§ 4. Mr. David Amess (Southend, West)What recent representations he has received about health in Scotland. [87517]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr. Calum Macdonald)There are frequent representations about a wide range of matters relating to health in Scotland, including the Government's achievement in abolishing the internal market in the national health service, creating the biggest hospital building programme in the history of the NHS, and cutting waiting lists to well below the level that we inherited in 1997.
§ Mr. AmessIn the light of that surprising reply, is the Minister not aware that many people in England are desperately worried that their relatives in Scotland are not able to receive medical treatment? Why can people not even get on to a waiting list? Why is there now a waiting list to get on to a waiting list to get on to a waiting list? Why have the Government thrown so much money at the waiting list initiative, when the real problem is waiting times for treatment?
§ Mr. MacdonaldWe are investing money in cutting waiting lists because that is what we promised to do at the last election. We have spent £44.5 million on reducing waiting lists: hospital waiting lists have now fallen for the last four quarters in a row and now stand at about 70,000, compared with 84,000 at the time of the last election.
§ Miss Anne Begg (Aberdeen, South)Will my hon. Friend confirm that, in contrast to the remarks made by the hon. Member for Southend, West (Mr. Amess), waiting lists in Aberdeen have fallen by a record number? I believe that, according to the most recent figures, the fall is the largest in Scotland. Will my hon. Friend also confirm that the Government and the new Scottish Executive will continue to strive to make waiting lists as short as possible?
§ Mr. MacdonaldI can confirm that absolutely. The waiting list is now down to the target that we had set ourselves to meet three years hence—we have hit the target three years early. There are a number of long-term projects still in place that are designed to ensure that that reduction in waiting lists, once achieved, is sustained into the longer term.
§ Mr. John Bercow (Buckingham)Why does the Minister not swallow his pride and apologise unreservedly to the House for the fact that there are now 164 fewer nurses in Scotland than there were three years ago?
§ Mr. MacdonaldWe are spending more money on the NHS in Scotland. We have reduced bureaucracy and red tape and we have reduced the number of NHS trusts in Scotland. The money that we have saved has been recycled back into front-line NHS services in Scotland, which is why we have achieved our target of reducing waiting lists as well.
§ Mrs. Maria Fyfe (Glasgow, Maryhill)Does my hon. Friend agree that poverty is a major cause of ill health and that it is therefore wrong that, for many years, Glasgow's business rates were spent outside the city in areas that needed them less? Does my hon. Friend join me in hoping that the Scottish Parliament will stop that unfair redistribution of wealth?
§ Mr. MacdonaldAn important target for the Scottish Executive—as it has been for the Scottish Office for the past two years—is to reduce inequalities in health throughout Scotland. That is why we have launched the social inclusion programme across Scotland and why we are co-ordinating programmes to tackle social exclusion not just across Scotland generally but in several specific communities where that problem is most serious.