Past press releases

PRESS RELEASE: 22 September 2004

HEALTHY COMMUNITIES, HEALTHY PEOPLE

Speaking at the Liberal Democrat Conference Dr Mack highlighted the plight of elderly hip replacement patients in South Norfolk who have a wait as long as those having their bunions straightened.

After his speech Dr Mack added, "The Liberal Democrats would restore free eye and dental checks that the Conservatives cruelly abolished.

"Early detection of eye disease is vital to protect sight, and there is clear evidence that charging is deterring people from seeing their optician."

ENDS

1 As Dr Mack is at the Liberal Democrats' Conference he can only be reached at present by mobile phone on 07974 961752

2 The full text of Dr Ian Mack's speech on the health debate at the Liberal Democrat Party Conference on 22nd September 2004 follows:

As a doctor who has worked in the NHS for most of the past 20 years, I, along with many other health workers, looked forward to the promised saving of the NHS by Tony Blair in 1997.

The reality was, however, different to the rhetoric, as New Labour stuck to Conservative spending plans for their first few years in office, causing continued wanton destruction of the fabric of the NHS and loss of local services.

And then, when finally the new investment started to come through, its use was highly controlled and manipulated by central Government targets.

Targets that showed Labour Health Secretaries in Whitehall were trying to micromanage every Hospital Trust and Primary Care Trust in the country.

Targets that NHS managers had to achieve or risk demotion or dismissal.

Targets that have wasted resources and ignored the health needs within our local communities.

Take for example the maximum 4 hour wait in Casualty. Trusts know which week in the quarter it is being measured, and many employ lots of expensive temporary and agency staff during that week.

Target met, ministers happy, overall patient care not improved at all.

And the manipulation of targets is commonplace, as highlighted by Dr Michael Dixon, Chair of the NHS Alliance, who describes it as 'gaming'

And he goes further saying "Gaming has created an industry that is wasting good health resources which should be spent on patient care".

What an indictment of New Labour's approach to the NHS that, having put spin doctors into every government department, they are also forcing the real doctors to spin for them as well.

But targets not only waste money, they also add to patient suffering and distress. For government targets are not based on an individual's clinical need but on bean counting.

For my patients this can have a devastating effect on the length of pain and suffering they have to endure.

Elderly patients with severe arthritis of the hip, in constant pain, sedated by strong painkillers, unable to get out of their homes. The maximum target wait for their hip replacement surgery, 9 months, is exactly the same as that for a patient having their bunions straightened.

We also have seen the replacement of the postcode lottery with the disease lottery.

If you contract an illness that has a Government target attached to it, you will receive attention ahead of those for which there is none.

So while my patients with possible cancer symptoms receive an initial assessment within 2 weeks, those with other conditions that may be equally life threatening, such as inflammatory bowel disease or lung fibrosis, may wait anything up to 17 weeks to be seen.

And of course many areas have no targets at all, particularly community-based service such as Child Health, Speech and language therapy, vital areas where early and preventative work could stop the blighting of young lives.

Under central government targets these remain the under-funded, undervalued and unrecognised parts of our health service.

Fellow Liberal Democrats, in the policy document and in this motion we recognise the demoralising effects central targets have on our doctors, nurses and managers. Targets that have replaced the health needs of the individual with the political needs of the Government.

Removing them, as we will do, will ensure treatment on the basis of clinical need, and will empower all who work in the NHS to provide the quality of care that our citizens deserve.

Let's put central targets in the dustbin of 20th Century where they belong alongside Communist Russia's failed 5 year plans.

At the next election let's campaign for our Health Policy, proud of our party's role in establishing and supporting a National Health Service, available to all, free of charge at the point of delivery, providing care on the basis of need.

I look forward to the time after the General Election, as a member of the next parliament when politicians of principle, such as our Shadow Health Secretary Paul Burstow, have the opportunity to influence the direction of our NHS, for the benefit of all in this country.

3 Health Policy Paper "Healthy Communities, Healthy People"

Mover: Paul Burstow MP (Shadow Secretary of State for Health)
Summation: Dr Richard Brighton (Chair of the Policy Working Group)

1 Conference believes that health is about more than just health services and choice is about more than
2 just where an operation is carried out.

3 Conference further believes that people want to be able to live healthy lives, and if they need health
4 services for these to be of high quality, close to home and responsive to them as individuals.

5 Conference recommends this approach in contrast to the Labour policy of choice for the few and the
6 Tory plans of choice for the wealthy.

7 Conference endorses Policy Paper 68, Healthy Communities, Healthy People, as a statement of key
8 policies on health, focusing on the main areas that affect health and people's freedom to have control
9 over their health:
10 i) Tackling the causes of ill health ­ enabling all to have a choice.
11 ii) Enabling people to have real control over their own health.
12 iii) Freeing professionals and the NHS to support healthy choices and deliver quality services.

13 Conference in particular welcomes its proposals to:
14 1. Tackle the causes of ill health by:
15 a) Ensuring that wherever possible national legislation improves health through health
16 impact assessment of legislation.
17 b) Tackling fuel poverty by strengthening home insulation programmes.
18 c) Creating a healthier environment through improving air quality and reducing the use of
19 harmful chemicals.
20 d) Giving local communities an enhanced role in delivering healthcare and mutual support
21 by strengthening the voluntary sector and by promoting community projects.
22 e) Enhancing access to healthy food, for example through voluntary initiatives like school
23 breakfast clubs, and through planning development so that communities have access to a
24 wide range of food shops.
25 f) Recognising the importance of education in improving health by ensuring that the
26 curriculum includes information on healthy living.
27 2. Enable people to have real control over their own health by:
28 a) Giving individuals feedback on their current health status and advice on healthier choices
29 through a targeted 'health MOT', which would guarantee every person access to
30 appropriate health-screening tests.
31 b) Restoring free eye and dental checks.
32 c) Providing clear information to support healthier choices, for example by ensuring there is
33 simple 'traffic light' food labelling warning.
34 d) Providing more information on treatment options by developing systems for collecting
35 and publishing information on treatment outcomes.
36 e) Expanding the choice of treatment options to include Complementary and Alternative
37 Medical therapies where clinically appropriate.
38 f) Improving the management of chronic diseases like diabetes, for example by supporting
39 people to take control over their own treatment.
40 g) Increasing the availability of healthy choices, for example by encouraging schools to
41 open their leisure facilities to the wider community.
42 3. Help professionals and the NHS to support healthy choices and deliver quality services by:
43 a) Removing central targets which interfere with clinicians' ability to do their best for
44 individuals.
45 b) Driving up standards by giving a voice back to local people though making
46 commissioning of health and social care a function of the local authority.
47 c) Making the NHS more of a health service, not a sickness service, enabling better decision-
48 making though stronger advice on public health issues.
49 d) Cutting out waste in the NHS by, for example, reducing Hospital Acquired Infections like
50 MRSA through a package of measures including strengthening the powers of infection
51 control teams and stricter protocols on hospital hygiene.
52 e) Focusing the Department of Health on making strategic decisions to improve the health
53 of the nation.
54 f) Guaranteeing honest, long-term funding for the NHS by earmarking National Insurance as
55 the NHS Contribution.

Amendment 1
Association of Liberal Democrat Trade Unionists
Mover : Dave Eastham
Summation: TBA

After line 55 add new 3.g):

g) Ensuring that there is proper manpower skills planning in the NHS to ensure that necessary resources are invested in the training of the extra professional staff that are needed; Conference also welcomes the establishment of the NHS university.

Amendment 1- very clearly carried

The motion as amended- unanimous

Applicability: England, except for 1 c) which is Federal.