Clegg, Brooke and Sanders quiz Brown

[Mar 18]: ' . . WILL he scrap the mad targets that make hospitals tick boxes rather than look after the desperately ill?'

• Mr. Nick Clegg (Sheffield, Hallam) (LD): I would like to add my own expressions of sympathy and condolence to the family and friends of the three soldiers who tragically lost their lives in Afghanistan in the last week. With the death toll among our brave servicemen and women now at more than 150, it is right that we should pause to reflect on the immense sacrifice that they and their families have had to endure in serving this country and, of course, the people of Afghanistan.

Does the Prime Minister believe that the culture of frenzied target setting that has been introduced into the NHS by his Government had any role to play whatsoever in the horrific events that occurred at Stafford general hospital?

• The Prime Minister: May I and Health Secretary first say that we apologise to those people who have suffered as a result of the mistakes that have been made at Stafford hospital? Everybody who uses the national health service has a right, if they put their faith in the NHS at that hospital, to expect the highest standards of treatment. These were not the highest standards of treatment. They have now been investigated, and they fell far short of the standards that people expect. The first thing that we have to do is to assure the families of those who have suffered and relatives who are grieving and who want answers to their questions that there will be independent reviews, if they seek them, of their families' case notes so that they can be assured of what has happened. That is the first thing that we will do.

The second thing that we have to look at is whether this is a generic problem or a problem at a specific hospital. I am assured by the Healthcare Commission-the chief executive has made a statement today-that there is no equivalent case in all the other NHS hospitals across the country. We should therefore focus on the individual mistakes that were made by management and deal with them. A further inquiry is going on to look at what happened between 2003 and 2005. At the same time, the Care Quality Commission is looking into what lessons we can learn in general from what happened.

• Mr. Clegg: When doctors at that hospital have confirmed that they were instructed by their managers to abandon seriously ill patients and to treat people with minor ailments instead in order to meet the Prime Minister's targets, it is not enough to talk of reviews, inquiries and to blame other people. Will he scrap the mad targets that make hospitals tick boxes rather than look after the desperately ill?

• The Prime Minister: Whatever happened in that hospital is unacceptable and should never be allowed to happen again. I too have looked at all the detail of the evidence in this report, which also says that nursing care standards were poor but that they were never discussed or identified as being poor, that results of patient surveys were available but were never reported to the board of management, and that, at the time of the C. difficile infection, nobody on the board or among the general public ever knew that the rate of infection had doubled. Those low standards of management in the hospital, therefore, must be dealt with by our review.

I take seriously everything that has come out of this case, but I think that it is not unreasonable in the modern age to expect a hospital to have the highest standards of care and at the same time ensure that every cancer patient is seen within two weeks. It is not unreasonable to say that hospitals should have the highest standards of care and ensure that there is a wait of only 18 weeks between a person seeing a doctor and getting an operation. It is not unreasonable to say that the highest standards of care should be pursued in accident and emergency departments and that people should not have to wait for hours before they get treatment.

We will look at all the evidence that is available. The Care Quality Commission will look at it too, but I think that we have to deal with the individual management failures in the hospital and then learn whatever lessons we can for the future of the national health service.

• . . Annette Brooke (Mid-Dorset and North Poole) (LD): Is the Prime Minister still committed to robustly protecting the green belt? If so, will the Government scrap the south-west regional spatial strategy and allow local communities to develop plans to address local housing need and protect precious open spaces?

• The Prime Minister: If the hon. Lady wants to talk about the future of the regions, I hope that she will join the regional Committees in the House of Commons to debate that. As for the green belt, I think that we are doing more than any Government to protect it, and that is what we will continue to do.

• . . Mr. Adrian Sanders (Torbay) (LD): It was announced today that another 800 jobs have been lost in the south Devon area. That will put more pressure on South Devon college, which helps to train people and get them back into work. Will the Prime Minister look urgently at the funding blockages that are preventing that outstanding college from expanding and helping some of the people who are losing their jobs?

The Prime Minister: I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that question, and I will look at the matter. I repeat that the investment that is to take place in further education colleges-it is a capital programme-will be £110 million this year. I can also say to him that the Train to Gain programme, in which colleges are often involved, is expanding from 300,000 people to 700,000 and then a million people, so more people will be able to take courses that will give them the necessary skills. Of course I will look at the specific issue in his constituency that he has raised.

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