local groups. Even the local media recognised how important is the opportunity of having a new hospital.
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On the question about the private finance initiative, of course it is right that the Department should keep the hospital PFI programme under constant review to ensure that it delivers value for money. A number of PFI schemes are reaching a critical moment in the contracting process and are being subjected to the sort of detailed scrutiny that the public would expect of a major procurement project. That does not mean that there is a freeze on hospital PFI projects. We have just given two NHS trusts—Oxford Radcliffe and Portsmouth Hospitals—the go-ahead for construction. Obviously, the issue is kept under review, but we continue through the initiative to deliver the biggest hospital building programme in the history of the NHS.
Mr. Stewart Jackson (Peterborough) (Con): In my constituency, the difference between the outline business case and the current costs estimate for the PFI project is 82 per cent. Can the Minister give me a cast-iron guarantee that where an outline business case has been received for a new project, it will be honoured by the Government and the project will come to fruition, as my hon. Friend the Member for Welwyn Hatfield (Grant Shapps) also said?
Caroline Flint: As I said, we keep these areas under review to make sure that they are providing good value for money. The issues are also discussed in the local trusts and there is obviously huge discussion and liaison with the Department.
Mr. Oliver Heald (North-East Hertfordshire) (Con): In North-East Hertfordshire, we are putting up with a great deal on the basis that there is the prospect of the new hospital project coming on stream. Is the Minister saying that there is a question over that?
Caroline Flint: Not at all. I was asked directly whether a decision had been made about whether the PFI programme would go ahead. I think that I was quite clear. We keep the whole PFI programme under review. There is not a freeze on PFI hospital projects. We have just given two projects the go-ahead in different parts of England. Obviously, we are still keen to keep on track with the biggest hospital building programme in the history of the NHS. I have to say that, partly, the need to address the problems that we face, and to provide more doctors and nurses and better environments for health professionals to work in, is a legacy of previous Governments who failed to provide the sort of hospitals and health care that both treat illness and prevent people from getting sick in the first place.
Grant Shapps: Will the Minister give way?
Caroline Flint: I have three minutes left and would like to say something about efficiency savings and recovery plans as that was the main focus of the hon. Gentleman's debate.
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire strategic health authority is working closely with the East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust and the West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust to see how to deliver the efficiency savings needed to address the deficits incurred. They have to be addressed. It would be unfair to the those in the rest of the NHS who are achieving balance if we did
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not ensure that that happens. West Hertfordshire plans efficiency savings of £12 million a year between now and 2008–09. I understand that it will consider issues around improving clinical efficiency, which is expected to deliver savings in the region of £4.3 million. There are examples of better ways of providing clinical services. In an Adjournment debate recently, for example, one of my colleagues described how one consultant was doing as many operations as two had done by addressing the turn-around in orthopaedic surgery.
Grant Shapps: Will the Minister give way?
Caroline Flint: I will let the hon. Gentleman intervene because it is his debate, but will he bear with me for a moment?
Non-clinical efficiency is expected to deliver savings in the region of £3.5 million. Organisational changes to make sure that people are fit for the jobs they do will deliver around £3.6 million. In addition, maximising income on work undertaken on both NHS and private patients is expected to generate income in the region of £600,000, which will help to offset the deficit.
Grant Shapps: In the short time that we have left, can the Minister tell me and my constituents, many of whom are here tonight, whether the so-called reconfigurations—cuts to us—will cost lives in Welwyn Hatfield?
Caroline Flint:
It is important that health trusts manage a proper service that takes account of the finances, use the record investment that we have provided to invest in services and, importantly, look at how they can deliver a better health service, including preventing people from ending up in hospitals with sicknesses that could be dealt with outside and doing
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more to prevent them from becoming sick in the first place. In that sense, the debate that is happening in the hon. Gentleman's county is a way in which we can look to not only save lives in the future, but ensure that those who become ill receive the services that they need, sometimes in hospital, sometimes closer to home and sometimes through different service provision. That is an important part of how we create an NHS fit for the 21st century.
In terms of future investment and development in the area, the proposed changes and efficiency savings are linked to the reconfiguration of services. It is about looking at where we can save money to invest in the future, as well as dealing with the deficit. There are questions to be asked about how a minority of trusts have got into deficit and how they can contribute to getting themselves out of that situation. The Department and the strategic health authorities are working strongly with those organisations to help them to make changes and turn the situation around.
It is important to recognise that services are not only about hospitals, but about primary care and intermediate care. A range of services needs to be provided, both inside and outside hospitals, to meet the needs of local populations. I know that the SHA is committed to achieving financial balance across the whole of its health economy. It is preparing the outline business cases for its 10-year plan "Investing in Your Health" for health services in both counties. It is my understanding that the whole ethos of that project is to ensure that health services are made available to people in both counties. It is not about winners and losers. It is about ensuring that the NHS—
The motion having been made after Ten o'clock, and the debate having continued for half an hour, Mr. Speaker adjourned the House without Question put, pursuant to the Standing Order.
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