Alan Johnson, Health secretary, Live webchat here on Weds 16th April 12.20-1.15

[carriemumsnet]

Alan Johnson, Labour's Secretary of State for Health, will be here on Weds to answer your questions about the NHS. He's happy to talk about anything health -policy related, but some of the topics he's specifically covering during "health week" are: access to NHS services, hospital cleanliness, midwife provision, and a "personal" NHS offering maximum choice and control over the services they use.

As always, those of you who can't make it on the day can post your questions in advance here. Or grab a sarnie (healthy of course ) on Weds lunchtime and come and pose your questions in person.

from hunker...

I am somewhat heartened by your response and look forward to the consultation period.

However, I would also like to know whether the issue of formula manufacturers having forums of their own will be addressed and also the disingenuous helplines that claim you can ring them for breastfeeding advice and speak to their trained midwives/health workers - who will often persuade you to use formula, even if your baby is only a few days old (we tested them on Mumsnet). The forums are clearly posted on by representatives of formula companies - posing as mothers - to perpetuate the "you mustn't let anyone make you feel guilty" message, which is part of their marketing strategy and discourages open debate about the risks of artificial feeding. It's a good way to get round the infant formula promotion ban in place in the UK, but I honestly believe that advice about infant feeding in general ought not to be found via formula company websites. Far better that it's left to independent sites such as Mumsnet.

Also, formula companies won't even give out information about their own products - so why should they be able to perpetuate these myths and muddy the waters surrounding this most important time in a baby's development. After all, if we were feeding any other group in society one food for a prolonged period of time as their sole nutrition, it would be far more regulated. As it is, formula doesn't even have to have safe guidelines for its reconstitution printed on the packet in this country, exposing babies to potentially fatal bacteria.

(Oh, and in case you're like me and prefer a clickable link www.howbreastfeedingworks.com )

i have glandular fever nad it stinks

HI

The government are so keen on parents going back into work, i'm a mother of a 3yr i work full time, but because of my income levels i don't get that much help from the government, to fund childcare etc. for instance i earn just under 1000 a month, but my Daughters school fees alone are 700. i know so many ppl who are much better off not working that working but that should be the way should it really?

I wonder how many girls Gordon did kiss behind the bike sheds?

Could you ask him and get back to us?

Are you interested in supporting women's choice to breastfeed for as long as they wish.

are you interested in addressing the problem of sophisticated marketing of formula to health care profs.

my consultant told me antenatally that he is all for 'choice' when it comes to infant feeding.

I told him that so was I. And that 76% of women choose to initiate breastfeeding after giving birth. At 6 weeks half that number have given up and 90% of those who had given up wished to bf for longer.

This info comes from the DOH's own infant feeding survey for 2005.

FYI, over 35million pounds per year is spent every year on treating Gastro intestinal infections alone in children under 12 months.

so I asked my consultant what could our hospital do with an extra £35 million.

He had no answer to that but suggested I become a politician.

To sitdownpleasegeorge - I think this takes us back to the question of choice but on a far more profound level. I do instinctively feel that a woman should have the choice of how they give birth. Maternity Matters is the policy that was developed with a wide range of interested parties. It means that by 2009 all women giving birth will have more choice over how to access primary care, for instance they can self-refer to a midwife rather than a GP if they wish. They will also have more choice in anti-natal care, in where to give birth and in accessing post-natal care. The two problem areas that prevent me from saying that there should be an absolute choice in these matters is that the NHS probably couldn't afford to give C-Section on request and in any case I feel that it should remain the decision of the clinician as to whether to go down that route. The other problem is that the extended choice we've given on elective surgery cannot yet be extended to maternity care. I think its very important that women are able to choose the maternity hospital that they want to use but that's something that will take a little longer to implement.

To VeniVidiVickiQV - no I don't boycott Nestle and I'll get back to you on the breastfeeding manifesto issue.

I am in the same position as you muppet but with 3 kids. I spend as much on after school care and holiday clubs as my monthly salary and would be better off at home. What incentives do I get? Nothing except personal ones.

Like many people (women) I work with I have a string of qualifications and experience that count for very little once you have children. I couldn't get a position anywhere nearly as senior as I had before children and tokk something lower paid. Where is the equality in that, you might as well tell a 16 year old girl not to bother as many do despite all wanting the best for our children

isn't he talking about health?

Starlight that is disgraceful!

Alan,

Given the rising birthrate and the ageing baby boom, how do you plan to manage competition for healthcare resources in future years?

Thanks.

Its hard to have choice in where to give birth though, when the midwife led units are being closed at a rate of knots to centralise services.

