Posted: 1-Mar-2007 << BACK
House of Commons Hansard Debates for 22 Feb 2007 (pt 0015)
The problem with politicians is that they hold in insufficient esteem the evidence base that underpins evidence-based policy making. Celebrity-based policy making is an entirely different matter. Call me an old cynic, but I wonder whether Anita Roddicks brave announcementand it was a brave announcementabout her having hepatitis C has energised the Department of Health into launching what we understand will be a welcome publicity campaign for hepatitis. The Hepatitis C Trust, which I met on Tuesday, is understandably extremely miffed that it has not been consulted by the Minister. It points out that Health Challenge England ignores hepatitis C completely, as evidently do most PCTs, which have left the hepatitis C action plan, such as it is, on the shelf gathering dust.
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Given the alarming increase in hepatitis C, the trust is understandably alarmed. I ask the Minister to speak to the trust, which feels upset about the way it has been treated. It is upset about what appears to be a knee-jerk reaction by the Department in response to recent media events. It is interesting that guru Wanless himself says:
What we do not need is simply a list of frenetic and uncoordinated short-term activity, which can be stopped as easily and quickly as it began,
by which he means [Interruption.] The Minister says rubbish, but that is what her guru said.
Caroline Flint: The rubbish that I was referring to was the idea that we have just thought of our campaign on hepatitis C. We have been holding regional road shows throughout the country over the past year at least, in which we have looked at how we can deliver at local level, involving people who can raise awareness and those who provide services. I get feedback about how the road shows have been received. I understand that they have been very successful and more are planned.
Dr. Murrison: We look forward to those that are planned. I am sure that Anita Roddick, who, as I say, has been extremely brave in her remarks to the press recently, will play a full and active part. It is a pity that it requires a celebrity to highlight such an issue for the Governmentthe Jamie Oliver effect. [Interruption.] I have to say to the Minister that it is all very well saying that things are rubbish and that I should move on, but I suspect that Wanless himself will continue to make disobliging comments about what she is doing in public health. He is quite clear that she is engaging in phrenetic and unco-ordinated short-term activitythe sort of thing that can be stopped and started just like turning a tap on and off. Wanless is referring to the sort of activities that the Minister mentioned in her interventions regarding plans for hepatitis C.
I have had exchanges with the Minister through a number of parliamentary questions and answers. I asked about what she has done to anticipate the burden of disease that will arise as a result of hepatitis C infection. I have to say that what I have had back is a big I dont know. The Government clearly have no idea about what this time bomb involves and have made no preparations to manage it. In public health terms, that is deeply and profoundly worrying.
House of Commons Hansard Debates for 22 Feb 2007 (pt 0018)
My hon. Friend the Member for Westbury mentioned Hepatitis C, and I happen to be the chairman of the all-party hepatology group. This week, Dame Anita Roddick attended our reception, and I am delighted to say that I awarded her with an Oscar, ahead of Sundays Oscars, in which I hope Dame Helen Mirren, a Leigh-on-Sea girl who went to St. Bernards high school in my constituency, will get an award. I was delighted to give Dame Anita Roddick an Oscar because she has been brave in putting her head above the parapet; I understand what my hon. Friend was getting at when he mentioned the subject. She spoke to us in a direct fashion, and although she was not overtly critical of the Government, I pass on to the Minister the fact that the grant of 70,000 to the Hepatitis C Trust is not overly generous. These days, we all have so little time to listen to each other, but the Hepatitis C Trust does listen to people. It tries to reassure them and deal with their anxieties, so when budgets are being considered, it would be nice if the trust were given more money.
The other concern that I wanted to raise was about the advertising campaign. I know that the Minister and
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my hon. Friend the Member for Westbury locked horns on the issue, and I will not get too involved in that, but I point out that the Hepatitis C Trust is concerned about the groups targeted. Let us consider all the dangers that we face today, what with the number of people getting tattoos. Groups felt concern about the way in which the advertising campaign was run. Dare I suggest that the Government would do well to turn to Saatchi & Saatchi, and other advertising agencies?
