§ 8. Mrs. Theresa May (Maidenhead)If he will make a statement on the provision of services within the NHS for people with multiple sclerosis. [42182]
§ The Minister of State, Department of Health (Mr. Alan Milburn)The national health service provides a wide range of services to which people with MS have access, and such patients are seen within a wide range of hospital specialties. Patients can discuss the options available to them with their GP and appropriate hospital specialists. They may also request an assessment of their needs by local authority social services departments.
§ Mrs. MayThe Minister's response skates over the reality of NHS provision of services for people with MS across the country. Is he aware of the Patients Association survey of neurological units throughout the country which showed that more than 90 per cent. did not have specialist MS clinics while one third said that their neurologists had no specific interest in MS, and 50 per cent. did not provide nurse-led clinics? How does that square with the Government's White Paper commitment to provide fair access to services across the country?
§ Mr. MilburnIt squares extremely well, because the White Paper was designed to deal with the problems—which the hon. Lady adequately outlined—that we have inherited from the previous Administration. The hon. Lady's party was in government for 18 years; we have been in government for one year. We are determined to set in place new mechanisms to ensure fairer access to services for people with MS and other debilitating conditions. That is why we shall have national service frameworks to outline to patients and professionals the range and quality of services that they can expect. We shall have a national institute for clinical excellence and, for the first time in the NHS, a watchdog body—a commission for health improvement. I hope that the hon. Lady welcomes those initiatives.
§ Mr. Robin Corbett (Birmingham, Erdington)I welcome what the Minister has said about aiming to achieve fair access for all users of our national health service. Will he tell the House the time scale to which he is working to try to achieve equal access to equal services for people suffering from MS?
§ Mr. MilburnThe national institute for clinical excellence will come into being next year; my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has announced a programme of national service frameworks; and, subject to legislation, the commission for health improvement will come into being during the 1999–2000 financial year.