NHS has ‘culture of cover-up' over failures, Health Secretary says

He told MPs there is 'too much of that happening' in the NHS, and that reputations are protected instead of patients being told the truth.
The minister's comments came after Labour MP Perran Moon (Camborne and Redruth) told him about the experience of a woman in his constituency who suffered from nerve damage after a hip operation, but was told her pain was 'common'.
Mr Moon said: 'A couple of weeks ago at my constituency surgery, through the tears, my constituent Amy explained how, following a hip operation in 2008, she suffered progressive nerve damage due to repeated failures in diagnosis, referral and treatment.
We are changing the culture, safety is at the heart of the 10-year plan, and I'd be delighted to talk to him further about his constituent's case Health Secretary Wes Streeting
'Despite raising concerns for years, she was told her pain was common.
'A nerve test in 2015 confirmed damage and further tests last year showed a significant deterioration. After 17 years, she's only now been offered surgery.
'All Amy wants to know is what steps are being taken to ensure that no other patient is left permanently disabled due to such long and systemic failures.'
Responding, Mr Streeting said: 'Can I first of all, on behalf of the NHS, apologise to his constituent.
'That is a totally intolerable situation, but sadly not rare or exceptional.
'There's too much of that happening and a culture of cover-up and covering reputations, rather than being honest with patients about failures.
'We are changing the culture, safety is at the heart of the 10-year plan, and I'd be delighted to talk to him further about his constituent's case.'
Elsewhere during health and social care oral questions on Tuesday, the Government was challenged on the difficulties that pharmacies are facing.
Liberal Democrat MP Caroline Voaden (Lucy North/PA)
Liberal Democrat MP Caroline Voaden (South Devon) told MPs the 'current funding model doesn't take into account the lower footfall and the limited referral rates that are common in rural areas'.
She said: 'If a pharmacy in a small market town closes, it can cause extreme difficulties for people to access advice and medicines, particularly where there is little or no public transport and they have to go a long way.'
Conservative shadow health minister Dr Luke Evans raised the cap on funded consultation appointments that pharmacies can schedule through the Pharmacy First Scheme.
He said: 'Once they hit that cap, they are no longer paid the £17 per consultation.
'That, in turn, may mean patients will either be turned away or the pharmacist has to take the hit and has to pay for it themselves.'
Care minister Stephen Kinnock replied: 'The pharmacy sector is facing huge challenges after massive cuts over the last 14 years. We're beginning to rebuild, but there are particular challenges for rural pharmacies.
'We are looking at comprehensive reform in the pharmacy sector around better use of technology, hub-and-spoke dispensing and a range of other options which would enable better remote dispensing for rural pharmacies.'
He told Dr Evans that the 'record uplift' of £3.1 billion for the pharmacy sector was coming in 'after years of underfunding, incompetence and neglect' from the Conservatives, and that the allocation of funding will be looked at in their reforms.

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Edinburgh Reporter

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Nikki is guest of honour at Pretty Muddy

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Telegraph

2 hours ago

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Assisted dying, abortion, grooming gangs...Britain is morally deformed

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Last week, the Commons voted to decriminalise abortion and legalise state-assisted suicide, the latest twist on 'cradle to grave'. Supporters spoke of humanising the law, of continuing the 'progressive' effort begun in the 1960s when abortion was first permitted. But there's a big contextual difference. Social liberalism in a time of economic growth was about increasing choice; today, in a period of austerity, it suggests narrowing options. Can't afford a baby? Terminate it. Worry you might burden the grandkids? Take a seat in the suicide pod. Of course this isn't what MPs meant by voting this way – but when you cut benefits for the elderly and cap them for children, and then make it easier to destroy yourself or your baby, it's hard not to infer a link. People keep saying to me, with a dash of British humour, that the state intends to kill us all to save money. Let's assume this is wrong. Let's call the speculation tasteless. Nevertheless, we have to account for why so many people feel this way, for the historic loss of trust. This is not some opioid-induced fantasy; human beings respond to cues. The third story in the grimmest week of Starmer's premiership was the publication of the Casey report, which confirmed that Asian men raped girls, and that officials declined to act because it might appear racist. This is mind-blowing stuff and shows how morally deformed our establishment now is. It has no coherent understanding of good and evil – in the difference between innocence and guilt – and in its yearning to look good by its own bizarre standard, it permits evil to flourish. In 2025, a person who prays outside an abortion clinic faces arrest. Meanwhile, a foreign-born, convicted rapist might avoid deportation by invoking their human rights. Religion, in fact, barely featured in the assisted dying debate, except to suggest that opponents might be acting under orders from the Pope. This fantasy pays a backhanded compliment to a faith that has been losing its influence for a very long time. As far back as 1937, Cosmo Gordon Lang, the archbishop of Canterbury, abstained in a Lords vote on divorce because he judged it 'no longer possible to impose the full Christian standard by law on a largely non-Christian population'. Christianity defined the West for so many centuries that its loss is experienced as the death of a fixed order, but we mustn't forget that Jesus was a revolutionary who overturned an even older system of ethics. Pagans, who largely felt life was meant to be enjoyed, thought the martyrdom-chasing Christians were nuts. One can see why. They taught that death is not the end, life is a test, and suffering is an opportunity to imitate the crucifixion. For example: the 7th century saint Cuthbert had a best friend, Herbert, and the two men dreamt of spending eternity together. 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BBC News

