Clause 5
Health Bill [Lords]
6:15 pm
Stephen O'Brien (Shadow Minister, Health; Eddisbury, Conservative)
I listened to the Minister with some care. He was unusually opportunistic in suggesting that I am obsessed with cost savings. I will not go down the wholly inappropriate and erroneous route that that he went down. The Government have been keen to reverse the declining productivity in the NHS, and we thought that it would be helpful to discuss that.
I would also like to draw attention—I could do this during the stand part debate, but I might as well cover it now—to something that is not the subject of an amendment. Paragraph 86 on page 18 of the explanatory notes centres on clause 5 and mentions how the Department intends to use the reports on the effect of the NHS constitution to assess what further measures are required. I am a little concerned by the use of the word “Department”, because normally it is either the Government or the Secretary of State who are involved. I will not press the issue—I dare say that there is an explanation—but I wanted to ensure that it was highlighted.
I am particularly grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Isle of Wight for highlighting the situation of members of an island community who do not want to have to travel by ferry to access services. It is important that that is seen as a community interest that needs to be supported by public services. He also made the important point about access to NHS dentistry services. We want to ensure access to services, rather than simply concentrate on the quantity of particular people’s visits and the absence of access by others.
I am also pleased that the Minister made a semi-announcement that Diabetes UK’s campaign on podiatry services will bear some fruit and that an announcement will be made later this year. That will be extremely welcome news to Diabetes UK and the many others who have vigorously and rightly campaigned for such a focused and strategic uplift of such services.
I remain concerned that we have not received the strong answer for which I had hoped in response to the amendments. Indeed, I had hoped that the Minister would adopt the amendments.