The hon. Member for Torrington says that there is something of a Crisis in the National Health Service concerning staff and staff salaries.
It is no good the right hon. and learned Gentleman lecturing me about being partisan when he proceeds to attack the Government for proposing to abolish the Pay Board, because that is the context in which we face the Crisis in the National Health Service.
Secondly, and equally predictable, the hon. Gentleman has tried to insinuate - I cannot use the word "substantiate" - that all the current Crisis in the National Health Service is due to me.
Suddenly, once again we are deluged with sensational headlines about a Crisis in the National Health Service.
There is a Crisis in the National Health Service.
This is an Alice-in-Wonderland situation, which makes one inclined to believe some of the more sensational headlines referring to a Crisis in the National Health Service.
I am sorry that the hon. Member for Canterbury (Mr. Crouch) has taken 25 minutes to tell the House that there is a Crisis in the National Health Service, and has told us nothing else.
Since yesterday, Mr. Speaker, when I made a similar application in respect of the Crisis in the National Health Service, the situation has become even more acute.
The real Crisis in the National Health Service is not just that it is under-financed, rather than over-spent, but that it is the greatest post-war monument to a civilised community - an optimal service, free at the point of service and universally available - which is increasingly put at risk by the death of a thousand cuts.
The title of the debate--"Crisis in the National Health Service" - may cause disappointment inside and outside the House because we have addressed ourselves to the narrow issue of the pay dispute and to party political in-fighting.
The subject was the Crisis in the National Health Service.
We hear constantly from the Opposition about the Crisis in the National Health Service, but for which of the three groups is there a crisis'?
If the patients do not recognise a Crisis in the National Health Service, is there a crisis for the Government?
They are disturbed by the Crisis in the National Health Service and by the long waiting lists.
Are we to have a statement before the Christmas recess on what action, if any, is to be undertaken to deal with the present acute Crisis in the National Health Service?
In view of the unsatisfactory replies that we are receiving from the Government over the acute Crisis in the National Health Service, may I ask the right hon. Gentleman, in the spirit of Christmas, whether any arrangements are being made for copies of "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens to be given to, every member of the Cabinet to read on Christmas day?
Will the Leader of the House provide time as soon as possible after the recess for a debate on the Crisis in the National Health Service in Northern Ireland where, despite the emergency payment of £2·1 million to meet the present shortfall, the health boards face the prospect of closing hospital wards and lengthening waiting lists for operations?
If he does not believe that there is a Crisis in the National Health Service, let him speak to nurses and ancillary workers at Hartwood hospital.
That is the Crisis in the National Health Service.
The only reason for today's debate is the severe Crisis in the National Health Service.
Does he agree that the present Crisis in the National Health Service means that there is a much greater demand on social workers?
There can hardly be any family left untouched by the Crisis in the National Health Service, which the Prime Minister again refused to admit today.
We now have a Crisis in the National Health Service.
further notes the comments of Dr. Martin Muers, Chairman of the Hospital Consultants' Committee, that 'we do not do enough heart operations up to Department of Health and Social Services guidelines' (Telegraph and Argus 18th January) and that the Consultants' Committee has sent an urgent letter to the regional health authority signed by three heart surgeons, five heart specialists, all the anaesthetists, cardiologists and cardio-radiologist, imploring the regional health authority to provide three extra intensive care units to avoid tragedies; and notes especially that amongst those signing was Duncan Walker, Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon, who recently criticised shroud-waving over the repeated cancellations of children's heart operations in Birmingham and now states that 'people are now dying on our waiting list' (Independent 18th January), which is further evidence of the profound and pervasive Crisis in National Health Service operating theatres, a crisis obvious to all reasonable persons and denied now almost alone by the Prime Minister.
[That this House notes that at the Yorkshire Regional Cardiothoracic Centre, Killingbeck Hospital, Leeds, only six of a 12 bed intensive care unit can be used for heart operations; further notes the comments of Dr. Martin Muers, Chairman of the Hospital Consultants' Committee, that 'we do not do enough heart operations up to Department of Health and Social Services guidelines' (Telegraph and Argus 18th January) and that the Consultants' Committee has sent an urgent letter to the regional health authority signed by three heart surgeons, five heart specialists, all the anaesthetists, cardiologists and cardio-radiologist, imploring the regional health authority to provide three extra intensive care units to avoid tragedies; and notes especially that amongst those signing was Duncan Walker, Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon, who recently criticised shroud-waving over the repeated cancellations of children's heart operations in Birmingham and now states that 'people are now dying on our waiting list' (Independent 18th January), which is further evidence of the profound and pervasive Crisis in National Health Service operating theatres, a crisis obvious to all reasonable persons and denied now almost alone by the Prime Minister.
