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Health Inequalities

It is a bizarre statement, because the cost of not reducing health inequalities is allowing health inequalities to persist, which has damaging effects on real individuals in real time. Those effects have been sufficiently outlined in the debate. The second point that I wanted to make is that there is an issue about the use of resources, regardless of what those resources are. There are clearly cases of gross and inexplicable misallocation of resources. The right hon. Member for Oxford, East talked about the provision of GPs in different areas of Oxfordshire. That is a good example. However—this is a point that the Government would probably love me to make—the qualities and outcomes framework has done something to address the problem. There seems to be some evidence that incentivising and encouraging GPs to do such things as taking blood pressure has, in part, succeeded in addressing some of the social inequities. None the less, when considering the use of resources, we should not confuse access and service matters with underlying public health problems. I shall give a local example, as I understand it fairly well—that of my PCT area. The southern part of Sefton, which is largely Bootle, has more sources of funding, better clinics, generally more provision and wider access to hospital than the northern part, but it has worse health outcomes. Adding facilities to one area or another does not necessarily sort out the problem. Fundamentally, what is needed in that context is to change the culture—[Interruption.] I am coming to the end of my remarks. The hon. Member for Hemel Hempstead (Mike Penning) indicates from a sedentary position that my time is up, but I was about to praise an element of Conservative policy; I hope that he will allow me to do so. The Conservatives differentiate public health spend and medical spend. That is notionally a good idea, though difficult to deliver. What is sometimes needed is not more spend but wise spend, and the spread of good practice. That is the real secret of addressing health inequities.