§ 10. Miss Melanie Johnson (Welwyn Hatfield)If he will estimate the number of people to be covered by NHS Direct by April 1999. [57359]
§ 15. Mr. Alan Johnson (Hull, West and Hessle)If he will estimate the number of people to be covered by NHS Direct by April 1999. [57364]
§ The Minister of State, Department of Health (Mr. Alan Milburn)The second wave of NHS Direct, which will be operational by April next year, will cover 20 million people, or more than 40 per cent. of the population of England.
§ Miss JohnsonI thank my right hon. Friend for that answer. My constituents and I are green with envy that coverage is being achieved elsewhere in the country. As the millennium is approaching, and given the potential of NHS Direct in changing the way in which the ambulance service works and the demands upon it, may 1 have an assurance that my constituents will have NHS Direct by 2000? May I have a pledge from my hon. Friend?
§ Mr. MilburnYes. Like all our pledges, it will be kept. We are a Government who keep our promises. By the end of 2000, NHS Direct will be available in my hon. Friend's community and in every community in the land. The Government have made available an extra £44 million to spread the availability of NHS Direct, not just to second-wave areas but beyond, to ensure that all communities have the benefit of instant access to 24-hour, 365-day-a-year care from expert nurses at the end of a telephone. That is already proving its worth in many communities and we are determined to spread its benefits everywhere.
§ Mr. David Amess (Southend, West)Will the Minister confirm whether the general public will be able to use the telephone line to ask why the research and development budget has been cut by £10 million, which has been switched to the hospital waiting lists initiative? Will my constituents be able to use the telephone line to ask why, as a result of Government pressure, a local orthopaedic consultant has cancelled an out-patient clinic in order to carry out operations and that, as a result, the waiting time for outpatients has risen from 26 weeks to 40 weeks? Are my constituents right to believe that the figures are being fiddled?
§ Mr. MilburnNo. The hon. Gentleman's constituents are wrong. That is not the appropriate use for NHS Direct. However, I can tell the hon. Gentleman that his health authority will receive an extra £28 million as a consequence of my right hon. Friend's decisions today. I hope that he and his constituents will welcome that.