§ 7. Mr. Huw Edwards (Monmouth)If he will make a statement about co-ordination of health and social services policy to support carers. [156289]
§ The Minister of State, Department of Health (Mr. John Denham)The national service frameworks for mental health, older people and coronary heart disease will help to ensure greater attention to carers' needs across the NHS and social services. The additional flexibility introduced by the Health Act 1999, together with the new powers to establish care trusts, will also lead to closer integration of health and social care. By 2003–04, an additional 75,000 carers will benefit from extra services.
§ Mr. EdwardsDoes my right hon. Friend agree that more has been done to support carers in the first four years of this Government than at any other time in the past, and that with the national carers strategy, the Carers and Disabled Children Act 2000 and the increase in social security benefits for carers introduced this week, there is a significant improvement in provision for the 9,000 carers in Monmouthshire? Given that the Conservative party has made no commitment to match the Government's commitment to social services spending, does my right hon. Friend accept that the Carers and Disabled Children Act 2000, which is to be introduced by local authorities later this year, would be jeopardised?
§ Mr. DenhamMy hon. Friend makes some important points. It is worth quoting Diana Whitworth, the chief executive of the Carers National Association, on the publication of the recent national service framework for the elderly. She said of the policies in that document:
Carers have often been marginalised or excluded by healthcare professionals. The NSF"—that is, the national service framework—promises to tackle that once and for all.That is just one example of the endorsement of the extra investment in financial support and services for carers that the Government have introduced. My hon. Friend is right to say that all that is threatened by the Conservative party's refusal to promise to match our investment in social services.
§ Mr. Michael Fabricant (Lichfield)Will the Minister join me in praising the service provided by the minor injuries unit and respite care beds at the Victoria hospital in Lichfield? Will he finally end the confusion that has 842 reigned for the past three years regarding the future of the Victoria hospital? Will he say once and for all that the Victoria hospital will remain open?
§ Mr. DenhamFew people have done more to create a cloud of uncertainty over the future of the Lichfield hospital than the hon. Gentleman. What I can say to him and to other hon. Members is that the investment that the Government will make in support for carers, as well as that which we are making in intermediate care, provides the best guarantee of continuing good provision of community facilities for those who need care and respite care. He will understand that all that is threatened by some of the policies that he supports.