NHS Reorganisation

I beg to move,"That this House believes the structures of the NHS should serve the needs of the service and patients; notes the Health Select Committee’s report on Changes to Primary Care Trusts (HC 646); regrets the mishandling of the reorganisation of primary care trusts (PCTs) by the Department of Health; wishes to see administration costs minimised; further believes that structure must follow function and that the future functions of PCTs have not been clarified; further believes that strategic health authorities should be abolished; further believes that ambulance trusts should not be required to undergo restructuring unless the services themselves request it; fears that restructuring proposals will seek to mask the consequences of £1 billion worth of deficits across the NHS; further regrets the loss of morale amongst NHS staff in PCTs; and calls on the Government to enter into a new and genuine debate about NHS structures, so that the service can better meet its aim of comprehensive quality healthcare available to all, based on need not ability to pay." As we start this debate, let us agree about the common ground between us. Nothing that I shall say this evening undermines or undervalues the constant, dedicated and professional work done by NHS staff. Doctors, nurses—indeed, my wife is a nurse—the service’s many other clinical and technical staff, porters, volunteers, cleaners, even managers and administrators—all are highly skilled and good at their jobs. I pay tribute to them and their work. The Opposition’s job is to press the Government to optimise their support for what NHS staff do in delivering taxpayer-funded health care that is free to all who need it at the point of use. I say that with deep conviction, as one of my children recently had to undergo a serious operation at Alder Hey hospital in Liverpool. Neither he, my wife, nor I can praise highly enough all those NHS staff who were involved in his excellent treatment. Like the country at large, the Opposition regard the NHS as a top priority. We are optimistic about its future and determined to see it improve. It therefore comes as a surprise to most people that a great many NHS trusts face serious and worsening deficits totalling something of the order of £1 billion gross, with wards being closed and services curtailed. We have just finished a debate on the vital matter of mental health and, even there, cuts are being made in availability, provision and access. We are now debating the Government’s latest proposed reorganisation, of primary care trusts, strategic health authorities and ambulance trusts. One fears that it is a case of the Government fiddling while Rome at least smoulders. As soon as the Government hit the inevitable choppy waters—in this case, ballooning deficits in a quarter of all trusts—that were the inevitable consequence of their own policies and targets as well as their most recently introduced organisational and structural tinkering and meddling, they reach for their reorganisation manual yet again.