Hospitals: Additional Finance (Hansard, 21 January 1997)

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Baroness Cumberlege)
My Lords, yes, an additional £25 million has been made available to support the NHS with this winter's pressures.

§ Lord Dean of Beswick
My Lords, I thank the Minister for that Answer. Is she aware that I am not for one moment blaming the Government for the lengthy period of inclement weather that has resulted in the pressure on certain hospitals. Does she recall that a few weeks ago I asked a Question which emanated from a document published by the BMA which predicted that there would be severe pressure on certain hospitals if resources were not made available immediately? Does the Minister agree that the BMA was right to say that and was not crying wolf, as the Minister then indicated? Will she accept from me that although the resources she has mentioned have been made available, they appear on the surface to be inadequate to deal with the very serious situation in which some hospitals find themselves today?

§ Baroness Cumberlege
My Lords, the noble Lord is right in saying that one of the problems this winter has been not only the bad weather but the coincidence of the flu epidemic. That epidemic has not only had an influence on admissions. The number of emergency admissions is the highest ever. It has also affected the nursing staff. So the health service has been under 549 pressure. I find the issue of resources very interesting since the shadow Chancellor made his announcements yesterday. I now imagine that the Labour Party believes that the level of resources we allocate to the health service is about right.

§ Lord Clark of Kempston
My Lords, does my noble friend agree that in view of the shadow Chancellor's statement yesterday it ill becomes members of the Opposition to ask for an increase in public expenditure without saying where it is to come from? Does she also agree that despite the fact that the shadow Chancellor said that the standard rate of tax would remain the same he said nothing about decreased personal allowances for tax purposes or an increase in the national insurance contribution?

§ Baroness Cumberlege
My Lords, yes.

§ Lord Beaumont of Whitley
My Lords, is the Minister aware that the efforts of some hospitals to try to free their beds is frustrated by the fact that certain social services departments are unable to help with the release of patients into the outside world because they closed down for three weeks during Christmas. That happened in the case of the Wandsworth social services department? Can the Minister give some guidance to councils on the matter?

§ Baroness Cumberlege
My Lords, the noble Lord is right. Clearly, there must be close liaison between the health services and the social services. One of the reasons why we have problems with bed blocking is the fact that social services are not taking patients who are ready to go home. We have allocated £16 million to try to resolve the situation.

§ Lord Jenkin of Roding
My Lords, when, as the Minister has described, those manning accident and emergency units and emergency wards are under huge pressure, with doctors and nurses, many of whose colleagues are off sick, working extremely long hours, is it not deeply dispiriting for them when all they read in the newspapers are complaints about long waiting lists, trolley waits and crowded A&E departments? Will the Minister now publicly thank them, as I have thanked our people, for a period of immensely hard work when we kept the service going?

§ Baroness Cumberlege
My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend. As the chairman of a trust he will know only too well the pressures that hospitals have been under and the enormous commitment that staff make in order to keep the services going. I very much welcome the opportunity to thank those staff. They have been under great pressure this winter. As always, doctors, nurses, paramedics, therapists, porters and all those involved in the National Health Service have come up trumps.

§ Baroness Masham of Ilton
My Lords, will the Minister give some reassurance to the people of Leeds 550 and Hull who have had emergency cases shuffled between the two cities? Patients have died because of the lack of intensive care beds. Would it not be possible to be more flexible and open a few more intensive care beds in this problem period?

§ Baroness Cumberlege
My Lords, we have allocated £25 million for this year, so that money is available to trusts if they wish to expand their services. But it is not just a question of opening beds; it is also a question of recruiting staff. As has been said, one of the problems has been illness among staff. However, I shall be visiting Hull next week and I shall certainly look at the situation.

§ Baroness Jay of Paddington
My Lords, I am sure that we all join the Minister in congratulating those dedicated NHS staff who have struggled to keep services going this winter. However, we are entitled to ask a simple question: what has gone wrong? Does the Minister recall that in a debate on this subject she said that, we have learnt the lessons of last winter. Since that time, planning for winter pressures has been a priority for the NHS"?—[Official Report, 6/11/96; col. 708.] Why, then, do we have the catalogue of descriptions of depressing circumstances which come not only from the media but also from various Members of your Lordships' House? Is the Minister aware that, quite frankly, the excuses now being given by the Government for the situation in the hospitals are beginning to resemble an NHS version of leaves on the railway lines and the wrong sort of snow?

§ Baroness Cumberlege
My Lords, I think that that is rather unfair. The noble Baroness will know that we have never had so many emergency admissions in one year. In fact, such admissions can double in a day and, coupled with the coincidence of the sharp winter weather and the flu epidemic, it is not surprising that the National Health Service is under pressure. As a past chairman responsible for 16 hospitals, I should say that it has forever been thus. I can remember 10 years ago when the situation was a great deal worse. We now have more patients treated. We have more staff. We are doing better and better and better, and the nation should be proud of its National Health Service.