NHS Waiting Lists (Hansard, 11 November 1997)

§ 7. Mr. Ian Bruce
What has been the trend in NHS waiting lists since May 1997; and what targets he is setting for the next 12 months. [13815]

§ Mr. Dobson
In May 1997, the new Government inherited from the Tory Government the longest hospital waiting lists in the history of the national health service after 18 years of Tory rule. Inevitably, those waiting lists have continued to grow. [Interruption.] I am astonished that Tory Members are surprised. We inherited the longest hospital waiting lists in history, and they were rising faster than ever before in the history of the NHS. The extra £300 million that we have made available to the NHS this winter should help restrain the rate of growth but reducing waiting lists will take time. We will shortly announce a package of measures designed to deliver our clear manifesto commitment that waiting lists will be reduced before the end of this Parliament.

§ Mr. Bruce
I notice that the Secretary of State, who had a very easy question from me, did not give us the target for the next 12 months. He keeps prevaricating. May I give him an easier question? Dorset never had a problem with waiting lists until this Government came to power. He says that the extra money was given to areas where sparsity was a factor. Dorset must be one of the sparsest counties, so why have we had one of the smallest amounts of money? Why is no attempt being made to keep what the Government said was a top-priority promise?

§ Mr. Dobson
I really do not think that I can be reasonably expected to plead guilty to the immediate devastation of South Dorset; nor am I responsible for the hon. Gentleman's majority of 77. Given the sparsity factor, his area will next year get an increase of 4.14 per cent. on its spending this year—an extra £13 million. If he did not have barefaced cheek, he would get up and thank me for it.

§ Mr. Gunnell
May I say to my right hon. Friend that the extra money to stop waiting lists rising enormously this winter is welcome? What flexibility will there be in the spending of that money between the health service and social services? Dealing with the problem means tackling bed blocking and putting money into social services. How will that flexibility be applied locally? Who will be involved in the decision making?

§ Mr. Dobson
Since we took over, we have emphasised at every stage that the problems faced by the national health and the social services this winter can be dealt with only if they are working together. I have written twice to health service bosses in each area and to local authority bosses. The chief inspector of social services and the chief 698 executive of the NHS have made joint visits to all the areas, to ensure that they are working together. I have made it plain that regional offices should allocate funds only to those areas in which it is clear that social and national health services are working together. Only when they work together will they be able to succeed.

§ Mr. Nicholls
The right hon. Gentleman will be aware that waiting lists in Cornwall will rise dramatically if the health authority there carries out its proposal to close four community hospitals. Is he aware that the people of Cornwall regard the so-called public consultation as a complete sham, bearing in mind that the chief executive has said that he would close those four hospitals even if he had unlimited resources? Given that the Secretary of State, to his credit, has on a number of occasions paid due credit to the work done by community and cottage hospitals, will he avoid passing judgment on what the eventual plans may be, but use his residuary powers to quash the present public consultation process and introduce a new one in which the public could have confidence? He acted with commendable speed last week to deal with a crisis in Exeter. Will he act today and intervene to safeguard the position of the people of Cornwall?

§ Mr. Dobson
I do not think that that would be sensible. I welcome the hon. Gentleman to the Opposition Front Bench and thank him for his kind remarks about our response to the breast cancer screening crisis in Devon and Exeter. However, it would probably not serve the people of Cornwall to blow the whistle on the existing consultation process and start all over again—that would simply prolong the uncertainty. I give him and the people of Cornwall the assurance that when the proposals come before me, as they certainly will because the community health councils are opposed to them, I shall scrutinise them very carefully indeed.
Having been belaboured by various people on television, the radio and in newspapers in Cornwall about what was then allegedly the fact that the cottage hospital closures necessarily followed on from a shortage of funds in Cornwall, I was somewhat taken aback to hear the paid public official, the chief executive, announce that he would close them if he had all the money that God sends.