In the past few months, hardly a family in the west midlands has not been troubled by the Crisis in the National Health Service.
I believe that a parallel can be drawn between the National Health Service Crisis and the administrative crisis that exists at Lunar house.
Does that not give the lie to those who argue that there is no Crisis in the National Health Service?
Is it not clear that for the Government the Crisis in the National Health Service - for that is what it is - is not a challenge to statesmanship, not a call for compassion and care, not a call to avoid needless suffering in hospitals, but a new opportunity for the private sector, with an agenda to push more and more patients into the private sector and bring private profit right to the heart of the NHS, the one great public service that has so far resisted the Government's obsession with privatisation?
Such increases would, as most objective observers agree, help to solve the current Crisis in the National Health Service.
The Government have the extra money - and more-to begin to help solve the National Health Service Crisis, but they refuse to do so.
The Government are precipitating the Crisis in the National Health Service, not only in Lothian but throughout the country.
Such is the Government's lack of compassion, and such is their support for privilege, that they will neither put their money nor their mouth on the line for those who are suffering because of the Crisis in Our National Health Service.
What we are witnessing in the Province is a growing and potentially catastrophic Crisis in the National Health Service.
This humble petition is from 13,634 United Kingdom residents who are concerned about the Crisis in the National Health Service.
There is one great source of comfort about the Crisis in the National Health Service.
They do not like to be told the truth about the Crisis in the National Health Service.
Because of the Crisis in the National Health Service, would we not give our right arms to make those beds available to others?
The matter is important and should have priority over all other business in the House if we are to avert the Crisis in Our National Health Service, in its 40th year, which was almost on the cards earlier this year, and which was averted only as a result of your actions, Mr. Speaker.
Is the Leader of the House completely unaware of the continuing grave Crisis in the National Health Service caused by the Government's failure to handle satisfactorily the regrading review?
If not, there is a serious risk of provoking a long-lasting Crisis in the National Health Service.
In the light of the comments by the Junior Health Minister, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, that the current financial Crisis in the National Health Service shows that the figures are meaningless and misleading, may I ask the Prime Minister urgently to review the agenda for South Manchester health authority's meeting this coming Thursday, which proposes £1·2 million worth of cuts, the shedding of 100 health care posts and the option of compulsory redundancies?
However, if she really believes that the Crisis in the National Health Service has been got up by the press, by Labour Members and by the BMA, she is out of touch with reality.
Is the Secretary of State aware that he should be ashamed of himself for saying earlier that the Crisis in the National Health Service is down to the nurses, the staff and all the other people who work in it?
I hope that in the coming debate we shall be spared any Conservative Members telling us that we must have the changes in April to deal with the Crisis in the National Health Service.
Finally, will the Leader of the House find an early day for us to debate the deepening Crisis in the National Health Service?
As the Government have a day in the first week after the recess, the Friday, to which they have not yet allocated a subject, why can we not have a debate in Government time about the Crisis in the National Health Service so that, if the Government have such a good story to tell, the nation can hear it?
There is a Crisis in the National Health Service, a matter which is debated almost daily in the House, and my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds, West spoke about the real and growing poverty in inner-city and rural areas.
In the lifetime of one Parliament, a Labour Government will redress the underfunding which has caused the present financial Crisis in the National Health Service.
We also have crumbling schools and the Crisis in the National Health Service and on the railways and roads.
There will be a debate described as "The Crisis in the National Health Service" on an Opposition motion.
Given the Crisis in the National Health Service, which was described so well by my hon. Friend the Member for Leyton (Mr. Cohen), will the Leader of the House consider providing a day in Government time for a debate on it?
By contrast, the Government continually mislead the public about the Crisis in the National Health Service.
Is that not the real reason why there is a Crisis in the National Health Service?
The debate is about the Crisis in Our National Health Service.
