here - United Kingdom Parliament

335WH
[Julian Sturdy]
Health Care (North Yorkshire and
York)
also received representations from concerned health
professionals. Only last week, Dr Peter Toomey, a consultant
anaesthetist at York hospital wrote to me, stating:
“I consider that the PCT have made serious errors of judgement
in coming to their decision to restrict access to spinal injections
for the relief of pain. The PCT will not reimburse York Hospital
for any injection into any part of the spine for any diagnosis
unless it has been approved by the PCT’s Funding Request
Panel.”
We know—my hon. Friend the Member for Selby and
Ainsty will back me up on this—that many people are
being refused by that request panel. Dr Toomey and a
number of his colleagues have fought hard to challenge
the PCT’s policy, but—alas—their medical expertise
seems to have fallen upon deaf ears.
Patients and medical professionals are united in the
view that this pain relief service should not have been
withdrawn. It has been taken away for the wrong reasons
and should be reinstated without delay. The withdrawal
of such vital services is causing me great concern, as is
the withdrawal of funding for numerous voluntary services.
My hon. Friend the Member for Skipton and Ripon
touched on that matter earlier. The York Council for
Voluntary Service has been informed of a 37% in-year
cut, which has been issued by the PCT with just one
month’s notice. Angela Harrison, the chief executive of
the YCVS, summed up the whole situation quite aptly
when she said:
“These cuts have already had a disastrous effect on front-line
voluntary groups who serve some of the most vulnerable members
of society. At the same time, the infrastructure groups who
support them have had their funds withdrawn at very short
notice, reducing their capacity at a time when it is most needed.”
One specific voluntary case vividly highlights the
poor management of the way the PCT has handled this
situation. On 19 October, Yorkshire MESMAC received
a letter from the PCT, informing the organisation that
its contracted health care funding was to be withdrawn
within one month. Such blunt and definitive notice is
absolutely outrageous. Not only has an agreement been
broken, but no consultation took place with the
organisation, which—knowing the PCT’s overspend—
would have been happy to sit down and reach a more
amicable agreement. As Tom Doyle, the director of
Yorkshire MESMAC, said:
“I want to express my deep frustration at how the process has
been handled, which was, in my opinion, unlawful, disrespectful
and showing an arrogant disregard for the PCT’s own agreements
and processes.”
It is now feared that Yorkshire MESMAC will be forced
to close.
On a wider note, the voluntary services budgets are
expected to lead to a saving of some £150,000 for the
PCT this year. Given that that is a small drop in the
£17 million overspend, I would urge the PCT to look
internally for structural and efficiency savings, rather
than merely reducing the funding of voluntary groups,
whose work often plays such as vital role in our health
service. If our voluntary health services are forced to
close, I predict that far greater numbers of patients will
actually require more hospitalised, long-term and expensive
treatments through the NHS, thus undermining the
PCT’s initial savings.
Due to the overspend and service reductions, there
now exists a lack of trust in the PCT and a complete
absence of confidence over its future intentions, and I
1 DECEMBER 2010
Health Care (North Yorkshire and
York)
336WH
fear that local people are simply paying too high a price
for that. In the long term, I am more optimistic about
health care provision in north Yorkshire and York,
largely due to the contents of the health White Paper.
The localised drive to ensure that PCTs are, at some
point, abolished altogether and replaced by GP-led
commissioning bodies, which are influenced by local
patients, is a measure that I wholeheartedly welcome.
At long last, local patients will have a say in their
local services, holding the decision makers to account
and freeing up our nurses, doctors and health providers
from the red-tape that so often binds them and takes
them away from the front line. I hope that the Minister
can reassure me that the transition from PCTs to GP-led
commissioning will be carried out swiftly to ensure that
the interim transitional period will not see a lack of
leadership or direction for local health care services—
especially in our area.
I believe that the PCT will continue to operate until
2013, and I plead with the Minister to review to the
situation in north Yorkshire and York in the mean time.
Our constituents simply cannot afford to wait three
years for the situation to be remedied. Most specifically,
I would welcome any comments from the Minister on
the previous Government’s imposition of a statutory
obligation on PCTs to break even by the end of this
year. Could that deadline be extended to soften the
blow of the cuts over a greater time period?
The people of north Yorkshire and York depend
upon their health care services, and many are extremely
worried at present. I hope that hon. Members from the
region—I was going to say “regardless of political
allegiances”, but as we only have coalition Members
here I will not say that. To give the hon. Member for
York Central (Hugh Bayley) credit, he did say that he
would try and be at the debate today.
We must protect the essential health care services and
funding that our region deserves. I ask and urge hon.
Members to fight and to campaign for that. We must
ensure that, before GP-led commissioning starts, the
PCT delivers the best service that it can within its
budget. It must focus on service delivery and the outlying
services to our communities, rather than cutting.
I hope that the Minister will give serious consideration
to the issues that I have raised. I am grateful for his time.
I know that it has been a hectic day thanks to the
Divisions, but I am grateful to him for giving us the
time, and I hope that he will give the matter serious
consideration.
5.15 pm
Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con):
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for York
Outer (Julian Sturdy) on securing this important debate,
and I add my support to his recognition of the excellent
work that the health care professionals do in our area.
He has highlighted that our health grant in North
Yorkshire is low, which impacts on the services that we
receive.
When facing the challenge of low funding, the PCT
has to look hard at its priorities, particularly with
regard to mental health services. I am always concerned
about mental health provision, because I think that
for far too long in our country it has been a bit of a
Cinderella service. In my constituency, the community