Central and Eastern Cheshire primary care trust is developing new health services that will enable patients to receive treatment closer to home.
I am surprised that my namesake did not refer to maternity services, because they are the subject of my question. Is the Minister aware that birth rates in east Cheshire, which is served by the Macclesfield district general hospital, have increased for three years in a row? Women are opting to come to Macclesfield, in increasing numbers, to have their babies. Does she not agree that if women show that preference, it is essential to keep in-patient paediatrics, maternity, obstetrics and other children’s services in the Macclesfield district general hospital, in accordance with that decision? Will she ensure that those services in the hospital, which serves a predominantly rural area, are fully, properly and fairly funded?
I was not aware of the massive increase in the birth rate that has taken place, but I am now. I also know that the PCT is exploring the possibility of linking some of the maternity and paediatric services in the Cheshire area. Obviously, in doing so, the PCT will have to satisfy the strategic health authority that it is meeting clinical standards, such as those set by the Royal College of Midwives, and can still provide a full range of local services. I understand that the hon. Gentleman is meeting Mike Farrar, the chief executive of the North West strategic health authority, on 12 January, and I am sure that he will make his views clear at that meeting.
Is my right hon. Friend aware that in my constituency, which is part of the Central and Eastern Cheshire primary care trust, for the first time in 30 years, we shall have a totally new health centre in the middle of Crewe, an entirely new health centre in the middle of Nantwich, and a new centre in the middle of Sharington? That is a remarkable feat, and I hope that she will give credit to the remarkable negotiating skills of Professor Dr. Ong, who has managed the normally unachievable feat of getting vast numbers of general practitioners to work together.
My hon. Friend is right to highlight some of the results of the Government’s increased investment in the national health service, and the real benefits that it can bring to patients. I am glad to hear her praise the work of NHS professionals, too; perhaps the Opposition would like to take her lead.
Further to the comments of my hon. Friend the Member for Macclesfield (Sir Nicholas Winterton), the fact remains that maternity services in Macclesfield, like those in Salford and Bury, have not been selected to become centres of excellence in the “Making it Better” reconfiguration across the north-west. It has not escaped public notice that some Ministers are trying to have it both ways by pushing for service redesign at a national level while opposing closures that affect their constituencies. Is not the reason for that embarrassing inconsistency the fact that those reconfigurations take place in the absence of an evidence-based model of safe and accessible maternity care? Will the Minister respond to our call for the Government to engage in a national debate about such a model, so that much loved local services do not face closure without good reason?
The hon. Gentleman will be aware that people who make decisions on the organisation of local NHS services consider what is the best care for patients in the light of the best value for money. We have produced national guidelines and a national plan for maternity services. There is a well established process for service changes, which naturally includes hon. Members expressing views on behalf of their constituents. In the case of maternity services in Greater Manchester, a final decision has not been made, but hon. Members are free to express their views and those of their constituents.
The hon. Member for Macclesfield (Sir Nicholas Winterton) and Members representing Cheshire and Wirral share an excellent mental health trust which, my right hon. Friend knows, has made a bid to become a foundation trust. When will we know the outcome of that bid, and can she assure us that services in east and west Cheshire and Wirral—an area covered by two separate primary care trusts—will be maintained at the same level or, indeed, improved in the new structure if foundation trust status is awarded?
It is obviously a great credit to the mental health trust in my hon. Friend’s constituency that it has been considered for foundation trust status, as that will allow it extra freedom to expand its services. The bids are being examined and a decision will be made as quickly as possible. I am glad that he supports his local mental health trust, which has made genuine improvements for patients in recent years.