3 hours ago

• BBC News

'No budget' for assisted dying service, health secretary says

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has said there is no budget for an assisted dying service, which MPs narrowly backed in a landmark vote on who was one of the most senior opponents of the legislation, posted a lengthy message on his Facebook page explaining why he voted against the other reasons, he said there was already a lack of access to high quality end-of-life care on top of tightened finances within the NHS, which could add to the pressure faced by dying patients. Streeting said he would "make sure that we do a good job with it for the country" if the legislation becomes law, but he worried MPs had made the wrong choice. The government remains neutral on the bill, which cleared the Commons with a majority of 23 votes on Friday and will now be scrutinised by the House of Lords. MPs were given a free vote on in favour of the bill say it will give terminally ill adults the choice on how they want to die and prevent painful deaths, but critics argue it risks people being coerced into seeking an assisted his post, Streeting quoted former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown's position that "there is no effective freedom to choose if the alternative option... is not available", referring to sufficient end-of-life care wrote: "The truth is that creating those conditions will take time and money. "Even with the savings that might come from assisted dying if people take up the service - and it feels uncomfortable talking about savings in this context to be honest - setting up this service will also take time and money that is in short supply. "There isn't a budget for this. Politics is about prioritising. It is a daily series of choices and trade-offs. I fear we've made the wrong one."The MP for Ilford North pledged to work "constructively" on technical aspects of the legislation as it progresses through Parliament and stressed he had enormous respect for the bill's impact assessment on the policy published in May provided a financial analysis of the costs and savings said that in the first six months, savings for the NHS could range from around £919,000 to £ figure included hospital care, primary and community care, hospice, medicines and other care costs that someone choosing an assisted death would not the time the system had been running for ten years, savings could range from £5.84m to £ assessment found there would be costs too. Staffing an assisted dying service could cost in excess of £10m a year within a decade, while training costs in the first six months alone could be over £11m. As peers prepare to examine the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, assisted dying campaigner Dame Esther Rantzen told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Saturday that Lords had a duty to perform but that it should not extend to overturning the will of the Commons."Their job is to scrutinise, to ask questions, but not to oppose," she said."So yes, people who are adamantly opposed to this Bill, and they have a perfect right to oppose it, will try and stop it going through the Lords, but the Lords themselves, their duty is to make sure that law is actually created by the elected chamber, which is the House of Commons who have voted this through."Dame Esther said she was resigned to the fact her own terminal cancer would probably progress to the point she will "buzz off to Zurich" to use the Dignitas clinic before the bill becomes Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, a Paralympian and opponent of the plans, told BBC Breakfast she hoped more safeguards could be introduced in the coming months."We're getting ready for it to come to the Lords and from my personal point of view, about amending it to make it stronger," she said."We've been told it's the strongest bill in the world, but to be honest, it's not a very high bar for other legislation, so I do think there are a lot more safeguards that could be put in."Another opponent, the Conservative peer and disability rights campaigner Lord Shinkwin, said he believed the bill needed "forensic scrutiny". "The margin yesterday was so close that many MPs would appreciate the opportunity to look at this again in respect of safeguards as they relate to those who feel vulnerable, whether that's disabled people or older people," he bill could still run out of parliamentary time if it is held up in the Lords, but the Labour MP who steered it through the Commons as a Private Member's Bill, Kim Leadbeater, said: "I would be upset to think that anybody was playing games with such an important and such an emotional issue". Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to read top political analysis, gain insight from across the UK and stay up to speed with the big moments. It'll be delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.