MP to slam Health Minister as she warns of NHS crisis in the city

The Brighton Pavilion MP will take to the House of Commons dispatch box this evening for a no-holds-barred attack on NHS privatisation.

She will say the NHS is at “breaking point” caused by a “perfect storm” of decades of chronic underfunding meeting the consequences of fragmentation and marketisation.

She has secured an adjournment debate which will be held in the Commons at 10pm.

A Government minister is required to attend, although it is not thought Jeremy Hunt will be present.

Speaking to The Argus yesterday she told how she will highlight problems in the city and across Sussex and plead for the Department of Health to intervene, calling it “a crisis that lets down everyone”.

She lists GP surgery closures, under-funded adult social care, an ambulance trust in special measures, hospital trusts in special measures for quality and finances and the "unacceptable and unaccountable" state of patient transport as problems which need urgent attention.

Referencing Friday’s edition of The Argus - which exposed that the NHS regulator does not know if private ambulance firms have broken the law by operating without a licence of inspection - the country’s only Green MP will accuse Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt of an “utter dereliction of duty,” adding, “I want to repeat today the call for his Department to step in personally and resolve an unacceptable and untenable situation.”

She argues that well-publicised increases in funding at the national level are undermined by or contradicted by cuts to the budgets of local authorities which have to fund essential care for vulnerable people.

Arguing that the UK pays 2.5 per cent less of GDP towards healthcare than countries like France or Germany she will say: “I am prepared to say what few others will – if we want an NHS that meets our complex health and social care needs, we don’t need privatisation and competition, we need everyone to pay more in tax.”

Speaking to The Argus ahead of the debate she said: “I have a sense that this city is facing a perfect storm caused by all these factors that have been building up over many years.

“It seems that wherever you look right now there’s chaos in the health system.”

She said she hoped the Department of Health would not ignore the evidence from regulators of the crisis in Brighton and Hove but added: “what we don’t know is what they’re going to do about it.”

MP GIVES STARK WARNING OF A BROKEN NHS HELD TOGETHER BY DEDICATED STAFF

HERE is an extract from Ms Lucas’s full speech which she will give in the House of Commons today.

THE very concept of a public funded National Health Service is at risk and the situation in Brighton and Hove reveals a whole host of systemic problems that stem in large part from the NHS Bill.

The picture I will paint of the situation in Brighton and Hove is deeply worrying. It encompasses our hospital, GP provision, ambulance services and community care.

These services are held together by incredibly dedicated staff, often working way beyond the hours they are paid to keep things going. I want to take this opportunity to thank and pay tribute to each and every one of them.

Yet, despite their steadfast efforts, our local hospital, The Royal Sussex, is in special measures both for quality and finance.

Patients in Brighton and Hove have seen six GP practices close so far, this year alone.

Our emergency ambulance service was placed in special measures on September 29 following a CQC report that rated it as inadequate.

The city’s mental health services, including those serving children and young people, are over stretched and underfunded.

Adult social care services in Brighton and Hove face ongoing cuts – despite the cost to individuals and the NHS.

I’ve lost track of the times that Government ministers assert they are investing record amounts in the NHS, yet conveniently fail to mention the record amounts they are simultaneously cutting from local authority budgets that are supposed to cover essential care services for vulnerable people.

This Government knows that social care in places like Brighton and Hove is on its knees and that this has very direct knock on implications for the NHS that no amount of financial smoke and mirrors can conceal.

Last week the Patient Transport Service was plunged into a fresh controversy after an investigation for The Argus revealed that one sub-contractor may not even have been licensed to operate a fleet of 30 ambulances.

As a result of this particular debacle, our struggling hospital trust – yes, the one in financial special measures – has incurred £171,000 of private ambulance costs so far this year for plugging the gap left by Coperforma and its subcontractors.

These questions of transparency and accountability are deeply troubling. This is not the NHS the public wants or deserves. It’s not even an NHS that is effective.

The model is failing badly and is in grave trouble. Contracts like the one with Coperforma do not work and need to be brought back in house.

The Government is robbing Peter to pay Paul, while local authority social care budgets are slashed and people are having to sell their homes to pay for care or not getting it.

Breaking point is exactly where we are. A perfect storm caused by decades of chronic underfunding and privatisation meeting the consequences of fragmentation and ramped up marketisation.

Will the minister please take a really honest look at the knock-on effects and inefficiencies of a health care model that is jeopardising accountability, transparency, standards and patient care?