HC Deb 12 February 1985 vol 73 cc154-6
5. Mrs. Roe

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services by how much, in real terms, the Government's spending plans for the National Health Service in the next three years have increased since 1979, and if he will make a statement.

The Minister for Health (Mr. Kenneth Clarke)

Expenditure on the NHS is planned to increase on average by 1 per cent. a year in real terms during the next three years. By the end of the period expenditure on the NHS would be about 24 per cent. higher in real terms than in 1978–79.

Mrs. Roe

I thank my right hon. and learned Friend for his reply. Have the Government made any real cuts in capital expenditure on the National Health Service?

Mr. Clarke

I am glad to say that capital expenditure is about 16 per cent. higher than it was under the Labour Government. The only Government who have cut the capital programme of the NHS and delayed new hospital building were the Labour Government in 1976.

Mr. Meadowcroft

Is it not dangerous to rely on national figures in the face of obvious shortages of staff and resources at local level? How much of the increase is taken up by the justifiable reduction in nurses' hours of work?

Mr. Clarke

The increase in nursing staff must reflect in part the changes in nurses' hours, but there has still been an absolute increase in the number of nurses. We also have increased demands on the budget. Nevertheless, the increased expenditure is real and is shown best by the way in which we now treat 650,000 more inpatients each year than the figure that was achieved during the last year of the Labour Government.

Mr. Butterfill

Will my right hon. and learned Friend confirm that his admirable pursuit of value for money in the Health Service will not lead him to put at risk the section of the population which receives blood transfusions? I understand that the output of the National Blood Products Laboratory at Elstree is inadequate fully to supply heat-treated factor VIII, which guards against the AIDS virus. Will he allow imported products to bypass the usual licensing procedures so that such supplies can be made available immediately, and so that we need not wait until April, when the Elstree laboratory will be able to supply them all?

Mr. Clarke

We are investing more than £30 million in Elstree to make Britain self-sufficient in blood products as quickly as possible. Some imported heat-treated factor VIII is already coming into the country, and Elstree is about to start manufacturing that product. We must ensure that no infected factor VIII is given to haemophiliacs, and we shall spare no expense and effort to do so.

Mr. Meacher

Is it not true that, as a percentage of gross national product, the NHS has had less spent on it this year than was spent on it five years ago? If the NHS is properly funded, why is it that this year more premature babies are being turned away from intensive care, that the death rate has increased because of a lack of renal dialysis for kidney patients, that there are growing delays for patients awaiting heart surgery, that there is lack of provision for drug addicts and for hypothermia, that geriatric wards are being closed and that there is a breakdown of the emergency bed service in London? Does that suggest an improving service?

Mr. Clarke

The proportion of gross national product spent on the Health Service has increased from 4.8 to 5.6 per cent. under this Government. It is unfortunate that the hon. Gentleman should have listed the parts of the service where we all know that more needs to be done, and that he should make such selective quotations in an attempt to denigrate the achievements of a service which remains one of the best in the world and which is being improved by the Government.