Abolition of Crown Immunity (Hansard, 29 January 1986)

§ Mr. Frank Haynes (Ashfield)

I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to remove Crown Immunity from public premises so that such premises can be inspected by local authorities and be subject to appropriate standards of health and hygiene.

There is no doubt that there is strong feeling throughout the House that a change must take place. The problem of Stanley Royd hospital has brought the subject of hospital hygiene to the forefront, but the concentration on that report overlooks the problem nationwide.

I praise my right hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent, South (Mr. Ashley) for his earlier attempts to persuade the Government to move in the direction that I propose today. My right hon. Friend worked extremely hard, but time was lost. It is time that the Government accepted their responsibilities in this respect. It is a matter not just of hygiene in hospitals but of life itself, in view of the number of deaths from food poisoning.

The Government must realise that the privatisation going on in hospitals is having a detrimental effect on the services provided. There is evidence that certain areas of many hospitals are understaffed because of the rundown in manpower. The result is conditions such as those at Stanley Royd. I charge the Secretary of State for Social Services and the Minister for Health with total responsibility for what is now going on and with the responsibility to put right those wrongs. Indeed, I go further. A few minutes ago, my hon. Friend the Member for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley (Mr. Foulkes) introduced a private Member's Bill related to smoking. Cigarette packets carry a Government health warning. In view of what is happening and of the feeling throughout the country, I suggest that when people make an appointment to see a consultant or whoever at a hospital the notice of attendance should carry a Government warning, "Some hospitals can seriously damage your health."

The problem goes much further than food poisoning. Pest control is a major problem in the hospital service. Not long ago a patient was lost from a psychiatric ward due to an absence of supervision and was missing for 24 hours. The police were called in to search the grounds and gave all possible assistance. In searching for the missing patient, they happened to look into the air ducts. They found them alive with wild cats—vermin. That is the problem of many of our units and something must be done about it. I believe that the public have lost confidence because of the publication of reports such as the report on Stanley Royd hospital. There is a feeling in the nation that something should be done. I hope that the House, including the Government, will support any Bill that suggests the abolition of Crown immunity.

I do not think that it is good enough for the Minister for Health to stand at the Dispatch Box and say that he is concerned about the reports that he has read in the newspapers. That does not go very far. We are looking for action from the Ministers and from the Government to overcome many of the problems that we have in the National Health Service.

I praise and take my hat off to the Institution of Environmental Health Officers. I believe that its officers do a first-class job on behalf of the local communities in which they work. We have to give them a chance to do 977 their job fully on Crown property. There is a groundswell of opinion to support the suggestions that are being made in relation to the abolition of Crown immunity.

I shall give a few figures. The number of hospitals where the standard would have been considered sufficiently serious to warrant prosecution if Crown immunity did not exist from September 1976 to August 1977 was 13 per cent. of the total. From April 1984 to March 1985 it increased to 16 per cent. That was almost a year ago, and I will gamble that when the figures are presented they will be higher than 16 per cent. They are getting worse as time goes on. The Government must accept their responsibility and do something about the problem.

There are a number of hospitals at which recommendations had not been acted upon or accepted by the end of the review period. I am talking about instances where environmental health officers manage to get on to Crown property. Some of them are turned away and are refused entry to Crown property, particularly hospitals. That is wrong. They should be given the right to enter Crown property whenever they think fit in the interest of health, hygiene and people's lives.

In one large group of hospitals, the senior administrator had selected the cheapest quote on a contract to go private. 978 When the tender was accepted he was asked how he would keep an eye on things. He said that he could not be bothered and that he had too much on, anyway. That does not go down very well in terms of covering health and hygiene in a hospital. That was a senior administrator, so it shows where the problems are.

A few days ago a supermarket was prosecuted and fined £2,500 for breaking food hygiene regulations. That is an example of an environmental health officer doing his job. They should be allowed to do their job on Crown property. We must break down the barrier of officialdom.