We can all be very proud of our NHS and the people who care for millions of patients every year, whether that be in GP or dental surgeries, in hospitals, or in the community. However, a lack of appropriate funding and workforce planning across the piece has made those people’s challenges greater than they need to be. They are let down almost every day.
Today, I want to address one specific issue affecting the running of services on Teesside, but I would first like to welcome the decision to fund a new diagnostic centre in Stockton town centre, and to comment on some trusts in the north. That new diagnostic centre is a direct result of a great partnership between Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council and the local health trust, and will go some way towards addressing the tremendous health inequalities in my constituency and elsewhere on Teesside. What we really need, though, is to have our ageing North Tees hospital replaced, and I remain hopeful that one day, we will get it. That replacement hospital was planned 13 years ago, but was shelved by the Tory-Lib Dem Government in 2010.
Trusts in our region have faced challenges of late, with inspection outcomes that have been far from great. They go across the piece, from the mental health trust to hospital trusts and the north-east ambulance trust. For me, that illustrates a systematic failure of Government: everywhere is under pressure. As I said earlier, it is always interesting to listen to former Government Health Secretaries and people on the Government Benches—I note that only a Whip and the Minister now remain on those Benches—talking about the problems in the national health service. Sometimes, they even offer a few solutions, but what have they been doing since 2010? I will tell you, Mr Deputy Speaker: they have been growing the waiting lists and alienating the staff.
Despite a couple of ideas for improvements from Conservative Members, it is abundantly clear that the Conservatives are out of ideas when it comes to fixing our broken NHS. That task is too much for this Administration, who have overseen a decline in their 13 years. A Labour Government will undertake the biggest expansion of medical training in the history of the NHS to give it the staff it needs. The last Labour Government delivered the investment needed to bring waiting times down to their lowest ever levels, and also restored staff pay to fair levels. We were able to do that because we grew the economy and created the revenue to fund our public services, something that seems to be beyond the current Government.
I was proud to serve as a non-executive director of the North Tees and Hartlepool Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust before I was elected to Parliament 13 years ago. I was also proud that that trust was recognised, not just for sound finances and delivery for patients, but for innovation and a can-do, will-do attitude. Much of the credit for that performance being maintained goes to the non-executive directors who gave a large part of their lives to the trust and provided a robust challenge to the executive. That ensured that the trust’s performance, finances, and proposals for new projects were examined in detail—not simply signed off, but forensically examined to ensure they were all delivering for patients. We all owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to all independent non-executive chairs and directors for the work they do across our country, often in the most difficult of circumstances.
Sadly, we have recently seen our trust go through a very difficult patch, including the resignation of several non-executive directors, a few of whom I put on record as my friends. That happened after the NHS England regional board launched an investigation that basically
questioned the integrity and performance of the trust’s board, and in particular its non-executives—a trust that was rated “good”. The contents of the ensuing report sadly remain shrouded in secrecy, although what can only be described as a well-edited summary was published last year.
In the summary, there appears to be a failure to acknowledge the actions and behaviour of the chair and the regional office in pushing through a proposal for a joint chief executive officer to cover the North and South Tees trusts. Instead, it focuses almost entirely on the former non-executive directors, all of whom served the trust diligently for a number of years and oversaw outcomes that we can all be proud of.
I wish the Minister was listening, because the full report is being kept under wraps by NHS North East and Yorkshire executives, despite the regional director, Richard Barker, sitting in my office and assuring me that it would be made public. Despite a series of emails to NHS England, that is yet to happen. My application under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 on 17 November, although acknowledged, has yet to be responded to. It strikes me that the regional bosses do not want it to be published. Bearing in mind the gravity of what happened, I wonder whether it has even been shared with the NHS England national board, as it ought to have been.
What is going on in the management of the NHS northern board, particularly in relation to the North Tees and Hartlepool Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust? It goes back two years to the appointment of a joint chair with the South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust—those two trusts have worked together closely for longer than I care to remember. Within weeks of the appointment of Professor Derek Bell, he proposed to appoint one chief executive for both trusts. From the controversy that followed, it appears that it was presented more as a done deal, but I still wonder where it had been determined.
It was not just that, but what was seen as a disproportionate emphasis on structural change across the two trusts with the appointment of that joint chief executive. That approach is contrary to the evidence relating to success in a health and care system, whereby strong system leadership and collaboration are essential to represent local communities, incorporating local stakeholders and populations. Indeed, the benefits realisation to populations and patients of integration and collaboration occurs in trusted relationships and focused system leadership.
The problems started at that point, with the non-executive directors insisting on due process and consultation with the trusts’ wide range of partners. They were also concerned, as was I, that it was the start of a merger process for the two trusts—one high performing, North Tees, and the other struggling and under considerable scrutiny from the Care Quality Commission, South Tees. No one would fail to sympathise with those non-executive directors’ concerns. They, in particular, are required to be independent and to ensure that they put patients’ interests first. That is exactly what the team at North Tees did—they made a robust challenge to the proposed changes, which was clearly not appreciated by the chair and NHS bosses, who mounted an investigation.
I could go on at great length about the to-ing and fro-ing, but suffice it to say that most of the non-executives resigned, which I suspect is just what the powers that be
wanted to happen. In other words, they wanted the removal of people who were not sticking to the line or doing what the officials wanted, but were maintaining their independence and putting patients first.
That sorry saga raises issues about the running of foundation trusts, which are supposed to be standalone organisations that make decisions for their local community. They are not supposed to be carrying out the orders of someone in a regional office 40 miles up the road. Let me be clear: no one wants to resist change and no one would stand in the way of an eventual merger, but it has to be at the right time and always in the best interest of patients. People north of the River Tees do not want their hospitals to be mere satellites of their larger neighbour eight miles down the road; they want services in their home towns of Stockton and Hartlepool.
To go back to the mystery report, I appeal to the Minister to encourage the NHS board in the north to carry out its promise and publish the report. It calls into question the integrity of people of long-standing service, yet not even they have been allowed to see it. I suspect that it remains under wraps because it is critical of not just the non-executive directors—in fact, I know that to be the case. Mr Barker told me in my Stockton office that it would also be critical of the chair’s role in the scandal, which, as I said, was omitted from the summary report. That is totally wrong. He, too, needs to be held accountable, and I have in the past called for his resignation. Perhaps the report even features the regional officials, who I certainly believe have some questions to answer about the appalling way they have handled this matter, including in refusing to publish that report, as promised.
As I draw to a conclusion, I would like to share with the House how the board is now made up. Previously, it was of people from the North Tees and Hartlepool trust area, and I always thought that boards were supposed to be representative of and from their communities, yet none of the new non-executive directors is local, and one of them comes from Stockport. I do not know how many miles it is to Stockport, but it is at least 130 miles from where the trust is based, which is not good. When the current vice-chair, Steve Hall, steps down in a few weeks’ time, there will not be a single person on the board who lives in the trust area. In the words of a certain former Prime Minister, “That is a disgrace!”
I would therefore be grateful if the Minister, instead of reading his papers, actually listened to me and got involved. He should find out why this sorry mess was allowed to be created, and ensure that that report is published. To do otherwise would be not only unfair, but a dereliction of duty.
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