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.

what, he ash the smell of the Queen up his nose?

To flossish - I hope that you will reconise the huge advances made in pay and conditions and indeed in the number of nurses since 1997. Agenda for Change was an enormously important agreement with all the Unions and Royal Colleges and it gave nurses a substantial real terms increase in salary. I'm not trying to curry favour here but I was the Minister in a previous capacity who defended the pension arrangements for nurses, teachers and civil servants. The pension is of course an important part of the package. Last year's staged pay increase caused understandable concern and resentment. I haven't got time to go into that here, but what I can say is that I've recently concluded negotiations on a pay deal that will give nurses an 8.1% pay increase over the next 3 years. RCN and Unison fought very hard to tackle issues such as the long banding structure and those on low pay and we've done a lot in this deal to address those concerns as well as setting up on-going discussions to do more in this area. In the context of public sector pay which in the last 10 years has risen by more than private sector pay I do think nurses have received fair treatment although given the work that they do I can understand the feeling that more should be done.

ash has

I'm delighted to read that you'll be looking into the standards of care given to women who miscarry. I really hope that this includes the care and support available to women who are pregnant following prior pregnancies.

If you put together a set of standards, can you encourage those in the Scottish Executive Govenrment to follow them too so that standards are UK wide.

Thanks everyone, and to Alan (and Sue) especially for your thorough responses and for staying a bit longer than he should have.
Alan has promised to come back to us on a few things and we promise to make sure he does and to keep the pressure on with regard to miscarriage and a nationwide code of practice.
Best,
Mnhq

Oh it's not a feeling Mr Johnston. It is fact that HV's often recommend "topping up" with formula, or even worse "you need to top up with Aptimil".

Advice for non-sleeping at 4 months..."try a little baby rice"

Advice (this one to me directly) when asking how to get a child to take soya formula when used to b/feeding, and suggesting mixing formula and breastmilk - the reply I got from an "experienced" HV was "eww yuk, dont do that". No suggestion to carry on b/feeding and ways to help me do this whilst working part time. No positive advice on how to get my daughter to take soya formula (cows milk allergy).

A later experience with 2 other HV's to help with b/feeding and thrush was miles better, but, I think it was largely down to the fact that they both breastfed, and in fact one was still breastfeeding her 11 month old.

Experience is great, but only when it's relevant. I think there is a point in there somewhere....

Can you answer my earlier Q about Northwick Park Hospital please?

I agree with Tutter on both posts

but also facilitating not just mothers but father too especially for the first 2 yrs

Thank you very much for all of your posts - as a former post man I'm used to dealing with a different form of communication but this was very interesting and genuinely enjoyable. For more information on what we're doing on health you can also visit www.labour.org.uk!

Bugger has he gone?

I meant to say. The one-to-one system of midwifery care is SUPERB and needs to be assured continued funding and rolled out over the uk. The levels of successful home births are brilliant under this system and women are given decent care and choice. So is the one-to-one system going rto have its funding pulled?

He's gone hasn't he.

Oh Thank you!! I hadn't heard about the pay deal (looks over shoulder at past two nursing standard copies unopened...) 8.1 percent is certainly more than I was expecting and I for one and pretty pleased!

b u g g e r

Oh, I love Alan Johnson.

Mr Johnson Why are hospitals so dirty? I had a major op in the QMC Notts in Jan and begged my consultant to send me home(which he did do) after 48 hours as the elderly lady in the bed next to me had suspected c.diff. She was not in isolation nor being barrier nursed and was having many accidents. The toilets and bathrooms should have been condemened - they were gross!

Another point why are the waits for CAMH appts so long? Our 13 year old son has OCD and we have waited since December for an appointment finally got a cancellation for next week.
I have spent all my working life in the NHS and it is getting WORSE not better

Oh VeniVidiVickiQV I agree with you. HV give the most nonsensical advice in my area too. Always suggest topping up with formula. grrrrr. They all need retraining. If they good and accessible in strong numbers we've vastly cut down trips to GPs for trivial matters and would be better more confident mums.

I know you had lots of questions, but I really think SALT provision is worth you having a look at. Or at least delegate it to a flunky . The waits are too long. Please ensure our children get the help they need before they go to school.

And another.

My grandparents are both pretty ill. My grandad is recovering from Bowel cancer and my gran has emphysema.

My gran was dishcharged from hospital with a cannula still in her arm and it took two days for a practice nurse to come to their home and remove it. They are frequently let down by health visitors/ social workers who promise them support but give them none. It's hard enough for them to visit when they say they will.

Why would it be that the families are the ones left to care for them and try to chase up test results etc, even just basic care? They are extremely vulnerable but too proud to complain as they are reluctant to accept the health they get. I wonder how many elderly people are in this position who don't have family to look out for them?

thanks MN HQ very interesting and timely
especially making the point about miscarriage

8.1% over 3 years?

That's not that fantastic.

Current rate of inflation is 2.5% - yes? So, 2.5% this year, 2.5% the next year, and 2.5% the year after....assuming things remain the same.

Or are my maths totally wrong here?

If he's fecked off we can discuss this between ourselves surely?
Lots of important points haven't been addressed.

Yes, like the further 3 deaths at Northwick Park Maternity unit.

guys, he's gone

Yup - I think that too. In the case of all the London hospitals I've been to (and thats a fair few), the bits they show to anyone bear no resemblence to some of the less 'popular' departments. St Thomas' (nice view of the Houses of Parliament across the river) is a very good case in point - the subterranean journey to some departments through corridors filled with stuff is incredible.

Gosh he's said an awful lot more than David Cameron. And all of it made sense. The Tory King of Smarm never answered anything - well he managed about three posts and all of them were evasive and shifty

I heart Alan Johnson too now

Gosh he's said an awful lot more than David Cameron. And all of it made sense. The Tory King of Smarm never answered anything - well he managed about three posts and all of them were evasive and shifty

I heart Alan Johnson too now