§ 8. Sir Patrick DuffyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received in connection with applications for national health service trust status from within the Sheffield health authority.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyTrent regional health authority received a wide variety of responses to the consultation exercise for the Sheffield applications which the Secretary of State took fully into account when making his decisions to grant NHS trust status.
§ Sir Patrick DuffyIs the Minister aware that now that clear decisions have been taken on trust status, anxiety in Sheffield relates to the likely impact of the Chancellor's autumn statement on the health authority's financial position next year and in the long term, and particularly the need for greater per capita funding given the number of elderly people and the levels of health inequality and social deprivation in Sheffield, particularly in Attercliffe?
§ Mrs. BottomleyI am pleased to hear from the hon. Gentleman that there is no more concern about trust status. There has been most impressive progress in Sheffield. I commend the annual report from the health authority chief executive, which shows that Sheffield is a centre of excellence for health. The hon. Gentleman need not look only to the health authority chief executive; he can ask the patients. A recent survey by Sheffield university showed that 95 per cent. of patients surveyed were either satisfied or very satisfied with the service that they were receiving at the Northern General hospital trust —an impressive result.
The hon. Gentleman particularly asked about weighted capitation. He will know that the health service has an excellent settlement this year, with an additional £2.2 billion for the regions—an increase of 8.9 per cent., or 4.2 per cent. in real terms. Weighted capitation is expected to be a more equitable system of distribution, taking account of the young and the elderly. The precise allocation of resources within the region is a matter for the hon. Gentleman's regional health authority chairman, but I know that he will have confidence in the excellent work taking place in Sheffield, particularly in the light of its new health strategy.
§ Mr. Roger KingWill my hon. Friend suggest that hospitals in the Sheffield health authority area considering trust status should visit the Walsall trust hospital in the west midlands, where they will discover that in the first three months of this year 1,100 more patients were treated than in the year before—a 13 per cent. increase? Is not that evidence that hospital trusts work?
§ Mrs. BottomleyIf the citizens of Sheffield needed to go to Walsall, I am sure that they would do so, but they need look only to their own trust to see the remarkable progress already made. It has six more consultants, a new computerised axial tomography scanner, new plastic surgery beds and an additional surgical ward. I am delighted that in Walsall, as in the other trusts around the country, more patients are being treated more effectively and morale is good. The trusts are a great success.