Tory
manifesto commitment on mixed sex wards in tatters as incidents rise 50% in a
year

Theresa
May has been accused of abandoning yet another Tory Manifesto commitment as new
figures reveal the number of NHS patients in mixed sex wards running 50% higher
than this time last year.

New
figures published by NHS England today show that hospitals breached mixed sex
accommodation rules 1750 times during January and February this year – compared
to 1164 in the same period last year

Mixed
sex accommodation breaches have gone through the roof since Theresa May took
over last July – with 5618 in the 8 months since she became Prime Minister,
compared with just 4259 in the whole of 2015.

Ending
mixed sex wards was a key pledge of David Cameron’s Government in 2010 and the
2015 Conservative Manifesto included a promise to “continue to eliminate mixed
sex wards”.

Labour
said today’s figures showed that Theresa May’s decision to restrain NHS
spending was pushing hospitals to the brink.

Jonathan
Ashworth MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, said:

“Tory
cuts to social care have seen hospital attendances rocket and now it seems
Theresa May has given up on her manifesto promise to eliminate mixed sex wards.
Patients expect dignity and respect when they’re being treated in hospital but
this Government is letting them down. The Government has overseen a
catastrophic collapse of patient standards and this failure on mixed sex wards
is yet another sign that England’s hospitals are at breaking point.

“The
Prime Minister needs to get a grip and explain what she is going to do to fix
the crisis which she has created. Every day that goes by brings more news of
patient care getting worse under this Government. Quite simply the Government’s
policy of underfunding and mismanaging the NHS has left hospitals on the
brink.”

Ends

Editors notes

·        
The Conservative Manifesto 2015 (P37) said: “We
will ensure that English hospitals and GP surgeries are the safest in the
world, places where you are treated with dignity and respect. We will continue
to eliminate mixed-sex wards.”

“Mixed
sex wards virtually gone.” Jeremy Hunt, Speech to Conservative Party
Conference, 1 October 2013

http://www.ukpol.co.uk/jeremy-hunt-2013-conservative-party-conference-speech/

“The
number of hospital-acquired infections continues to go down and mixed–sex wards
have been virtually eliminated.”  Jeremy Hunt, Hansard, 23 October 2012

https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2012-10-23/debates/12102347000022/NHSCost?highlight=mixed%20sex#contribution-12102347000044

“We said that we would sort out mixed-sex
wards and hospital-acquired infections—promise delivered.”

David Cameron, Hansard, 18 March 2015,
Column 756

·        
Mixed sex accommodation breaches available here: https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/mixed-sex-accommodation/msa-data/

·        
There were 1040 breaches in January and 710 in
February – a 50% rise on the combined 1164 for the same two months last year.

Diane Abbott MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, responding to comments
from the new independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said:

“This review is welcome. Max Hill makes some good points on
removing laws that are never used. We need protection from terrorism, but
pointless laws serve no purpose.

“He also highlights the fact certain communities, in particular
Muslims, feel unfairly targeted.  This will add to wider concerns around
the Government’s Prevent strategy, which should also be reviewed.”

Debbie
Abrahams MP, Labour’s Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, commenting on the Households Below Average Income statistics, said:  

“These
statistics show a worrying increase in both poverty and inequality. Four
million children and two million older people are now living below the
breadline. Those living with a disabled person are more likely than ever to be
struggling to make ends meet.

“This
is a direct result of this Government’s seven wasted years of austerity and
punitive social security cuts.

“The Tories’ shocking failure to tackle
the increasing costs of basic essentials, stagnating wages and their ruthless
slashing of social security is leaving working families worse off up to 2020.”

“Labour would reverse cuts to in-work
support, ban the exploitative zero hours contracts being used on hundreds of
thousands of workers, and guarantee a real Living Wage.”

Cat
Smith MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Voter Engagement and Youth Affairs, commenting on
today’s Electoral Registration Statistics, said:

“While
the increase in electoral registration numbers following the EU referendum is
welcome, this Tory Government is still not doing enough to ensure that young
people are on the register.

“That
is why the Lords voted in favour of a Labour motion to the Higher Education and
Research Bill, requiring universities to give students the option to register
to vote when they sign up at university.

“If
the Tories are serious about making every voice matter they need to keep this
sensible addition when the Bill comes back to the Commons.”

Ends

Notes to editors:

·      
The total number of UK parliamentary electors
increased by just over 1 million (2.3%) between December 2015 and December
2016, reflecting the high levels of public engagement with the EU referendum.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/elections/electoralregistration/bulletins/electoralstatisticsforuk/2016  

·       A study from the Electoral
Commission in 2014 found that young people were a particularly
under-represented group on the electoral register http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/169889/Completeness-and-accuracy-of-the-2014-electoral-registers-in-Great-Britain.pdf

·       Before the Conservatives rushed
the introduction of Individual Electoral Registration, students were
automatically enrolled by their universities. However, the Electoral
Administration Act of 2013 did not provide for a suitable student registration
to be put in place when the old system of household registration was abolished.

·       On Monday 7^th
March the House of Lords voted in favour of Baroness Royall’s amendment to the
Higher Education and Research Bill. The amendment was passed, defeating the
Government, by a majority of 200 to 189. The amendment would require
universities to offer students the opportunity to register to vote at the point
of enrolment or re-registration as a student at their university, a proposal
first made by Paul Blomfield MP in the Commons.

John
McDonnell MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor,
responding to the Government’s u-turn on its £2 billion NICs rise in the Budget
last week, said:

“This
is a humiliating reversal for the Chancellor forced upon him by Labour’s
opposition. His authority is now shredded after just one Budget, and he tore up
a manifesto commitment to do it.

“We
welcome the Government’s decision to finally listen to Labour’s calls made in
Jeremy Corbyn’s Budget response along with those of business groups like the
Federation of Small Businesses to not go ahead with an unfair £2bn tax rise on
low and middle earners. But they should never have been placed in this position
to start with, and now we face yet another Tory Budget only a year on with a
blackhole in the billions. In 2015, we had the tax credit shambles. In 2016, we
had Personal Independence Payments reversal. Now in 2017 we have the u-turn on
National Insurance Contributions.

"There will be millions of working people who are now breathing a sigh of
relief, but it is the Chancellor who should be holding his breath as
this episode throws up urgent questions that he and the Cabinet must now
answer. 

“Did the
Prime Minister or the rest of the Cabinet, who must have seen the Budget in
advance and known this measure was to be implemented, raise their concerns with
the Chancellor before he announced it, worrying millions of families? It was in
the weekend papers before the Budget so they can’t say they were unaware it was
to happen.

“This is also the second year we have had a Tory Budget with a black hole in it
worth billions. This is not acceptable. What will he do to fill the shortfall
in a Budget he delivered less than a week ago without pursuing unfair tax
increases or further cuts to public services? As the Budget will still see
working people £1,400 worse off under the Government.

"On
the day the Brexit Secretary has admitted that he hasn’t looked into the costs
of the Prime Minister’s negotiating strategy, this is yet more proof that there
is disarray at the top of a government clearly making things up as they go
along.

"We need answers from the Chancellor and accountability at the top of
government. In no workplace would such practices be allowed to continue, and it
should not be allowed from those responsible for the public finances. Labour’s
new roundtable on self-employment will bring together business organisations,
trade unions and self-employed groups to lay out a serious and realistic
strategy to provide a fair deal for the self-employed at a time of major labour
market changes. We are proud to be the party of working people, small
businesses, and the self-employed.”