§ 6. Mr. ConnartyTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when he will next meet the health service executive for Scotland to discuss standards of service in hospital trusts. [15789]
§ The Minister of State, Scottish Office (Lord James Douglas-Hamilton)I have regular contact with officials of the national health service management executive. It is for health boards to monitor standards of service in hospitals through their contracts with trusts.
§ Mr. ConnartyCan we now expect an improvement in the standard of service at the Falkirk royal infirmary, with an end to the unsavoury political relationship between the Secretary of State and the chairman of the Forth Valley health board with the welcome and timeous resignation of the chairman, Mrs. Iris Isbister? As the Secretary of State has arranged to kill off the messenger, can there now be a different message and an end to the bias against Falkirk royal infirmary, whose services have been centralised in Stirling, despite the recommendation in 1988 that centralisation should be in Falkirk?
Will the Minister start to act like a Minister responsible for health and arrange for the children's ward at Falkirk royal infirmary to be re-opened at least until the conclusions of the acute services review in 1997? Or will he look for somebody else's skirts to hide behind now that Mrs. Isbister has gone?
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonThe hon. Gentleman's comments are uncharacteristically petty. Mrs. Isbister has been a thoroughly dedicated chairman, 878 representing the best interests of the whole of the Forth Valley area. She has reduced waiting times and improved services. I want to make it clear to the hon. Gentleman that paediatric staff are available at Falkirk royal infirmary on a 24-hour basis and are able to give a clinical evaluation and to stabilise children's conditions.
What has happened is that three paediatric consultants have retired, resulting in a temporary centralisation of services. The preferred option will be announced by the health board in due course, through consultation, and the matter will then come back to me for a decision. Throughout, the best interests of the children will be the paramount consideration.
The hon. Gentleman should bear in mind medical concerns. The British Paediatric Association said that
no consultant paediatrician should have to provide on-call cover for more than one acute paediatric unit.The hon. Gentleman supports centralisation, but he wants it at a certain hospital. I have already told him that there is a temporary solution and that the final recommendation will come to me for a decision, after consultation.
§ Mr. StewartDoes my hon. Friend agree that since 1979 the number of doctors and nurses in the national health service in Scotland has increased substantially? Is not that meaningful and is my hon. Friend in a position to give the figures to the House?
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonMy hon. Friend is absolutely right. Since 1979, the number of hospital doctors has risen by 1,100. Indeed, the number of doctors has increased every year. There are also 7,000 more whole-time equivalent nurses, which has resulted in an improvement in care. We want waiting times to be reduced even further and we are determined to work to that end.
§ Dr. GodmanWhen the Minister's officials meet representatives of the executive, I hope that they will discuss the issue of the treatment that has been meted out to patients who have suffered because of clinical misjudgment or neglect. May I remind him that there are still women in the Inverclyde area who are seeking legal redress for the disgraceful treatment they received some years ago, as a direct result of the cervical smear programme scandal? Why does that relatively small number of women still have to suffer the indignity and humiliation of that interminably long legal process before they receive reasonable compensation? Why does not he do something about it?
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonThe hon. Gentleman will appreciate that I cannot comment on a legal action once it is under consideration. I can tell the hon. Gentleman that we have instituted a new complaints procedure that should ensure that the patients—it is a small minority—who have legitimate complaints are dealt with quickly and effectively and that they can take the matter further if they do not receive a satisfactory response.