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Department of Health

I promise faithfully to finish before 9.30 pm, Mr. Deputy Speaker, and I am deeply grateful for the opportunity briefly to participate in this debate. I am pleased to follow my hon. Friend the Member for City of York (Hugh Bayley), whose reasoned arguments about how deficits occur were in marked contrast to some of the contributions from Opposition Members—I began to lose the will to live given some of the nonsense that they came out with. Most hon. Members have to spend time considering these issues. That certainly applies to me because the acute trust that covers my constituents, who desperately need care, has the mother and father of a deficit. I have attempted to work with the acute trust for many years to try and ensure that it delivers a good service for my constituents. I understand that we should concentrate on the issue of deficits, but the matter is about getting the best care for our constituents, and I have no doubt that poor financial management often goes hand in hand with poor clinical outcomes. Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust is at the last chance saloon, and we must get things straight so that it delivers health care properly. The turnaround team has been called in, a public interest report has been produced and we are beginning to know exactly where all the money went. Some hon. Members have said that deficits are caused by one or two issues, but that is just not true. In my area, for example, we have examined the use of agency staff. It is difficult for a trust to recruit when it is unattractive to staff, and we need to assist such trusts. I have noticed what has not been at the top of the agenda in this debate, although hon. Members have rightly raised examples of trusts that have maintained financial order and have delivered an excellent service. In my area, Crawley PCT has provided a fantastic service under budget for the fourth year, and it has picked up all the community services that were so poorly developed in 1997—it has done an excellent job. The Sussex Partnership Trust looks after people with learning disabilities and mental health problems. I know that it is in a challenging financial position, but it is delivering a new hospital in my area. That is not top news in this debate, and all we have heard about are crises and disasters, but that is not the case, and I make that point as an MP who represents one of the areas with the greatest difficulties. My PCT wants to ensure that the acute trust delivers, because it understands that its patients and those of the acute trust are the same people and that it must work with the acute trust to make sure that that happens. Getting that trust into order is our first priority, and I desperately hope that the debate will be very different for me this time next year.