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Emergency Care

I am afraid that the hon. Gentleman is wrong. America spends 16 per cent. of its wealth on the health service—[Hon. Members: ““Outcomes.””] It has the poorest outcomes in the world for many health matters. The Conservative party has crossed the Rubicon and supports a taxpayer-funded national health service, free at the point of need. The predecessors of the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire, in the shadow Cabinet and when the Conservatives were in power, would have had a range of hon. Members sitting behind them who might have paid lip service to that but who were carefully making plans to undermine it—whether through the patient's passport or all the other variations on that. I therefore welcome the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire back. I am glad that he was not moved to make way for the right hon. and learned Member for Rushcliffe (Mr. Clarke)—although, if the right hon. and learned Gentleman had taken the post, the love-in with the BMA would have ended quickly, given his previous record. The hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire recognised that we support six of the 11 points in the motion. The Opposition commend"““the excellent reputation of emergency and urgent care services in the UK””," and rightly pay tribute to NHS staff, especially given the winter that we have had. I shall say more about that shortly. The motion also"““supports the improvement of acute services and development of specialist centres where appropriate””." That is rather confusing, because specialist centres, especially specialist A and E and the need to ensure 24/7 cover by the very best people, form part of the debate that has gone on in the health service—and I think, from his comments and propositions, that the hon. Gentleman supports that. However, the important words are ““where appropriate””. Who decides whether the centres are appropriate? That is a major issue. The motion includes three issues with which we disagree. First, it refers to the report from the College of Emergency Medicine, which is a new organisation, in its first year. We welcome its report and hope that it prospers, but we disagree with the suggestion that the clinical case for urgent care centres is unproven. Secondly, the motion refers to the"““lack of evidence to support models which are centred on financial concerns and pressures arising from the European Working Time Directive””." Thirdly, it refers to a lack of urgency in addressing concerns about trauma care. There are a couple of neutral issues. We believe that the public should be given a more meaningful voice about the provision of local emergency services. We may disagree about the way in which that is done, and we do not agree that there has been delay in the urgent care strategy. I can understand, given the report that was produced two years ago—[Interruption.] I will deal with that shortly. We want to hold a genuine debate about the motion and the amendment. As I said, I, like all Labour Members, wholeheartedly join the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire in acknowledging the excellent reputation of emergency and urgent care services in this country, and the dedication and commitment of NHS staff to providing an outstanding service to patients 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. I hope that he will join me in acknowledging the support that the Government have given the NHS: massive investment; doubling the number of emergency consultants; an increase of 135 per cent. in funding for ambulance services, and greater numbers of people in training, which leads to better, faster treatment, with greater patient satisfaction. I hope that Opposition Members also recognise the steps that we have taken to improve the pay and conditions of staff in our emergency services. The hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire has suggested a day of celebration of nursing in this country. Given the plans of the shadow Chancellor and the Leader of the Opposition, that day might merge with the day when everyone looks back on when they had defined benefit pension contributions, because, as I understand it, while applauding the work of the 1.3 million people in the NHS, Opposition Members are also keen to attack their pensions.