Hospital Ancillary Services (Hansard, 3 December 1991)

§ 7. Mr. Salmond
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received on the contracting out of hospital ancillary services; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Dorrell
The Government's further proposals for market testing hospital ancillary services are set out in the White Paper "Competing for Quality", and take account of representations received.

§ Mr. Salmond
Can the Minister confirm that health boards have been issued with new instructions, both written and by meetings, to be responsive to the needs of private contractors? Is there any chance of the Government issuing similar instructions to ask health boards to be responsive to the needs of health service workers? How can a Government who claim to defend the national health service pursue that claim when the hidden agenda behind so many of the changes is to break the morale, commitment and solidarity of people who work in the health service? How can a Government at war with health service workers claim to be defending the NHS?

§ Mr. Dorrell
The hon. Gentleman does not need to rely on my words to rebut every word that he has just said; he need only read the latest edition of the in-house magazine of the Confederation of Health Service Employees, where it is written: The Mid-Glamorgan District Linen Service is efficient because it has no choice. In 1987, the service had to compete for the hospital's laundry contract for the first time and in 1993, it will have to submit another tender. The article quotes Mr. Jeff Chard, a former COHSE shop steward, as saying: 135 At the moment, I have to use hospital staff like engineers to service the machines and do repairs. But eventually I'll be able to go to anyone I like if he's cheaper I'll have to get Dai Jones the carpenter from down the road instead." He went on —

Hon. Members
Boring!

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. It is in order for Ministers to quote, but I think they should do so briefly.

§ Mr. Dorrell
Just two more sentences, Mr. Speaker. The article continues: Competitive tendering was forced on to us and it's put a tremendous pressure on everyone. But it has made us more productive and more of a team—we all have to co-operate and pull together just to keep our heads above water.

§ Mrs. Currie
Is not the key to good service in the health service, good management? Would not the worst thing that could possibly happen for any of our constituents or patients be for the Labour party to come to power and abolish competitive tendering? That would not only cost a great deal of money, but put power once again into the hands of the National Union of Public Employees and the Confederation of Health Service Employees, which could then decide how hospitals were to be run.

§ Mr. Dorrell
My hon. Friend is precisely right. The compulsory competitive tendering programme has already saved the health service £630 million in England and £85 million in Scotland —enough to complete 225,000 hip replacements. The repeating saving on an annual basis is £156 million, which is used to increase patient care. It is that figure that the Labour party is committed to cut.

§ Mr. Robin Cook
Does the Under-Secretary of State ever ask in relation to competitive tendering about the price patients have to pay in poorer food and dirtier hospitals? Does he not know that one in five of private contracts has ended in failure? Is he aware that the National Childbirth Trust recommends that mothers in maternity wards should clean the baths? Is he aware of the concern expressed by the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland about the poor food supplied by a private contractor in my constituency? Does the right to a clean hospital or decent food figure anywhere in his patients charter, or does cutting costs always come first with the Government?

§ Mr. Dorrell
Perhaps not surprisingly, the hon. Gentleman's question is a straight paraphrase from publications issued by COHSE and NUPE. The hon. Gentleman must answer this question: how can he argue that it is in patients' interests to move away from a system of competitive tendering and use that money to pay trade union members rather than to pay for extra treatment for patients?

§ Mr. Gregory
Will my hon. Friend confirm that savings in ancillary services such as catering, cleaning and laundry go to benefit patients directly, not to the paymasters of the Labour party, COHSE and NUPE?

§ Mr. Dorrell
Yes, competitive tendering is based on the simple proposition that health service managers are trained to manage health care institutions, not laundries or cleaning forces. It is surely better to use skilled laundry and cleaning managers to manage those services and to rely on 136 the skills of health care managers to manage the essential core activity of the health service —the provision of health care.