Thalidomide Debate
5th November 2009
Winding up the debate on behalf of the Opposition, Mike Penning calls on the Government to announce an independent review to assess the individual needs of all thalidomide victims immediately.
Mike Penning (Hemel Hempstead) (Con): It is a pleasure to participate in a debate on a subject that I am surprised took so long to be discussed. I am not surprised that the hon. Member for Staffordshire, Moorlands (Charlotte Atkins) has brought the matter to Westminster Hall, considering the campaigner she is. It was a pleasure to serve with her on the Select Committee on Health.
The campaign that has, frankly, been run so brilliantly by the Thalidomide Trust and the advisory board has been strong, sensible and very active. The hon. Member for Southport (Dr. Pugh) alluded to the fact that, a few months ago, one or some of the thalidomiders considered standing for election—perhaps Cambridgeshire is not quite the place, but certainly having that sort of campaigner in the House would be a credit to the House and not a hindrance.
I have met representatives of the Thalidomide Trust many times. We have had robust, but open and honest discussions. My door will always be open to them now and in the future. Their ability to fight for their rights, friends and fellow sufferers is a tribute to them. As we have heard today, the experts assumed that they would all be gone by now and the problem would be over because perhaps they would not have lived this long. As someone who was born in 1957, I am conscious of how close my parents were to the taking of this drug. My mother tells me that she suffered enormously with morning sickness so, but for the will of God, I could be sitting in the Public Gallery listening to the debate now.
I pay tribute to the ferocious tenacity of the thalidomiders. As we heard from the hon. Member for Gower (Mr. Caton), the chair of the all-party group on thalidomide, their parents were worn down. This group of people are not going to be worn down, and that is obvious to all of us.
I have listened intently to the debate and heard the responses of hon. Members, some of which I am sure the Minister will reiterate. It is enormously difficult when such a diverse group of people have had their lives blighted by one cause, but they have needs that are completely individual. I do not think that one single thalidomide victim is identical to another. Their problems might be similar, but they are not identical. I find it difficult to understand how a pilot group of 20, 30 or 40 people could replicate the needs of all 363 people who need help. I shall be interested to hear from the Minister how he expects a pilot project that is based around the primary care trust structure to work, given that some PCT areas have no people who suffer from the effects of thalidomide, and others have numerous sufferers, each one of whom will be different.
The expertise that the trust has acquired over the years, not least through help from universities such as the university of Leeds, is the sort of knowledge that we need to take this matter forward. We need to draw a line under this issue. The thalidomide campaigners need to stop having to campaign; they need a rest. Having met them on many occasions, I know that they are exhausted, but I also know that they will not give up.
Mr. Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP): In outlining his thesis, the hon. Gentleman has clearly established the diversity of the victims’ needs. Given the diverse nature of PCTs and the different ways of administering health care across the UK, does not that make it all the more important that the issue should be taken beyond any pilot and resolved immediately? No one doubts the Government’s intent, but we need a resolution.
Mike Penning: I completely agree. I do not think anyone doubts that the Minister and the Government want to help, but the debate is about how to do that and how we can be fair to all the individuals who suffer from the effects of the thalidomide drug. I do not suggest that this matter can be dealt with once and for all, because people’s circumstances will change as they get older, but we certainly need to get past the current situation in which many of those people are suffering in ways that none of us can comprehend.
The very nature of this issue means that people have different needs. Health needs have been discussed, and the hon. Lady mentioned that some victims have already had joint replacements, but for many sufferers that would not be possible because their joints are not replicable. Some people’s joints cannot just be replaced tomorrow because they are unique as a result of their condition. It is very difficult to see how all those needs will be met by PCTs around the country.
As well as health needs, those people have other needs relating to their quality of life, especially as they move into their 50s and, we hope, into their 60s and 70s. I am sceptical about how personal health budgets will work, because many thalidomide victims do not have health needs today, but have other needs that are not part of the health budget. They think it important that the Minister addresses this issue, and I am sure that he is toying with that idea and fighting with his own Department about how it can be addressed. I repeat that thalidomide victims are exceptional cases, and that there are no replicated cases. I am pleased that the Government have already addressed the tainted blood problem. I had the honour of being the chair of the all-party group on haemophilia before I came to the Front-Bench.
Thalidomide victims need help today. How are we going to cross the Rubicon between what the trust, the advisory board, the all-party group and the campaigners feel needs to be addressed today, and the Government’s position? The Opposition’s view is that there should be an independent review of all the medical needs of thalidomide victims. That review has to be independent; it has to be carried out away from the Government, the Department of Health and the trust, because although the expertise is there, there will always be a scepticism within the Department. I call on the Government to announce an independent review to assess the individual needs of all thalidomide victims. If they do not do that, and if the Conservative party forms a Government, it will announce a review immediately after the election. Our review would look at the capacity of the Thalidomide Trust to assist its members, at how the NHS is addressing the needs of thalidomide victims, and at how local authorities and the Government in general are assessing their needs. That is the least that we could do. The review should report within three months, and the Government should then come forward with proposals on how the long-term needs of thalidomide victims will be addressed.
