§ 7. Mr. Kevan Jones (North Durham)If he will make a statement on the merger of North Durham Health Care NHS Trust and South Durham Health Care NHS Trust. [75356]
§ The Minister of State, Department of Health (Mr. John Hutton)My hon. Friend the Member for Redditch (Jacqui Smith), the Minister of State, Department of Health, approved the establishment of the County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals NHS Trust from 1 October 2002. The merger will offer patients greater choice and faster access to specialist treatment at a wider range of hospitals.
§ Mr. JonesDoes my right hon. Friend agree that one of the main problems facing the trust is bed blocking at the new North Durham hospital? The solution clearly lies with a number of organisations—the primary care trusts, Durham county council, the district councils and the trust itself. Will he support an initiative from the county council to get all the stakeholders round the table to come up with such a solution?
§ Mr. HuttonI agree with my hon. Friend, and hope that he too will play a positive role in the process. I can tell him that Durham county council, the strategic health authority and the new acute trust are already trying to find a better way of tackling what I accept is a problem in his constituency.
§ Mr. Peter Lilley (Hitchin and Harpenden)Will the Minister warn the people of Durham that mergers of this sort are usually followed by proposals for mergers or closures of accident and emergency and acute hospitals? The merging of all the trusts in Hertfordshire was followed by proposals to close between half and three quarters of Hertfordshire's accident and emergency hospitals. Will he promise a national study of the alleged results of past mergers of this kind before any more are allowed to proceed?
§ Mr. HuttonI think that the right hon. Gentleman is describing what happened under the last Conservative Administration. As my hon. Friend the Member for Tottenham (Mr. Lammy), the Under-Secretary of State for Health, has said, for the first time for many years, bed numbers in the NHS are increasing. Under the Administration of whom the right hon. Gentleman was a prominent member, the number of beds fell by 60,000. A little more penitence from him might go a long way.
§ Mr. Gerry Steinberg (City of Durham)At a recent meeting between Durham Members and the county council, the social services department told us that it had not received money promised by the Government for the releasing of beds, and that the money had been retained by the primary care trusts. At Prime Minister's Question Time a while ago, the Prime Minister said that the money would release beds. Will the Minister's Department investigate, and find out exactly what happened to the money and whether it was spent on releasing beds?
§ Mr. HuttonI will certainly look into that. Durham county council received £1.8 million by way of a new 676 special grant this year to help it to tackle problems relating to delayed discharge. We expect the money to be used to tackle that problem, and for no other purpose.