Speeches by George.

“The vaccination rate is very low in that area, about 40%.”

“So the latest information you have on delivery is not clear. Presumably it is still being delivered now, even though it is late in the winter. Is that right?”

“It relates to a wider question about the management of hospital beds, high occupancy levels and the fact that you can predict this. You may say that it has plateaued this year and not increased significantly, but the fact is that it has increased over the last five years. On that basis, when you have in excess of 95% t…”

“Such as?”

“Flu vaccine take-up has fallen, has it not?”

“On the back of that, one of the Government’s three shifts over the last 18 months has been from sickness to prevention. Clearly, vaccination has to be up there. Annie, from your perspective—and I am sure you are in touch with your colleagues around the country—how prepared do you think ICBs are to take on the role? Wha…”

“Those figures in the first week of December are the ones I was looking at.”

“One area you will be taking on, and this is really a question for others, is a system that is clearly failing. If you look at hospital admissions in respect of winter flu outbreaks, vaccination levels have clearly gone down over the last year. This year has been the worst on record as far as hospital admissions are con…”

“I will be brief, Madam Deputy Speaker. I congratulate the hon. Member for Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber (Brendan O’Hara) on bringing this issue to the House. I was worried that we would concentrate primarily on the jurisprudence—on the merits of the arguments over whether the threshold in the definition has been reac…”

“rose—”

“The innovation and adoption strategy, which the Chair mentioned—”

“NHS England’s innovation ecosystem programme report indicated that innovation has been stalled by concern about factors such as intellectual property and data-sharing creating barriers to effective collaboration between the NHS and industry. Also the NHS Confederation has identified problems of duplication and a compet…”

“Of course, yes. Dr Fuller, we are going through change. Do you see the merger, not only of NHS England and the Department, but also the ICBs—quite a lot of turmoil will be happening—as an opportunity to promote innovation or as a challenge?”

“Can I challenge on one example? In, I think, 2010, the NHS Confederation produced a report, which was a form of innovation, saying why we need fewer hospital beds. That was quietly rolled out and now we end up with corridor care and ambulances queuing outside hospitals. It is not a great innovation.”

“That begs the question of whether innovation is better developed through central diktat, as it were. Do clinicians at the front line operate too much within a straitjacket of what the centre is dictating and not have sufficient freedom to, as you say, identify where problems are and innovate at the frontline, rather th…”

“Kathy, you are closer to the frontline, but still somewhat distant from it. Do you perceive that the environment is sufficiently enabling for innovation to happen without it having the okay from the centre?”

“We need that, so thank you.”

“Dr Fuller, the NHS is about to go through, or is going through, a process of very significant rearrangement. How are innovation and continuous improvement currently managed within the system?”

“Okay. Have you undertaken any studies or do you have any information to demonstrate that consumers are confident in the information they have available, that they trust the labelling they are provided with and that they can make informed choices? I am talking about processed foods now, not fresh foods. Do any of you ha…”

“Professor van Tulleken indicated to us that a lot of processed foods are designed to encourage excessive eating. It is not just a question of providing healthy options; they are designed in a manner to encourage excessive consumption. Have any of you undertaken any kind of study to give you an insight into consumers’ c…”