The Secretary of State said that, as a consequence of the Crisis in the National Health Service, the Government's great initiative to reduce waiting lists has been abandoned.
Does the Prime Minister agree that the spate of reports of Crisis in the National Health Service, culminating in a hospital refusing even emergency referrals of elderly patients because of a shortage of beds, are a disgrace?
Will he provide it and, if not, what will he do to avert the National Health Service Crisis and to prevent any further hospital ward closures this coming winter?
I strongly doubt whether he is a long-standing Labour supporter, but he wrote about his heart attacks and about the fact that he had to choose private surgery because of the Crisis in the National Health Service.
Will you confirm that the only line of accountability in the national health service is that of the Secretary of State to the House, bearing it in mind that we have the most serious Crisis in the National Health Service for many years?
Rather than rampaging through the responsibilities of other Cabinet Ministers, would it not be better if the Health Secretary addressed himself to the huge and manifest Crisis in the National Health Service?
Does the Prime Minister agree, following the past 48 hours, that it would be better for the Secretary of State for Health to concentrate on dealing with the Crisis in the National Health Service, rather than adding to the crisis in the Conservative party?
Given the Crisis in the National Health Service, why has it been deemed appropriate by the Secretary of State and the Government to keep to the previous Government's budget levels?
On a number of occasions in the Chamber, I have debated the private sector issue with the right hon. Member for Maidstone and The Weald (Miss Widdecombe) - who now shadows the Home Secretary - and she has quite categorically stated her belief that, to deal with what she perceives as a Crisis in the National Health Service, we have to make greater use of the private sector and ensure that more NHS patients are sent to the private sector.
Yes, there is a Crisis in the National Health Service, but it is not only there.
Furthermore, is it not inevitable that there should have been a Crisis in the National Health Service once the Government had accepted the spending limits of the previous government?
Looking back on what I said before, I find that I warned about the impending sense of Crisis in the National Health Service.
My Lords, we no longer have time for Ministers who say that there is no Crisis in the National Health Service.
January has been a bumper month for "Crisis in the National Health Service" stories.
We saw this Christmas a huge Crisis in the National Health Service.
His Government's political interference and ministerial incompetence have brought about a greater Crisis in the National Health Service.
Statements have been made, and references were made during the debates on the Gracious Speech, but is the coming Crisis in the National Health Service, which is causing so much concern to Members and their constituents, being viewed in the context of bed blocking and the relationship between health and social services authorities?
The hon. Lady seems to think that everything is fine and has stated that there is no Crisis in the National Health Service.
There is indeed a Crisis in the National Health Service in Wiltshire, and I am sorry that she will not openly accept that.
At a time of Crisis in the National Health Service in Wales, the Welsh Assembly is to spend £42 million on a new building, when people who voted in the referendum were told that it would cost between £12 million and £17 million.
I was watching the television at the weekend, and saw an advert for The Mail on Sunday, advertising one of its weekly stories on the alleged Crisis in the National Health Service.
Last week, the Chancellor had the opportunity to signal real improvements in public services to end the Crisis in the National Health Service, to bring order to classrooms where, too often, disruptive children prevent standards from rising for all and to get the police back on the streets fighting crime.
The hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath) was among those who spoke about the problems in his local health service - a hospital project becalmed, a victim of what in his area, I suspect, and certainly in many other parts of the country, is a financial Crisis in the National Health Service.
I am about to say something controversial - nobody has said this so far: we are all passionate about our country and we all want our Olympic contestants to do extremely well in the games, but when the Royal Shrewsbury hospital is £30 million in debt, my doctors and nurses face the sack and we have a Crisis in the National Health Service, the Chancellor should not be giving £200 million to the Olympic team.
The Crisis in the National Health Service does not affect only hospitals.
For example, it can put pressure on school places, medical infrastructure - especially given the Crisis in the National Health Service - and transport infrastructure.
The truth is that there is a Crisis in the National Health Service in the accident and emergency departments.
My Lords, official warnings of the mounting Crisis in the National Health Service are coming thick and fast.
The Prime Minister's Crisis in the National Health Service has its roots in general practice, and the changes the Government made to GP pensions saw a huge number of GPs retire early.
My Lords, does the Minister accept that the percentage of GDP that the United Kingdom spends on health is much lower than that of comparable countries and that therefore the Crisis in the National Health Service needs addressing?