Oral Answers to Questions — Health – in the House of Commons at 2:30 pm on 23 June 2009.
What progress his Department has made in its preparations for an influenza pandemic.
The cumulative total laboratory-confirmed UK cases as of
With the real possibility of a national and full-scale pandemic of this flu, is the Secretary of State worried that his own national influenza helpline is not yet up and running? In those circumstances, does he think that NHS Direct will be able to cope?
The pandemic has been declared by the World Health Organisation, but it is important for the right hon. Gentleman to recognise, as does the World Health Organisation, that the UK is at the vanguard of countries around the world in its preparedness for dealing with the situation in which we find ourselves. I said in my reply that an interim flu line service is available and could be up and running within a week. We have also made preparations to ensure that the full national pandemic flu service will be available to be switched on in the autumn if it is needed. Our preparations are good and we remain in a position to ensure that patients are not put at risk. I hope that the right hon. Gentleman recognises the good progress made to date.
We are clearly in a strong position when it comes to world comparators in preparedness, but will my right hon. Friend assure the House that we are also in a strong position to learn lessons? Are preparations in place for proper mapping and modelling of the way in which the pandemic spreads throughout the UK, so that we can learn lessons that can be applied to the future?
Yes, we are. The Health Protection Agency has been doing a superb job in the early stages of this virus in monitoring, tracking and containing the spread of the disease at a local level. Much research is going on, based on information from GP practices and other sources, to monitor how the NHS is also coping with the extra pressure on the system. I can give my hon. Friend a full assurance that every possible step is being taken to handle the current situation and learn and provide a resource for future use.
Ten days ago, a letter from a retired immunologist, Dr. Eva Kasp, was published in The Times. It said:
"I totally disagree with the current practice of closing schools to slow down transmission. The symptoms of the disease are relatively mild and recovery quick... I believe that exposing the population at this time of year will benefit them by giving them the opportunity to acquire immunity against the virus by the time the second and third wave of the virus arrives in autumn and winter, as expected by the professionals quoted in your article."
With what confidence does the Secretary of State believe that Dr. Kasp is wrong?
Obviously, I would refer Dr. Kasp to the chief medical officer. We are proceeding at all times on the basis of the best possible medical advice. The advice is that at this stage we should work to contain the spread of the virus at a local level. However, an important point is being made about the ability of the Health Protection Agency to continue working in that way. I was in the west midlands yesterday talking to staff from the agency and the extra flexibilities allowed to staff on the ground are helping give a more locally adjusted response within the national framework. Obviously, it is not possible to continue to test and to offer prophylaxis to all in the area affected and, accordingly, we are adjusting our response as conditions on the ground develop.
As health is devolved to the Scottish Parliament and to the Welsh and Northern Ireland Assemblies, has my right hon. Friend met the appropriate Health Ministers in those bodies? Is there a consistent strategy throughout the UK?
The four Health Ministers have agreed a framework for handling the outbreak across the UK. I speak regularly to Nicola Sturgeon, Edwina Hart and Martin McGuinness and at all stages we are working together to make sure we adopt a consistent approach across the UK.
You know you are getting older when Speakers look young.
In March this year, the Secretary of State's Department said that the national pandemic flu line would be available by April or May 2009—that is, by now. Now he says that it will not be ready until the autumn. Can he explain the delay?
These are important developments and this is a new service for the national health service. It is absolutely right that the service was tested in detail so that we knew that it could deal with the demand that it would be placed under. There have been examples in other areas where national telephone lines or internet services have not been able to cope at the point that they went live. That cannot be the case here; the service had to be tested rigorously and thoroughly, and it has been. If the hon. Gentleman was listening, he will have heard me say a moment ago that an interim service could be launched within a week. That would, if necessary, relieve pressure on primary care.
I am sorry but the Secretary of State has simply not answered the question. We are not talking about an interim service. In March the Department said that the service would be ready in April or May. Clearly the Department must have felt that it was close to implementation. Was it because the Treasury refused to sign the contract? Was it because BT was holding the Department to ransom on the NHS IT programme? Why precisely was there a delay of several months that had not been expected in March?
It is important for the hon. Gentleman to understand that, because of the outbreak, the full solution was put on hold while interim solutions were developed. He and I discussed this a week or so ago and I thought that he accepted that point. When the service goes live, it will have to be able to cope with demand. We have put in place a comprehensive plan to deal with the outbreak, of which the national pandemic flu service is one part. I can assure him that come the autumn it will be ready to go live and to deal with the outbreak to ensure that we take pressure off general practitioners around the country. I hope he would recognise that these preparations are good ones, consistent with securing good value and protecting the public.