In Sussex and Kent, even the hospital units are being shut and downgraded, leaving women to travel for up to an hour to get to their maternity unit.

Next time I am pregnant can I choose to have a 12 week scan at any hospital or wait until 23 weeks again in Bristol.

"From Hunker"

hi i would like to know about the post code lottery !!!!!!!!!!1 i wish to have an opperation but i live in lincoln and nhs say no , but if i was living some where else it would be yes to the opperation i think this so unfair as this opperation would ne life changing for me , i have appealed twice now with no luck , im distaught

Isn't the issue of working mothers and having a stautus and self actualistaion state through recognition and work related to mental health and the health of the kids. Also he represents the government.

I'd like to echo Starlight's experiences with my maternity experiences in North London's Chase Farm.

Made to wait from 10am till 4pm for test results for pre-eclampsia, and then till 9.30pm for a bed. During this time no food or drink offered.

Also, within an hour of giving birth, being bullied into having a shower because the room was needed, and my partner wasnt allowed to go and get my wash bag. Was told I would be fetched a towel and soap to use but it didnt happen and I ended up having to dry myself on a used gown on the floor of the shower room.

This kind of thing is quite common place in my experience at Chase Farm. Yet, recent surveys have shown that it did well in maternity services. How do you explain this?

Dear Mr Johnson,
If you are still here and reading through these. I would just like to point out a couple of things. It would be really refreshing for the govt to encourage mothers to stay at home to look after their children rather than go back to work and create a society where children are a nuisance extra and in nurseries at a young age where they don't have one-on-one attention which is what they need. It would also be refreshing for a govt to concentrate on post-natal services in this country and children's services which are becoming extinct. There is no or little help in hospitals on wards once you've actually delivered. There is little or no help to get mums breastfeeding. Health visitors are a dying species, and those we do have certainly in my area are completely useless when you actually can get hold of them. Further to that I"m disgusted that you no longer get sent reminders about jabs for kids. I had to beg my local clinic to actually book me in for my child's MMR. No reminders were sent out or information. And I"m English speaking, middle class, on second child. What happens to all new mothers who don't know about jabs and suchlike. You are currently failing our children. Not to mention the fact that getting a doctors' appointment is nigh-on impossible, and most of my friends are sacrificing something to go privately to see a "family" doctor for their kids, so that illnesses are dealt with and picked up more easily. The NHS even in the past two years has pretty much given up on children (unless you're really ill and in hospital). Can you do anything about any of these issues??????

What cmotdibbler said: we'd ALL like to know I imagine whether and why the NHS still contracts outsources cleaning?

I am of the view that you pay the people who do the most difficult jobs as much money as you can. Difficult can mean well-educated and making difficult decision but it also means doing those personal care and dirty jobs that most of us can't bring ourselves to do.

So FGS pay the people who mop up our blood, vomit and poo a bit more. And the people who hold the hand of the sick and dying.

[Sue, are you on MN?]

There's been several questions on GP access. Let me first of all make it clear that we are not seeking to go back on the GP contract we negotiated in 2004. There is a loss of collective memory in some quarters. Prior to 2004 there was a real problem in recruiting people into General Practice and a real fear that with so many GPs due to retire there would be a crisis in provision. We were quite right to raise GPs' pay which was very poor and to reduce their hours whilst enabling them to spend more time with each patient. I find it incredible that GPs were expected to be bright and efficient at 9am, having been out half the night dealing with call-outs. It was a system that had to change and we changed it. Access is not about out-of-hours. We do intend to go back to the 24/7 coverage by each GP. What we do want is for patients and the public to have greater choice about when they see their GP. People now work in a completely different way than they did 50 years ago and in those Practices where they do open in the evenings and on Saturday mornings they find not only blue-collar workers who have difficulty getting time off from employers during the week but also those mothers with children that some people told us were perfectly satisfied with the current arrangements. We have put extra money into the system and we are not asking GPs to do this for nothing. 92% of BMA members voted for greater access and I think it's very much in tune with what the public expect from the health service that they fund.

has he gone i really wanted answer to my dilema

I have another question, about out of hours healthcare. Why do you concede with GP's opinions that they shouldn't work outside office hours, why can they not work shifts as so many other people have to?

My daughter was quite ill recently, she came down with a high fever around 6pm and I got no response from the 'out of hours' number our GP practice gave us. I eventually got through to a nursing team (from the yellow pages) who told me to go to a clinic around an hour from our home (we are in London and would have to use public transport)

Eventually I took her to childrens A&E and thankfully it was nothing serious, but what a waste of overstretched resources when a doctor could have reassured us far easier?

but what about polyclinics?

are they for everyone ?