Constituents have been in touch with me in recent days about the Second Reading of the Health and Care Bill which took place last week. The unprecedented threat of the COVID-19 pandemic reminded us how vital our health and care system is to all of us. We owe an enormous debt of gratitude for all those in the health service who have been working tirelessly throughout the past year to help all those in need.
I can reassure constituents that the NHS will always be free at the point of use; any proposed reforms focus on improving the quality of these services as well as patient outcomes. I think one of the most important lessons we have learned during the pandemic is how well our various health providers can work together, particularly in the face of incredible pressures. For example, last October I visited the Horton Treatment Centre which had transformed into a trauma unit and suspended its non-urgent elective surgeries to ease pressure on other services at the Horton General Hospital. Heads of Department met every morning to discuss the day ahead and identify any possible issues. Such joined-up thinking and partnership was to the advantage of all patients at the Horton, enhancing care and improving patient pathways.
The Health and Care Bill builds on this example by developing more joined-up, integrated care between the NHS, Local Government and other partners including the voluntary and community sector. We already know that partnerships can work – I was discussing how well the new arrangement between Katharine House Hospice and the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is going just the other week when I met the new Chief Executive of the hospice. The Bill will make permanent some of the innovations we have seen as a result of the pandemic and will also include proper accountability mechanisms, giving patients and the wider public the confidence that they are receiving the best care from their healthcare system.
The measures set out in the Bill also deliver on the NHS’s own proposals for reform in its Long Term Plan which have been developed in consultation with key professionals. The concept of an Integrated Care System, for example, is not new to us in Oxfordshire given that we have been working in conjunction with Berkshire and Buckinghamshire in a similar configuration for some time now. To suggest that the ICSs are being used to support privatisation or cuts to NHS funding is irresponsible scaremongering. We often discuss how well the ICS is working to deliver our vaccine programme during my fortnightly Covid briefings with local public health officials.
